r or add it to the dossier in which her father's
offences were narrated. Of this Zaniloff's tone convinced him. "He would
never have admitted it at all if Lois were compromised," the argument
ran, and was worthy of the wise head which arrived at it.

"I am glad that you have found the man," he explained presently, "it
clears up so much and must be very satisfactory. Would you have any
objection to telling me what you are going to do with the girl I have
just left?"

Zaniloff smiled.

"I have no objection at all. When the Ministry at St. Petersburg
condescends to inform me, you shall share my information. At present I
am going to keep her under lock and key, and if she is obstinate I am
going to flog her."

"Do the people at St. Petersburg wish you to do that?"

"I do not consult their feelings," was the curt reply.

They fell to silence once more and the carriage rolled on through the
busy streets. It had escaped Alban's notice hitherto, that an escort of
Cossacks accompanied them, but as they turned into the great avenue he
caught a glimpse of bright accoutrements and of horsemen going at a
gentle canter. The avenue itself was almost deserted save by the
ever-present infantry who lined its walks as though some great cavalcade
were to pass. When they had gone another hundred paces, the need for the
presence of the soldiers declared itself in a heap of blackened ruins
and a great fire still smouldering. Zaniloff smiled grimly when they
passed the place.

"Half an hour ago that was the palace of my namesake, the Grand Duke
Sergius," he said, almost as though the intelligence were a matter of
personal satisfaction to him.

Alban looked at the smouldering ruins and could not help remembering the
strange threats he had heard in Union Street on the very eve of his
departure from England. Had any of the old mad orators a hand in this?
Those wild figures of the platforms and the slums, had they achieved so
much, if indeed it were achievement at all?

"They are fools to make war upon bricks and mortar," Zaniloff remarked
in his old quiet way.

"I told them so in London, sir."

"You told them; do you enjoy the honor of their acquaintance then?"

"I know as much about them as any of your people, and that is saying a
good deal. They are very ignorant men who are suffering great wrongs. If
your government would make an effort to learn what the world is thinking
about to-day, you would soon end all this. But you will n