Stumbling blindly on for a few hundred paces, I met a man I knew, and, pointing out the house, asked him who lived there. "The woman has enmeshed you, eh?" he suggested, laughing. "Well, you are not the first who has been smitten by her extraordinary charms." "What do you mean?" I asked. "Flirtation is a dangerous pastime here, in Petersburg," he replied, shrugging his shoulders ominously. "Especially so if one's idol is Agafia Ivanovna, the Princess Tchikhatzoff." "Princess?" I echoed, in surprise. Then, linking my arm in his, I begged him to tell me what he knew of her. But he only replied-- "I really cannot tell you anything, _mon cher_, except her name. Ugly rumours were once afloat, but perhaps the least said of her the better." And, waving his hand and wishing me a hurried adieu, he went on. A month later, having received instructions from London to proceed to the cholera-infected districts of Vologda, in order to describe the hospitals, I had obtained the necessary permit from the Ministry of the Interior, and one evening had taken my seat in the mail train for Moscow. Scarcely had I arranged my traps and prepared for the long night journey, when a rather shabbily-attired female appeared at the carriage door. "M'sieur," she exclaimed in a soft, musical voice. "It is M'sieur Wentworth that I address, is it not?" Replying in the affirmative I alighted. "You are going to Pavlova, in Vologda?" she said in broken English. "I--I am in a great difficulty--a great danger threatens me. If you would only render me a service, I should indeed owe my life to you." "What can I do?" I asked. "I have here a message to a--a friend who is lying ill of cholera in the hospital at Pavlova;" and she drew forth a letter from under her faded shawl. "You wish me to deliver it?" "Yes," she replied anxiously. "Were I able to travel, I would not ask this favour; but only the journalists are allowed to pass the cordon, and the post is suspended for fear of infection." I took the letter slowly from her hand, and as I did so, was amazed to discover that on her slim white wrist there were three red marks, exactly similar to those I bore! "I shall be pleased to act as your messenger," I said, placing the letter in my pocket; "you may rest assured it will be delivered safely, Princess." "You recognise me, then?" she cried, starting back. "I--" But her sentence remained unfinished, for the train was moving off slowly, and I had barely time to scramble in without bidding her adieu.