The Czar may be your patron, and you his
favorite, but his Majesty has no tolerance of officials who are guilty
of what you are guilty of. You talk of arresting me!" I added with a
smile. "Why, you ought rather to go on your knees and beg my silence."
He went white with rage at my cutting sarcasm. He literally boiled over,
for he saw that I was quite cool and had no fear of him or of the
terrible punishment to which he intended to consign me. Besides which,
he was filled with wonder regarding the exact amount of information
which Elma had imparted to me.
"There are certain persons," I went on, "to whom it would be of intense
interest to know the true reason why the steam-yacht _Lola_ put into
Leghorn; why I was entertained on board her; why the safe in the
British Consulate was rifled, and why the unfortunate girl, kept a
prisoner on board, was taken on shore just before the hurried sailing of
the vessel. And there are other mysteries which the English police are
trying to solve, namely, the reason Armida Santini and a man disguised
as her husband died in Scotland at the hand of an assassin.
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