wed, locked the gate after him, and gave the key
back to its owner on the steps of the garden door of the house, where
Martin was awaiting him, latch-key in hand. They did it without comment
or instruction, as men carry out a plan frequently resorted to.

Martin led the way into the house, along a dimly lighted corridor, to
a door which stood ajar. Outside the night was cold; within were warmth
and comfort. Martin went into the long room. At the far end, beneath the
lamp and near an open wood fire, the prince and Wanda were sitting. They
were in evening dress, and the prince was dozing in his chair.

"I have brought Kos to see you," said Martin, and, turning, he looked
towards the door. The convict's son, the convict, came forward with that
ease which, to be genuine, must be quite unconscious. He apparently gave
no thought to his sandy and wrinkled top-boots, from which the original
black had long since been washed away by the waters of the Vistula. He
wore his working-clothes as if they were the best habit for this or
any other palace. He took Wanda's hand and kissed it in the old-world
fashion, which has survived to this day in Poland. But the careless
manner in which he raised her fingers to his lips would have showed
quite clearly to a competent observer that neither Wanda nor any other
woman had ever touched his heart.

"You will excuse my getting up," said the prince. "My gout is bad
to-night. You will have something to eat?"

"Thank you, I have eaten," replied Kosmaroff, drawing forward a chair.

Martin put the logs together with his foot, and they blazed up, lighting
with a flickering glow the incongruous group.

"He will take a glass of port," said the prince, turning to Wanda, and
indicating the decanter from which, despite his gout, he had just had
his after-dinner wine.

Wanda poured out the wine and handed it to Kosmaroff, who took it with a
glance and a quick smile of thanks, which seemed to indicate that he was
almost one of the family. And, indeed, they were closely related,
not only in the present generation, but in bygone days. For Kosmaroff
represented a family long since deemed extinct.

"I have come," he said, "to tell you that all is safe. Also to bid you
good-bye. As soon as I can get employment I shall go down to Thorn to
stir them up there. They are lethargic at Thorn."

"Ah!" laughed the prince, moving his legs to a more comfortable
position, "you young men! You think everybody is leth