"No," I answered. "From Abo. I crossed from Stockholm, and am going to Petersburg."
"And I also. I live in Petersburg," he added. "We may perhaps meet one day. Do you know the capital?"
I explained that I had visited it once before, and had done the usual round of sight-seeing. His manner was brisk and to the point, as became a man of business, but when we stopped at Bele-Ostrof, on the opposite side of the small winding river that separates Finland from Russia proper, the Customs officer who came to examine our baggage exchanged a curious meaning look with him.
My fellow-traveler believed that I had not observed, yet, keenly on the alert as I now was, I was shrewd to detect the least sign or look, and I at once resolved to tell the fellow nothing further of my own affairs.
He was, no doubt, a spy of "The Strangler"s," who had followed me all the way from Abo, and had only entered my carriage for the final stage of the journey.
This revelation caused me some uneasiness, for even though I was able to evade the man on arrival in Petersburg, he could no doubt quickly obtain news of my whereabouts from the police to whom my pa.s.sport must be sent.
I pretended to doze, and lay back with my eyes half-closed watching him.
When he found me disinclined to talk further, he took up the paper he had bought and became engrossed in it, while I, on my part, endeavored to form some plan by which to mislead and escape his vigilance.
The fellow meant mischief--that I knew. If Elma was flying in secret and he watched me, he would know that she was in Petersburg. At all hazards, for my love"s sake as well as for mine, I saw that I must escape him.
The ingeniousness and cleverness of Oberg"s spies was proverbial throughout Finland, therefore he might not be alone, or in any case, on arrival in Petersburg would obtain a.s.sistance in keeping observation upon me. I knew that the Baron desired my death, and that therefore I could not be too wary of pitfalls. That fatal chair so cunningly prepared for me in Lambeth was still vividly within my memory.
As we pa.s.sed Lanskaya, and ran through the outer suburbs of Petersburg, my fellow-traveler became inquisitive as to where I was going, but I was somewhat unresponsive, and busied myself with my bag until we entered the great echoing terminus whence I could see the Neva gleaming in the pale sunlight and the city beyond. The fellow made no attempt to follow me--he was too clever a secret agent for that. He merely wished me "_sdravstvuite_" raised his hat politely and disappeared.
A porter carried my bag out of the station, and I drove across the bridge to the large hotel where I had stopped before, the Europe, on the corner of the Nevski Prospect and the Michael Street. There I engaged a front room looking down into the broad Nevski, had a wash, and then watched at the window for the appearance of the spy. I had already a good four hours before the steamer from Abo was due, and I intended to satisfy myself whether or not I was being followed.
Within twenty minutes the fellow lounged along on the opposite side of the road, just as I had expected. He had changed his clothes, and presented such a different appearance that at first sight I failed to recognize him. He knew that I had driven there, and intended to follow me if I came forth. My position was one of extreme difficulty, for if I went down to the quay he would most certainly follow me.
Having watched his movements for ten minutes or so I descended to the big _salle-a-manger_ and there ate my luncheon, chatting to the French waiter the while. I sat purposely in an alcove, so as to be away from the other people lunching there, and in order that I might be able to talk with the waiter without being overheard.
Just as I had finished my meal, and he was handing me my bill, I bent towards him and asked--
"Do you want to earn twenty roubles?"
"Well, m"sieur," he answered, looking at me with some surprise. "They would be acceptable. I am a married man."
"Well, I want to escape from this place without being observed. There is a disagreeable little matter regarding a lady, and I fear a fracas with a man who is awaiting me outside in the Nevski." Then, seeing that he hesitated, I a.s.sured him that I had committed no crime, and that I should return for my baggage that evening.
"You could pa.s.s through the kitchen and out by the servants" entrance,"
he said, after a moment"s reflection. "If m"sieur so desires, I will conduct him out. The exit is in a back street which leads on to the Catherine Ca.n.a.l."
"Excellent!" I said. "Let us go. Of course you will say nothing?"
"Not a word, m"sieur," and he gathered up the notes plus twenty roubles with which I paid my bill, and taking my hat I followed him to the end of the _salle-a-manger_ behind a high wooden screen, across the huge kitchen, and then through a long stone corridor at the end of which sat a gruff old doorkeeper. My guide spoke a word to him, and then the door opened and I found myself in a narrow back slum with the ca.n.a.l beyond.
My first visit was to a clothier"s, where I purchased and put on a new light overcoat and then to a hatter"s for a hat of different shape to that I was wearing. I carried the hat back to a quiet alley which I had noticed, and quickly exchanged the one I was wearing for it, leaving my old hat in a corner. Then I entered a _cafe_ in order to while away the hours until the vessel from Finland was due.
At four o"clock I was out upon the quay, straining my eyes seaward for any sign of smoke, but could see nothing. The sun was sinking, and the broad expanse of water westward danced like liquid gold. The light died out slowly, the cold gray of evening crept on. A chill wind sprang up and swept the quay, causing me to shiver. I asked of a dock laborer whether the steamer was usually late, whereupon he told me that it was often five or six hours behind time, depending upon the delay at Helsingfors.
Twilight deepened into night, and the rain fell heavily, yet I still paced the wet flags in patience, my eyes ever seaward for the light of the vessel which I hoped bore my love. My presence there aroused some speculation among the loungers, I think; nevertheless, I waited in deepest anxiety whether, after all, Elma and Hornby had not disembarked at Helsingfors.
Soon after ten o"clock a light shone afar off, and the movement of the police and porters on the quay told me that it was the vessel. Then after a further anxious quarter of an hour it came, amid great shouting and mutual imprecations, slowly alongside the quay, and the pa.s.sengers at last began to disembark in the pelting rain.
One after another they walked up the gangway, filing into the pa.s.sport-office and on into the Custom House, people of all sorts and all grades--Swedes, Germans, Finns, and Russians--until suddenly I caught sight of two figures--one a man in a big tweed traveling-coat and a golf-cap, and the other the slight figure of a woman in a long dark cloak and a woolen tam-o"-shanter. The electric rays fell upon them as they came up the wet gangway together, and there once again I saw the sweet face of the silent woman whom I had grown to love with such fervent desperation. The man behind her was the same who had entertained me on board the _Lola_--the man who was said to be the lover of the fugitive Muriel Leithcourt.
Without betraying my presence I watched them pa.s.s through the pa.s.sport-office and Custom House, and then, overhearing the address which Martin Woodroffe gave the _isvoshtchik_, I stood aside, wet to the skin, and saw them drive away.
At eleven o"clock on the following day I found myself installed in the Hotel de Paris, a comfortable hostelry in the Little Morskaya, having succeeded in evading the vigilance of the spy who had so cleverly followed me from Abo, and in getting my suit-case round from the Hotel Europe.
I was beneath the same roof as Elma, although she was in ignorance of my presence. Anxious to communicate with her without Woodroffe"s knowledge, I was now awaiting my opportunity. He had, it appeared, taken for her a pleasant front room with sitting-room adjoining on the first floor, while he himself occupied a room on the third floor. The apartments he had engaged for her were the most expensive in the hotel, and as far as I could gather from the French waiter whom I judiciously tipped, he appeared to treat her with every consideration and kindness.
"Ah, poor young lady!" the man exclaimed as he stood in my room answering my questions, "What an affliction! She writes down all her orders--for she can utter no word."
"Has the Englishman received any visitors?" I asked.
"One man--a Russian--an official of police, I think."
"If he receives anyone else, let me know," I said. "And I want you to give Mademoiselle a letter from me in secret."
"Bien, m"sieur."
I turned to the little writing-table and scribbled a few hasty lines to my love, announcing my presence, and asking her to grant me an interview in secret as soon as Woodroffe was absent. I also warned her of the search for her instigated by the Baron, and urged her to send me a line in reply.
The note was delivered into her hand, but although I waited in suspense nearly all day she sent no reply. While Woodroffe was in the hotel I dared not show myself lest he should recognize me, therefore I was compelled to sham indisposition and to eat my meals alone in my room.
Both the means by which she had met Martin Woodroffe and the motive were equally an enigma. By that letter she had written to her schoolfellow it was apparent that she had some secret of his, for had she not wished to send him a message of rea.s.surance that she had divulged nothing? This would seem that they were close friends; yet, on the other hand, something seemed to tell me that he was acting falsely, and was really an ally of the Baron"s.
Why had he brought her to Petersburg? If he had desired to rescue her he would have taken her in the opposite direction--to Stockholm, where she would be free--whereas he took her, an escaped prisoner, into the very midst of peril. It was true that her pa.s.sport was in order, yet I remembered that an order had been issued for her transportation to Saghalien, and now once arrested she must be lost to me for ever. This thought filled me with fierce anxiety. She was in Petersburg, that city where police spies swarm, and where every fresh arrival is noted and his antecedents inquired into. No attempt had been made to disguise who she was, therefore before long the police would undoubtedly come and arrest her as the escaped criminal from Kajana.
For several hours I sat at my window watching the life and movement down in the street below, my mind full of wonder and dark forebodings.
Was Martin Woodroffe playing her false?
Just after half-past six o"clock the waiter entered, and handing me a note on a salver, said--
"Mademoiselle has, I believe, only this moment been able to write in secret."
I tore it open and read as follows:--
DEAR FRIEND.--_I am so surprised. I thought you were still in Abo.
Woodroffe has an appointment at eight o"clock on the other side of the city, therefore come to me at 8.15. I must see you, and at once. I am in peril_.--ELMA HEATH.
My love was in peril! It was just as I had feared. I thanked Providence that I had been sent to help her and extricate her from that awful fate to which "The Strangler of Finland" had consigned her.
At the hour she named, after the waiter had come to me and announced the Englishman"s departure, I descended to her sitting-room and entered without rapping, for if I had rapped she could not, alas! have heard.
The apartment was s.p.a.cious and comfortable, thickly carpeted, with heavy furniture and gilding. Before the long window were drawn curtains of dark green plush, and on one side was the high stove of white porcelain with shining bra.s.s bands, while from her low lounge-chair a slim wan figure sprang up quickly and came forward to greet me, holding out both her hands and smiling happily.
I took her hands in mine and held them tightly in silence for some moments, as I looked earnestly into those wonderfully brilliant eyes of hers. She turned away laughing, a slight flush rising to her cheeks in her confusion. Then she led me to a chair, and motioned me to be seated.
Ours was a silent meeting, but her gestures and the expression of her eyes were surely more eloquent than mere words. I knew well what pleasure that re-encounter caused her--equal pleasure with that it gave to me.
Until that moment I had never really loved. I had admired and flirted with women. What man has not? Indeed, I had admired Muriel Leithcourt.
But never until now had I experienced in my heart the real flame of true burning affection. The sweetness of her expression, the tender caress of those soft, tapering hands, the deep mysterious look in those magnificent eyes, and the incomparable grace of all her movements, combined to render her the most perfect woman I had ever met--perfect in all, alas! save speech and hearing, of which, with such dastard wantonness, she had been deprived.
She touched her red lips with the tip of her forefinger, opened her hands, and shrugged her shoulders with a sad gesture of regret. Then turning quickly to some paper on the little table at her side she wrote something with a gold pencil and handed to me. It read--