It was the Jewess who was the Ariadne to this maze.  Seen in the light, at close range, with the enchanting smile which a woman always finds for the man who has won her gratitude by supplementing her deficiency in strength and courage with his own, she was worthier love than ever.  At this view, too, he was sure that, unlike too many of the divas of these spielungs, or dens, she was not one of the stray creatures who sell pleasure to some and give it to others, and for themselves keep only shame—­fatal ignominy, wealth at best very unsubstantial, and if, at last, winners, they laugh—­one would rather see them weeping.

“What’s your name?” she inquired, quickly.  “I am Rebecca Daniels, whom they call on the Bills ’La Belle Stamboulane’—­though I have never been farther east than Prague,” she added with a contemptuous smile.  “That was my father, whose maltreatment you so promptly but I fear so severely chastised.  But your name?” impatiently.

“I am a student of Wilna University, traveling according to custom of the college, through Germany and to make the Italian Art Tour.  I am Claudius Ruprecht.”

“Not noble?” she inquired, sadly, on hearing two Christian names and none of family, for her people treasure the pride of ancestry.

“I am an orphan.  I never knew my family.  Perhaps, as I am of age, I shall soon be informed.  But—­”

“Enough! time is getting on, and we cannot long stay in privacy here—­the passage-way for the performers.  This is Freyers’ Hall, where I sing—­where I was a player.  But my father can speak to you in the public room and see to your safety—­for I fear this night’s affair will end ill.  But do not you fear! neither my father nor I have the powerlessness which that noble ruffian seemed to think is ours.  You, at least, shall be saved—­even though you killed that brute.”

“I do not think that, unless his head is not so hard as his heart.”

She opened a narrow door in the dirty wall.  It was brighter in the capacious place thus shown.

“Go in and sit down anywhere.  My father will be with you in a few minutes.  We were so delayed that they feared we would not arrive for ‘our turn.’  They were glad of the excuse—­I fancy they were told it might occur—­and they are trying to break our agreement.  But never mind! that is but a bread-and-butter business for us.  For you, it will be life and death, if that officer be slain.”

Claudius, the student, mechanically obeyed the gentle impulsion her hand imparted to him on the shoulder, and walked through the side-door.  A number of benches were before him with corresponding narrow tables, and he sat down at one, and looked round.