"I will not do it! I will not do it!" he whispered inaudibly with his
livid lips and silently retreated to the depth of the cell, even as in
childhood he shrank when his father lifted his hand.

"We must start."

The people were speaking, walking around him, handing him something.
He closed his eyes, he shook a little,-and began to dress himself
slowly. His consciousness must have returned to him, for he suddenly
asked the official for a cigarette. And the official generously opened
his silver cigarette-case upon which was a chased figure in the style
of the decadents.



CHAPTER X
THE WALLS AEE FALLING


The unidentified man, who called himself Werner, was tired of life and
struggle. There was a time when he loved life very dearly, when he
enjoyed the theater, literature and social intercourse. Endowed with
an excellent memory and a firm will, he had mastered several European
languages and could easily pass for a German, a Frenchman or an
Englishman. He usually spoke German with a Bavarian accent, but when
he felt like it, he could speak like a born Berliner. He was fond of
dress, his manners were excellent and he alone, of all the members of
the organization, dared attend the balls given in high society,
without running the risk of being recognized as an outsider.