The fellow whom I saw wore a brown wide-awake hat. The hat was
pulled down low over his forehead, but nevertheless beneath its
rim there appeared a white bandage running round his head. I
could not see the face, but the bullet-shaped skull was very
familiar to me. I was sure from the first moment that the
bandaged man was Bauer. Saying nothing to Bernenstein, I began to
steal round outside the crowd. As I went, I heard somebody saying
that it was all nonsense; the king was not there: what should the
king do in such a house? The answer was a reference to one of the
first loungers; he replied that he did not know what the devil
the king did there, but that the king or his double had certainly
gone in, and had as certainly not yet come out again. I wished I
could have made myself known to them and persuaded them to go
away; but my presence would have outweighed my declarations, and
been taken as a sure sign that the king was in the house. So I
kept on the outskirts and worked my way unobtrusively towards the
bandaged head. Evidently Bauer's hurt had not been so serious as
to prevent him leaving the infirmary to which the police had
carried him: he was come now to await, even as I was awaiting,
the issue of Rudolf's visit to the house in the Konigstrasse.
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