His Excellency spoke, and the words he uttered staggered me.  I stood aghast.

“Seize that man!” he cried, pointing to me.  “He is armed!  He has just threatened to kill me!  He is the man against whom we were recently warned—­the Englishman!”

“Ah!” I cried, standing before the thin-faced official of the Czar, the unscrupulous man who had crushed Finland beneath the iron heel of Russia, and who, by his lying allegation, now held me in his power.  “I see your object, Baron Oberg!  You intend to arrest me as a conspirator!”

“Search the fellow.  He has a revolver there in his hip-pocket,” declared the Governor-General, and in an instant the short, ferret-eyed little man had run his hands down me and felt my weapon.

I drew it forth and handed it to him, saying: 

“You are quite welcome to it if you fear that I am here with any sinister motive.”

“He obtained admission by a clever ruse,” the Baron explained to the police agent.  “And then he threatened me.”

“It’s untrue,” I protested hotly.  “I have merely called to see you regarding the young English lady, Elma Heath—­the unfortunate lady whom you consigned to the fortress of Kajana.”

“The mad woman, you mean!” he laughed.

“She is not mad,” I cried, “but as sane as you yourself.  It is you who intended that the horrors of the castle should drive her insane, and thus your secret should be kept!”

“What do you suggest?” he demanded, stepping a few paces towards me.

“I mean, Xavier Oberg, that you would kill Elma Heath if you dared to do so,” I answered plainly, as I faced him unflinchingly.

“You see?” he laughed, turning to the stout man at my side.  “The fellow is insane.  He does not know what he is talking about.  Ah, my dear Malkoff, I’ve had a narrow escape!  He came here intending to shoot me.”

“I did not,” I protested.  “I am here to demand satisfaction on behalf of Miss Heath.”

“Oh!—­well, if the lady cares to come here herself, I will give her the satisfaction she desires,” was his crafty reply.

“The lady has escaped you, and it is therefore hardly likely she will willingly return to Helsingfors,” I said.

“It was you who succeeded, by throwing the guard into the water, in abducting her from the castle,” he remarked.  “But,” he added sneeringly, with a sinister smile, “I presume your gallantry was prompted by affection—­eh?”

“That is my own affair.”

“A deaf and dumb woman is surely not a very cheerful companion!”

“And who caused her that affliction?” I cried hotly.  “When she was at Chichester she possessed speech and hearing as other girls.  Indeed, she was not afflicted when on board the Lola in Leghorn harbor only a few months ago.  Perhaps you recollect the narrow escape the yacht had on the Meloria sands?”

His eyes met mine, and I saw by his drawn face and narrow brows that my words were causing him the utmost consternation.  My object was to make him believe that I knew more than I really did—­to hold him in fear, in fact.