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His lands were sequestered, and a body of commissioners were selected to attend to them. Baron Waltz and myself belonged to this commission." "Ah! I begin to understand," murmured Weingarten. Baron Zetto continued, with a smile. "The commissioners made the discovery that report had greatly exaggerated the riches of Trenck. He had not many treasures, but many debts.
Councillor Zetto's attentive ear heard every word; he stood near him like the evil one, and his piercing eyes rested upon the agitated countenance of Weingarten and read his thoughts. "Have you not lived the life of a prisoner for many years?" asked Zetto, in a low, unnatural voice; "have you not always been a slave of poverty?
The two counsellors, Komerkansquy and Zetto, each received 4,000 rix-dollars, with a promise of double the sum if Trenck were acquitted; there was a formal contract drawn up, which a certain noble lord secretly signed. Trenck was defended by the advocate Gerhauer and by Berger.
"Ah! you search into our motives you mistrust us," cried Zetto, hastily. "Well, we will prove to you that we trust you, by telling you our secret. You know the story of the inheritance of Trenck?" "He is the only heir of the pandour chieftain, Franz von Trenck." "Correct. And do you know the history of this pandour chieftain Trenck?"
In this despairing and sorrowful mood he had entered the office, and awaited in vain for petitioners who would pay him richly for his services. But the hours passed in undisturbed quiet, and Baron Weingarten was in the act of leaving the office, as the servant announced Baron von Waltz, and the court councillor, Zetto, from Vienna.
"Sir, do you dare to insult me?" cried the secretary of legation, fiercely. Zetto smiled. "No, I only wish to notify you that we are aware that it is through you that Baron von Trenck receives money from a certain aristocratic lady in Berlin. It is, therefore, most important that the king should be warned by you of his intended murder otherwise you might be thought an accomplice."
The majestic Baron von Waltz looked silently at the ceiling, while the black, piercing eyes of the little Councillor Zetto examined the countenance of Weingarten with a strangely searching and penetrating expression. "You are from Vienna?" said Weingarten at last, putting an end to this painful silence. "We are from Vienna," answered the baron, with a grave bow.
Zetto, however, still continued for eleven years my persecutor, till he was deprived of his office, and condemned to the House of Correction. My knowledge of the world increased at Aix-la-Chapelle, where men of all characters met. In the morning I conversed with a lord in opposition, in the afternoon with an orator of the King's party, and in the evening with an honest man of no party.
"Is he really a man of honor, and have we received false information?" thought Zetto, who was misled for a moment by the quiet and virtuous looks of the secretary of legation. "In the mean while you will not prevent those for whom you are about to do a great service from showing their gratitude," said Baron Waltz. "Every one has a right to give or to receive a present."
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