"And what on earth can the woman concern me?" he asked, with a brave attempt to remain cool, still speaking in French. "Only that you knew her," was my brief reply. Then, with my eyes still fixed upon his, I asked: "Will you not now request this gentleman to retire?" He hesitated a moment, and then with a wave of his hand dismissed the man he had summoned to his aid. A moment later the "Strangler's" personal protector had disappeared through that secret door in the paneling by which he had entered. "Well?" asked the Baron, turning quickly to me again, his dark, evil eyes trying to fathom my intentions. "Well?" I asked. "And what, pray, can you profit by denouncing me as an assassin? Remember, Baron, that your secret is mine," I said in a clear voice full of meaning. "And your intention is blackmail--eh?" he snapped, walking to the window and back again. "How much do you want?" "My intention is nothing of the kind. My object is to avenge the outrageous injury to Elma Heath." "Of course. That is only natural, m'sieur, if you have fallen in love with her," he said. "But are not your intentions somewhat ill-advised considering her position as a criminal lunatic?" "She is neither," I protested quickly. "Very well. You know better than myself," he laughed. "The offense for which she was condemned to confinement in a fortress was the attempted assassination of Madame Vakuroff, wife of the General commanding the Uleaborg Military Division." "Assassination!" I cried. "Have you actually sent her to prison as a murderess?" "I have not. The Criminal Court of Abo did so," he said dryly. "The offense has since been proved to have been the outcome of a political conspiracy, and the Minister of the Interior in Petersburg last week signed an order for the prisoner's transportation to the island of Saghalien." "Ah!" I remarked with set teeth. "Because you fear lest she shall write down your secret." "You are insulting! You evidently do not know what you are saying," he exclaimed resentfully. "I know what I am saying quite well. You have requested her removal to Saghalien in order that the truth shall be never known. But Baron Oberg," I added with mock politeness, "you may do as you will, you may send Elma Heath to her grave, you may hold me prisoner if you dare, but there are still witnesses of your crime that will rise against you." In an instant he went ghastly pale, and I knew that my blind shot had struck its mark. The man before me was guilty of some crime, but what it was only Elma herself could tell. That he had had her arrested for an attempted political assassination only showed how ingeniously and craftily the heartless ruler of that ruined country had laid his plans. He feared Elma, and therefore had conspired to have her sent out to that dismal penal island in the far-off Pacific. "You do not fear arrest, m'sieur?" he asked, as though with some surprise.