fusion at the chateau, and the few who knew that two children were
born doubtless believed one had died.

"For the rest, Natalya remained in the Ghetto for some three years, and
then rejoined the Count at the old house near Ziscky,--the hunting
lodge. It was all he had left; though he had patched up a peace with the
Government. He had friends at Court in those days.

"You know what the child became. He trained her deliberately to that end
as long as he lived; taught her also that her father deserted her and
her mother in the hour of need,--left them to their fate. It was a cruel
revenge to take."

"It was!" I said emphatically. "But when did she learn she had a
sister?"

"That I do not know. I think it was not long before she came to England
last; she had often been here before, for brief visits only. She came on
the yacht then, with my master; it was their honeymoon, and we had been
cruising for some weeks,--the only peaceful time she had ever had in her
life. He wished her never to return to Russia; to go with him to South
America, or live in England. But she would not; she loved him, yes, but
she loved the Cause more; it was her very life, her soul!

"The yacht lay off Greenwich for the night; she meant to land next day,
and come up to see Selinski. She had never happened to meet him, though
he was one of the Five."

"Selinski! Cassavetti! Mishka, it was not she who murdered him!"

"No, it was Stepan Vassilitzi who killed him, and he deserved it, the
hound! I had somewhat to do with it also; for I had come to London in
advance, and was to rejoin the yacht that night. Near the bridge at
Westminster whom should I meet but Yossof, whom I thought to be in
Russia; and he told me that which made me bundle him into a cab and
drive straight to Greenwich.

"The Countess Anna--she was Grand Duchess then, though we never
addressed her so--made her plan speedily, as she ever did. She slipped
away, with only her cousin Stepan and I. My master did not know. He
thought she was in her cabin after dinner.

"We rowed swiftly up the river,--the tide was near flood,--and I waited
in the boat while they went to Selinski's; Yossof had given them the
key. They found his paper, with all the evidences of his treachery to
the League and to her. Selinski came in at the moment when their task
was finished, and Stepan stabbed him to the heart. It was not her wish;
she would have spared him, vile though he was! Well, it is all one now.