stone, crowned with a cupola that gleamed red in the rays of the
setting sun.

"The castle!" Mishka grunted.

"It looks more like a prison!" I exclaimed involuntarily. It was a grim,
sinister-looking pile, even with the sun upon it.

Mishka did not answer immediately. There was a clatter and jingle behind
us, and out of the wood rode a company of horsemen, all in uniform. Two
rode ahead of the rest, one of them the Grand Duke himself.

Mishka reined up at the roadside, and sat at the salute, and I followed
his example.

The Duke did not even glance in our direction as he passed, though he
acknowledged our salute in soldierly fashion.

We wheeled our horses and followed well in the rear of the imposing
escort,--a whole troop of cavalry.

"You are right," Mishka said, in a husky growl, that with him
represented a whisper. "It is a prison, and yonder goes the prisoner.
You will do well to remember that in your dealings with him, Herr
Gould."

CHAPTER XXXVII

THE PRISONER OF ZOSTROV

The castle stood within a great quadrangle, which we entered through a
massive stone gateway guarded by two sentries. Two more were stationed
at the top of a steep and wide marble stairway that led up to the
entrance hall, and the whole place seemed swarming with soldiers, and
servants in handsome liveries. A couple of grooms came to hold our
horses, and a third took possession of my valise, containing chiefly a
dress suit and some shirts. My other belongings were coming on in the
wagon.

Mishka's manner underwent a decided change from the moment we entered
the castle precincts. The bluff and often grumpy air of familiarity was
gone, and in its place was the surly deference with which he had treated
me at first. As we neared the end of our journey, he had once more
warned me to be on my guard, and remember that I must appear as an utter
stranger to the Duke and all about him, except Mishka himself.

"You have never been in Russia before," he repeated. "And you speak only
a few words of Russian, which I have taught you on our way. That will
matter little, since most here speak French and German."

He parted from me with a deferential salute, after handing me over to
the care of a gorgeously attired functionary, whom I found to be a kind
of majordomo or house steward. This imposing person welcomed me very
courteously; and I gathered that I was supposed to be a new addition to
the Grand Duke's suite. I had rather wondered