I told him of the faithful services of Felix, the Finlander, whereupon
he said simply:
"I told you that you might trust him implicitly."
"But now that you have shown yourself my friend," I said, "you will
assist Miss Heath to escape this man, who desires to hold her prisoner
in that awful place. They are driving her mad."
"I will do my best," he answered, but shaking his head dubiously. "But
you must recollect that Baron Oberg is Governor-General of Finland,
with all the powers of the Czar himself."
"And if Elma Heath again falls into his unscrupulous hands, she will
die," I declared.
"Ah!" he sighed, looking me straight in the face, "I fear that what you
say is only too true. She evidently holds some secret which he fears she
will reveal. He wishes to rearrest her in order--well--" he added in a
low tone, "in order to close her lips. It would not be the first time
that persons have been silenced in secret at Kajana. Many fatal
accidents take place in that fortress, you know."
CHAPTER XII
"THE STRANGLER"
Where was Elma? What was the cause of her inexplicable disappearance
into the gloomy forest while we had slept?
I returned to the hotel where I had stayed on my arrival, a comfortable
place called the Phoenix, and lunched there alone.
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