"The police! Then why except for the pleasure of your company, Herr Musician, should I be wasting my time talking to you?"
"H--m! You are frank at least, holy Father. Come--a drop of rain. We must get on. At least for tonight you shall have cover--in safety."
He chirped to Fra Umberto and the machine rumbled on again. Tanya, cold with fear of the consequences of this generosity, sat trying to think what she must do. And the result of her meditations was precisely nothing. To rise and denounce him would do her cause no good. And so she did not move, deciding to wait for what was to happen, trusting that the secret of the money which she and Markov shared would keep her companion silent as to her hiding place in the vehicle.
She heard the two men talking again, a repetition of what had been said before, but Herr Markov, in spite of his acceptance of the statements of Gregory Hochwald, gave her enemy no inkling of the truth and presently the piano-organ was driven into a rough road and at last stopped. She heard Markov calling--voices in reply and then his directions to Gregory Hochwald to go into the house while he drove Fra Umberto and the hurdy-gurdy around to the stable. It was there in the dim light of a lamp that Tanya, a very pallid, frightened but beautiful Jack-in-the-Box, pushed up the lid of the machine and emerged, confronting her weary companion with the specter of his mistaken generosity.
"He! That--Hochwald!" he muttered aghast when she told him. "Fräulein, you must be mistaken."
"No, no," she whispered. "I would know his voice among a thousand. My bitterest enemy--the cause of all our troubles."
"But you did not see his face."
"I did not need to see it, Herr Markov. You must believe what I say," she insisted. "It is the truth."
He only stared at her, as at a damage he had done. She could see that he was very tired. Since early morning, with but one period of rest, he had been upon his feet and the lines of weariness in his face and at his eyes were deeply scored.
"What could I do, Fräulein," he murmured. "I did not know and you----! Herr Gott! What a situation!"