know. If it costs a dollar
more, that's all right. Tell the cabby----"

Walter understood. The republican was to get a cab--for Femke?

Walter waited. In the meanwhile, Mrs. Goremest had locked the door and
drawn the curtains, so that it was impossible for him to look in now.

In a short time a carriage drove up, and the republican sprang out
of it. The door of Mrs. Goremest's establishment opened again, and
Klaas Verlaan with the ostensible daughter of Kopperlith appeared.

"Femke, I am here!" Walter cried, hurrying to her. "I am here. Oh,
Femke, don't go with the strange men!"

"What in the devil are you doing here again!" snorted Verlaan, seizing
Walter by the collar to pull him back into the restaurant. "What do
you want? And who are you?"

"Femke, don't go with the strange men. I will take you home, I,
Walter."

"The boy is weak in the upper story," affirmed Mrs. Goremest. "He's
been bellowing around her the whole evening like a calf, and he hasn't
spent a doit."

Walter reached for Femke's hand; and then he noticed how curiously
she was rigged out. She was completely covered. Of her head,
face, shoulders, figure--nothing was to be seen. Mrs. Goremest
had contributed her cloak; but what would one not do for a
Kopperlith? Still, she was saving: Only the stump of one tallow
candle was burning. It flickered strangely, giving to everything a
ghostly appearance.

"Is it you, Erich?" the girl asked.

"Femke, Femke, for God's sake, don't go with those strange men!"

Tearing himself away from Verlaan, he threw himself at Femke's feet. He
pulled aside her cloak and covered her hand with tears and kisses.

"Just like I tell you," declared Mrs. Goremest. "The boy is as crazy
as a bedbug."

"Femke, I will never deny you again. Strike me, tread on me, kill me,
but--don't go with those strange men."

"Light!" cried the girl peremptorily--a word that even a Dutchman
understands.

The republican took the candle from the counter and held it so that
the light fell on Walter's face. The boy was still kneeling. Through
an opening in her hood the girl looked down on him and was silent. She
did not withdraw the hand that Walter held closely pressed to his lips.

Verlaan made a motion as if to remove the intruder; but the girl
stopped him with a look. Then she laid her free hand on Walter's head,
saying simply:

"My brother!"

"Another descendant of Kopperlith!" growled the republican. The young
people have stra