"A man who has escaped death is not to be trusted on a point of discretion,--he doesn't know how to select his friends. He is like a spirit emerging from nowhere in the eternal void and grabs at the first apparition that promises companionship in his embarrassing and momentary isolation.... Well, I was so glad to see that Buckingham Clorinda that I was willing to take her into my confidence at once.... She _seemed_ so sympathetic!... 'I commend your bravery,' she said prettily, offering me her hand.... It was small and beautifully moulded, yet firm and steady, and sent an electric thrill through me like a flash.... Her eyes would disarm the most suspicious diplomatic free-lance in the world.... Struck with admiration, hypnotized by her voice, I could only blurt, 'I thank you.' "...'We are looking for a man of approved courage,' she continued earnestly; 'we are more than satisfied that YOU are the man.'... Again I muttered my thanks.... 'How long have you been a member?' she then asked carelessly.... THIS was not so easily answered.... I thought quickly.... 'Long enough to KNOW my lesson!' I answered oracularly.... 'You still remember your instructions?'... 'What instructions?' She answered my question by asking, 'Were they not BURNED?'... 'Who is this encyclopædic lady?' I asked myself. 'What manner of TRAP is she setting for me now?'... 'Why did you SANDBAG me?' was MY answer.... 'You are NOT to ask questions,' she returned. 'Are you not satisfied with results?'... "... 'I am still alive.'... 'Well,' she smiled, 'a _live_ Bolshevik, of OUR kind, is much better than a dead diplomat!'... I was taken into an improvised kitchen and indulged in a splendid meal.... I took no wine.... "... My meal being finished _she_ offered me an excellent cigarette.... Glancing up through a ring of smoke my eyes fell upon a rough black-and-white sketch of a tall, smooth-faced, keen-eyed man with rather large ears, firm and thin-cut lips, high forehead and steadfast gaze, dressed in the uniform of a General Officer, with a single decoration on his left breast.... _she_ observed me closely as I gazed.... I KNEW this man and was about to exclaim: '_The savior of this country!_'... but something restrained my enthusiasm.... 'You recognize him, I see,' she insinuated.... 'WHO is he?' I dodged.... She merely smiled.... She evidently realizes the wonderful power of that disarming smile and the fascination of good teeth in a shapely head.... 'You'll do!' she said with apparent reservation as she tapped a tiny bell....