," she said. "It was at Warsaw. In Poland,
just as in many other countries of Europe, the streets are cleaned by
the women and children. The men, you see, are needed for the army."

There was a bitter irony in her voice which drew him closer.

"I have seen women and children working in the fields; in Holland I saw
them helping tow the boats and working in the brickyards. That was bad
enough. But I never have seen them cleaning the streets."

"Did you go to Munich?"

"No."

"You would have seen them doing it there--as they do it all over
Germany. Had you gone to Chemnitz, you would have seen them carrying the
hod."

She fell silent, and Dan leaned back, strangely moved. How young he was;
how little he knew! Here was this girl, certainly not more than twenty,
who had lived more, felt more, thought more than he had ever done; who
had ideals....

"Miss Vard," he said finally, in a low voice, "permit me to tell you
something. I am just an average fellow with an average brain, who has
gone about all his life with his eyes only half open--sometimes not even
that. I have walked up and down Broadway, and fancied I was seeing life!
I must seem awfully young to you--I feel a mere infant--intellectually,
I mean. But I want to grow up--it isn't good for a man of twenty-nine to
be a mental Peter Pan. Will you help me?"

She smiled, the bright, sudden smile, which he had grown to like so
much, and impulsively she held out her hand.

"Yes," she said, "I will help, as far as I can. The best thing I can do
for you is to introduce you to my father. He can help far more than I!"

"Thank you!" and he took her hand and held it. "It was your father I saw
you with?"

"Yes. You will like him. He is the most wonderful man in the world. Now
I must be going. He will be looking for me."

He went with her to the lower deck, then returned to the bench, and
stared thoughtfully out over the dark sea. What a woman she was! And
then he smiled a little as he recalled her last words, "The most
wonderful man in the world!" He did not suspect that the time would come
when he would echo them!

CHAPTER XII

UNDER RUSSIAN RULE

When Dan found his seat in the dining-saloon, that evening, he glanced
up and down the long table, in the hope that Miss Vard and her father
might be among his neighbours. But they were not, and it was not until
he was half through the meal that he descried them at one of the tables
on the other side of the ro