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 seemed an hour to me, but may have been a couple of minutes, and then the elder one, the Captain, said:

"We'd better look through the other rooms."

"As you please," said his companion, and he turned away while the Captain picked up the lamp.

"I can't understand it," he muttered.

"Perhaps we'd better not try," said Loixoff. As he spoke he started, and I saw him stare at the spot where the Countess lay. "By God! Captain, there's the woman, dead!"

They crossed the room together, and while the Captain held the lamp down close to the body Loixoff examined it.

"It's that fiend, Anna Bokara," he cried. "Now we know what that scream meant."

"Is she dead?"

"Yes; here's a knife thrust right through her heart. There's no pulse," he added after a pause. "Is this his work?"

"It must be," returned the Captain; and I saw them look meaningly into each other's eyes.

"We'd best clear out of this," said the Captain. "I suppose it's only a case of suicide after all," he added significantly.

"Probably," was Loixoff's dry answer as he rose from his knees. "Where's the General, do you think?"

"I never think in these cases;" and the Captain put the lamp down, taking care to find the exact spot where it had stood, and then extinguished it. "We'll wait till he calls us, Loixoff. And mind, not a word that we've been here. Leave the General to make his own plans."