The Czar's Spy: The Mystery of a Silent Love

strong, gray light behind. But when the footman had bowed and retired and we were alone, he turned slightly, and I then saw that his bony face, with high cheek-bones, slight gray side-whiskers, hard mouth and black eyes set closely together, was one that bore the mark of evil upon it--the keen, sinister countenance of one who could act without any compunction and without regret. Truly one would not be surprised at any cruel, dastardly action of a man with such a face--the face of an oppressor. "Well?" he snapped in French in a high-pitched voice. "You want to see me concerning that mad English girl? What picturesque lies do you intend to tell me concerning her?" "I have no intention of telling any untruths concerning her," was my quick response, as I faced him unflinchingly. "She has told me sufficient to--" "She has told you something! Ah! I guessed as much. I expected this!" And I saw that his thin, crafty face went pale, while his eyes glanced evilly upon me. He believed that she had revealed to me her secret. He placed his hand upon the back of a chair wherein was concealed an electric button, and next instant a little stout man in shabby black appeared as though by magic through a secret door hidden in the dark paneling of the audience chamber--the man who was his personal guard against the plots for his assassination. His Excellency spoke, and the words he uttered staggered me. I stood aghast. "Seize that man!" he cried, pointing to me. "He is armed! He has just threatened to kill me! He is the man against whom we were recently warned--the Englishman!" "Ah!" I cried, standing before the thin-faced official of the Czar, the unscrupulous man who had crushed Finland beneath the iron heel of Russia, and who, by his lying allegation, now held me in his power. "I see your object, Baron Oberg! You intend to arrest me as a conspirator!" "Search the fellow. He has a revolver there in his hip-pocket," declared the Governor-General, and in an instant the short, ferret-eyed little man had run his hands down me and felt my weapon. I drew it forth and handed it to him, saying: "You are quite welcome to it if you fear that I am here with any sinister motive." "He obtained admission by a clever ruse," the Baron explained to the police agent. "And then he threatened me." "It's untrue," I protested hotly. "I have merely called to see you regarding the young English lady, Elma Heath--the unfortunate lady whom you consigned to the fortress of Kajana." "The mad woman, you mean!" he laughed. "She is not mad," I cried, "but as sane as you yourself. It is you who intended that the horrors of the castle should drive her insane, and thus your secret should be kept!" "What do you suggest?" he demanded, stepping a few paces towards me. "I mean, Xavier Oberg, that you would kill Elma Heath if you dared to do so," I answered plainly, as I faced him unflinchingly. "You see?" he laughed, turning to the stout man at my side. "The fellow is insane. He does not know what he is talking about. Ah, my dear Malkoff, I've had a narrow escape! He came here intending to shoot me." "I did not," I protested. "I am here to demand satisfaction on behalf of Miss Heath." "Oh!--well, if the lady cares to come here herself, I will give her the satisfaction she desires," was his crafty reply. "The lady has escaped you, and it is therefore hardly likely she will willingly return to Helsingfors," I said. "It was you who succeeded, by throwing the guard into the water, in abducting her from the castle," he remarked. "But," he added sneeringly, with a sinister smile, "I presume your gallantry was prompted by affection--eh?" "That is my own affair." "A deaf and dumb woman is surely not a very cheerful companion!" "And who caused her that affliction?" I cried hotly. "When she was at Chichester she possessed speech and hearing as other girls. Indeed, she was not afflicted when on board the _Lola_ in Leghorn harbor only a few months ago. Perhaps you recollect the narrow escape the yacht had on the Meloria sands?" His eyes met mine, and I saw by his drawn face and narrow brows that my words were causing him the utmost consternation. My object was to make him believe that I knew more than I really did--to hold him in fear, in fact. "Perhaps the man whom some know as Hornby, or Woodroffe, could tell an interesting story," I went on. "He will, no doubt, when he meets Elma Heath, and finds the terrible affliction of which she has been the victim." His thin, bony countenance was bloodless, his mouth twitched and his gray brows contracted quickly. "I haven't the least idea what you mean, my dear sir," he stammered. "All that you say is entirely enigmatical to me. What have I to do with this mad Englishwoman's affairs?" "Send out this man," I said, pointing to the detective Malkoff, who had appeared from behind the paneling of the audience-chamber. "Send him out, and I will tell you." But the representative of the Czar, always as much in dread of assassination as his imperial master, refused. I saw that what I had said had upset him, and that he was not at all clear as to how much or how little of the true facts I knew. The connection between the little miniature cross of the Order of St. Anne and that red and yellow ribbon in his button-hole struck me forcibly at that moment, and I said: "I have no desire to make any statements before a second person. I came here to see you privately, and in private will I speak. I have certain information that will, I feel confident, be of the utmost interest to you--concerning another woman, Armida Santini." His lips were pressed together, and I noticed how he started when I uttered the name of that woman whom I had found dead in Rannoch Wood, and whose body had so mysteriously disappeared. "And what on earth can the woman concern me?" he asked, with a brave attempt to remain cool, still speaking in French. "Only that you knew her," was my brief reply. Then, with my eyes still fixed upon his, I asked: "Will you not now request this gentleman to retire?" He hesitated a moment, and then with a wave of his hand dismissed the man he had summoned to his aid. A moment later the "Strangler's" personal protector had disappeared through that secret door in the paneling by which he had entered. "Well?" asked the Baron, turning quickly to me again, his dark, evil eyes trying to fathom my intentions. "Well?" I asked. "And what, pray, can you profit by denouncing me as an assassin? Remember, Baron, that your secret is mine," I said in a clear voice full of meaning. "And your intention is blackmail--eh?" he snapped, walking to the window and back again. "How much do you want?" "My intention is nothing of the kind. My object is to avenge the outrageous injury to Elma Heath." "Of course. That is only natural, m'sieur, if you have fallen in love with her," he said. "But are not your intentions somewhat ill-advised considering her position as a criminal lunatic?" "She is neither," I protested quickly. "Very well. You know better than myself," he laughed. "The offense for which she was condemned to confinement in a fortress was the attempted assassination of Madame Vakuroff, wife of the General commanding the Uleaborg Military Division." "Assassination!" I cried. "Have you actually sent her to prison as a murderess?" "I have not. The Criminal Court of Abo did so," he said dryly. "The offense has since been proved to have been the outcome of a political conspiracy, and the Minister of the Interior in Petersburg last week signed an order for the prisoner's transportation to the island of Saghalien." "Ah!" I remarked with set teeth. "Because you fear lest she shall write down your secret." "You are insulting! You evidently do not know what you are saying," he exclaimed resentfully. "I know what I am saying quite well. You have requested her removal to Saghalien in order that the truth shall be never known. But Baron Oberg," I added with mock politeness, "you may do as you will, you may send Elma Heath to her grave, you may hold me prisoner if you dare, but there are still witnesses of your crime that will rise against you." In an instant he went ghastly pale, and I knew that my blind shot had struck its mark. The man before me was guilty of some crime, but what it was only Elma herself could tell. That he had had her arrested for an attempted political assassination only showed how ingeniously and craftily the heartless ruler of that ruined country had laid his plans. He feared Elma, and therefore had conspired to have her sent out to that dismal penal island in the far-off Pacific. "You do not fear arrest, m'sieur?" he asked, as though with some surprise. "Not in the least--at least, not arrest by you. You may be the representative of the Emperor in Finland, but even here there is justice for the innocent." A sinister smile played around the thin, gray lips of the man whose very name was hated through the great empire of the Czar, and was synonymous of oppression, injustice, and heartless tyranny. "All I can repeat," he said, "is that if you bring the young Englishwoman here I shall be quite prepared to hear her appeal." And he laughed harshly. "You ask that because you know it is impossible," I said, whereat he again laughed in my face--a laugh which made me wonder whether Elma had not already fallen into his hands. The uncertainty of her fate held me in terrible suspense. "I merely wish to impress upon you the fact that I have not the slightest interest whatsoever in the person in question," he said coldly. "You seem to have formed some romantic attachment towards this young woman who attempted to poison Madame Vakuroff, and to have succeeded in rescuing her from Kajana. You afterwards disregard the fact that you are liable to a long term of imprisonment yourself, and actually have the audacity to seek audience of me and make all sorts of hints and suggestions that I have held the woman a prisoner for my own ends!" "Not only do I repeat that, Baron Oberg," I said quickly. "But I also allege that it was at your instigation that in Siena an operation was performed upon the unfortunate girl which deprived her of speech and hearing." "At my instigation?" "Yes, at yours!" He laughed again, but uneasily, a forced laugh, and leaned against the edge of the big writing-table near the window. "Well, what next?" he inquired, pretending to be interested in my allegations. "What do you want of me?" "I desire you to give the Mademoiselle Heath her complete freedom," I said. "Is that all?" "All--for the present." "But her future is not in my hands. The Minister in Petersburg has decreed her removal to Saghalien as a person dangerous to the State." "Which means that she will be ill-treated--knouted to death, perhaps." "We do not use the knout in the Russian prisons nowadays," he said briefly. "His Majesty has decreed its abolition." "But you adopt torture in Kajana and Schusselburg instead." "My time is too limited to discuss our penal system, m'sieur," he exclaimed impatiently, while I could well see that he was anxious to escape before I made any further charges against him. I had already shown him that Elma had spoken, and he feared that she had told the truth. While this would embitter him against her and cause him to seek to silence her at all hazards, it was of course in my own interests that he should fear any revelations that I might make. "You have posed in England as the uncle of Elma Heath, and yet you here hold her prisoner. For what reason?" I demanded. "She is held prisoner by the State--for conspiracy against Russian rule--not by herself personally."