"May I introduce myself," said he. "I am Kaas--fellow-partner Isadore Kaas." "Pleased to meet you," said Van Lieverlee. And Johannes also received a handshake. "Have you come to register yourself?" the partner asked. "In what?" asked Johannes, who had not yet exactly gotten the idea of things. "In the proletarian class?" "As a member of the party," said Kaas. "What does that imply?" asked Johannes, hesitating. "It implies," said Felbeck, "that you renounce the privileges of the class to which you are native, and that you range yourself, under the red flag, in the ranks of the International Workingmen's Party--with the struggling proletariat--the party of the future." "Then what have I to do?" "Sign your name, make a small contribution, attend the meetings, read our paper, spread our doctrines, and vote for our candidates in the elections." "Nothing else?" asked Johannes. "Well, is not that enough?" "Did you not speak of privileges I must renounce?" "There, there!" said partner Kaas, "do not make too much of that, to begin with. Don't be frightened. For the present, nothing further is required of you." "Oh, I was not afraid," said Johannes, a trifle vexed that he should have been misunderstood. "I was even hoping that I might be able to do more." "So much the better! So much the better!" said Kaas, stepping hurriedly over to his desk again, and eagerly hunting for a pen. "That settles it. Your name, if you please." But Johannes was not, for the time being, in a very compliant mood. Since he had dared the octopus he had found that he had more than one string to his bow. "No, I came for something else. I have a dear friend who lives and works for the poor and oppressed. I am looking for him. I saw him last, at the great strike of the miners, in Germany. Since that time I have heard nothing from him, but I know, surely, that he is with the working people. Mijnheer van Lieverlee has told me that you were in the midst of the labor movement. Could you not help me?" "What's his name?" asked Dr. Felbeck. "They know him as Markus," replied Johannes, although it cost him an effort to speak the dear name in that place. "Markus?" repeated the gentleman, considering. "Markus only?" "Markus Vis," said Johannes, with yet more reluctance. "Oh! He!" exclaimed partner Kaas. "Markus Vis?" said Felbeck, turning round to the others in the office. "Is that--?" "Yes, yes!" interrupted Kaas, "the very same who caused that row at the Exchange." "Gee! That confounded anarchist!" cried one of the soft-hatted smokers. "Is he a friend of yours?" asked Dr. Felbeck, with a disdainful sniff. "Yes, Mijnheer, my best friend," said Johannes, firmly. "Well, young man, you consort with odd and dangerous friends. "Do you know where he is?" asked Johannes, quite undisturbed. "Not I," declared Felbeck, scornfully. "Do any of you happen to know?" "I rather think somewhere in the neighborhood of Bedlam," said another man.