and accompany him.  He would never allow me the luxury of a maid, fearing, I suppose, that she might learn too much.  In obedience I rose and dressed, and when I went forth he told me to get my traveling-cloak and dressing-bag, adding that he was compelled to go north, as to continue the cruise would occupy too much time.  He was due back at his official duties, he said.  As soon as I had finished packing, the three men returned to the vessel, all of them looking dark-faced and disappointed.  Woodroffe whispered some words to the Baron, after which I went to Muriel’s cabin and wished her good-bye, and we went ashore, taking the train first to Colle Salvetti, thence to Pisa, and afterwards to the beautiful old city of Siena, which I had so longed to see.  One of my teeth gave me pain, and the Baron, after a couple of days at the Hotel de Sienne, took me to a queer-looking little old Italian—­a dentist who, he said, enjoyed an excellent reputation.  I was quick to notice that the two men had met before, and as I sat in the chair and gas was given to me I saw them exchange meaning glances.  In a few moments I became insensible, but when I awoke an hour later I was astounded to feel a curious soreness in my ears.  My tongue, too, seemed paralyzed, and in a few moments the awful truth dawned upon me.  I had been rendered deaf and dumb!

“The Baron pretended to be greatly concerned about me,” it went on, “but I quickly realized that I had been the victim of a foul and dastardly plot, and that he had conceived it, fearing lest I might speak the truth concerning the Privy-Councillor Polovstoff, for of exposure he lived in constant fear.  To encompass my end would be against his own interests, as he would lose my fortune, so he had silenced me lest I should reveal the terrible truth concerning both him and his associates.  He was not rich, and I have reason to believe that from time to time he gave information as to persons who possessed valuable jewels, and thus shared in the plunder obtained by those on the yacht.

“From Italy we traveled on to Berlin, thence to Petersburg, and back to dreary Helsingfors, journeying as quickly as we could, yet never allowing me opportunity of being with strangers.  Both my ears and tongue were very painful, but I said nothing.  He was surely a fiend in a black coat, and my only thought now was how to escape him.  From the moment when that so-called dentist had ruined my hearing and deprived me of power of speech, he kept me aloof from everyone.  The fear that I should reveal everything had apparently grown to haunt him, and he had conceived that terrible mode of silencing my lips.  But the true depth of his villainy was not yet apparent until I was back in Finland.