CHAPTER XIV

HER HIGHNESS IS INQUISITIVE

Instantly the danger was apparent, and instead of driving back to the

hotel, I called out to the man to take me to the Moscow railway station,

in order to put the spy off the scent. I knew he would follow me, but as

he was on foot, with no drosky in sight, I should be able to reach the

station before he could, and there elude him.

Over the stones we rattled, leaving the lurking agent standing in the

deep shadow, but on turning back I saw him dash across the road to a

by-street, where, in all probability, he had a conveyance in waiting.

Then, after we had crossed the Neva, I countermanded my order to the

man, saying--

"Don't go right up to the station. Turn into the Liteinoi Prospect to

the left, and put me down there. Drive quickly, and I'll pay double

fare."

He whipped his horses, and we turned into that maze of dark, ill-lit,

narrow streets that lies between the Vosnesenski and the Nevski, turning

and winding until we emerged at last into the main thoroughfare again,

and then at last we turned into the street I had indicated--a wide road

of handsome buildings where I knew I was certain to be able to instantly

get another drosky. I flung the man his money, alighted, and two minutes

later was driving on towards the Alexander Bridge, traveling in a circle

back to the hotel. Time after time I glanced behind, but saw nothing of

the Baron's spy, who had evidently gone to the station with all speed,

expecting that I was leaving the capital.

I found Elma in her room, ready dressed to go out, wearing a long

traveling-cloak, and in her hand was a small dressing-case. She was pale

and full of anxiety until I showed her the slip of paper which Otto

Kampf had given me with the address written upon it, and then together

we hurried forth.

The house to which we drove was, we discovered, a large one facing the

Fontanka Canal, one of the best quarters of the town, and on descending

I asked the liveried _dvornick_ for Madame Zurloff, the name which the

"Red Priest" had written.

"You mean the Princess Zurloff," remarked the man through his red beard.

"Whom shall I say desires to see her?"

"Take that," I said, handing to him the piece of paper which, beside the

address, bore a curious cipher-mark like three triangles joined.

He closed the door, leaving us in the wide carpeted hall, the statuary

in which showed us that it was a richly-furnished place, and when a few

minutes later he returned, he conducted us upstairs to a fine gilded

salon, where an elderly gray-haired lady in black stood gravely to

receive us.

"Allow me to present Mademoiselle Elma Heath, Princess," I said,

speaking in French and bowing, and afterwards telling her my own name.

Our hostess welcomed my love in a graceful speech, but I said--

"Mademoiselle unfortunately suffers a terrible affliction. She is deaf

and dumb."

"Ah, how very, very sad!" she exclaimed sympathetically. "Poor girl!

poor girl!" and she placed her hand tenderly upon Elma's shoulder and

looked into her eyes. Then, turning to me, she said: "So the Red Priest

has sent you both to me! You are in danger of arrest, I suppose--you

wish me to conceal you here?"

"I would only ask sanctuary for Mademoiselle," was my reply. "For

myself, I have no fear. I am English, and therefore not a member of the

Party."

"The Mademoiselle fears arrest?"

"There is an order signed for her banishment to Saghalein," I said. "She

was imprisoned at Kajana, the fortress away in Finland, but I succeeded

in liberating her."

"She has actually been in Kajana!" gasped the Princess. "Ah! we have all

heard sufficient of the horrors of that place. And you liberated her!

Why, she is the only person who has ever escaped from that living tomb

to which Oberg sends his victims."

"I believe so, Princess."

"And may I take it, m'sieur, that the reason you risked your life for

her is because you love her? Pardon me for suggesting this."

"You have guessed correctly," I answered. Then, knowing that Elma could

not hear, I added: "I love her, but we are not lovers. I have not told

her of my affection. Hers is a long and strange story, and she will

perhaps tell you something of it in writing."

"Well," exclaimed the gray-haired lady smiling, leading my love across

the luxurious room, the atmosphere of which was filled with the scent of

flowers, and taking off her cloak with her own hands, "you are safe

here, my poor child. If spies have not followed you, then you shall

remain my guest as long as you desire."

"I am sure it is very good of you, Princess," I said gratefully. "Miss

Heath is the victim of a vile and dastardly conspiracy. When I tell you

that she has been afflicted as she is by her enemies--that an operation

was performed upon her in Italy while she was unconscious--you will

readily see in what deadly peril she is."

"What!" she cried. "Have her enemies actually done this? Horrible!"

"She will perhaps tell you of the strange romance that surrounds her--a

mystery which I have not yet been able to fathom. She is a Russian

subject, although she has been educated in England. Baron Oberg himself

is, I believe, her worst and most bitter enemy."

"Ah! the Strangler!" she exclaimed with a quick flash in her dark eyes.

"But his end is near. The Movement is active in Helsingfors. At any

moment now we may strike our blow for freedom."

She was an enthusiastic revolutionist, I could see, unsuspected,

however, by the police on account of her high position in Petersburg

society. It was she who, as I afterwards discovered, had furnished the

large sums of money to Kampf for the continuation of the revolutionary

propaganda, and indeed secretly devoted the greater part of her revenues

from her vast estates in Samara and Kazan to the Nihilist cause. Her

husband, himself an enthusiast of freedom, although of the high

nobility, had been killed by a fall from his horse six years before, and

since that time she had retired from society and lived there quietly,

making the revolutionary movement her sole occupation. The authorities

believed that her retirement was due to the painful loss she had

sustained, and had no suspicion that it was her money that enabled the

mysterious "Red Priest" to slowly but surely complete the plot for the

general uprising.

She compelled me to remove my coat, and tea was served by a Tartar

footman, whose family she explained had been serfs of the Zurloffs for

three centuries, and then Elma exchanged confidences with her by means

of paper and pencil.

"Who is this man Martin Woodroffe, of whom she speaks?" asked the

Princess presently, turning to me.

"I have met him twice--only twice," I replied, "and under strange

circumstances." Then, continuing, I told her something concerning the

incidents of the yacht _Lola_.

"He may be in love with her, and desires to force her into marriage,"

she suggested, expressing amazement at the curious narrative I had

related.

"I think not, for several reasons. One is because I know she holds some

secret concerning him, and another because he is engaged to an English

girl named Muriel Leithcourt."

"Leithcourt? Leithcourt?" repeated the Princess, knitting her brows with

a puzzled air. "Do you happen to know her father's name?"

"Philip Leithcourt."

"And has he actually been living in Scotland?"

"Yes," I answered in quick anxiety. "He rented a shoot called Rannoch,

near Dumfries. A mysterious incident occurred on his estate--a double

murder, or murder and suicide; which is not quite clear--but shortly

afterwards there appeared one evening at the house a man named Chater,

Hylton Chater, and the whole family at once fled and disappeared."

Princess Zurloff sat with her lips pressed close together, looking

straight at the silent girl before her. Elma had removed her hat and

cloak, and now sat in a deep easy chair of yellow silk, with the

lamplight shining on her chestnut hair, settled and calm as though

already thoroughly at home. I smiled to myself as I thought of the

chagrin of Woodroffe when he returned to find his victim missing.

"Your Highness evidently knows the Leithcourts," I hazarded, after a

brief silence.

"I have heard of them," was her unsatisfactory reply. "I go to England

sometimes. When the Prince was alive, we were often at Claridge's for

the season. The Prince was for five years military _attaché_ at the

Embassy under de Staal, you know. What I know of the Leithcourts is not

to their credit. But you tell me that there was a mysterious incident

before their flight. Explain it to me."

At that moment the long white doors of the handsome salon were thrown

open by the faithful Tartar servitor, and there entered a man whose hair

fell over the collar of his heavy overcoat, but whom, in an instant, I

recognized as Otto Kampf.

Both Elma and I sprang to our feet, while advancing to the Princess he

bent and gallantly kissed the hand she held forth to him. Then he shook

hands with Elma, and acknowledging my own greetings, took off his coat

and threw it upon a chair with the air of an accustomed visitor.

"I come, Princess, in order to explain to you," he said. "Mademoiselle

fears rearrest, and the only house in Petersburg that the police never

suspect is this. Therefore I send her to you, knowing that with your

generosity you will help her in her distress."

"It is all arranged," was her Highness's response. "She will remain

here, poor girl, until it is safe for her to get out of Russia." Then,

after some further conversation, and after my well-beloved had made

signs of heartfelt gratitude to the man known from end to end of the

Russian empire as "The Red Priest," the Princess turned to me, saying:

"I would much like to know what occurred before the Leithcourts left

Scotland."

"The Leithcourts!" exclaimed Kampf in utter surprise. "Do you know the

Leithcourts--and the English officer Durnford?"

I looked into his eyes in abject amazement. What connection could Jack

Durnford, of the Marines, have with the adventurer Philip Leithcourt?

I, however, recollected Jack's word, when I had described the visit of

the _Lola_ to Leghorn, and further I recollected that very shortly he

would be back in London from his term of Mediterranean service.

"Well," I said after a pause, "I happen to know Captain Durnford very

well, but I had no idea that he was friendly with Leithcourt."

The Red Priest smiled, stroking his white beard.

"Explain to her Highness what she desires to know, and I will tell you."

My eyes met Elma's, and I saw how intensely eager and interested she

was, watching the movement of my lips and trying to make out what words

I uttered.

"Well," I said, "a mysterious tragedy occurred on the edge of a wood

near the house rented by Leithcourt--a tragedy which has puzzled the

police to this day. An Italian named Santini and his wife were found

murdered."

"Santini!" gasped Kampf, starting up. "But surely he is not dead?"

"No. That's the curious part of the affair. The man who was killed was a

man disguised to represent the Italian, while the woman was actually the

waiter's wife herself. I happen to know the man Santini well, for both

he and his wife were for some years in my employ."

The Princess and the director of the Russian revolutionary movement

exchanged quick glances. It was as though her Highness implored Kampf to

reveal to me the truth, while he, on his part, was averse to doing so.

"And upon whom does suspicion rest?" asked her Highness.

"As far as I can make out, the police have no clue whatever, except one.

At the spot was found a tiny miniature cross of one of the Russian

orders of chivalry--the Cross of Saint Anne."

"There is no suspicion upon Leithcourt?" she asked with some undue

anxiety I thought.

"No."

"Did he entertain any guests at the shooting-box?"

"A good many."

"No foreigners among them?"

"I never met any. They seemed all people from London--a smart set for

the most part."

"Then why did the Leithcourts disappear so suddenly?"

"Because of the appearance of the man Chater," I replied. "It is evident

that they feared him, for they took every precaution against being

followed. In fact, they fled leaving a big party of friends in the

house. The man Woodroffe, now at the Hotel de Paris, is a friend of

Leithcourt as well as of Chater."

"He was not a guest of Leithcourt when this man representing Santini was

assassinated?" asked Kampf, again stroking his beard.

"No. As soon as Woodroffe recognized me as a visitor he left--for

Hamburg."

"He was afraid to face you because of the ransacking of the British

Consul's safe at Leghorn," remarked the Princess, who, at the same

moment, took Elma's hand tenderly in her own and looked at her. Then,

turning to me, she said: "What you have told us to-night, Mr. Gregg,

throws a new light upon certain incidents that had hitherto puzzled us.

The mystery of it all is a great and inscrutable one--the mystery of

this poor unfortunate girl, greatest of all. But both of us will

endeavor to help you to elucidate it; we will help poor Elma to crush

her enemies--these cowardly villains who had maimed her."

"Ah, Princess!" I cried. "If you will only help and protect her, you

will be doing an act of mercy to a defenseless woman. I love her--I

admit it. I have done my utmost: I have striven to solve the dark

mystery, but up to the present I have been unsuccessful, and have only

remained, even till to-day, the victim of circumstance."

"Let her stay with me," the kindly woman answered, smiling tenderly upon

my love. "She will be safe here, and in the meantime we will endeavor to

discover the real and actual truth."

And in response I took the Princess's hand and pressed it fervently.

Although that striking, white-headed man and the rather stiff, formal

woman in black were the leaders of the great and all-powerful movement

in Russia known through the civilized world as "The Terror," yet they

were nevertheless our friends. They had pledged themselves to help us

thwart our enemies.

I scribbled a few hasty words upon paper and handed it to Elma. And for

answer she smiled contentedly, looking into my eyes with an expression

of trust, devotion and love.