"She is in St. Petersburg now. I left her a week ago."
"In Russia! Ah, signore, for her sake, don't allow the young lady to remain there. The baron is all-powerful. He does what he wishes in Russia, and the more merciless he is to the people he governs, the greater rewards he receives from the Czar. I have never been in Russia, but surely it must be a strange country, signore!"
"Well," I said, sitting upon the edge of the bed and looking at him. "Are you prepared to denounce them if I bring the Signorina Heath here, to England?"
"But what is the use, if we have no clear proof," was his evasive reply. I could see plainly that he feared being himself implicated in some extraordinary plot, the exact nature of which he so steadfastly refused to reveal to me.
We talked on for fully half an hour, and from his conversation I gathered that he was well acquainted with Elma.
"Ah, signore, she was such a pleasant and kind-hearted young lady. I always felt very sorry for her. She was in deadly fear of them."
"Because they were thieves?" I hazarded.
"Ah, worse!"
"But why did they induce you to entice me to that house in Lambeth? Why did they so evidently desire that I should be killed?"
"By accident," he interrupted, correcting me. "Always by accident," and he smiled grimly.
"Surely you know their secret motive?" I remarked.
