"That must serve. You will not even say if she is near at hand?"
"Who knows? She comes and goes. One day she is at Warsaw; the next at Wilna; now at Grodno; again even here. Yes, she has been here no longer than a week since, though she is not here now."
"I do not know where she is to-day, nor where she will be to-morrow; in this I verily speak the truth, Excellency," he continued. "Though I shall perchance see her, when my present business is done. Be patient. You will doubtless have news of her at Zostrov."
"Does not all the countryside know that a foreigner rides with Mishka Pavloff? God be with you, Excellency."
He made one of his quaint genuflexions and backed rapidly to the door.
"Here, stop!" I commanded, striding after him. "There is more,--much more to say. Why did you not keep your promise and return to me in London? What do you know of Selinski's murder? Speak, man; you have nothing to fear from me!"
I had clutched his shoulder, and he made no attempt to free himself, but drooped passively under my hand. But his quiet reply was inflexible.
"Of all that I can tell you nothing, Excellency. It is best forgotten."
There was a heavy footstep on the stair and next moment the door was tried, and Mishka's voice exclaimed: "It is I. Open to me, Herr Gould."
There was no help for it, so I drew back the bolt. The door had no lock,--only bolts within and without.
As Mishka entered, the Jew bowed low to him, and slipped through the doorway. Mishka glanced sharply at me, muttered something about returning soon, and followed Yossof, closing the door behind him and shooting the outer bolt.
"Will you never learn wisdom?" demanded Mishka, when, after a few minutes, he returned. "Why could you not rest here in safety?"
"Because I wanted to walk some of my stiffness off," I replied coolly. "I had quite a good time, and met an old acquaintance."
"Who gave you much interesting news?" he asked, with a sardonic inflection of his deep voice that made me guess Yossof had told him what passed at our interview.
"Why, no; I can't say that he did that," I confessed. Already I realized that I had learned absolutely nothing from the Jew save the new password, and the fact that he was, or soon would be, in direct communication with Anne.