he opened the door and admitted the
officer.

"There were two of you," he exclaimed, peering down the passage.

"It is true, excellency, myself and the night-porter, but he has gone to
sleep again."

"And you?"

"From the Chief, excellency, with this letter."

He held out a great square document, grotesquely sealed and carefully
folded. A small man with a pockmarked face, he wore the uniform of an
ordinary gendarme and aped that role to perfection. Saluting gravely, he
permitted the letter to pass from his hands. Then he closed the door and
leaned his back against it.

"I am to take an answer to the bureau, excellency."

The Count read a few lines of the document and looked up uneasily.

"You say that you were commanded to wake me up--for this?"

"Those are my orders."

"Zaniloff must have lost his wits--there was nothing else?"

The man took one stride forward.

"Yes," he cried in a low voice, "there was this, excellency."

* * * * *

Alban slept no better than his friend; in truth he hardly closed his
eyes until they waked him and told him of the tragedy. He had said
little to Sergius during the evening, but the perplexities of the long
day remained with him and were not to be readily silenced.

That his patron sent no reply to their urgent telegram he thought a
little strange. Mr. Gessner's silence could only mean that he had left
London suddenly, perhaps had set out to join them in Warsaw. Meanwhile
Alban perceived very clearly in what a position of danger Lois stood and
how difficult it would be to help her if others did not come to his
assistance.

Accustomed to regard all the Revolutionaries from the standpoint of the
wild creatures who talked nonsense in the East End of London, he could
not believe in old Herr Petermann's optimism or pay much attention to
the wild plan of escape he had devised. It must be absurd to think that
Lois could leave Poland disguised as a servant. Alban himself would
readily have recognized her in her disguise if he had been seeking her
at the time, and the police would very soon detect it when their minds
were set upon the purpose. In his own opinion, and this was shrewd
enough, their hope of salvation lay in Richard Gessner's frank
acceptance of the position. The banker had influence enough with the
Russian authorities to release both Lois and her father. He must do so
or accept the consequences of his obstinacy.

All this and much