Little introduction was necessary. We grasped each other's hands. "My brother! The man of whom you were jealous," laughed Vera, as she nervously twisted the ribbons of her wrap around her hand. "Well," said Boris, heartily, "I'm pleased we are relatives, and that we have at last met. The mystery you have so long tried to solve can now be cleared up." "I have just been relating my history," said Vera, naively. "Then I will explain something of mine, although it is a story not enticing to tell," Boris exclaimed, a shadow of pain crossing his face. "Let me know all!" I urged, impatiently. "What I have already heard has almost bewildered me; I can scarcely realise its truth." He twirled his moustache and appeared to be lost in thought for a few moments. Then he said: "First, let me make a confession. Like my sister, I am--or rather was--a member of a Nihilist Circle. I joined from the same motive of revenge that prompted Vera, and perhaps she has explained how you unwittingly assisted us in our attempt; how, by the treachery of Hertzen, you were arrested; and how by our exertions you escaped." "Yes," I replied. "But you do not know all. You remember finding the seal in your cell?" "Ah--the seal?" I cried, excitedly, for the mention of it brought back terrible memories. "What was its meaning?" I demanded. "By the merest accident you directed my attention to the hieroglyphics on the wall, and the discovery threw a light upon a phase of the mystery that had hitherto been unintelligible. That cell, I found, was the same in which my father was confined before his exile, and it was he who cut that emblem in the stone, with his initials linked with those of the villain who plotted his destruction." "And that villain was--" "The man you know as Hertzen. Having obtained control of my sister's fortune, he schemed to entangle her so that he might be instrumental in securing her exile to the mines, and eventually appropriate the money for his own use. He was unaware, however, that my wound in Georgia had not proved fatal. By concealing my identity I contrived to assist Vera and yourself." "But the seal! Tell me; what is its meaning?" I asked, in breathless suspense. "It is the death symbol. The Nihilist law demands that those who accidentally discover our secret, and refuse to take the oath, must die by the hand of the person from whose lips they learn it. To ensure absolute secrecy, so essential in a country like Russia teeming with police spies, the Executive devised a seal to be affixed to the body of the murdered person, thus showing members of our Cause the reason of the crime and deterring them from betraying us." "So the seal, about which there has been so much controversy, is a Nihilist emblem," I said, bewildered.