finding therein one righteous man i have compassion on berlin

~1~

my first call upon marguerite had been followed by other visits when we had talked of books and read together. on these occasions i had carefully suppressed my desire to speak of more personal things. but, constantly reminded by my own troubled conscience, i grew fearful lest the old doctor should discover that the books were the lesser part of the attraction that drew me to marguerite's apartment, and my fear was increased as i realized that my calls on zimmern had abruptly ceased.

thinking to make amends i went one evening to the doctor's apartment.

"i was going out shortly," said zimmern, as he greeted me. "i have a dinner engagement with hellar on the free level. but i still have a little time; if it pleases you we might walk along to our library."

i promptly accepted the invitation, hoping that it would enable me better to establish my relation to marguerite and zimmern in a safe triangle of mutual friendship. as we walked, zimmern, as if he read my thoughts, turned the conversation to the very subject that was uppermost in my mind.

"i am glad, armstadt," he said with a gracious smile, "that you and marguerite seem to enjoy each other's friendship. i had often wished there were younger men in our group, since her duties as caretaker of our books quite forbids her cultivating the acquaintance of any men outside our chosen few. marguerite is very patient with the dull talk of us old men, but life is not all books, and there is much that youth may share."

for these words of zimmern's i was quite unprepared. he seemed to be inviting me to make love to marguerite, and i wondered to what extent the prevailing social ethics might have destroyed the finer sensibilities that forbid the sharing of a woman's love.

when we reached the apartment marguerite greeted us with a perfect democracy of manner. but my reassurance of the moment was presently disturbed when she turned to zimmern and said: "now that you are here, i am going for a bit of a walk; i have not been out for two whole days."

"very well," the doctor replied. "i cannot remain long as i have an engagement with hellar, but perhaps armstadt will remain until you return."

"then i shall have him all to myself," declared marguerite with quiet seriousness.

though i glanced from the old doctor to the young woman in questioning amazement, neither seemed in the least embarrassed or aware that anything had been said out of keeping with the customary propriety of life.

marguerite, throwing the blue velvet cape about her bare white shoulders, paused to give the old doctor an affectionate kiss, and with a smile for me was gone.

for a few moments the doctor sat musing; but when he turned to me it was to say: "i hope that you are making good use of our precious accumulation of knowledge."

in reply i assured him of my hearty appreciation of the library.

"you can see now," continued zimmern, "how utterly the mind of the race has been enslaved, how all the vast store of knowledge, that as a whole makes life possible, is parcelled out for each. not one of us is supposed to know of those vital things outside our own narrow field. that knowledge is forbidden us lest we should understand the workings of our social system and question the wisdom of it all. and so, while each is wiser in his own little cell than were the men of the old order, yet on all things else we are little children, accepting what we are taught, doing what we are told, with no mind, no souls of our own. scientists have ceased to be men, and have become thinking machines, specialized for their particular tasks."

"that is true," i said, "but what are we to do about it? you have by these forbidden books acquired a realization of the enslavement of the race--but the others, all these millions of professional men, are they not hopelessly rendered impotent by the systematic suppression of knowledge?"

"the millions, yes," replied zimmern, "but there are the chosen few; we who have seen the light must find a way for the liberation of all."

"do you mean," i asked eagerly, "that you are planning some secret rebellion--that you hope for some possible rising of the people to overthrow the system?"

zimmern looked at me in astonishment. "the people," he said, "cannot rise. in the old order such a thing was possible--revolutions they called them--the people led by heroes conceived passions for liberty. but such powers of mental reaction no longer exist in german minds. we have bred and trained it out of them. one might as well have expected the four-footed beasts of burden in the old agricultural days to rebel against their masters."

"but," i protested, "if the people could be enlightened?"

"how," exclaimed zimmern impatiently, "can you enlighten them? you are young, armstadt, very young to talk of such things--even if a rebellion was a possibility what would be the gain? rebellion means disorder--once the ventilating machinery of the city and the food processes were disturbed we should all perish in this trap--we should all die of suffocation and starvation."

"then why," i asked, "do you talk of this thing? if rebellion is impossible and would, if possible, destroy us all, then is there any hope?"

zimmern paced the floor for a time in silence and then, facing me squarely, he said, "i have confessed to you my dissatisfaction with the existing state. in doing this i placed myself in great danger, but i risked that and now i shall risk more. i ask you now, are you with us to the end?"

"yes," i replied very gravely, "i am with you although i cannot fully understand on what you base your hope."

"our hope," replied zimmern, "is out there in the world from whence come those flying men who rain bombs on the roof of berlin and for ever keep us patching it. we must get word to them. we must throw ourselves upon the humanity of our enemies and ask them to save us."

"but," i questioned, in my excitement, "what can germany expect of the enemy? she has made war against the world for centuries--will that world permit germany to live could they find a way to destroy her?"

"as a nation, no, but as men, yes. men do not kill men as individuals, they only make war against a nation of men. as long as germany is capable of making war against the world so long will the world attempt to destroy her. you, colonel armstadt, hold in your protium secret the power of germany to continue the war against the world. because you were about to gain that power i risked my own life to aid you in getting a wider knowledge. because you now hold that power i risk it again by asking you to use it to destroy germany and save the germans. the men who are with me in this cause, and for whom i speak, are but a few. the millions materially alive, are spiritually dead. the world alone can give them life again as men. even though a few million more be destroyed in the giving have not millions already been destroyed? what if you do save germany now--what does it mean merely that we breed millions more like we now have, soulless creatures born to die like worms in the ground, brains working automatically, stamping out one sort of idea, like machines that stamp out buttons--or mere mouths shouting like phonographs before this gaudy show of royalty?"

"but," i said, "you speak for the few emancipated minds; what of all these men who accept the system--you call them slaves, yet are they not content with their slavery, do they want to be men of the world or continue here in their bondage and die fighting to keep up their own system of enslavement?"

"it makes no difference what they want," replied zimmern, in a voice that trembled with emotion; "we bred them as slaves to the kultur of germany, the thing to do is to stop the breeding."

"but how," i asked, "can men who have been beaten into the mould of the ox ever be restored to their humanity?"

"the old ones cannot," sighed zimmern; "it was always so; when a people has once fallen into evil ways the old generation can never be wholly redeemed, but youth can always be saved--youth is plastic."

"but the german race," i said, "has not only been mis-educated, it has been mis-bred. can you undo inheritance? can this race with its vast horde of workers bred for a maximum of muscle and a minimum of brains ever escape from that stupidity that has been bred into the blood?"

"you have been trained as a chemist," said zimmern, "you despair of the future because you do not understand the laws of inheritance. a specialized type of man or animal is produced from the selection of the extreme individuals. that you know. but what you do not know is that the type once established does not persist of its own accord. it can only be maintained by the rigid continuance of the selection. the average stature of man did not change a centimetre in a thousand years, till we came in with our meddlesome eugenics. leave off our scientific meddling and the race will quickly revert to the normal type.

"that applies to the physical changes; in the mental powers the restoration will be even more rapid, because we have made less change in the psychic elements of the germ plasm. the inborn capacity of the human brain is hard to alter. men are created more nearly equal than even the writers of democratic constitutions have ever known. if the world state will once help us to free ourselves from these shackles of rigid caste and cultured ignorance, this folly of scientific meddling with the blood and brains of man, there is yet hope for this race, for we have changed far less than we pretend, in the marrow we are human still."

the old man sank back in his chair. the fire in his soul had burned out. his hand fumbled for his watch. "i must leave you now," he said; "marguerite should be back shortly. from her you need conceal nothing. she is the soul of our hopes and our dreams. she keeps our books safe and our hearts fine. without her i fear we should all have given up long ago."

with a trembling handclasp he left me alone in marguerite's apartment. and alone too with my conflicting and troubled emotions. he was a lovable soul, ripe with the wisdom of age, yet youthful in his hopes to redeem his people from the curse of this unholy blend of socialism and autocracy that had prostituted science and made a black utopian nightmare of man's millennial dream.

vaguely i wondered how many of the three hundred millions of german souls--for i could not accept the soulless theory of zimmern--were yet capable of a realization of their humanity. to this query there could be no answer, but of one conclusion i was certain, it was not my place to ask what these people wanted, for their power to decide was destroyed by the infernal process of their making--but here at least, my democratic training easily gave the answer that dr. zimmern had achieved by sheer genius, and my answer was that for men whose desire for liberty has been destroyed, liberty must be thrust upon them.

but it remained for me to work out a plan for so difficult a salvation. of this i was now assured that i need no longer work alone, for as i had long suspected, dr. zimmern and his little group of rebellious souls were with me. but what could so few do amidst all the millions? my answer, like zimmern's, was that the salvation of germany lay in the enemies' hands--and i alone was of that enemy. yet never again could i pray for the destruction of the city at the hands of the outraged god--humanity. and i thought of sodom and gomorrah which the god of abraham had agreed to spare if there be found ten righteous men therein.

~2~

from these far-reaching thoughts my mind was drawn sharply back to the fact of my presence in marguerite's apartment and the realization that she would shortly return to find me there alone. i resented the fact that the old doctor and the young woman could conspire to place me in such a situation. i resented the fact that a girl like marguerite could be bound to a man three times her age, and yet seem to accept it with perfect grace. but i resented most of all the fact that both she and zimmern appeared to invite me to share in a triangle of love, open and unashamed.

my bitter brooding was disturbed by the sound of a key turning in the lock, and marguerite, fresh and charming from the exhilaration of her walk, came into the room.

"i am so glad you remained," she said. "i hope no one else comes and we can have the evening to ourselves."

"it seems," i answered with a touch of bitterness, "that dr. zimmern considers me quite a safe playmate for you."

at my words marguerite blushed prettily. "i know you do not quite understand," she said, "but you see i am rather peculiarly situated. i cannot go out much, and i can have no girl friends here, and no men either except those who are in this little group who know of our books. and they, you see, are all rather old, mostly staff officers like the doctor himself, and col. hellar. you rank quite as well as some of the others, but you are ever so much younger. that is why the doctor thinks you are so wonderful--i mean because you have risen so high at so early an age--but perhaps i think you are rather wonderful just because you are young. is it not natural for young people to want friends of their own age?"

"it is," i replied with ill-concealed sarcasm.

"why do you speak like that?" asked marguerite in pained surprise.

"because a burnt child dreads the fire."

"i do not understand," she said, a puzzled look in her eyes. "how could a child be burned by a fire since it could never approach one. they only have fires in the smelting furnaces, and children could never go near them."

despite my bitter mood i smiled as i said: "it is just a figure of speech that i got out of an old book. it means that when one is hurt by something he does not want to be hurt in the same way again. you remember what you said to me in the café about looking up the girl who played the innocent r?le? i did look her up, and you were right about it. she has been, here three years and has a score of lovers."

"and you dropped her?"

"of course i dropped her."

"and you have not found another?"

"no, and i do not want another, and i had not made love to this girl either, as you think i had; perhaps i would have done so, but thanks to you i was warned in time. i may be even younger than you think i am, young at least in experience with the free women of berlin. this is the second apartment i have ever been in on this level."

"why do you tell me this?" questioned marguerite.

"because," i said doggedly, "because i suppose that i want you to know that i have spent most of my time in a laboratory. i also want you to know that i do not like the artful deceit that you all seem to cultivate."

"and do you think i am trying to deceive you?" cried marguerite reproachfully.

"your words may be true," i said, "but the situation you place me in is a false one. dr. zimmern brings me here that i may read your books. he leaves me alone here with you and urges me to come as often as i choose. all that is hard enough, but to make it harder for me, you tell me that you particularly want my company because you have no other young friends. in fact you practically ask me to make love to you and yet you know why i cannot."

in the excitement of my warring emotions i had risen and was pacing the floor, and now as i reached the climax of my bitter speech, marguerite, with a choking sob, fled from the room.

angered at the situation and humiliated by what i had said, i was on the point of leaving at once. but a moment of reflection caused me to turn back. i had forced a quarrel upon marguerite and the cause for my anger she perhaps did not comprehend. if i left now it would be impossible to return, and if i did not come back, there would be explanations to make to zimmern and perhaps an ending of my association with him and his group, which was not only the sole source of my intellectual life outside my work, but which i had begun to hope might lead to some enterprise of moment and possibly to my escape from berlin.

so calming my anger, i turned to the library and doggedly pulled down a book and began scanning its contents. i had been so occupied for some time, when there was a ring at the bell. i peered out into the reception-room in time to see marguerite come from another door. her eyes revealed the fact that she had been crying. quickly she closed the door of the little library, shutting me in with the books. a moment later she came in with a grey-haired man, a staff officer of the electrical works. she introduced us coolly and then helped the old man find a book he wanted to take out, and which she entered on her records.

after the visitor had gone marguerite again slipped out of the room and for a time i despaired of a chance to speak to her before i felt i must depart. another hour passed and then she stole into the library and seated herself very quietly on a little dressing chair and watched me as i proceeded with my reading.

i asked her some questions about one of the volumes and she replied with a meek and forgiving voice that made me despise myself heartily. other questions and answers followed and soon we were talking again of books as if we had no overwhelming sense of the personal presence of each other.

the hours passed; by all my sense of propriety i should have been long departed, but still we talked of books without once referring to my heated words of the earlier evening.

she had stood enticingly near me as we pulled down the volumes. my heart beat wildly as she sat by my side, while i mechanically turned the pages. the brush of her garments against my sleeve quite maddened me. i had not dared to look into her eyes, as i talked meaningless, bookish words.

summoning all my self-control, i now faced her. "marguerite," i said hoarsely, "look at me."

she lifted her eyes and met my gaze unflinchingly, the moisture of fresh tears gleaming beneath her lashes.

"forgive me," i entreated.

"for what?" she asked simply, smiling a little through her tears.

"for being a fool," i declared fiercely, "for believing your cordiality toward me as dr. zimmern's friend to mean more than--than it should mean."

"but i do not understand," she said. "should i not have told you that i liked you because you were young? of course if you don't want me to--to--" she paused abruptly, her face suffused with a delicate crimson.

i stepped toward her and reached out my arms. but she drew back and slipped quickly around the table. "no," she cried, "no, you have said that you did not want me."

"but i do," i cried. "i do want you."

"then why did you say those things to me?" she asked haughtily.

i gazed at her across the narrow table. was it possible that such a woman had no understanding of ideals of honour in love? could it be that she had no appreciation of the fight i had waged, and so nearly lost, to respect the trust and confidence that the old doctor had placed in me. with these thoughts the ardour of my passion cooled and a feeling of pity swept over me, as i sensed the tragedy of so fine a woman ethically impoverished by false training and environment. had she known honour, and yet discarded it, i too should have been unable to resist the impulse of youth to deny to age its less imperious claims.

but either she chose artfully to ignore my struggle or she was truly unaware of it. in either case she would not share the responsibility for the breach of faith. i was puzzled and confounded.

it was marguerite who broke the bewildering silence. "i wish you would go now," she said coolly; "i am afraid i misunderstood."

"and shall i come again?" i asked awkwardly.

she looked up at me and smiled bravely. "yes," she said, "if--you are sure you wish to."

a resurge of passionate longing to take her in my arms swept over me, but she held out her hand with such rare and dignified grace that i could only take the slender fingers and press them hungrily to my fevered lips and so bid her a wordless adieu.

~3~

but despite wild longing to see her again, i did not return to marguerite's apartment for many weeks. a crisis in my work at the laboratory denied me even a single hour of leisure outside brief snatches of food and sleep.

i had previously reported to the chemical staff that i had found means to increase materially the extraction percentage of the precious element protium from the crude imported ore. i had now received word that i should prepare to make a trial demonstration before the staff.

already i had revealed certain results of my progress to herr von uhl, as this had been necessary in order to get further grants of the rare material and of expensive equipment needed for the research, but in these smaller demonstrations, i had not been called upon to disclose my method. now the staff, hopeful that i had made the great discovery, insisted that i prepare at once to make a large scale demonstration and reveal the method that it might immediately be adopted for the wholesale extraction in the industrial works.

if i now gave away the full secret of my process, i would receive compensation that would indeed seem lavish for a man whose mental horizon was bounded by these enclosing walls; yet to me for whom these walls would always be a prison, credit at the banks of berlin and the baubles of decoration and rank and social honour would be sounding brass. but i wanted power; and, with the secret of protium extraction in my possession, i would have control of life or death over three hundred million men. why should i sacrifice such power for useless credit and empty honour? if eitel i of the house of hohenzollern would lengthen the days of his rule, let him deal with me and meet whatever terms i chose to name, for in my chemical retorts i had brewed a secret before which vaunted efficiency and hypocritical divinity could be made to bend a hungry belly and beg for food!

it was a laudable and rather thrilling ambition, and yet i was not clear as to just what terms i would dictate, nor how i could enforce the dictation. to ask for an audience with the emperor now, and to take any such preposterous stand would merely be to get myself locked up for a lunatic. but i reasoned that if i could make the demonstration so that it would be accepted as genuine and yet not give away my secret, the situation would be in my hands. yet i was expected to reveal the process step by step as the demonstration proceeded. there was but one way out and that was to make a genuine demonstration, but with falsely written formulas.

to plan and prepare such a demonstration required more genuine invention than had the discovery of the process, but i set about the task with feverish enthusiasm. i kept my assistants busy with the preparation of the apparatus and the more simple work which there was no need to disguise, while night after night i worked alone, altering and disguising the secret steps on which my great discovery hinged. as these preparations were nearing completion i sent for dr. zimmern and col. hellar to meet me at my apartment.

"comrades," i said, "you have endangered your own lives by confiding in me your secret desires to overthrow the rule of the house of hohenzollern as it was overthrown once before. you have done this because you believed that i would have power that others do not have."

the two old men nodded in grave assent.

"and you have been quite fortunate in your choice," i concluded, "for not only have i pledged myself to your ends, but i shall soon possess the coveted power. in a few days i shall demonstrate my process on a large scale before the chemical staff. but i shall do this thing without revealing the method. the formulas i shall give them will be meaningless. as long as i am in charge in my own laboratory the process will be a success; when it is tried elsewhere it will fail, until i choose to make further revelations.

"so you see, for a time, unless i be killed or tortured into confession, i shall have great power. how then may i use that power to help you in the cause to which we are pledged?"

the older men seemed greatly impressed with my declaration and danced about me and cried with joy. when they had regained their composure zimmern said: "there is but one thing you can do for us and that is to find some way to get word of the protium mines to the authorities of the world state. berlin will then be at their mercy, but whatever happens can be no worse than the continuance of things as they are."

"but how," i said, "can a message be sent from berlin to the outer world?"

"there is only one way," replied hellar, "and that is by the submarines that go out for this ore. the submarine staff are members of the royal house. so, indeed, are the captains. we have tried for years to gain the confidence of some of these men, but without avail. perhaps through your work on the protium ore you can succeed where we have failed."

"and how," i asked eagerly, "do the ore-bringing vessels get from berlin to the sea?"

my visitors glanced at each other significantly. "do you not know that?" exclaimed zimmern. "we had supposed you would have been told when you were assigned to the protium research."

by way of answer i explained that i knew the source of the ore but not the route of its coming.

"all such knowledge is suppressed in books," commented hellar; "we older men know of this by word of mouth from the days when the submarine tunnel was completed to the sea, but you are younger. unless this was told you at the time you were assigned the work it is not to be expected that you would know."

i questioned hellar and zimmern closely but found that all they knew was that a submarine tunnel did exist leading from berlin somewhere into the open sea; but its exact location they did not know. again i pressed my question as to what i could do with the power of my secret and they could only repeat that they staked their hopes on getting word to the outer world by way of submarines.

much as i might admire the strength of character that would lead men to rebel against the only life they knew because they sensed that it was hopeless, i now found myself a little exasperated at the vagueness of their plans. yet i had none better. to defy the emperor would merely be to risk my life and the possible loss of my knowledge to the world. perhaps after all the older heads were wiser than my own rebellious spirit; and so, without making any more definite plans, i ended the interview with a promise to let them know of the outcome of the demonstration.

returning once more to my work i finished my preparations and sent word to the chemical staff that all was ready. they came with solemn faces. the laboratory was locked and guards were posted. the place was examined thoroughly, the apparatus was studied in detail. all my ingredients were tested for the presence of extracted protium, lest i be trying to "salt the mine." but happily for me they accepted my statement as to their chemical nature in other respects. then when all had been approved the test lot of ore was run. it took us thirty hours to run the extraction and sample and weigh and test the product. but everything went through exactly as i had planned.

with solemn faces the chemical staff unanimously declared that the problem had been solved and marvelled that the solution should come from the brain of so young a man. and so i received their adulation and worship, for i could not give credit to the chemists of the world outside to whom i was really indebted for my seeming miraculous genius. telling me to take my rest and prepare myself for an audience with his majesty three days later, the chemical staff departed, carrying, with guarded secrecy, my false formulas.

~4~

exultant and happy i left the laboratory. i had not slept for forty hours and scarcely half my regular allotment for many weeks. and yet i was not sleepy now but awake and excited. i had won a great victory, and i wanted to rejoice and share my conquest with sympathetic ears. i could go to zimmern, but instead i turned my steps toward the elevator and, alighting on the level of the free women, i went straightway to marguerite's apartment.

despite my feeling of exhilaration, my face must have revealed something of my real state of exhaustion, for marguerite cried in alarm at the sight of me.

"a little tired," i replied, in answer to her solicitous questions; "i have just finished my demonstration before the chemical staff."

"and you won?" cried marguerite in a burst of joy. "you deceived them just as the doctor said you would. and they know you have solved the protium problem and they do not know how you did it?"

"that is correct," i said, sinking back into the cushions of the divan. "i have done all that. i came here first to tell you. you see i could not come before, all these weeks, i have had no time for sleep or anything. i would have telephoned or written but i feared it would not be safe. did you think i was not coming again?"

"i missed you at first,--i mean at first i thought you were staying away because you did not want to see me, and then dr. zimmern told me what you were doing, and i understood--and waited, for i somehow knew you would come as soon as you could."

"yes, of course you knew. of course, i had to come--marguerite--" but marguerite faded before my vision. i reached out my hand for her--and it seemed to wave in empty space....

~5~

when i awoke, i was lying on a couch and a screen bedecked with cupids was standing before me. at first i thought i was alone and then i realized that i was in marguerite's apartment and that marguerite herself was seated on a low stool beside the couch and gazing at me out of dreamy eyes.

"how did i get here?" i asked.

"you fell asleep while you were talking, and then some one came for books, and when the bell rang i hid you with the screen."

"how long have i slept?"

"for many hours," she answered.

"i ought not to have come," i said, but despite my remark i made no haste to go, but reached out and ran my fingers through her massy hair. and then i slowly drew her toward me until her luxuriant locks were tumbled about my neck and face and her head was pillowed on my breast.

"i am so happy," she whispered. "i am so glad you came first to me."

for a moment my reason was drugged by the opiate of her touch; and then, as the realization of the circumstances re-formed in my brain, the feeling of guilt arose and routed the dreamy bliss. yet i could only blame myself, for there was no guile in her act or word, nor could i believe there was guile in her heart. gently i pushed her away and arose, stating that i must leave at once.

it was plainly evident that marguerite did not share my sense of embarrassment, that she was aware of no breach of ethics. but her ease only served to impress upon me the greater burden of my responsibility and emphasize the breach of honour of which i was guilty in permitting this expression of my love to a woman whom circumstances had bound to zimmern.

pleading need for rest and for time to plan my interview with his majesty, i hastened away, feeling that i dare not trust myself alone with her again.

~6~

i returned to my own apartment, and when another day had passed, food and sleep had fully restored me to a normal state. i then recalled my promise to inform hellar and zimmern of the outcome of my demonstration. i called at zimmern's quarters but he was not at home. hence i went to call on hellar, to ask of zimmern's whereabouts.

"i have an appointment to meet him tonight," said hellar, "on the level of free women. will you not come along?"

i could not well do otherwise than accept, and hellar led me again to the apartment from which i had fled twenty-four hours before. there we found zimmern, who received me with his usual graciousness.

"i have already heard from marguerite," said zimmern, "of your success."

i glanced apprehensively at the girl but she was in no wise disturbed, and proceeded to relate for hellar's information the story of my coming to her exhausted from my work and of my falling asleep in her apartment. all of them seemed to think it amusing, but there was no evidence that any one considered it the least improper. their matter-of-fact attitude puzzled and annoyed me; they seemed to treat the incident as if it had been the experience of a couple of children.

this angered me, for it seemed proof that they considered marguerite's love as the common property of any and all.

"could it be," i asked myself, "that jealousy has been bred and trained out of this race? is it possible they have killed the instinct that demands private and individual property in love?" even as i pondered the problem it seemed answered, for as i sat and talked with zimmern and hellar of my chemical demonstration and the coming interview with his majesty, marguerite came and seated herself on the arm of my chair and pillowed her head on my shoulder.

troubled and embarrassed, yet not having the courage to repulse her caresses, i stared at zimmern, who smiled on us with indulgence. in fact it seemed that he actually enjoyed the scene. my anger flamed up against him, but for marguerite i had only pity, for her action seemed so natural and unaffected that i could not believe that she was making sport of me, and could only conclude that she had been so bred in the spirit of the place that she knew nothing else.

my talk with the men ended as had the last one, without arriving at any particular plan of action, and when hellar arose first to go, i took the opportunity to escape from what to me was an intolerable situation.

~7~

i separated from hellar and for an hour or more i wandered on the level. then resolving to end the strain of my enigmatical position i turned again toward marguerite's apartment. she answered my ring. i entered and found her alone.

"marguerite," i began, "i cannot stand this intolerable situation. i cannot share the love of a woman with another man--i cannot steal a woman's love from a man who is my friend--"

at this outburst marguerite only stared at me in puzzled amazement. "then you do not want me to love you," she stammered.

"god knows," i cried, "how i do want you to love me, but it must not be while dr. zimmern is alive and you---- "

"so," said a voice--and glancing up i saw zimmern himself framed in the doorway of the book room. the old doctor looked from me to marguerite, while a smile beamed on his courtly countenance.

"sit down and calm yourself, armstadt," said zimmern. "it is time i spoke to you of marguerite and of the relation i bear to her. as you know, i brought her to this level from the school for girls of forbidden birth. but what you do not know is that she was born on the royal level.

"i knew marguerite's mother. she was princess fedora, a third cousin of the empress. i was her physician, for i have not always been in the eugenic service. but marguerite was born out of wedlock, and the mother declined to name the father of her child. because of that the child was consigned to the school for forbidden love-children, which meant that she would be fated for the life of a free woman and become the property of such men as had the price to pay.

"when her child was taken away from her, the mother killed herself; and because i declined to testify as to what i knew of the case i lost my commission as a physician of royalty. but still having the freedom of the school levels, i was permitted to keep track of marguerite. as soon as she reached the age of her freedom i brought her here, and by the aid of her splendid birth and the companionship of thinking men she has become the woman you now find her."

in my jealousy i had listened to the first words of the old doctor with but little comprehension. but as he talked on so calmly and kindly an eager hope leaped up within me. was it possible that it had been i who had misunderstood--and that zimmern's love for marguerite was of another sort than mine?

tensely i awaited his further words, but i did not dare to look at marguerite, who had taken her place beside him.

"i brought her here," zimmern continued, "for there was no other place where she could go except into the keeping of some man. i have given her the work of guarding our books, and for that i could have well afforded to pay for her living.

"you find in marguerite a woman of intelligence, and there are few enough like her. and she finds in you a man of rare gifts, and you are both young, so it is not strange that you two should love each other. all this i considered before i brought you here to meet her. i was happy when marguerite told me that it was so. but your happiness is marred, because you, armstadt, think that i am in the way; you have believed that i bear the relation to marguerite that the fact of my paying for her presence on this level would imply.

"it speaks well of your honour," the doctor went on, "that you have felt as you did. i should have explained sooner, but i did not wish to speak of this until it was necessary to marguerite's happiness. but now that i have spoken there is nothing to stand in the way of your happiness, for marguerite is as worthy of your love as if she had but made her début on the royal level to which she was born. as for what is to be between you, i can only leave it to the best that is in yourselves, and whatever that may be has my blessing."

as i listened to the doctor's words entranced with rapture, the vision of marguerite floated hazily before my eyes as if she were an ethereal essence that might, at any moment, be snatched away. but as the doctor's words ceased my eyes met marguerite's and all else seemed to fade but the love light that shone from out their liquid depths.

forgetting utterly the presence of the man whose words had set us free, our hearts reached out with hungry arms to claim their own.

for us, time lost her reckoning amidst our tears and kisses, and when my brain at last made known to me the existence of other souls than ours, i looked up and found that we were alone. a saucy little clock ticked rhythmically on a mantel. i felt an absurd desire to smash it, for the impudent thing had been running all the while.