detention. But he waited for the skipper from day
to day in vain. The weather could not have been the cause of his delay;
certainly it had not been too bad for a man of Brandelaar's daring. A
moderate north wind had been blowing nearly the whole time, so that a
clever sailor could have easily made the passage from Dover to Flushing
in a day.

Consequently, other reasons must have kept him in England. Heideck began
to fear that either his knowledge of men, so often tried, had deceived
him on this occasion, or that Brandelaar had fallen a victim to some act
of imprudence in England.

A whole week having passed since Brandelaar had started, Heideck at
least hoped for his return to-day. The north wind had increased towards
evening; there was almost a storm, and the blast rattled violently at
the windows of the room in the hotel, in which Heideck sat still writing
at midnight.

A gentle knock at the door made him look up from his work. Who could
have come to see him at this late hour? It was certainly not an orderly
from his office, which was open day and night, for soldiers' fingers as
a rule knocked harder.

"Come in!" he said. The door opened slowly, and Heideck saw, in the
dimly-lighted corridor, a slender form in a long oilskin cape and
a large sailor's hat, the brim of which was pressed down over the
forehead.

A wild idea flashed through Heideck's mind. He sprang up, and at the
same moment the pretended young man tore off his hat and held out his
arms with a cry of joy.

"My dear--my beloved friend!"

"Edith!"

At this moment all other thoughts and feelings were forgotten by Heideck
in the overpowering joy of seeing her again. He rushed to Edith and
drew her to his breast. For a long time they remained silent in a
long embrace, looking into each other's eyes and laughing like merry
children.

At last, slowly freeing herself from his arms, Edith said--

"You are not angry with me, then, for coming to you, although you
forbade it? You will not send me away from you again?"

Her voice penetrated his ear like sweet, soothing music. What man could
have resisted that seductive voice?

"I should like to be angry with you, my dear, but I cannot--Heaven knows
I cannot!"

"I could not have lived any longer without you," whispered the young
woman. "I was obliged to see you again, or I should have died of
longing."

"My sweet, my only love! But what is the meaning of this disguise? And
how did you manage to