o catch a bit of the conversation,
scowled over the top of his paper. Carmichael eyed him mischievously.
Gretchen picked up her coppers and went away.

"A beautiful girl," said Hans abstractedly. "She might be Hebe with no
trouble at all."

Carmichael admired Hans. There was always some new phase in the
character of this quiet and unassuming German. A plumber who was
familiar with the classics was not an ordinary person. He raised his
stein and Hans extended his. After that they smoked, with a word or two
occasionally in comment.

At that day there was only one newspaper in Dreiberg. It was a dry and
solid sheet, of four pages, devoted to court news, sciences, and
agriculture. The vintner presently smoothed down the journal, opened his
knife, and cut out a paragraph. Carmichael, following his movements
slyly, wondered what he had seen to interest him to the point of
preservation. The vintner crushed the remains of the sheet into a ball
and dropped it to the floor. Then he finished his beer, rose, and
proceeded toward the stairs leading to the rathskeller below. Down these
he disappeared.

An idea came to Carmichael. He called a waitress and asked her to bring
a copy of that day's paper. Meantime he recovered the vintner's paper,
and when he finally put the two together, it was a simple matter to
replace the missing cutting. Grumbach showed a mild interest over the
procedure.

"Why do you do that, Captain?"

"A little idea I have; it may not amount to anything." But the American
was puzzled over the cutting. There were two sides to it: which had
interested the vintner? "Do you care for another beer?"

"No, I am tired and sleepy, Captain."

"All right; we'll go back to the hotel. There is nothing going on here
to-night."

But Carmichael was mistaken for once.

A little time later Herr Goldberg harangued his fellow socialists
bitterly. Gretchen's business in this society was to serve. They had
selected her because they knew that she inclined toward the propaganda.
Few spoke to her, outside of giving orders, and then kindly.

The rathskeller had several windows and doors. These led to the
_Biergarten_, to the wine-cellar, and to an alley which had no opening
on the street. The police had as yet never arrested anybody; but several
times the police had dispersed Herr Goldberg and his disciples on
account of the noise. The window which led to the blind alley was six
feet from the floor, twice as broad as it was