He read with
care a dispatch from London that purported to reflect the sentiment of
the continental capitals toward Charles Louis, the new Emperor-king of
Austria-Hungary, and the paper dropped upon his knees and he stared into
the fire. Then he picked up a paper of earlier date and read all the
foreign despatches and the news of Washington. He was about to toss the
paper aside, when his eyes fell upon a boldly-headlined article that
caused his heart to throb fiercely. It recited the sudden reappearance of
the fraudulent Baron von Kissel in Washington, and described in detail
the baron's escapades at Bar Harbor and his later career in California
and elsewhere. Then followed a story, veiled in careful phrases, but
based, so the article recited, upon information furnished by a gentleman
of extensive acquaintance on both sides of the Atlantic, that Baron von
Kissel, under a new pseudonym, and with even more daring effrontery, had
within a fortnight sought to intrench himself in the most exclusive
circles of Washington.
Armitage's cigar slipped from his fingers and fell upon the brick hearth
as he read:
"The boldness of this clever adventurer is said to have reached a climax
in this city within a few days.
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