The Baroness von Marhof had already gone
to Newport; the Baron lingered merely out of good feeling toward
Armitage--for it was as Armitage that he was still known to the people
of Storm Springs, to the doctor and nurses who tended him.
"The news from Vienna seems tranquil enough," remarked Armitage. He had
not yet answered the Baron's question, and the old gentleman grew
restless at the delay. "I read in the _Neue Freie Presse_ a while ago
that Charles Louis is showing an unexpected capacity for affairs. It is
reported, too, that an heir is in prospect. The Winkelried conspiracy is
only a bad dream and we may safely turn to other affairs."
"Yes; but the margin by which we escaped is too narrow to contemplate."
"We have a saying that a miss is as good as a mile," remarked Judge
Claiborne. "We have never told Mr. Armitage that we found the papers in
the safety box at New York to be as he described them."
"They are dangerous. We have hesitated as to whether there was more risk
in destroying them than in preserving them," said the Baron.
Armitage shrugged his shoulders and laughed.
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