Barlasch of the Guard

olden

r to the full

Lisa was still feverishly bolting the door. He had not wasted much time at his toilet. In his fla

ght ascribe some other motive to his action. "Some day the patron may be in power

belonging to a sex liable to error: instanced

Desiree again, "have you

answered ra

send f

not do

urself," snapped Ba

iercely beneath hi

t is never any use. Before they hammered on that door there, my legs shook. For I

ry symptoms of fear. She was hesitating but not afraid. There ran blood in her veins

arply; "there is n

ly to do the one thing that is left to a woman once o

over her face with a jerk. "Ah, I know that way. The patron is hiding in the yard. An old soldier looks to the re

ence through a door not opened by the present occupiers of the old house, into a very labyrinth of narro

lack outline of his limbs crouching on the top. He stooped down, and grasping her hands, lifted her by the

he wh

d but a small space between the rivers in those straitened days. The town was quieter than it had been for months, and Desiree passed unmolested through the narrow streets. She made her way to the quay, passing thro

p her stall, "you ask for the Elsa. There is such a ship, I know. But how can I say which she is?

e great hooded roof loomed darkly against the stars above her. She was looking about her when a man came

said to him; "wh

e," the man replied; "though I w

d looked for the first time on one of that race upon which all the world waited now for salvation. For

Desiree saw that he was little more than a boy. He turned and offered her his hand with a shy

" he said, "or will

id not understand, he repe

on board,"

ss the water without sound of oars. The sailor was paddling it noiselessly at the stern. Desiree

and opened it without awaiting a reply. In the little cabin two men sat at a table, and one of them was Louis d'Arragon dressed in the

se. "I did not expect yo

r, coarsely clad, rose and, awkwardly taking off his cap, hurried to the door, murmuring so

little cabin was smoke-ridden, and smelt of ancient tar. It was no bigger than the table in the drawing-room in the Frauengasse, across which he had bowed

gging filled the little cabin with a continuous minor note of warning which must have been par

d it in after-life, in memory this moment came again to her, and she looked back to it, as a traveller may look

in danger. There is no one else i

nd then was silent. There was no reason why she should

ning to take up his cap, which was of rough dark fur, such

"you can tell me

unnoticed, for there were many strange sailors at this time in Dantzig, and Louis d'Arragon might easily b

in voluble French, Desiree launched into her story. It wa

terrupted gravely,

t her side, and she instinctively spoke less rapidl

ou tru

se," she

t w

he exclaimed; "I do not know. Beca

denly stopped and looked up at h

u know something about my father o

g to follow-that is all. You l

an think of is my father and the danger he is in. If it had not been for Barlasch, he would have been in prison by now. And as it is, the danger is only

he answe

impatiently, "one sees th

g enough to float buoyant upon that sea of hope which ebbs in the

" he said in

rget

ur sister, or the Frauengasse. A week ago I did not know that th

thoughtfully, "I h

, a long way, till they came

she said at length, as if follow

swered, and

nd Desiree led the way into a narrow alley running be

but, as she spoke, the door giving exit to

e whispered, "and

rs at any of the windows above them in the pointed

eturned, and the patron is waiting in the kitchen, cloaked a

k, save for a shaft of lamp-light coming from the

ailor," he muttered after a pause. "Good. She ha

r hood and looking at her fa

ieur d'Arragon," she

now bowed in his stiff way, and began a formal apol

," he said, "in the absence

a lit

m there you can communicate with your daughter. Events will follow each other rapidly. One never knows wha

hat he had no sympathy with these modern, hurried methods of meeting the emergencies of daily life. A valise

arlasch's room to the yard. "And you," he added, addres

nd followed. D'Arragon had taken Desiree so literally at her word that h

could hear him setting in order the room which had been hurriedly disorganized in order to open the door leadi

where he had left her. Glancing at her, he scratched h

od. "That was a man, that you fetched to help us-a man. It m

se en scene of his violent reception of the secret police. Suddenly he turned in

concluded, imitating effectively the buzz of many voices in an assembly. "Words and not deeds," B