“I thought so,” laughed the ex-official, who had been dreaded above all his predecessors in office. “And now what is it you wish to find out?” Basil lighted a cigarette, paused to expel two or three thin threads of smoke, and then spoke: “I would like to know who is the English officer in mufti who has visited Petersburg on several occasions during--the last year or two, let us say--to meet a woman of the half-world--as a matter of fact, a _Lesghise_; first _lançée_ by--” “A dashing officer of the _Gardes-à-Cheval_?” interrupted the General. “Precisely!” General Lédòff glanced at his interlocutor from beneath his shaggy eyebrows, then fell to puffing once more at his enormous pipe with extraordinary industry. “You,” he said, dryly, “have no longer the least business to occupy yourself with ladies of the merrier sort, my son, and unless you give me a pretty good reason for so doing I will certainly and most virtuously refuse to assist you in so unpardonable an enterprise. What do you want of that species of fallen Princess?” “Nothing of her, I assure you!” Basil emphatically declared; “but--one of my friends is interested in the question, and it is for him I speak. Surely you have still means at your disposal, my excellent friend, of finding out what I ask.” “Certainly! It would be fine if an ex-Chief of Police--who managed to escape the régime of bombs to which all of us are subject--had not retained enough intelligence to accomplish so slight a thing. But why do you bother about other people’s love intrigues? Now that you are _à l’abris des voitures_, as our amiable allies say. It’s a loss of time, and you’ll get no thanks for your pains.” “I am not looking for thanks,” Basil dryly observed. “All the better for you. But you don’t suppose I can give you the information you seek at five seconds’ notice, do you, boiling youth? My head is no longer pigeon-holed like a receptacle for _dossiers_.” “I wish you could, for I am leaving for Tverna on the next train, and I do not expect to be in Petersburg again for some time.” “As pressing as that? Had trouble with your peasants, I heard, some time ago. Nothing very terrible, eh?” “No.”