"When we reached the station, and I halted at the small gate opening upon
the train platform, she merely pressed my hand, covered her head with her
veil, and entered the carriage followed by Polaff. I watched, hoping to
see her face at the window, but she remained hidden.

* * * * *

"I turned into the Ringstrasse, still filled with her presence, and
tortured by the thought of the conditions that prevented my following her,
called a cab, and drove to our minister's. Mr. Motley then held the
portfolio; my passport had expired, and, as I was entering Germany, needed
renewing. The attaché agreed to the necessity, stamped it, and brought it
back to me with the ink still wet.

"'His excellency,' said he, 'advises extreme caution on your part while
here. Be careful of your associates, and keep out of suspicious company.
Vienna is full of spies watching escaped Polish refugees. Your
name'--reading it carefully--'is apt to excite remark. We are powerless to
help in these cases. Only last week an American who befriended a man in
the street was arrested on the charge of giving aid and comfort to the
enemy, and, despite our efforts, is still in prison.'

"I thanked him, and regained my cab with my head whirling. What, after
all, if the countess should have deceived me? My blood chilled as I
remembered her words of the day before: recalled by the government she
hated, her two brothers forced into the army, the cruelties and
indignities Russia had heaped upon her family, and this last peremptory
order to return. Had my sympathetic nature and inexperience gotten me into
trouble? Then that Madonna-like head with angelic face, the lips moving in