u Jews use the blood
of Christian children for your beastly ceremonies?"

The woman laughed.

"What sort of man are you that you believe such things?" she asked
contemptuously. "I thought all the comrades in London were educated?"

Yakoff made a little clicking noise with his mouth to betray his
annoyance. And well he might resent this reflection upon his education,
for he held a university degree and had translated six revolutionary
Russian novels into English and French. This, he explained with some
detail, and the girl listened with little interest. She was not
surprised that an educated man should believe the fable of human
sacrifices, which had gained a certain currency in Russia. Only it
seemed to her just a little inexplicable.

The cab turned out of the semi-obscurity of the side street into a
brilliantly lighted thoroughfare and bowled down a broad and busy road.
A drizzle of rain was falling and blurred the glass; but even had the
windows been open, she could not have identified her whereabouts.

"To what place are you taking me?" she asked. "Where is the meeting?"

Yakoff lowered his voice to a husky whisper.

"It is the cafe of the Silver Lion, in a place called Soho," he said.
"Here we meet from day to day and dream of a free Russia. We also play
bagatelle." He gave the English name for the latter. "It is a club and a
restaurant. To-night it is necessary that you should be here, Sophia
Kensky, because of the great happenings which must follow."

She was silent for awhile, then she asked whether it was safe, and he
laughed.

"Safe!" he scoffed. "There are no secret police in London. This is a
free country, where one may do as one wishes. No, no, Sophia Kensky, be
not afraid."

"I am not afraid," she answered, "but tell me, Yakoff, what is this
great meeting about?"

"You shall learn, you shall learn, little sister," said Yakoff
importantly.

He might have added that he also was to learn, for as yet he was in
ignorance.

They drove into a labyrinth of narrow streets and stopped suddenly
before a doorway. There was no sign of a restaurant, and Yakoff
explained, before he got out of the cab, that this was the back
entrance to the Silver Lion, and that most of the brethren who used the
club also used this back door.

He dismissed the cab and pressed a bell in the lintel of the door.
Presently it was opened and they passed in unchallenged. They were in a
small hallway, lighted with a gas-jet. T