ister's assistance in rescuing
Corsini.

His sister was in love with Corsini herself. The two rivals had united
to save their common lover, and their measures had been well taken.
The police had met the carriage at Pavlovsk, rescued the drugged and
inanimate Director of the Imperial Opera, and brought him safely back
to St. Petersburg. And, in the capital, so Zouroff was assured by his
spies, he was being safely guarded by Beilski's men. The Government
and the police were proving themselves very cunning, almost as
cunning as Zouroff himself.

So far he had reasoned things out very logically. Now came the one
thing for which he could not account. To La Quero he had given no
details, and as he had not given them to her, she could not
communicate them to his sister. Here was a final stop.

And yet, the carriage containing Corsini, drugged and bound, had been
surrounded at Pavlovsk by the police. Somebody, then, had given
information. Who was that somebody?

His suspicion fell at once on Fritz, the German, chiefly, perhaps,
because Fritz had been found guilty of minor acts of disloyalty in
previous transactions. For a man of his acute intelligence, it was,
perhaps, a little surprising that he did not, at first hand, suspect
Peter.

But Peter had just disarmed his suspicions by handing to him Madame
Quero's card. Yes, Peter was loyal, if every other person was tainted
with treachery.

There emerged from his strenuous efforts to get at the truth some
clear and certain facts, according to his own deductions, which were,
of course, erroneous.

Madame Quero had been informed by Fritz of the actual facts: that
Corsini was to be kidnapped just outside the precincts of the Palace,
that the carriage was to stop on its first stage on the Moscow road at
Pavlovsk.

He had to admit that there were flaws in his reasoning. If Madame
Quero had got this information from Fritz, and she was resolved to
save Corsini, she could have informed the police herself. Why had she
come to the Palace, to invoke the assistance of Nada?

Pending his cogitations, he had recourse to stimulants, as was his
wont on such occasions. Amid the fumes of alcohol he solved the
problem, as he thought. Quero, not wishing to appear herself, had made
his sister her instrument. He ground his teeth, and vowed implacable
revenge upon his once sweetheart, La Belle Quero.

But his anger against his sister was hardly less burning. To think
that this innocent yo