e fatal shots, she came rushing to the scene
of the tragedy, and cast herself on the floor of the corridor beside
the dead man, seizing his hands, crying his name aloud, and weeping
frantically.

When I tried to raise her, so that the body might be removed, she
turned on me fiercely.

"This is your fault!" she cried. "Who are you, and how dared you
interfere with me?"

"As you see by my uniform, I am an inspector of police attached to
the Third Section."

She gazed at me searchingly for a moment, and then, lowering her
voice, and bringing her lips to my ear, she said with intense energy:

"It is a lie. I am here by the orders of the Minister himself, as you
must know well. You are acting against us, whoever you are."

"I am acting by order of the Czar," I responded.

She smiled scornfully.

"I expect that is another lie. You could not have got so far as you
have unless you had some one else behind you. Poor Nicholas!--Every
one knows what he is, and that he has less power than any other man
in Russia. Are you Witte's man, I wonder?"

"You are a bold woman to question me," I said. "How do you know that
I am not going to arrest you for stealing and destroying the Czar's
letter?"

"I should not remain long under arrest," was the significant answer.
She gave me another searching look, and muttered to herself, "If I
did not know that he was safe in the hands of my friends in
Petersburg I should think you must be a certain Monsieur ----"

She broke off without pronouncing my name, and turned away.

At Mukden, the next stopping place, the Princess Y---- left the
train, no doubt intending to travel back to Russia and report her
success.

In the meantime, I had reason to think she had notified her friends
in Manchuria to keep an eye on me.

All the way to Dalny I felt by that instinct which becomes second
nature to a man of my profession that I was under surveillance.
I detected a change in the manner of my friend the train
superintendent. My trifling luggage was carefully searched. In the
night when I was asleep some one went through my pockets. I was able
to see that even the contents of my cigarette case, which I had not
opened since leaving Petersburg, had been turned out and put back
again.

As the train neared Dalny I began to feel a little nervous. I had a
dread of being stopped on my way to embark on board the steampacket
which was still running to Tokio.

The train drew up at last, at the end of i