ndrels?"

The tall, bearded man shook his head with a melancholy air. "Alas!
only two of them, doctor. The other two escaped, warned, no doubt, by
some ruffian in this inn. Still, I have got two and I will do my best
to make them speak before I have done with them."

CHAPTER XVII

Corsini, pale and exhausted from his terrible experiences, sat in
Golitzine's study. General Beilski was there also.

"Now, Signor, we want to get at the bottom of this." It was the Count
who was speaking. Beilski was a devoted adherent of the Czar, and had
been promoted to his high post through the Imperial favour, but he was
not a man of very considerable mentality, and the astute secretary
had, privately, a very poor opinion of him.

Corsini struggled to collect his wandering thoughts.

"It seems all like a very bad and confused dream, your Excellency. I
remember playing at the Zouroff Palace. I had a short conversation
with the Princess Nada. I left early; the Prince accompanied me to
the door. I remember distinctly the hall-porter and an obscure sort
of person lounging in the doorway. I left and walked along in
the direction of my hotel. Suddenly I was surrounded by four
men--footpads, as I surmised. They seized me and drugged me. The rest
is a blank. I woke up in a little bedroom in an obscure inn, with a
kind doctor bending over me. Then, there are sleeping and waking
intervals, and I find myself here in your Excellency's house."

"Can you carry your mind a little farther back, Signor Corsini? You
recognise that you were kidnapped by some persons who desired your
disappearance."

"I understand that perfectly, Count. Let me go back a little. There
are certain suspicious circumstances that recur to me."

Beilski and the Count exchanged significant glances. Golitzine
motioned the young man to proceed.

"I was engaged to play at the Zouroff Palace last night. I had already
acquainted your Excellency with that fact."

The Count nodded a little impatiently. He was anxious to get at the
facts.

"A very singular thought has occurred to me, gentlemen. Madame Quero
was very insistent that I should not play at the Zouroff Palace. On
two occasions she endeavoured strongly to dissuade me, to make me
break my appointment."

The other two men exchanged an even more significant glance. They were
getting close to the truth.

Nello had paused. He seemed desirous to say more, but something kept
him back. Golitzine noticed his he