her; why the safe in the
British Consulate was rifled, and why the unfortunate girl, kept a
prisoner on board, was taken on shore just before the hurried sailing of
the vessel. And there are other mysteries which the English police are
trying to solve, namely, the reason Armida Santini and a man disguised
as her husband died in Scotland at the hand of an assassin. But surely I
need say no more. It is surely sufficient to convince you that if the
truth were spoken, the revelations would be distinctly awkward."

"For whom?" he asked, opening his eyes.

"For you. Come, Baron," I said, "can we not yet speak frankly?"

But he was silent for a moment, a fact which was in itself proof that my
pointed argument had caused him to reconsider his intention of sending
me under escort back to that castle of terror.

If my journey there was in order to meet my love, I would not have
cared. It was the ignorance of her whereabouts or of her fate that held
me in such deep, all-consuming anxiety. Each hour that passed increased
my fond and tender affection for her. And yet what irony of
circumstance! She had been cruelly snatched from me at the very moment
that freedom had been ours.

I think it was well that I assumed that air of defiance with the man who
had ground Finland beneath his heel. He was unused to it. No one dared
to go against his will, or to utter taunt or threat to him. He was
paramount, with all the powers of an emperor--the power, indeed, of life
and death. Therefore he was not in the habit of being either thwarted or
criticised, and I could see that my words had aroused within him a
boiling tumult of resentment and of rage. I told him nothing of the loss
of my wallet or of the precious document that it had contained. My
defiance was merely upon principle.

"Arrest me if you like. Denounce me by means of any lie that arises to
your lips, but remember that the truth is known beyond the confines of
the Russian Empire, and for that reason traces will be sought of me and
full explanation demanded. I have taken precaution, Xavier Oberg," I
added, "therefore do your worst. I repeat again that I defy you!"

He paced the big room, his thin claw-like hands still clenched, his
yellow teeth grinding, his dark, deep-set eyes fixed straight before
him. If he had dared, he would have struck me down at his feet. But he
did not dare. I saw too plainly that even though my wallet was gone I
still held the trump-card--that he feared