they did. But Sebastian looked
over their heads and did not seem to have heard their conversation.

He turned back and went another way, by side streets and the little
narrow alleys that nearly always encircle a cathedral, and are still
to be found on all sides of the Marienkirche. At last he came to the
Portchaisengasse, which was quiet enough in the twilight, though he
could hear the tramp of soldiers along the Langgasse and the rumble of
the guns.

There were only two lamps in the Portchaisengasse, swinging on
wrought-iron gibbets at each end of the street. These were not yet
alight, though the day was fading fast, and the western light could
scarcely find its way between the high gables which hung over the road
and seemed to lean confidentially towards each other.

Sebastian was going towards the door of the Weissen Ross'l when some
one came out of the hostelry, as if he had been awaiting him within the
porch.

The new-comer, who was a fat man with baggy cheeks and odd, light blue
eyes--the eyes of an enthusiast, one would say--passed Sebastian, making
a little gesture which at once recommended silence, and bade him turn
and follow. At the entrance to a little alley leading down towards
the Marienkirche the fat man awaited Sebastian, whose pace had not
quickened, nor had his walk lost any of its dignity.

"Not there to-night," said the man, holding up a thick forefinger and
shaking it sideways.

"Then where?"

"Nowhere to-night," was the answer. "He has come--you know that?"

"Yes," answered Sebastian slowly, "for I saw him."

"He is at supper now with Rapp and the others. The town is full of his
people. His spies are everywhere. There are two in the Weissen Ross'l
who pretend to be Bavarians. See! There is another--just there."

He pointed the thick forefinger down the Portchaisengasse where it
widens to meet the Langgasse, where the last remains of daylight,
reflected to and fro between the houses, found freer play than in the
narrow alley where they stood.

Sebastian looked in the direction indicated. An officer was walking away
from them. A quick observer would have noticed that his spurs made no
noise, and that he carried his sword instead of allowing it to clatter
after him. It was not clear whence he had come. It must have been from a
doorway nearly opposite to the Weissen Ross'l.

"I know that man," said Sebastian.

"So do I," was the reply. "It is Colonel de Casimir."

With a little nod th