or opened the door.

"_Votre billet, s'il vous plait, madame."_

"Can't you speak English?" asked Jennie.

The conductor merely repeated his question, and as Jennie was shaking
her head the big Russian looked over the conductor's shoulder and said
in passable English,--

"He is asking for your ticket, madam. Do you not speak French?" In
answer to this direct question Jennie, fumbling in her purse for her
ticket, replied,--

"I speak English, and I have already shown him my ticket." She handed
her broad-sheet sleeping-car ticket to the Russian, who had pushed the
conductor aside and now stood within the compartment.

"There has been a mistake," he said. "Room C is the one that has been
reserved for you."

"I am sure there isn't any mistake," said Jennie. "I booked berths
5 and 6. See, there are the numbers," pointing to the metallic plates by
the door, "and here are the same numbers on the ticket."

The Russian shook his head.

"The mistake has been made at the office of the Sleeping Car Company. I
am a director of the Company."

"Oh, are you?" asked Jennie innocently. "Is Room C as comfortable as
this one?"

"It is a duplicate of this one, madam, and is more comfortable, because
it is nearer the centre of the car."

"Well, there is no mistake about my reserving the two berths, is there?"

"Oh, no, madam, the room is entirely at your disposal."

"Well, then, in that case," said Jennie, "I have no objection to making
a change."

She knew that she would be compelled to change, no matter what her
ticket recorded, so she thought it best to play the simple maiden
abroad, and make as little fuss as possible about the transfer. She had
to rearrange the car in her mind. She was now in Room C, which had been
first reserved by the British Embassy. It was evident that at the
last moment the messenger had decided to take Room A, a four-berth
compartment at the end of the car. The police then would occupy Room B,
which she had first engaged, and, from the bit of conversation she had
overheard, Jennie was convinced that they intended to kill or render
insensible the messenger who bore the important letter. The police were
there not to protect, but to attack. This amazing complication in the
plot concentrated all the girl's sympathies on the unfortunate man who
was messenger between two great personages, even though he travelled
apparently under the protection of the British Embassy at St.
Petersburg. The fact, to p