Part 1, Chapter 4, The Cousin from Berlin Summary

While Julio was in Argentina, Argensola had made the acquaintance of the neighbors. In one apartment live a husband and wife who are very solitary and did not respond well to Argensola's attempts at friendship. It is rumored that the wife is German. The other apartment is home to a Russian man whom Argensola imagined was a great spy, but turned out to only be a translator of literary works and political pamphlets. One morning after Julio's return, Argensola is out in the hallway discussing the possibility of war with Tchernoff, the Russian, when a man appears asking for Julio. The visitor turns out to be Julio's cousin from Berlin.

Julius von Hartrott, the eldest of the German cousins, is a professor in a university in Berlin and has come to France to...