questioned him very closely and so decided in my own mind that she was
prominent at the capital; but at the last he positively refused to
answer any further questions concerning her, saying that he would
rather go to Siberia and have done with it at once, than to betray her.
I desisted, therefore, believing that ultimately he would denounce her
to me without knowing that he had done so, and events proved that I was
right although they also demonstrated that it would have been much
better for all concerned had he trusted me implicitly in the beginning.

Thus, at the end of a month succeeding the night of my ride from the
hotel to the palace with the prince, I was prepared to commence work in
earnest; but it must not be supposed that I had been idle, personally,
during that time.

In fact I was never so busy in all my life as during those four weeks
of preparation for the stupendous task I had set myself; and you will
understand that there were countless things to do, unnumbered details
to arrange, and a thousand and one ramifications of the work to be
planned and plotted and thoroughly comprehended, not alone by myself,
but by the men I would gather around me to work under my direction.

The organization of a secret service bureau, no matter how general may
be its duties, is at least a monumental task; but the organization of
such a bureau as this one whose very existence must remain a secret
from all the world, presented difficulties not to be met with or
contended against under any other circumstances.

It was necessary that I should become the chief over an army of men,
and it was equally imperative that not one person among the rank and
file of that army should know of my existence, as it was related to
them. With the chiefs of departments and sections, it was necessary
that I should have intercourse and interviews, but I had already made
my mental selection of persons to fill those positions, when I arrived
in St. Petersburg, and the organization of the several departments was
to be left in their hands.

I was determined that there should be no phase of Russian life which
could hide itself away from the skill of my investigating forces; from
palace to hovel, from the highest official in the Russian diplomatic
service and in the army to the meanest servant or laborer, my sources
of knowledge must extend, and every detail of it all must necessarily
be so complete as to render it not only exact, but absolutely und