ion of his bizarre and extraordinary garb. It was
all-sufficient for her that he should have come back. She trusted him
implicitly, and the low, earnest words thrilled him to the core.

He saw through the window that no one was paying any attention to this
apartment. Possibly, the only people who knew that it contained an
Englishwoman as a prisoner were Von Halwig and the infuriated lieutenant
of reserves.

Jumping on to a chair, Dalroy promptly twisted an electric bulb out of
its socket, and plunged the room in semi-darkness, which he increased
by hiding the hand-lamp in the folds of his blouse. Given time, no
doubt, a dim light would be borrowed from the platform and the windows
overlooking the square; in the sudden gloom, however, the two could
hardly distinguish each other.

"I have contrived to escape, in a sense," said Dalroy; "but I could not
bear the notion of leaving you to your fate. You can either stop here
and take your chance, or come with me. If we are caught together a
second time these brutes will show you no mercy. On the other hand, by
remaining, you may be fairly well treated, and even sent home soon."

He deemed himself in honour bound to put what seemed then a reasonable
alternative before her. He did truly believe, in that hour, that Germany
might, indeed, wage war inflexibly, but with clean hands, as befitted a
nation which prided itself on its ideals and warrior spirit. He was
destined soon to be enlightened as to the true significance of the
_Kultur_ which a jack-boot philosophy offers to the rest of the world.

But Irene Beresford's womanly intuition did not err. One baleful gleam
from Von Halwig's eyes had given her a glimpse of infernal depths to
which Dalroy was blind as yet. "Not only will I come with you; but, if
you have a pistol or a knife, I implore you to kill me before I am
captured again," she said.

Here, then, was no waste of words, but rather the ring of
finely-tempered steel. Dalroy unlocked the door, and looked out. To the
right and in front the platform was nearly empty. On the left the group
of officers was crowding into the waiting-room, since some hint of
unfathomable mystery had been wafted up from the Bavarians in the
courtyard, and the slim young prince, curious as a street lounger, had
gone to the window to investigate.

Dalroy stood in the doorway. "Pull down your veil, turn to the right,
and keep close to the wall," he said. "Don't run! Don't even hurry! If I
s