It read--
"Surely Providence has sent you here! Mr. Woodroffe must have followed
you from England. He is my enemy. You must take me from here and hide
me. They intend to send me into exile. Have you ever been in Petersburg
before? Do you know anyone here?"
Then when I had read, she handed me her pencil and below I wrote--
"I will do my best, dear friend. I have been once in Petersburg. But is
it not best that we should escape at once from Russia?"
"Impossible at present," she wrote. "We should both be arrested at the
frontier. It would be best to go into hiding here in Petersburg. I
believed Woodroffe to be my friend, but I have found only this day that
he is my enemy. He knew that I was in Kajana, and was in Abo when he
learned of my escape. He went with two other men in search of us, and
discovered us that night when we sought shelter at the wood-cutter's
hut. Without making his presence known he waited outside until you were
asleep, and then he came and looked in at my window. At first I was
alarmed, but quickly I saw that he was a friend.
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