ry public square stands for an insurrection. The
castle is fortified not against the stranger but the citizen--those guns
you tell me about were put there by Nicolas to remind us that he would
stand no nonsense. We are the sons of a nation which, officially, does
not exist--but we honor our dead kings everywhere and can show you some
of Thorwaldsen's finest monuments to them. Let us go out and see these
wonders if you are willing."

The apparent digression served him admirably, for it permitted him to
think. As many another in the service of the autocracy, he had a
sterling love for Poland in its historical aspect, and was as proud as
any man when he uttered the name of a Sobieski, a Sigismund or a
Ladislaus. Revolution as a modern phase he despised. To him there were
but people and nobles, and the former had become vulgar disturbers of
the Czar's peace who must be chastened with rods. His own career
depended altogether upon his callous indifference to mere human
sympathies.

Alban could offer no objection to visit Warsaw under such a pleasant
guide and he also welcomed the hours of truce. It came to him that the
Count might honestly doubt Lois' word and that, knowing nothing of her,
he would have had little reason to trust her. The morning passed in a
pleasant stroll down the Senatorska where are the chief shops of Moscow.
Here the Count insisted upon buying his English friend a very beautiful
amber and gold cigarette-case, to remind him, as he said, of their
quarrel.

"It was very natural," he admitted, "I know these people so well. They
talk like angels and act like devils. You will know more about them in
good time. If I have interfered, it was at my friend Gessner's wish. I
shall leave the matter in his hands now. If he accepts the girl's word,
he is perfectly at liberty to do so. To me it is a matter of absolute
indifference."

Alban took the cigarette-case but accepted it reluctantly. He could not
resist the charm of this man's manner nor had he any abiding desire to
do so. As far as that went, there was so much to see in these bright
streets, so many odd equipages, fine horses, prettily dressed women,
magnificent soldiers, that his interest was perpetually enchained and he
uttered many exclamations of surprised delight very foreign to his usual
manner.

"I cannot believe that this is the city we saw yesterday," he declared
as the Count called a drosky and bade the driver make a tour of the
avenues and the