After that they smoked, with a word or two
occasionally in comment.
At that day there was only one newspaper in Dreiberg. It was a dry and
solid sheet, of four pages, devoted to court news, sciences, and
agriculture. The vintner presently smoothed down the journal, opened his
knife, and cut out a paragraph. Carmichael, following his movements
slyly, wondered what he had seen to interest him to the point of
preservation. The vintner crushed the remains of the sheet into a ball
and dropped it to the floor. Then he finished his beer, rose, and
proceeded toward the stairs leading to the rathskeller below. Down these
he disappeared.
An idea came to Carmichael. He called a waitress and asked her to bring
a copy of that day's paper. Meantime he recovered the vintner's paper,
and when he finally put the two together, it was a simple matter to
replace the missing cutting. Grumbach showed a mild interest over the
procedure.
"Why do you do that, Captain?"
"A little idea I have; it may not amount to anything." But the American
was puzzled over the cutting. There were two sides to it: which had
interested the vintner? "Do you care for another beer?"
"No, I am tired and sleepy, Captain."
"All right; we'll go back to the hotel. There is nothing going on here
to-night.
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