ad to foot roughly enough, and all the contents of my pockets annexed,
as well as the handkerchief. Then I was unceremoniously thrust into a
filthy cell, and left there, in a state of rage and humiliation that can
be better imagined than described. I seemed to have been there for half
a lifetime, though I found afterwards it was only about two hours, when
I was fetched out, and brought before the chief of the bureau,--a
pompous and truculent individual, with shifty bead-like eyes.

My belongings lay on the desk before him,--with the exception of my
loose cash, which I never saw again.

He began to question me arrogantly, but modified his tone when I
asserted that I was an American citizen, resident in Petersburg as
representative of an English newspaper; and reminded him that, if he
dared to detain me, he would have to reckon with both the American and
English authorities.

"That is all very well; but you have yet to explain how you came to be
breaking the law," he retorted.

"What law have I broken?" I demanded.

"You were running away."

"I was not. I was running after a droshky."

"Why?"

"Because there was a woman in it--a lady--an Englishwoman or American,
who called out to me to help her."

"Who was the woman?"

"How should I know?" I asked blandly. I remembered what Von Eckhardt
had told me,--that the police had been on Anne's track for these three
years past. If the peril in which she was now placed was from the
revolutionists, as it must be, I could not help her by betraying her to
the police.

"You say she was English or American? Why do you say so?"

"Because she called out in English: 'Help! Save me!' I heard the words
distinctly, and started to run after the droshky. Wouldn't you have done
the same in my place? I guess you're just the sort of man who'd be first
to help beauty in distress!"

This was sarcasm and sheer insolence. I couldn't help it, he looked such
a brutal little beast! But he took it as a compliment, and actually
bowed and smirked, twirling his mustache and leering at me like a satyr.

"You have read me aright, Monsieur," he said quite amiably. "So this
lady was beautiful?"

"Well, I can't say. I didn't really see her; the droshky drove off the
very instant she called out. One of the horses had been down, and I was
standing to look at it," I explained, responding diplomatically to his
more friendly mood. I wanted to get clear as soon as possible, for I
knew that every mom