before me he wished me
good-night, and left me. I took my departure the next morning for
Hamburg; since latterly some impediments had been thrown in our way
about landing in France, and the process of verifying our passports as
"agents secrets" occupied much time, and caused delay. On the journey
thither I made acquaintance with a young Pole, who, exchanging with me
the private signal, showed that he was a "brother of the craft." He was
a fine, dashing, good-looking fellow, with a certain air of pretension
and swagger about him that savored more of the adventurer than of the
character he wished to assume. He told me that he was the son of
the Empress Catherine, and that his father had been a soldier of the
Imperial Guard. The story might or might not have been true, but at all
events he seemed to believe and was exceedingly vain of it.

With all the secret plotting and political intrigue of the day he
appeared quite conversant, and found it difficult to believe in my
ignorance or apathy.

"I conceive," said he, at last, "that you are one of those who feel
ashamed of your position, and dislike the word 'spy.' Be it so; it is
not a flattering name. But have we not within ourselves the power to
extort by force the degree of consideration we would be held in? Any act
of insubordination from one or two, or even three of us, would be sure
to meet its penalty. That price has been paid before." [Here he made a
significant sign, by rapidly drawing his hand across his throat.] "But
if we combined, met at some appointed spot, discussed our rights, and
agreed upon the means of asserting them, do you believe that there
exists the king or kaiser who could refuse the demand? It is not enough
for me that I can pass a frontier by a secret signal, enter a minister's
cabinet while others wait in the antechamber, or even ascend the back
stairs of a palace. I want a place and a recognition in society; I want
that standing in the world to which my habits and manners entitle me,
and for which now my hand is ever on the hilt of a rapier or the trigger
of a pistol to secure. It is an outrage on us that this has been delayed
so long; but if it be deferred a little longer, the remedy will have
passed from our hands. Already some of the governments of the Continent
begin to suspect that the system works badly."

"My astonishment is only that it ever could have been permitted," broke
I in; "for it is plain that to know the secrets of others, each