“I will tell you that when you tell me where he may be found,” said Peter with a smile. She stood for a time looking into his face. He saw that she was pale, and far more excited than her restrained manner revealed to the casual glance. “I will ask my father if he will see you,” she said presently. “He is very old and ill—he has been shot by sentries—a bullet through both his cheeks, though he is nearly recovered now from that. He is suspicious of all strangers, and you must be patient with him.” “I promise to be patient,” said Peter. “If you will arrange it for me——” “Ring for the samovar at five,” she said. Peter held out his hand quickly, as if there were a compact between them which must be affirmed. She gave him her hand, and he bowed and lifted it to his lips. “Vashka,” he whispered, “do you wish to leave this city?” “If I could take my father with me,” said Katerin, “yes, I would be glad to escape the dangers here.” “If your father will tell me where Kirsakoff may be found—I shall take you both away.” “Oh, then we shall find Kirsakoff!” she said with a sudden return of her gay manner. “Please! I am your prisoner here! Allow me to return to my father!” Peter unlocked the door, and she smiled over her shoulder at him as she ran down the hall. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ XVII SETTING THE SNARE KATERIN returned to her father. She found him sitting by the table playing a game of solitaire, and he looked up from the patterns of the cards with blinking, questioning eyes. She did not speak at once, but her face was eloquent of the surprise and shock she had suffered in her talk with Peter. She was coldly calm, as if she knew now something of what was before them, and was ready to meet the issue. A plan had already formed in her mind, but it was not yet clearly defined and she wanted time to think and prepare for whatever was necessary. “What have you learned?” whispered Michael, leaning toward her from his chair. “I can see that you know much—and I doubt that it is good. Do you know why this man has come?” “Yes, I know,” she said, and sat down beside him and drew herself a glass of tea. Her hands shook for all her resolution not to betray to her father the fact that once more they were blocked in their hopes of escape. Michael waited till she had refreshed herself, and Wassili, who had been making Michael’s bed and pottering about the room in pretended busyness, came and stood close to Katerin with anxious face, keen to hear what the mistress would have to report of her visit to the room of the American. “Then Rimsky spoke the truth?” pressed Michael. “It is true that the American came seeking me?” He had already divined it from Katerin’s manner. “Yes, Rimsky spoke the truth,” said Katerin slowly, and Wassili crossed himself and uttered a smothered exclamation of satisfaction.