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 *way on to a wide landing-place until he paused before a large dark oak door. He opened this quietly and stood aside for me to enter.

As I did so, some words came to my ears that were certainly not intended for a stranger to hear.

"Curse the business. I am sick of the place. The sooner this thing's over and Christina is on the throne and married to Sergius, the sooner we shall be back in Moscow and out of this beastly hole."

The voice was loud and strident, and the language Russian; and the speaker, a young red-haired man, in an officer's uniform, laughed noisily. I was in the room before the sentence ended, but I came to an abrupt halt in my surprise, and perceiving at once the mistake that had been made, I half turned to leave the room again. But the man who had brought me had already closed the door.

My surprise was not one whit greater than that of the three men in the room, however, who were standing together by a table with their backs to the door, and not having heard it open, did not know I was there till the officer who had spoken turned round.

"Hullo! who the devil's this?" he exclaimed. "What do you want, sir?" and I saw his hand go to his sword hilt.

His companions turned quickly on hearing him, and stared at me with evident amazement.

"Be quiet, Marx," said one of them in Russian, a much older man, and apparently in command. Then in Bulgarian to me, "May I ask your business, sir?"

"On my word, I know no more than yourself," I answered, keeping my eye on the red-haired man whose threatening looks I did not at all like. "I am here 'In the Name of a Woman,' I presume. A mes