BY ORDER OF THE CZAR. 389
Consul at St. Petersburg; Dick's surprise on its receipt, his hurried councils with Philip's mother and friends, and his prompt expedition to Siberia were told with journalistic effect. Dick's kindly reception at the hands of the Russian officials, the usefulness of his early experiences as a war correspondent in expediting his inarch, his adventures by land and river, and the scene by the tragic frontier pillar were quoted in all the journals, and eagerly devoured by the public. But Jenkins secundus was altogether at fault when he endeavored to indicate the part which the Countess Stravensky had played in this extraordinary drama.
The mystery of the story indeed was untouched. The Countess Stravensky had disappeared as completely as if she had never existed. Neither the police nor Dick Chet- wynd had solved the Stravensky problem, and Philip Forsyth kept his own counsel in regard to that notable person kept it with a dogged silence that no one could weaken. The young artist had come home again entirely changed in manners and habit, and strangely altered in appearance. Pale, thoughtful, and with the strongest tendency to look upon the ground, Philip now appeared to live in a world of his own ; and, happily for himself and for Art, he devoted himself with a calm intensity to his work. Back again at the studio beyond Primrose Hill, he lived there for days together without making his appearance at his mother's, or visiting the Chetwynd household. On quiet evenings he might be seen strolling over the Hill, or smoking a cigar upon one of its highest seats. As a rule, he began work with daylight, and only laid down his brushes at the approach of night. His models were queer people, mostly selected from foreign emigrants and Eastern sailors at the London Docks. For months his only recre- ation appeared to be in continual visits to the Port of London. He made sketches of the Jewish refugees from Russian Poland and other districts, and occasionally
