ction which was coming upon him. How he was to be saved, she knew
not, but then and there, on the pavement of the commonplace Munich street,
she made her stand and faced the odds, as bravely as ever soldier faced
the enemy's triumphant charge, though she was only a forlorn little Polish
shell-maker, without much health or strength, and having very little
understanding of the danger beyond that which was given to her by her
love.

She fixed her eyes upon the Count's face as though she would have him obey
her.

"I will help you, and make everything right," she said. "But you must tell
me what the trouble is."

"But how can you help me, child?" he asked, beginning to grow calmer under
her clear gaze. "It is such a very complicated case," he continued,
falling back gradually into his own natural manner. "You see, my friends
have probably arrived by this train, and yet I cannot go home until I have
set this other matter right with Fischelowitz. It is true, I have left a
word written for them on my table, and perhaps they are there now, waiting
for me, and if I went home I could have the money at once. But then--it
may be too late before I get here again--"

"What money?" asked Vjera, anxious to get at the truth without delay.

"Oh, it is an absurd thing," he answered, growing nervous again. "Quite
absurd--and yet, it is fifty marks--and until they come, I do not see what
to do. Fifty marks--to-day it seems so much, and to-morrow it will seem so
little!" He made a poor attempt to smile, but his voice trembled.

"But these fifty marks--what do you need them for to-night?" Vjera asked,
not understanding at all. "Will not to-morrow do as well?"

"No, no!" he cried in renewed anxiety. "It must be to-night, now, this
very hour. If I do not pay the money, I am ruined, Vjera, disgraced for
ever. It is a debt of honour--you do not understand what that means,
child, nor how terrible it is for a man not to pay before the day is
over--ah, if it were not a debt of honour!--but there is no time to be
lost. It is almost dark already. Go home, dear Vjera, go home. I cannot go
with you to-night, for I must find this money. Good-night--and then
to-morrow--I have not forgotten, and you must not forget--but there is no
time now--good-night!"

He suddenly broke away from her side and began walking quickly in the
opposite direction, his head bent down, his arms swinging by his side. She
ran after him and again took his arm, and looked int