cabs and automobiles who could not manage to
drive their vehicles through the narrow and crowded streets, attracted
his attention. In one carriage he saw a blonde lady with her back to
him, accompanied by two officers of the English navy. Immediately he
thought of Freya.... Her hat, her gown, everything about her
personality, was so very distinctive. And yet, when the coach had
passed on without his being able to get a glimpse of the face of the
stranger, the image of the adventuress persisted in his mind.

Finally he became very much irritated with himself, because of this
absurd resemblance suspected without any reason whatever. How could
that English-woman with the two officers be Freya?... How could a
German refugee in Barcelona manage to slip into France where she was
undoubtedly known by the military police?... And still more
exasperating was his suspicion that this resemblance might have
awakened a remnant of the old love which made him see Freya in every
blonde woman.

At nine o'clock the following morning, while the captain was in his
stateroom dressing to go ashore, Toni opened the door.

His face was scowling and timid at the same time, as though he had some
bad news to give.

"That creature is here," he said laconically.

Ferragut looked at him with a questioning expression: "_What_
creature?..."

"Who else could it be?... The one from Naples! That blonde devil that
brought us all so much trouble!... We'll see now if this witch is going
to keep us immovable for I don't know how many weeks just as she did
the other time."

He excused himself as though he had just failed in discipline. The boat
was fastened to the wharf by a bridgeway and anybody could come aboard.
The pilot was opposed to these dockings which left the passage free to
the curious and the importunate. By the time he had finished announcing
her arrival, the lady was already on deck near the staterooms. She
remembered well the way to the saloon. She had wished to go straight
in, but it had been Caragol who had stopped her, while Toni went to
advise the captain.

"_Cristo_!" murmured Ulysses. "_Cristo!_..."

And his astonishment, his surprise, did not permit him to utter any
other exclamation.

Then he burst out furiously. "Throw her overboard!... Let two men lay
hold of her and put her back on the wharf, by main force, if
necessary."

But Toni hesitated, not daring to comply with such commands. And the
impetuous Ferragut rushed o