ing hand or a gesture of
farewell directed towards my friend. But I saw none to which he seemed
to respond, until the ship was well into the current, when he suddenly
raised his hand and waved it.

At the same instant he took me by the arm and we returned to our
conveyance.

The following day at the club he came to me and placed a sealed
envelope in my hand. It bore no address or superscription of any kind;
but he said in giving it to me:

"Dan, I wish you would put this sealed envelope inside one of your
pockets and carry it with you carefully until the time arrives to open
it."

"When will that be?" I asked him.

"It will be when, some day in the future, you shall be about to depart
from the city of St. Petersburg." And as I showed some astonishment in
my face, he continued: "Fate, or inclination, will take you there
again, sometime, and the day will naturally follow when you will leave
it. Count this sealed envelope as one of the mysteries in which I
delight to wrap myself. But remember what I have asked you to do."

"Repeat it," I said to him.

"When you are about to take your departure from the city of St.
Petersburg, if you should go there again, break the seal of this
envelope and read the contents of a message I have written; or if your
business should detain you there continuously, read it anyhow after six
months. That is all."

"And if I should not go there?" I asked him.

"In that case, keep the letter until you see me again, and return it
unopened."

Some months later I was in St. Petersburg.

CHAPTER V

IN THE PRESENCE OF THE CZAR

I had been in St. Petersburg less than an hour and was still pondering
over the uncertainty of what first to do in order to begin the
difficult task that I had set for myself, when I was startled by a
sharp summons at my door.

It opened before I could respond, and a total stranger entered the
room. That he was an officer of that mysterious force known as the
Russian Secret Police I had not a doubt, but I greeted him courteously,
pretending not to see that there were others with him, who waited in
the hallway.

"I believe I have the honor of addressing Mr. Derrington," he said in
perfect English, making use of my true name which however, was not the
one mentioned in my passports, for I had crossed the border under the
name of Smith. I bowed and indicated a chair which he declined with a
wave of his hand but with a smile that was as genial as his face