Although most of the company were intimate friends of the Countess, many were uncomfortable, and there was often an awkward silence in the drawing-room. Long and tedious praised the merits of the untimely deceased count, talk on other topics somehow did not stick... all surprised only by the suddenness of his death – the deceased had not reached thirty years, did not have any illness, made plans for the future, the previous evening dined at home and in a good mood went to bed... and in the morning did not Wake up. But you never know then it was strange deaths? On external mind bodies doctors nothing failed to understand, and an autopsy in such cases to do was as something not adopted.but And about this a curious the details in the presence of sister late to speak shy. The conversation wilted.
- Another pause was suddenly broken by Rosenthal. I will not bore you with the turns of the time, but, judging by the description in the diary, he said something like this:
- – Your grief is great... But there is no cause for despair. If you want to open the tomb of your brother, my companion and see what you can do – To the questions of the guests stunned Prince replied evasively:
- – It would be a cruel mistake to limit the possibilities of medicine to the living. As my father had learned, the processes that accompany the death of an organism can be reversed, and he himself was several times on the verge of proving his guesses in practice. In the countries I have visited, sorcerers have mastered the art of returning from the world of the dead many centuries ago....
- The Countess was dissuaded. The Prince was accused of madness, of trying to cash in on someone else's grief, although money was not discussed that evening. Rosenthal remained silent. The Countess was assured that the death of a man – the result of God's will, and should not try to influence the course of events... But that evening the coffin with the body of the count was removed from the family vault and moved to the old house Rosenthal.
- What was going on there, no one knew. But a few days later the count ... returned home. He was still alive.
I shrugged my shoulders:
"It's an interesting story. But due to it is likely too easy. Rosenthal and the count could be in cahoots. Faked death ... maybe they wanted to prank the guests. More likely it had something to do with money. The Countess must have thanked Rosenthal in some way. Then they divided the fee with the Prince. He didn't have much money left, you say – didn't his father spend it all?"
Yes in General, all could be and even easier. The count's corpse was buried somewhere in the nearby woods, and a similar man returned from Rosenthal's estate instead... do you Remember the rumors of McCartney's death in the sixties? There are many examples…
That was the first thing I thought of. Don't forget, I've been studying the history of fraud for years. But it's more complicated than that.
First, from the estate of Rosenthal returned the real count Ershov, who lived after that for forty years. Many people knew the count both before and after he lay a week in a coffin... He was a sociable, open person, had a lot of friends, and it was almost impossible to replace him. At the same time, there is no evidence that there was ever any doubt about the identity of the count... besides, he was a very rich man, and with his death large sums passed from one owner to another. And the appearance of any suspicion would immediately assume the character of a scandal.
This, by the way, precludes the possibility of collusion between the count and Rosenthal... According to my information, they did not know each other before this incident, and certainly could not conspire to cheat the Countess, although her gratitude to Rosenthal in monetary terms was even at that time huge. Besides, the count was not given to silly jokes, his reputation in society was impeccable, and I cannot believe that he could have faked his death just to become famous in this way…
But that's not the main reason I can't agree with your version of the count's resurrection. The main thing was ... that his trick with the revival of the dead Prince Rosenthal repeated after that several dozen times.
"For money now?"
– Yeah. In a few years after his arrival in St. Petersburg, the Prince became fabulously rich ... the Demand for his services was enormous. To him often came from other cities, there have been several requests from abroad... but for unknown to anyone reason it only worked with the Petersburg dead. But this market was enough for him, at the Prince's house all the time there were several expensive carriages. It was a common situation when a person who mocked the stories about the talents of Rosenthal, after the death of a relative or friend, he turned to the Prince for help.
The sums received by Rosenthal were enormous, and within a year his fortune was in the millions. But the most amazing thing was that he could be much richer if he wanted to. Selecting clients for one known to him to sign, he often refused to just unreal fees... however, he seriously risked the vengeance of the relatives could be brutal. Didn't love the Prince and competitors from the funeral home: in the event of death are now treated in the first place to him. Knew would he, that descendants, too, get involved in this business…
"So you knew Rosenthal from Sunset?"
"Yes, he came to see me several times. He was interested in his ancestry... and he knew it better than I did. I could not understand what he wanted from me was necessary... But later began to suspect.
His men so weird came up... in my opinion, is his Deputy.
- Pavlov?
When I told them about the Prince, they both looked like madmen. And the conversation all the time skipped to the funeral of the Prince... this is another story, it really is a lot of incomprehensible. I'll get to that. The Professor paused thoughtfully. "By the way, why did you say 'knew'?" Did something happen to him?
– Hardship. I don't want to interrupt, I'll tell you all about it later, too.
Sharoiko stared at us.
– I had the same impression that he was going to be in trouble... he was too emotional about it." I think his nerves were pretty frayed... well, to hell with him. Let us return to the Prince.
Despite a lot of enemies, he was lucky... and the death of Rosenthal in 1854 was rather an accident: the Prince died at the hands of people whose danger he could not expect... he was often threatened, but for very different reasons