The Minister flung out his hands. “Judge for yourself, Baron,” he said. “Count Strogoff demanded your immediate dismissal. He was striking at me over your shoulders, of course. Your retirement meant mine, for I cannot afford to have one of Strogoff’s men in your place. The Emperor knew it, and that is the only reason you still hold your post. I did what I could, and will do what I can. But the most I could win was three months’ delay, and to get that I had to talk vaguely of great discoveries you had in train. You will have to make them, my friend, or it is good-by to power for both of us.” The Baron considered. He was a vigorous young-old man, with a hawk-like face, crowned by beautiful white hair. His mustache and imperial were the pink of military exquisiteness. In his eyes slumbered a consuming fire. “Humph!” he said slowly. “What discoveries would your excellency suggest?” The other laughed shortly, but with no merriment in his tones. “First and best,” he answered, “find the _Orkney_ and recover her gold. Its loss is Strogoff’s strongest card against you and me. I wish I had never recommended borrowing that money on the Princess Napraxine’s estates. To take it out of Strogoff’s control was like snatching a bone from a hungry dog.” “Russia needed it,” hazarded the other. “Of course Russia needed it. There was neither justice nor expediency in longer holding an estate for the benefit of a girl who had been missing twenty years, and who is certainly dead. The Emperor only anticipated when he decided to escheat part of it. But Strogoff had controlled it as trustee for ten years. It was madness to suppose that he would not seek revenge when forced to give it up.” “You counted on his enmity when you recommended the escheatal.” “Of course”--impatiently. “But I did not count on the money being lost. That was your fault, Baron. You were much to blame.” The Baron’s face showed that he did not agree with his superior’s assertion, but he offered nothing in rebuttal. The Minister knew all the circumstances, and if he chose to blame his subordinate, that subordinate could gain nothing by demonstrating the unjustness of the accusation. “If I recover the gold even at this late day, how then?” he questioned. “It would help! It would help! It would gain us time, and time fights for us. Find the gold, and we can baffle Strogoff for a year or two longer; but as long as he controls the vast remaining estates of the Princess Napraxine, he will be dangerous.” “Ah!” Baron Demidroff tugged at his mustache thoughtfully. “Failing recovery of gold,” he suggested, “is there anything else your excellency can recommend as likely to rehabilitate my position?” “Nothing! Except, of course, the impossible. Find the Princess Napraxine, and let her take the control of her property out of Strogoff’s hands, and he will be crippled permanently. But that is moonshine.”