nyhow, good luck to you, and good-bye, for the present."

I was glad the interview was over, though it left me in ignorance as to
how much he knew or suspected about my movements and motives. I guessed
it to be a good deal; or why had he troubled to tell me the news he had
heard from Von Eckhardt? If it were true, if Anne were no longer in
danger from her own party, and was again actively associated with it,
her situation was at least less perilous than it had been before, when
she was threatened on every side. And also my chances of getting into
communication with her were materially increased.

I related what I had learned to Mishka, who made no comment beyond a
grunt which might mean anything or nothing.

"Do you think it is true?"

"Who knows? It is over a fortnight since I left; and many things may
happen in less time. Perhaps we shall learn when we return, perhaps
not."

In some ways Mishka was rather like a Scotsman.

A few days later his preparations were complete. The real or ostensible
object of his visit to England was to buy farm implements and machinery,
as agent for his father, who, I ascertained, was land steward of part of
the Zostrov estates, and therefore a person of considerable importance.
That fact, in a way, explained Mishka's position, which I have before
defined as that of "confidential henchman." I found later that the
father, as the son, was absolutely devoted to their master, who in his
turn trusted them both implicitly. They were the only two about him
whom he could so trust, for, as he had once told me, he was surrounded
by spies.

Mishka's business rendered my re-entry into the forbidden land an easily
arranged matter. Several of the machines he bought were American
patents, and my role was that of an American mechanic in charge of them.
As a matter of fact I do know a good deal about such things; and I had
never forgotten the apprenticeship to farming I had served under my
father in the old home. Poor old dad! As long as he lived he never
forgave me for turning my back on the farm and taking to journalism,
after my college course was over. He was all the more angry with me
because, as he said, in the vacation I worked better than any two
laborers; as I did,--there's no sense in doing things by halves!

It would have been a very spry Russian who had recognized Maurice Wynn,
the physical wreck that had left Russia in the custody of two British
police officers less than three months