Page:William Le Queux - The Czar's Spy.djvu/277

 CHAPTER XXVI

THE STRANGLER

Where was Elma? What was the cause of her inexplicable disappearance into the gloomy forest while we had slept?

I returned to the hotel where I had stayed on my arrival, a comfortable place called the Phœnix, and lunched there alone. Both Felix the Finn and my host, the wood-cutter, had received their doceurs and left, but to the last-named I had given instructions to return home at once and report by telegraph any news of my lost one.

A thousand conflicting thoughts arose within me as I sat in that crowded salle-à-manger filled with a gobbling crowd of commercial men of Abo. I had, I recognized, now to deal with the most powerful man in that country, and I suffered a distinct disadvantage by being in ignorance of the reason he held that sweet English girl a prisoner.

The tragedy of the dastardly manner in which she had been wilfully maimed caused my blood to boil within me. I had never believed that in this civilized twentieth century such things could be.

Michael Boranski had given his pledge to assist me, yet he had most plainly explained to me his