rstand, but I found out that a meeting was to
be held at a place I knew of old,--the ruined chapel,--and that Anna
Petrovna was to be there,--my wife, as I supposed.

"The rest of that episode you know. The moment I saw Anne brought out I
realized, or thought I did, for I am not so sure now, that it was a
trap. That big, rough-looking man who carried Anne off--"

"He was the Grand Duke Loris."

"So I guessed when you spoke of him just now; and at the time I knew, of
course, that he was not what he appeared, for he didn't act up to his
disguise."

"He did when it was necessary!" I said emphatically, remembering how he
had slanged the hotel servant that evening at Petersburg.

"Well, he said enough to convince me that I was right, though why he
should trouble himself on our behalf I couldn't imagine.

"We hadn't gone far when we heard firing, and halted to listen. We held
a hurried consultation, and I told him briefly who we were. He seemed
utterly astounded; and now I understand why,--he evidently had thought
Anne was that other. He decided that we should be safer if we remained
in the woods till all was quiet, and then make our way to Petersburg and
claim protection at the English Embassy.

"We went on again; Anne was still insensible, and he insisted on
carrying her,--till we came to a charcoal burner's hut. He told us to
stay there till a messenger came who would guide us to the road, where a
carriage would be in waiting to take us to Petersburg.

"He left us then, and I have never seen him since. But he kept his word,
though it was nearly a week before the messenger came,--a big, surly
man, very lame, as the result of a recent accident, I think."

"Mishka!" I exclaimed.

"He would not tell his name, and said very little one way or the other,
but he took us to the carriage, and we reached the city without
hindrance. Anne was in a dazed condition the whole time,--partly, no
doubt, as a result of the drugs which those scoundrels who kidnapped her
and brought her to Russia had administered. She knew me, but everything
else was almost a blank to her, as it still is. She has only a faint
recollection of the whole affair.

"I secured a passport for her and we started at once, though she wasn't
fit to travel, and the journey nearly killed her. We ought to have
stopped as soon as we were over the frontier, but I wanted to get as far
away from Russia as possible. She just held out till we got to Berlin,
and then b