y
when we had first met, and I had only compelled him to serve me by
presenting the order signed by the Emperor, which made me his guest
within the Russian dominions. Even that document did not account for the
length he had gone to secure the release of the woman I now loved in
secret. The more I thought it over, the more anxious did I become. I
could discern no motive for his friendliness, and, truth to tell, I
always distrust those who are too friendly. What straight and decided
line of action should I take? Carefully I went over all the strange
events that had happened in England, and while anxious to obtain some
solution of the amazing problem, yet I could not bring myself to leave
Finland, and allow Elma to fall into the clutches of that high official
who so persistently sought her end. No. I would go to him and face him.
I was anxious to see what manner of man was "The Strangler of Finland."
Therefore, that same evening I left Abo, and traveled by rail up to the
junction Toijala, whence, after a wait of six hours, I resumed by slow
journey to Helsingfors. I put up at Kamp's, an elegant hotel on the long
esplanade overlooking the port, and found the town, with its handsome
streets and spacious squares, to be a much finer place than I had
believed. When I inquired of the French director of my hotel for the
residence of his Excellency, the Governor-General, he regarded me with
some surprise, saying:

"The Baron lives up at the Palace, m'sieur--that great building opposite
the Salutong. The driver of your drosky will point it out to you."

"Is his Excellency in Helsingfors at the present moment?" I asked.

"The Baron never leaves the Palace, m'sieur," responded the man. "This
is a strange country, you know," he added, with a grin. "It is said that
his Excellency is in hourly fear of assassination."

"Perhaps not without cause," I remarked in a low voice, at which he
elevated his shoulders and smiled.

At noon I descended from a drosky before a long, gray, massive building,
over the big doorway of which was a large escutcheon bearing the Russian
arms emblazoned in gold, and on entering where a sentry stood on either
side, a colossal concierge in livery of bright blue and gold came
forward to meet me, asking in Russian:

"Whom do you wish to see?"

"His Excellency, the Governor-General."

"Have you an appointment?"

"No."

"His Excellency sees no one without an appointment," the man told me
somewhat gruffly