will give you instructions--or, if you so
desire, ask his Majesty yourself."

"And why, pray, does his Majesty concern himself about you?" he asked,
at once puzzled.

"You will learn later, after I am confined in Kajana and your secret is
known in Petersburg."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean," I said, "I mean that I have taken all the necessary steps to
be forearmed against you. The day I am incarcerated by your order, the
whole truth will be known. I shall not be the sufferer--but you will."

My words, purposely enigmatical, misled him. He saw the drift of my
argument, and being of course unaware of how much I knew, he was still
in fear of me. My only uncertainty was of the actual fate of poor Elma.
My wallet had been stolen--with a purpose, without a doubt--for the
thief had deprived me of that most important of all documents, the open
sesame to every closed door, the ukase of the Czar.

"You defy me!" he said hoarsely, turning back to the window with the
written order for my imprisonment as a political still in his hand. "But
we shall see."

"You rule Finland," I said in a hard tone, "but you have no power over
Gordon Gregg."

"I have power, and intend to exert it."

"For your own ruin," I remarked with a self-confident smile. "You may
give your torturers orders to kill me--orders that a fatal accident
shall occur within the fortress--but I tell you frankly that my death
will neither erase nor conceal your own offenses. There are others, away
in England, who are aware of them, and who will, in order to avenge my
death, speak the truth. Remember that although Elma Heath has been
deprived of both hearing and of speech, she can still write down the
true facts in black and white. The Czar may be your patron, and you his
favorite, but his Majesty has no tolerance of officials who are guilty
of what you are guilty of. You talk of arresting me!" I added with a
smile. "Why, you ought rather to go on your knees and beg my silence."

He went white with rage at my cutting sarcasm. He literally boiled over,
for he saw that I was quite cool and had no fear of him or of the
terrible punishment to which he intended to consign me. Besides which,
he was filled with wonder regarding the exact amount of information
which Elma had imparted to me.

"There are certain persons," I went on, "to whom it would be of intense
interest to know the true reason why the steam-yacht _Lola_ put into
Leghorn; why I was entertained on board