Part 19 (1/2)

”'That is another bond of sympathy between us. I have one brother left.'

All this time her eyes had been riveted on his, boring into his own as if she was trying to read his very thoughts.

”'Is he in danger like me, Madame?' asked the Engineer with a smile.

”'Yes, we all are; we live in danger. I have been brought up in it.'

”'But why should I be?' and he handed her the card with the black edge.

”'You are not,' she said, crumpling the card in her hand and slipping it into her dress. 'It was only a very cheap ruse of mine. I saw you at the next table and knew your nationality at once. You can help me, if you will, and you are the only one who can. You seemed to be sent to me. I thought it all out and determined what to do. You see how calm I am, and yet my hands have been icy cold waiting for you. I dared not hope you would really come until I saw you enter and speak to Polski. But you cannot stay here; you may be seen and I do not want you to be seen--not now. We Poles are watched night and day; someone may come in and you might have to tell who you are, and that must not be.' Then she added cautiously, her eyes fastened on his, 'Your pa.s.sport--you have one, have you not?'

”'Yes, for all over Europe.'

”'Oh, yes; of course.' This came with a sigh of relief, as if she had dreaded another answer. 'That is the right way to travel while this revolution goes on. Yes, yes; a pa.s.sport is quite necessary. Now give me your address. Metropole? Which room? Number thirty-nine? Very well; I'll be there at eight o'clock to-morrow night. Never mind the coffee, I will pay for it with mine. Go--now--out the other door; not the one you came in. There is somebody coming--quick!'

”The tone of her voice and the look in her eye lifted him out of his seat and started him toward the door without another word. She was evidently accustomed to be obeyed.

”The next night at eight precisely there came a rap at his door and a woman wrapped in a coa.r.s.e shawl, and with a basket covered with a cloth on her arm, stood outside.

”'I have brought Monsieur's laundry,' she said. 'Shall I lay it in the bedroom or here in the salon?' and she stepped inside.

”The door shut, she laid the empty basket on the floor and threw back her shawl.

”'Don't be worried,' she said, turning the key in the lock, 'and don't ask any questions. I will go as I came. Someone might have stopped me. I got this basket and shawl from my own laundress. There will be no one here? You are sure? Then let me sit beside you and tell you what I could not last night.

”'Our people go to that cafe,' she continued, as she led him to the sofa, 'because, strange to say, the police think none of us would dare go there. That makes it the safest. Besides, every one of the servants is our friend.'

”Then she unfolded a yarn that made his hair stand on end. She had been banished from a little town in central Poland where she had taken part in the revolution. Two brothers had died in exile, the other was in hiding in Vienna. It was absolutely necessary that this remaining brother should get back to Warsaw. Not only her own life depended on it but the lives of their compatriots. Some papers which had been hidden were in danger of being discovered; these must be found and destroyed.

Her brother was now on his way to the hotel and the room in which they then sat; he would join them in an hour. At nine o'clock he would send his card up and must be received. His name was Matzoff--her own name before she was married. Would he lend him his clothes and his pa.s.sport?

She could not ask this of anyone but an American; when she saw him and looked into his face she knew G.o.d had sent him to her. Only Americans sympathized with her poor country. The pa.s.sport would be handed back to him in three days by the same man--Polski--who conducted him to her table at the Cafe Ivanoff; so would the clothes. He would not need either in that time. Would he save her and her people?'

”Well, you can imagine what happened. Like many other young fellows, carried off his feet by the picturesqueness of the whole affair--the appeal to his patriotism, to his love of justice, to all the things that count when you are twenty-five and have the world in a sling--he consented. It was agreed that she was to wait in the dressing-room, which also opened on the corridor, and show herself to the brother, and get him safely inside the dressing-room. The Engineer was not to see him come. If anything went wrong it was best that he could not identify him.

She would then help him dress--he was about the same build as the Engineer and could easily wear his clothes. Moreover, he was dark like the Engineer; black hair and black eyes and just his age. Indeed one reason she picked him out at the cafe on the Ring Stra.s.se was because he looked so much like her own brother.

”The two began to get ready for the expected arrival--a s.h.i.+rt and collar, tie, gloves, travelling suit, overcoat, and the Engineer's bag with his initials on it were laid out in the dressing-room, together with an umbrella and walking-stick and the pa.s.sport. He was to walk down the corridor and out of the hotel precisely as the young Engineer would walk out. If he could only see her brother he would know how complete the disguise would be; just his size--her own, really--her brother being small for a man and she being tall and broad for a woman.

”At nine o'clock she put her head out of the dressing-room door, laid her fingers on her lips, pushed the Engineer into the salon and locked the door. The brother evidently was approaching. Next he heard the dressing-room door click. Then the sound of a man rapidly changing his clothes could be heard. Then a soft click of the latch and a heavy step.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Pushed the engineer into the salon.]

”Here his curiosity overcame him and he cautiously opened the salon door and peered down the corridor. A man carrying his bag, cane, and umbrella, an overcoat on his arm, was walking rapidly toward the staircase. He drew in his head and waited. Five minutes pa.s.sed, then ten. He tried the dressing-room door. It was still locked. Stepping out into the corridor he turned the k.n.o.b and walked into the dressing-room.

It was empty. On the floor was a pair of corsets, some petticoats, and a dress!”

”Skipped! Well, by Jove!” cried Marny. ”Nihilist, wasn't she?”

”He never knew; doesn't to this day.”