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Between the Bednarska and the bridge which towers above the low-roofed houses fifty yards farther down the river are the landing-stages for the steamers that ply in summer. There is a public bath, and at one end of this floating erection a landing-stage for smaller boats, where as often as not Kosmaroff found work. It was to this landing-stage that Martin directed his steps.
They were talking together in a low voice. One of them gave a laugh as Martin passed. He recognized the voice as that of a friend a young Cossack officer who had lunched with him two days earlier. Soon after midnight he made his way down the steep Bednarska. He had found out that the Bukaty Palace was surrounded; had seen the light filtering through the dripping panes of the conservatory.
At length the Frenchman rose and took his leave, making an appointment to dine with Cartoner that evening. Out in the street he took off his hat to high heaven again. "More lies!" he murmured, humbly. At the foot of the steep and narrow Bednarska the street running down from the Cracow Faubourg to the river there are always many workers. It is here that the bathing-houses and the boat-houses are.
A few hundred yards higher up the river, between the Bednarska and the spacious Jerozolimska Alley, many carts and men work all day in the sand which the Vistula deposits along her low banks.
She usually went to the Saski Gardens, the avenues of which were daily swept and kept clear of snow; and as often as not, she accidentally met Prince Martin Bukaty there. Sometimes she crossed the bridge to Praga, and occasionally turned her steps down the Bednarska to the side of the river which was blocked by ice now, wintry and desolate.
"I must go," she said; "I have been here much more than five minutes. Why did you let me stay? Oh why did you make me come?" And she hurried towards the gate, Kosmaroff walking by her side. "You will come again," he said. "Now that you have come once you cannot be so cruel. Now that you know. I am nearly always at the river, at the foot of the Bednarska.
And Kosmaroff, perceiving this interest, slightly changed his manner. "Ah! you are looking at my clothes," he said, rather less formally. "In Poland things are not always what they seem, mademoiselle. Yes, I am a Pole. I am a boatman, and keep my boat at the foot of Bednarska Street, just above the bridge.
But she was conscious of a conviction that he had merely to come again, and he would regain at once the place he had so suddenly and violently taken in her thoughts. She knew that he was in the background of her mind, as it were, and might come forward at any moment. She often walked down the Bednarska to the river, and displayed much interest in the breaking up of the ice.
"There is only one chance of escape," Kosmaroff had said "the river. Meet me on the steps at the bottom of the Bednarska at half-past twelve. I will get a boat. Have you money?" "I have a few roubles I never had many," answered Martin. "Get more if you can get some food if you can a bottle of vodka may make the difference between life and death. Keep your coat."
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