u are not Velasco! The voice is his,--Dieu! And
the eyes--they are his, and the brows! Let me go! Don't laugh--let me
go!"

"No--no, Kaya, come back! It is I. They told me you were chained with
a gang; and were walking through the snow and the cold to the mines.
How did you escape; how could you escape?"

"Yes--it is you," said the girl, "I see now. It was the costume, and
your hair is all cut. I thought you had gone in the train to Germany."
She shuddered and clung to his hand. "Why do you wear that? Why
aren't you gone? The Studio was vacant, I thought--deserted, or I
shouldn't have come!"

Velasco gazed at her, chafing the cold, soft fingers between his own.
"Oh God, how I have suffered! I tried to reach you, I did everything,
and then I shut myself up here waiting--I was nearly mad. Kaya--you
escaped from the fortress alone, by yourself? Did they hurt you? You
cried out; it rings in my ears--that cry! It has never left me! I
shut myself up and paced the floor. Did they hurt you?"

The girl looked over her shoulder: "It was horrible, alone," she
breathed, "Some of the guards, the sentinels, belong to us. Hush--no
one knows; it must never be guessed. To-night, after dark, someone
whistled--one was waiting for me in the corridor with the keys; the
others were drugged. They handed me on to someone outside; I was
dropped like a pebble over the wall. Then I ran--straight here I ran."

She put her hand to her breast. "Why aren't you gone? Go now,
to-night. Leave me here. As soon as it is light I shall be missed,
and then--" She shuddered and her hand trembled in his, like a bird
that is caught, soft and quivering.

Velasco looked at her again and then he looked away at the candle: "I
won't leave you," he said, "and the railroad is useless. They would
track us at once. When I put this on--" He began smoothing the scarf.
"I meant to follow you through the snow and the cold to the mines, like
a beggar musician."

He laughed: "You didn't know me yourself, you see? I was safe."

"Monsieur Velasco, you were coming to me? Ah, but they told you a lie!
I--" She breathed a few words to him softly.

"They would have--"

She nodded.

"When?"

"To-morrow at daybreak."

"In spite of Mezkarpin?"

She broke down and buried her face in her hands.

Velasco began to pace the room slowly. "If you had a costume like
mine," he said, "If your hair were cut--" Then he brightened suddenly
and