besought him how such a thing could
be. He replied by asking to whom the letter was addressed. I said in a
foreign language,--English I do not understand. He pondered and said it
might be sent by a spy to the Russian police. He added that it might
mean hanging for me; I was afraid it was so, then in my fright I drank
more brandy. My head reeled, but I was less afraid. I laughed once more.
I asked him what he would do. He requested to see the letter. I was
angry. 'Fool,' he said, 'not to open it; just to see the address. That
will tell. No one will know.' I gave it to him. He pushed the brandy to
me as he puzzled over the odd letters. When I looked up from the bottle,
he was staring at me, his eyes big and scared. 'It is as I thought,' he
said, in a whisper one uses near the graveyard at night. I hardly knew
what to do, Excellency, so I wandered in the forest. I fear I was drunk
from the brandy. The rest Her Highness can tell you," and the man wiped
the perspiration from his brow.

"We found him skulking in the forest; not twenty minutes ago,"
supplemented Trusia. "His actions were so mysterious and his speech so
reprehensible that we brought him here."

Carter, regarding the whole affair as a delusion--a bubble soon broken,
brought the matter to an issue.

"Don't you think," he suggested confidently, "that Johann should produce
the incriminating document. I think it will turn out to be a certain
message to one Henry Jarvis, Broker, William Street, New York." He came
forward to stand beside Sobieska at the table, as Johann took out a
bulky envelope from a dispatch box and placed it before the Minister.
Trusia, too, had drawn near. The trio started involuntarily as they read
the address of Russia's sub-minister of Secret Police in Warsaw staring
them in the face. Trusia gasped and turned white. Sobieska walked to the
door, closed it gently and returned to the table.

"Who was your friendly counselor?" he demanded of Johann.

"I dare not tell you," the fellow replied doggedly.

"If I have to ask Posner at the inn, it will go hard with you, Johann."

"He does not know; we did not drink at Posner's."

"That is certainly a clever imitation of my writing," said Carter, who
had been carefully studying the characters on the envelope. Sobieska
looked up. "You do not believe me capable of communicating with your
enemies!" He appealed to the girl, whose white face was staring at the
oblong packet lying on the table.

"I d