ht I shall have a good chance of being frozen to
death."

Just as it was getting dark the man came in again with another blanket
and a flat earthenware pan half full of sand, on which was burning a
handful or two of sticks; he placed a bundle of wood beside it.

"That is more cheerful by a long way," Godfrey said to himself as the
man, who had maintained absolute silence on each of his visits, left the
cell. "No doubt they have been making a lot of inquiries about me, and
find that I have not been in the habit of frequenting low company. I
should not have had these indulgences if they hadn't. Well, it will be
an amusement to keep this fire up. The wood is as dry as a bone luckily,
or I should be smoked out in no time, for there is not much ventilation
through that narrow loophole."

The warmth of the fire and the additional blanket made all the
difference, and in a couple of hours Godfrey was sound asleep. When he
woke it was broad daylight, and although he felt cold it was nothing to
what he had experienced on the previous morning. At about eleven
o'clock, as near as he could guess, for his watch and everything had
been removed when he was searched, the door was opened and a prison
official with two warders appeared. By these he was conducted to the
same room where he had been first examined. Neither of the officers who
had then been there was present, but an elderly man sat at the centre of
the table.

"Godfrey Bullen," he said, "a careful investigation has been made into
your antecedents, and with one exception, and that not, for various
reasons, an important one, we have received a good report of you. Ivan
Petrovytch tells us that you work in his office from breakfast-time till
five in the afternoon, and that your evenings are at your own disposal,
but that you generally dine with him. He gave us the names of the
families with which you are acquainted, and where, as he understood, you
spend your evenings when you are not at the Skating Club, where you
generally go on Tuesdays and Fridays at least. We learn that you did
spend your evenings with these families, and we have learned at the club
that you are a regular attendant there two or three times a week, and
that your general associates are:" and he read out a list which
included, to Godfrey's surprise, the names of every one of his
acquaintances there. "Therefore we have been forced to come to the
conclusion that your story, incredible as it appeared, is a tru