cried Corsini.

"Wrong again, my friend; you have not yet quite got the analytical
faculty that makes a great detective. I had the maid before me again,
this time more terrified than before. If I had stretched her on the
rack, she could not have poured it forth more fully."

"And the outcome?" was Corsini's eager question.

"What I had made up my mind was the fact. Zouroff is not the man to
impart the details of his plans to any but his immediate instruments.
He imparted them neither to Quero nor his sister."

He related to Corsini what the reader already knows. The visit of the
singer to the Princess, of her suspicion that a plot was on foot
against the Italian, of her suggestion that Nada should institute some
inquiries in the Zouroff household, of the valet, Peter's, confidence
to Katerina, the Princess's swift deductions from these revelations.

"I have gone farther," concluded the General. "I have interrogated
that scoundrel, Peter, as to what he knows about his master's general
projects, and more especially your abduction. But I have not given
poor little Katerina away, or the young Princess. I have led him to
infer that I was acting on the confession of the two scoundrels we
have got in custody."

"And what attitude did he take?"

"At first, one of stupidity, complicated with sullen defiance. But
towards the end of the interview, I could see that his heart was being
softened. I told him to consider it carefully; full confession and a
full pardon, or--the utmost rigour of the law."

"And he will at once tell Zouroff," suggested Corsini. "That is, if
he is really loyal to the Prince."

Beilski shrugged his shoulders. "He may and he may not. I expect he
will be thinking chiefly of his own skin. On the other hand, ruffians
like the Prince have a remarkable knack of attracting loyalty. At any
rate, it does not matter. In a couple of days I should have laid my
hands on him for this matter alone--I have no doubt they would have
taken you to some lonely place and finished you off--but I shall wait,
if necessary, a little longer for the report of your visit to the
villa. If that is what we expect it to be, we will have done with this
gentleman, once and for all."

"Amen!" cried Corsini, fervently. In spite of his English upbringing,
he had in him the true spirit of Italian revenge. He loved the
Princess Nada, but for her brother, who would have taken his life, he
had no mercy.

He walked home to his hotel, f