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and seated themselves in the place of honour. A few ordinary customers came and went, but David did not appear. About an hour passed after the arrival of the train, and still he had not come. Shmul was too ignorant of the dangers besetting a conspirator to feel any apprehension. He concluded, therefore, that David probably had been detained somewhere, and would come on the morrow, which was Friday, the eve of the Sabbath. As it was a day of very short work, the enterprising tavern-keeper began to consider how he could profit by David’s lack of punctuality, when turning to his right he saw David in person, sitting composedly at the table beside the gendarmes, paying as little attention to them as they paid to him. He was indeed the last person to be regarded with suspicion, this poorly-dressed young Jew, looking vacantly into space, with the patient air of a customer of modest means, in no hurry to leave an agreeable place and pleasant company.

He was a short broad-shouldered man, of twenty-five or so, with an attractive regular face, of marked Jewish type, and large dark-brown eyes, kind and melancholy.

Shmul served him, when his turn came, with a mug of beer, and took no further notice of him. The young man paid for his drink, and after having sipped it leisurely went away as quietly as he had come.

Once in the street, David turned the corner of the house and entered the kitchen by a back-door. In the thin light of the tallow candle he stumbled over something white and soft—a young lively kid, which jumped up from the floor and made its retreat between David's feet, raising a cloud of dust. A hen roosting upon the plate-rack, frightened in its sleep, lost its equilibrium, and with much cackling of dismay sought refuge in the opposite corner of the room.

The young man passed rapidly through the region where his presence caused so much disorder, and stepped into a dark corridor. Lighting a wax match, he ascended a flight of wooden stairs, and made his way to a small and rather dirty back room, where the Red Shmul was wont to transact his most important business.

His host was already there. Having called his wife to take his place behind the counter, he hastened to meet his visitor as soon as he noticed his intention of withdrawing.

“How do you do, Master Shmul?” said David, in the Jewish jargon. “You didn’t expect me so soon?”