s determined to see
her venture through to its end.

She wore a gray traveling dress and was heavily veiled, and when she
reached the station, the guard showed her immediately into an unoccupied
compartment. This, it seemed, was unusual, as her watch indicated that
only a few moments remained before the train should leave. But she
settled herself comfortably, grateful for her seclusion, whatever its
cause, and closed her eyes in an effort to sleep.

The last warning words of the guards had been given and the train was
already in motion when she heard a warning "Sh----" at the open window,
where a head and a pair of shoulders appeared, followed immediately by
an entire body which was suddenly projected through the opening and
landed head first upon the floor. Marishka had risen, a scream on her
lips, but something familiar in the conformation of the figure
restrained her. The tangle of legs and arms took form, and a head
appeared, wearing a monocle and a smile. It was the imperturbable but
persistent Herr Renwick.

CHAPTER V

TWO INTRUDERS

Marishka was too dismayed for a moment to trust her tongue to speech.
That she was angry she knew, for she felt the blood rising to her
temples, and the words that hung on her lips were bitter, cruel and
unreasoning.

"It is a pity, Herr Renwick," she began quite distinctly in English,
"that you have neither the good taste nor the intelligence to leave me
to my own devices."

Renwick gathered up his stick and straw hat, bowed politely and seated
himself opposite her. Indeed, as the train was now moving rapidly, no
other course was open to him. But he wore no look of recantation. His
calmness was more impudent than ever, and he even took out and reset his
monocle.

"Oh, I say, Countess Strahni," he said, "that's rather rough on a chap.
I had to come. It was wiser, you know."

"I care nothing for your wisdom," she said scornfully. "If it is no more
firmly seated than your sense of honor, it can be of little value to you
or to me."

"I'm sorry. I will try not to interfere with your comfort----"

"You--you arranged this"--as the thought came to her--"this opportunity
for a tete-a-tete?"

"The Countess Strahni's conception of a tete-a-tete may differ from
mine," he said with a smile.

But his coolness only inflamed her the more.

"You have taken an unpardonable liberty," she said wildly. "You have
already passed the bounds of decency or consideration. You have b