There was always the possibility that the countess had seen in Turnieff’s anger at Nick Carter for the supposed affront an opportunity of ridding herself of two dangerous men—Turnieff and Nick Carter. But Nick knew that even if he could ultimately establish his own innocence, there was sure to be much inconvenience and trouble connected with it. He realized when he saw through the thing that the best way for him to do was to get out of sight, and to keep out of sight until he could clear up the mystery and apprehend the real murderers. That was why he ran away. That was why, after he had made good his escape, he directed his steps straight for the embassy and roused the ambassador from his slumbers. For the detective had been provided with a means of entering that house at any hour of the day or night without calling upon the servants to admit him. When he entered it that night, he took himself straight to the room where the big teester bed was located, and where the ambassador slept. Nobody saw the detective enter the house; nobody but the ambassador was aware of his presence there; and Nick’s first words to the Russian were a shock to him. He said: “Turnieff has been sacrificed, prince. I do not know that he is dead, but I fear that he is.” “My God!” cried the ambassador. And then with deliberation Nick recounted all that occurred at the house of the countess, the quarrel in the street that followed it—and the crime. “You had the forethought to escape,” said the ambassador, when he was able to speak after he had heard the story. “Heavens, Mr. Carter, think of the fix you would be in if you had been captured.” The detective smiled, though sadly. “I have thought of it,” he said. “I thought of it then, and I had to think very quickly, too. On the whole, I believe that those men were not sorry to have me get away from them, since it saved them the necessity of swearing away the life of an innocent man; although I have very little idea that they would have hesitated at that.” “Hesitated? Not at all. Poor Turnieff! First the father; now the son. It is awful! But, Mr. Carter, I see men fall about me all the time. The life of a man is not considered where the schemes of a government are at stake. What a terrible woman!” “Eh? Why do you say that, prince?” “Because there can be no doubt, not the slightest, that she set those men upon you.” The detective shook his head in a positive negative. “No,” he said, “I do not think so.” “You do not? Why not?” “For several reasons, the chief one being because it would have been bad policy on her part. Then there are minor reasons. For example, there was not time for her to arrange it. She could not know that I would stop on the corner near her house, puzzled by the experiences of the night, and that Turnieff would overtake me there. For if I had not stopped there for five minutes or more, he would not have found me and there would have been no quarrel.”