"I am not confident," I declared. "I have assisted the girl to obtain her freedom, therefore I cannot see that she can have any object in wilfully deceiving me. Her promise to reveal the truth regarding Ella in exchange for the passport is but a mere business arrangement." "You apparently suspect the woman you love of some terrible crime or other," Paul said, after a pause. "I can't understand you, Geoffrey, I must confess." "If you were in my place, fondly loving a woman who was enveloped in bewildering mystery, you would, I have no doubt, act quite as strangely as myself," I exclaimed, smiling grimly. "I only want to discover light in this chaos of perplexity; then only shall I be content." "But if circumstances have so conspired to produce a problem, why not remain patient until its natural elucidation is effected? The police, when baffled, frequently adopt that course, and often very effectually, too." "Truth to tell, old fellow," I said confidentially, "I am anxious to marry Ella, but cannot until I have ascertained some substantial truth." "Of what do you suspect her--of a crime?" he inquired, smiling. I paused. "Yes," I answered gravely, "of a crime." I fancied he started as I spoke, almost imperceptibly, perhaps, yet I could have sworn that my words produced within him some nervous apprehension. "A crime!" he echoed. "Surely she cannot be guilty of anything more serious than some little indiscretion." "It is more than mere indiscretion that I suspect," I said, in a low tone. "Well," he observed mechanically, as, after a pause, he stood at the window, gazing fixedly into the street, "I certainly would never accept as truth anything whatever told me by Sonia Korolenko." I was, however, inexorable in my demand, more than ever determined to hear Sonia's story. The strange, hesitating manner in which my friend had endeavoured to avoid complying with my request had aroused suspicion within me; of what, I could not tell. It struck me as curious that he should thus defend Ella so strenuously, although he knew her but slightly. He was, perhaps, acting in my interests as his friend, but if so, his intense hatred of Sonia was more than the mere official denunciation of an evil-doer. I did not believe his declaration that he had never met Sonia, but it seemed rather as if he had cause to well remember his meeting with her, and that its recollection still rankled bitterly within him.