On the reverse side Wenk read: “You are warned. The reason I did not take your twenty thousand marks is my affair alone. The transaction lies between you and me. Play is play, and no State Attorney has anything to do with it.” Wenk was staggered. “Yes, yes, yes,” he said, and found no other words to express the storm which raged within him. Then after a while, as he collected himself, he said: “We sat near him, you and I! We could have seized him by the arm, one on each side, you ... and I! Do you understand?” “I am shadowed!” whispered Hull, who seemed to have no thought of anything except his immediate danger. “Do you understand? Do you know who Balling is? Your Balling? your distinguished old gentleman? It is the man with the fair beard who was at Schramm’s. He is your Herr Balling! Good heavens!... We could have put our hands on his shoulder!” Hull merely gasped. Now he knew why the sandy-bearded man had seemed familiar to him; his were the large, fierce grey eyes! “Yes,” he said, “it _is_ the same man!” “He has disappeared,” exclaimed Wenk; “he no longer comes to Schramm’s. And as for you, Herr Hull, we shall henceforth have you under our special care, but you must endeavour to meet our wishes and be constantly on your guard.” IV Hull departed, and Wenk, alone with the impressions which the evening’s experiences had left on his mind, asked himself, “Why did the fair unknown try to get away so secretly? Have I made another mistake? Has my helping her in her flight placed a weapon in the hand which would strike at me and my work?” His agitation increased, but he dismissed his doubts of the lady. No, he felt he could rely upon her. And now the realization of the connection between Hull and the gambler, and all the other stories about the latter, set his mind working in a fresh direction, and other ideas began to develop. He seemed to hear the beating of the wings of some new and mighty force that was invading his life. Conflicts were going on in his physical nature, his phantasy, his nervous energy and endurance. His knowledge of men and his dominion over them were being put to the test. Thinking fiercely, he smoked cigar after cigar, and clouds of smoke surrounded him. It was spring-time, storm, sunshine, and again storm, in his blood. His muscles were engaged in an imaginary and heroic conflict with mysterious and mighty giants who were seeking to strangle his fellow-men. He had seized one of them by the false reddish beard which he had assumed, in semblance of humanity.