ar to all that passed between myself and that perturbed
gentleman in the silk pajamas and the fur overcoat. I was living very
intensely at the time, you must remember. The exact incidence of the
adventure was not clear to me until I was back on the ship. Even when
we sat in an apartment of immense size and sombre magnificence, and he
said courteously, 'Have we by any chance met before?' I did not fully
wake up. I said:

"'I believe so, but I must admit I have forgotten your name.'

"'That is easy,' he smiled. 'It is Kinaitsky. I am equally guilty--more
so, for I am not certain whether I have seen you....' he paused as he
passed me some cigarettes.

"'At the ---- Hotel in London,' I suggested. He pondered for a moment,
observing me intently.

"'It would be as well to give me the details,' he remarked. 'Since you
are about to do me a valuable service, I should know to whom I am
indebted.'

"I told him. He remained silent for quite a while and I sat enjoying a
perfect cigarette and an almost equally perfect glass of wine. At length
he said:

"'And I understand that your interest in this lady has led you here?'

"'Oh, no,' I assured him. 'People in my walk of life can't do things
like that. It just happens my ship's charter was changed, that is all.
You can call it good luck, if you like, or bad.'

"'Pardon,' he said, studying me and feeling in the pocket of his
overcoat, 'but I am not clear yet just what your intentions are.'

"'I don't know myself,' I answered, foolishly. 'I must see her first.
You understand, she wants to see me, as a friend.' He smiled and became
grave again at once.

"'I,' he remarked, stiffly, 'have not seen her since my marriage. I
allow her an income, of course. I regard that as a simple duty to those
who have been under my protection. I may tell you, Monsieur, that she is
quite free to dispose of herself.... But things are very unsettled here,
as you may know. I have large interests which involve me in political
affairs. This present affair is of that nature. And I may observe that
you were good enough to say you recognized the man who escaped in that
boat. I am at a loss to understand how this can be, but let that pass.
Who was he?'

"'I was talking to him only to-day,' I returned. 'He calls himself
Stepan Nikitos, and he told me he wrote articles on internationalism in
a paper called the _Phos_. He is the sort of man who would write
fluently no doubt on internationalism, for he seem