The Vultures

ingdom of Poland and saved their property in Galicia; others, again in Posen had estates in Masovia, which even Russian justice could not lay ha

Breslau it was permitted to print and publish plain words deemed criminal in Cracow and Warsaw. The dogs, in a word,

ency, while Wanda had some property in the neighborhood of Breslau bequeathed to her by her mother. The grim years of 1860 and 1861 had wo

calm frankness which was somehow misunderstood, for the administration never placed him among the suspects. Poland has always been a plain-speaking country, and the Poles, expressing themselves in the roughest of European tongues, a plain-spoken people. They spok

s smooth age, and even Russian officials adopted a conciliatory attitude towards

e moment!" he had boldly said to a great personage from St. Petersburg, and the observation was duly reported in the capital. It was, moreover, said in Warsaw tha

he Cracow Faubourg he passed under the shadow of a palace flying the Russian flag, which palace was his, and had belonged to his ancestors from time immemorial. He had once made the journey to St. Pete

I know. You tell me nothing that I do not know.

went away, sorrowful, like the y

he wanted them. She wanted offices for her bureaucrats on the Krakowski Przedmiescie

and Europe had expressed the de

y unlocked at rare intervals for the passage of the quiet brougham in which the prince or Wanda went and came. The house is just round the corner of the Kotzebue, and therefore faces the Saski Gardens-a quiet spot in this most noisy town. The building is a low one, with a tiled roof and long windows, heavily framed, of which the smaller panes and thick woo

d by humanity on wood and texture-suggested that older comfort

individuality of her own. The difference she brought to the house was a certain brightness and a sort of experimental femininity, which reigned supreme until her English governess came back again to live as a companion with her pupil. Wanda moved the furniture, turned the house round on its staid basis, and made a hundred experiment

re words. He had given his best years to Poland, and now that old age was coming

desires that only he could fulfil, a hundred questions that only he could answer. An

Martin was made of livelier stuff, and rarely stayed long at home. He came and went with a feverish

rance to the garden at the back of the house, which garden could also be entered from an alley leading ro

o abroad at night as much as in the day, and the Krakowski is more crowded after dark than during the afternoon. Kosmaroff had walked some distance behind Prince Martin in the streets. Martin unlocked the gate of the garden and passed in, leaving the gate open with the key in the loc

cold; within were warmth and comfort. Martin went into the long room. At the far end, beneath the lamp and near an

rinkled top-boots, from which the original black had long since been washed away by the waters of the Vistula. He wore his working-clothes as if they were the best habit for this or any other palace. He took Wanda's hand and kissed it in the old

d the prince. "My gout is bad to-nig

n," replied Kosmaroff,

oot, and they blazed up, lighting with

ng to Wanda, and indicating the decanter from which, d

which seemed to indicate that he was almost one of the family. And, indeed, they were closely related, not on

bid you good-bye. As soon as I can get employment I shall go do

able position, "you young men! You think everybody is letha

re to-night in obedience to your opinion that too much secrecy is dangerous because it leads to misunders

the prince's wineglass, which stood at his elbow,

t-that was Wanda's,"

s that so? Then I will take it. I believe in Wa

don," answered Wanda, "and a woman

osmaroff, with hi

way

ed towards the prince

ked, "what is Carto

nguages? We met him in London," answered the p

nding things out-that man. Such is his reputation, at all events. Paul Deulin is another, and he is here. He is a friend of yours, by-the-way; but he is not dangerous, like Cartoner. There is an American here, too. His in

indifferently. He did not attach m

appened. So will Deulin, who is an idler. He never sees that which will give him trouble. He does not write long despatches to the Quai d'Orsay, because he knows that they will not be read there. But

aroff rose, glanc

e no inst

prince. "Except the

Kosmaroff, "we s

be patient in this comfortable house than on the s

ticularly, "of this man Cartoner. He will not betray,

Martin and Wanda and

say?" he said to the prince.

t him-a q

ghtly, turning to her-"she who sees

afraid