fficient
of the Baron's methods as 'The Strangler of Finland,' to show me what
kind of character he was beneath that calm, eminently respectable
black-coated exterior. After deliberately sending my poor mother to
Siberia, he had assumed the role of my guardian in order that he might,
when I came of age, obtain control of my inheritance, the idea no doubt
being that I should marry Michael, and then, after the necessary legal
formalities, I should, on a trumped-up charge of conspiracy, share the
same fate as my mother had done."

"The infernal scoundrel!" I ejaculated, when I read her words, while
from Jack, who had been looking over my shoulder, escaped a fierce and
forcible vow of vengeance.

"The Baron took me with him to Petersburg when he went on official
business, and we remained there nearly a month," the narrative went on.
"While there I received a secret message from 'The Red Priest,' the
unseen and unknown power of Nihilism, who has for so many years baffled
the police. I went to see him, and he revealed to me how Oberg had
contrived to have my mother banished upon a false charge. He warned me
against the man who had pretended to be my father's friend, and also
told me that he had known my father intimately, and that if I got into
any further difficulty I was to communicate with him and he would assist
me. Oberg took me back to Helsingfors a few months later, and in summer
we went to England. He was a marvelously clever diplomatist. His tactics
he could change at will. When I was at school he was rough and brutal in
his manner towards me, as he was to all; but now he seemed to be
endeavoring to inspire my confidence by treating me with kindly regard
and pleasant affability.

"In London, at Claridge's, we met my old schoolfellow Muriel and her
father--a friend of Oberg's--and in response to their invitation went
for a cruise on their yacht, the _Iris_, from Southampton. Our party was
a very pleasant one, and included Woodroffe and Chater, while our cruise
across the Bay of Biscay and along the Portuguese coast proved most
delightful. One night, while we were lying outside Lisbon, Woodroffe and
Chater, together with Olinto, went ashore, and when they returned in the
early hours of the morning they awoke me by crossing the deck above my
head. Then I heard someone outside my cabin-door working as though with
a screwdriver, unscrewing a screw from the woodwork. This aroused my
interest, and next day I made a minut