id indulgently, "if you have anything to say."

"I was about to remark, sir, that you are not in the least like
Petrovitch."

"Think again," I said mildly.

He gave me an intelligent look.

"You are much about the same height!" he exclaimed.

"Exactly."

"But his friends, who see him every day--surely they cannot be
deceived? And then his business--his correspondence--but perhaps you
are able to feign handwriting?"

I smiled. The good Breuil had passed from one extreme to the other.
Instead of doubting me, he was crediting me too much.

I proceeded to explain.

"No, as you very properly suggest, I could not hope to deceive
Petrovitch's friends, nor can I imitate his hand. But remember, that
in a few days Petrovitch will have disappeared. What will have become
of him, do you suppose?"

Breuil was still puzzled. I had to make my meaning still plainer.

"He will be in concealment--that is to say, in disguise."

Breuil threw up his hands in a gesture of admiration.

"As the disguised Petrovitch I may manage to pass very well, more
particularly as I shall be meeting people who have never seen the
real Petrovitch."

Breuil did not quite understand this last observation.

"I am going," I exclaimed, "on board the Baltic Fleet."

"Sir, you are magnificent!"

I frowned down his enthusiasm. Compliments are compliments only when
they come from those who pay us, not from those whom we pay.

"Go and procure me the uniform of a superintendent of naval stores.
And ascertain for me where Captain Vassileffsky usually passes his
evenings."

Captain Vassileffsky was the naval officer who had been present on
the occasion when I was drugged at Petrovitch's table.

CHAPTER XXVI

TRAPPED

The clock was striking eight as I entered the restaurant of the
Two-Headed Eagle, in the seaport of Revel on the Gulf of Finland,
about a week after the mysterious disappearance of Petrovitch had
become the talk of Petersburg.

Picking out a table at which an officer in the uniform of a Russian
naval captain was already seated, I went up to it, and sat down in
front of him with the formal bow prescribed by etiquette in the
circumstances.

The ships intended to sail to the relief of Port Arthur were lying at
this time some at Revel and others at Libau on the Baltic. From time
to time their departure was officially announced for a certain date,
reviews were held, and one or two preliminary trips had been
undertaken.