ing the spy, and smiling up at the prince.

The fellow was evidently not a Russian. He was a tall man, lithe and
sinewy rather than muscular, but he had a handsome, Patrician face; and
despite his condition of insensibility, or perhaps because of it, he
seemed strangely out of place in the predicament in which he was now
discovered.

It was an extremely fortunate thing that I had become sensible of his
presence in the room almost from the first, and that I had been able,
therefore, to direct the conversation and my line of conduct, to the
point of the present denouement. I could realize just how shocked
Prince Michael was by the event; just how puzzled his own reasoning
powers were for the moment, because of this discovery of a spy
concealed in the private room of the palace, who might, if I had not so
fortunately discovered him, have betrayed the real purpose of my
presence there, even before the accomplishment of any results.

I had expected to find a net work of spies surrounding the palace of
the Czar of all the Russias, as well as inside it, and I knew because
of my former experiences in the Moscovite capital, with what I would
have to contend if circumstances permitted me, as they now promised to
do, to take up and to perform what I considered would be the greatest
work of my life. There before me on the floor, prostrate and senseless,
although rapidly returning to consciousness, was the undoubted personal
proof of the deadly danger of my mission; but as I had foreseen and
forestalled this incident, so I believed I would be able to foresee and
forestall others that would be like unto it; and I determined to make
the most of this one, by using it to an advantage which had instantly
occurred to me when I saw and read the physiognomy, and behind that,
the character of the man on the floor. His features and the general air
of refinement about him, notwithstanding his dress and position,
suggested refinement, and I believed that I could appeal to him in a
way that would call forth some response if I were given the opportunity
to do so. He was lying on his back with his right arm outstretched, and
while the prince and I stood there regarding him with such different
emotions, his eyelids fluttered and parted and he once more became
conscious of his surroundings.

Beside him on the floor, was a long knife, which I have no doubt he
would have used upon me had my attack been less sudden and violent. As
it was, he opened