my arrival. Then, having made my toilet and
eaten the heavy breakfast provided for English visitors, I set out,
suffering sadly from indigestion, to present my letter of
introduction to the Princess.

As this woman, the most brilliant recruit ever received into the
Russian secret service, and a foe of whom I am not ashamed to confess
that I felt some fear, has never been heard of by the public of Great
Britain, I shall say a word concerning her.

The Princess, whose Christian name was Sophia, was the daughter of a
boyar of Little Russia. Her extraordinary beauty, while she was still
a very young girl, attracted the attention of the governor of the
province, Prince Y----, who was one of the wealthiest nobles in the
Empire, and a widower. He made proposals for her hand which were
accepted by her father, without the girl herself being asked to
express an opinion in the matter, and at the age when an English girl
would be leaving home for a convent or "high-school," Sophia became
the Governor's wife.

Almost immediately the Prince resigned his government and went to
live in his splendid palace on the Nevsky Prospect, in Petersburg.
Before very long, society in the Russian capital was startled to hear
of the sudden deaths in rapid succession of both the Prince's
children by his former wife, a son and a daughter. Then, after a
brief interval, followed the tragic death of the Prince himself, who
was found in bed one morning by his valet, with his throat cut.

The almost satanic beauty and fascination of the youthful Princess
had made her from the very first one of the most conspicuous
personages at the Imperial Court. These three deaths, following on
the heels of one another, roused the most dreadful suspicions, and
the Czar Alexander III. personally charged his minister of justice
to see that the law was carried out.

Accordingly the police took possession of the palace while the corpse
of its late owner still lay where it had been found. The most
searching investigations were made, the servants were questioned and
threatened, and it was rumored that the widow herself was for a short
time under arrest.

Suddenly a great change took place. The police withdrew, professing
themselves satisfied that no crime had been committed. The deaths of
the son and daughter were put down to natural causes, and that of the
Prince was pronounced a suicide, due to grief at the loss of his
children. Some of the servants disappeared--it