going on--till Wilhelm thought it behooved him to
see what was happening, and, if need be, come to the rescue of his
faithful house-dragon. He opened the door quickly and received Frau
Muller in his arms. If he had not caught her, she would have fallen
backward into the room, for she had leaned--a living bulwark--against
the door, defending the entrance with her body against two men, one of
whom was trying to push her away, while the other, standing further
back, was restraining his companion from grasping Frau Muller all too
roughly. In the daring man who did not shrink from laying sacrilegious
hands upon the furious and snorting landlady, Wilhelm instantly
recognized the mechanic whom he had seen at Frau Wander's. At sight of
him the man raised his hat politely, and before the gasping Frau
Muller, who was simply choking with excitement, could find her tongue,
he said:

"Beg pardon, I am sure, Herr Doctor, for disturbing you; but we really
must speak to you. I knew from Herr Stubbe that you are always at home
at this hour, so I would not let the lady send us away."

"The lady indeed!" Frau Muller managed at last to exclaim. "Now he
talks about ladies, and a minute ago he had the impudence--"

"You must excuse us, madam," said the workman with the utmost civility;
"we meant no harm, and we simply must speak to the Herr Doctor."

"Come in," said Wilhelm curtly, and not overwarmly, while he pressed
the still angrily glaring Frau Muller's hand gratefully.

The second visitor now mentioned his name--it was that of one of the
most prominent leaders of the Social Democrats in Germany. Wilhelm
signed to the two men to be seated, and asked what he could do for them.

"I heard through the mechanic Groll here," answered the stranger,
pointing to the other man, "what you did for Frau Wander. That
encouraged us to come to you with a request."

At a sign from Wilhelm he continued:

"You have seen one of our cases for yourself, and that not by any means
the worst. We have dozens of such cases, and there will probably be
hundreds more. Our union does what it can. Every member gives up part
of his week's wages for the unfortunate victims, and thereby we perhaps
save the government from the crime of having condemned innocent women
and children to death by starvation. But our people are poor, and have
to fight against want themselves. We cannot expect any great sacrifice
from them. What we want is a considerable lump sum to enab