Strange as it may seem, this table was the private notice-board of the Nihilists. The proprietor was a member of the Circle, and this was considered one of the safest means of communication. In a few moments I discovered what I sought; a line in English, very faintly traced with a lead pencil, which read, "Come at eleven to-night, certain." For nearly an hour I remained smoking and chatting with the genial proprietor, then, after rubbing out the message, bade him adieu and left. Shortly before eleven I strolled down one of the narrow, squalid streets that led to the Neva, halted before a little bakery, and having rapped three times at a side door, was admitted. Passing to the end of a long, dark passage, I bent, groped about until I found an iron ring in the floor, and pulled up a large flap, from beneath which came a flood of light. Then I descended the ladder, and, walking into an underground kitchen, found myself in the presence of the Revolutionary Executive Committee. As I glanced round quickly, I saw a stranger--a woman, with her back turned towards me, and holding in her hand a bright, keen knife. She stood looking up at the _ikon_ upon the wall. The president from his seat at the head of the table had apparently been addressing her. "I agree to the conditions," she was replying, in Russian, in harsh, strained tones. "I bind myself irrevocably, by my solemn oath before this holy picture, to strike any such blow for liberty as the Circle may direct." There was something in her form that struck me as curious, and as she slowly raised the knife to her lips, and kissed the thin, double-edged blade, I rushed across and looked into her face. It was the woman I had noticed in the Dominique! She had taken an oath to commit murder at the bidding of the Revolutionists! There was the same fixed look in her eyes, the same blank, expressionless countenance, and as she turned and faced the council of desperate conspirators, her teeth were firmly set and her bejewelled hands tightly-clenched. As her eyes met mine, I fancied she started, but the words of the president attracted her attention. "It is enough," he said solemnly. "To-morrow you will receive instructions. You have joined us, therefore never forget that the punishment inflicted on those who divulge our secret is always swift and decisive--death!" A shudder ran through her, the knife fell from her grasp, and she reeled and would have fallen, had not an elderly, grey-haired woman jumped up from her seat and caught her. In a few moments, however, she recovered, and the pair walked slowly out.