"Keep your eyes open," I said. "Look out for any sc.r.a.ps of paper you see lying about. Keep a diary of the places Sophy goes to, and the people she sees. And when you have anything to tell, let me know. I will give you my address in Petersburg. And you may trust me to see that you come off well."

Marie readily agreed to all I asked of her. The understanding thus arrived at was destined to be of the greatest a.s.sistance to me.

Indeed, it is not too much to say that to this young Russian girl it is due that the two greatest Powers in the Old World are not at this moment battling on the Afghan frontier.

We had hardly been an hour under way before I saw the two objects of my watchfulness seated side by side in the drawing-room car, apparently on the friendliest terms.

Dismayed by this rapid progress, as it seemed, on the part of the Princess, I reproached myself for not having warned Colonel Menken before we started.

I resolved to put him on his guard at the earliest possible moment, and with that view I hung about the smoking-car, waiting till I saw him return to his corner.

This was not for some hours. Fortunately, owing to the universal expectation of war, there were not many pa.s.sengers proceeding to the Far East. The train was practically empty, and so when Colonel Menken had seated himself once more in the snug corner he had prepared for himself, I was able to approach him without fear of being overheard.

He was just lighting a cigar as I came up, and took no notice of my respectful salute till he had inhaled the tobacco smoke two or three times and expelled it through his nostrils to test the flavor.

At last he turned to me.

"Well?" he said with some sharpness. "What is the matter?"

"I have seen in the pa.s.senger list that you are traveling on the service of the Czar," I answered, "and I venture to place myself at your orders."

Colonel Menken scowled at me haughtily.

"Does that mean that you want a tip?" he sneered. "Or has some fool ordered you to shadow me?"

"Neither, Colonel," I replied. "I am a servant of the Czar, like yourself, as you may see from my uniform, and as I have reason to fear that there is an enemy of his majesty on the train, I wish to put you on your guard."

Menken gave a self-confident smile.

"I am pretty well able to take care of myself, I believe," he said boastfully. "As for the Nihilists, I no longer believe in their existence. You may point out the man you suspect, if you like, of course."

"It is not a man, Colonel, it is a woman."

"In that case the adventure promises to be interesting. I do not know any of the women on board except the Princess Y----."

"You know her!" I allowed a note of surprise to appear in my voice.

"The Princess is related to me," the Czar's messenger declared, with a rebuking frown. "I presume she is not the object of your suspicions?"

"And if she were?"

"If she were, I should tell you that you had made a very absurd mistake, my good fellow. The Princess is in the confidence of the Dowager Empress; she is perfectly aware of the object of my mission, and she has just promised me that if I carry it out successfully she will become my wife."

CHAPTER IX

THE BETROTHAL OF DELILAH

Colonel Menken regarded me with ironical contempt as I tried to apologize for my hinted distrust of his betrothed.

"That will do, my man. I shall tell the Princess of your blunder, and I can a.s.sure you she will be heartily amused by it."

"At least you will remember that I wear his imperial majesty's uniform," I ventured. "And, however much I have been misled as to the intentions of her highness, I submit that I am ent.i.tled to secrecy on your part."

"Am I to understand that some one has given you orders referring to the Princess? I thought this was simply some idle suspicion of your own?"

"My instructions were to watch over your safety, without letting you perceive it, and to take particular note of any one who seemed to be trying to form your acquaintance on the journey. If you now denounce me to her highness, she will be annoyed, and in any case I shall be of no further use to you."

"So much the better," the Colonel said rudely. "I consider your being here at all as an act of impertinence. If I engage to say nothing to the Princess--who, as you say, might be annoyed--will you undertake to leave me alone for the future?"

"I will undertake to leave the train at Tomsk," I replied.

Colonel Menken closed with this offer, which was meant as a delusive one. I had selected the first important stopping-place at which the train waited sufficiently long for me to procure the materials of a fresh disguise.

I took the train superintendent into my confidence, as far as to say that I wished to a.s.sume a false character for the remainder of the journey in order to be better able to play the spy on the object of my suspicion. We agreed that one of the train attendants should be put off at Tomsk, and that I should take his place.

After my scene with the Colonel, I could not venture to do much in the way of overlooking them. But I made the best use of my friendship with Marie, and she reported to me regularly what she observed of the doings of her mistress.

"It is my belief that Sophy is going to marry that stupid Colonel,"

she informed me, not long after I had heard of the engagement. "Why?

I can't think. He has no brains, not much money, and I am certain she is not in love with him."

"There has been a quarrel of some kind between those two," she reported later on. "Colonel Menken has been questioning Sophy about her reason for going to Port Arthur just now, when it may be attacked by the j.a.panese."

All this time the Princess had made no move to possess herself of the despatch which Menken was carrying--the real object of her presence on board the train.

When Tomsk was reached, I went off into the town and procured different hair and beard so as to effect a complete change in my appearance. The disguise was clumsy enough, but, after all, neither the Colonel nor his companion had had many opportunities of studying my personal appearance.

In the little cabin of my friend the superintendent I carried out the transformation, and finished by donning the livery of the railway restaurant service.

Thus equipped, I proceeded to lay the table at which the betrothed pair usually took their meals together.

As soon as the next meal, which happened to be dinner, was ready, I proceeded to wait upon them. They noticed the change of waiters, and asked me what had become of my predecessor.

"He got off at Tomsk," I told them. This was true--the getting rid of the waiter whose place I wished to take had been a simple matter. It must be remembered that I found myself everywhere received as an inspector attached to the secret police, the dreaded Third Section, and, in consequence, my word was law to those I had to deal with.

I added with an a.s.sumed air of mysterious consequence, "The Inspector of Police also left the train at Tomsk. It is a.s.serted that he is going to make an important arrest."

Colonel Menken laughed. Then turning to the beautiful woman who sat facing him across the small table, he said smilingly,

"It is lucky the inspector did not arrest you, my dear."

"Why, what do you mean?" she demanded.

"Simply that this officer, according to his own account, was charged to watch over and protect your devoted servant, and in the exercise of his functions he was good enough to hint to me that you were a suspicious character, of whom I should do well to be on my guard."