ook out the revolver and gazed regretfully at it, while the girl
could not repress a shudder.

"What a horrible-looking thing!"

"I carried it all through the war."

"Throw it away and buy a new one."

"But the associations!"

"They will lock you up as a dangerous person." She let down the window
and the cold night air rushed in. "Give it to me." He did so. She
flung it far into the night. "There, that is better. Some day you
will understand."

"I shall never understand anything in this country--What are _you_
running away from?"

"A man with a red nose."

"A red nose? Are they so frightful here as all that?"

"This one is. He wants--to marry me."

"Marry you!"

"Yes; rather remarkable that any man should desire me as a wife, isn't
it?"

He saw that she was ironical. Having nothing to say, he said nothing,
but looked longingly at the vacant space beside her.

She rested her chin upon the sill of the window and gazed at the stars.
A wild rush of the wind beat upon her face, bringing a thousand vague
heavy perfumes and a pleasant numbing. How cleverly she had eluded the
duke's police! What a brilliant idea it had been to use her private
carriage key to steal into the carriage compartment long before the
train was made up! It had been some trouble to light the lamps, but in
doing so she had avoided the possible dutiful guard. He _had_ peered
in, but, seeing that the lamps were lighted, concluded that one of his
fellows had been the rounds.

The police would watch all those who entered or left the station, but
never would they think to search a carriage into which no one had been
seen to enter. But oh, what a frightful predicament she was in! All
she possessed in the world was a half-crown, scarce enough for her
breakfast. And if she did not find her governess at once she would be
lost utterly, and in Dresden! She choked back the sob. Why couldn't
they let her be? She didn't want to marry any one--that is, just yet.
She didn't want her wings clipped, before she had learned what a fine
thing it was to fly. She was young.

"Oh!"

"What is it?" she said, turning.

"I have something of yours," answered Max, fumbling in his pocket,
grateful for some excuse to break the silence. "You dropped your purse
this morning. Permit me to return it to you. I hadn't the remotest
idea how I was going to return it. In truth, I had just made up my
mind to keep it as a souvenir."

She literally