Scarcely had the name of this dangerous and desperate woman passed my lips than I regretted having uttered it.
Had I foreseen the perils to which I exposed myself by that single slip I might have hesitated in going on with my enterprise.
As it was I determined to tell the Marquis of Bedale nothing more.
“This business is too urgent to admit of a moment’s unnecessary delay,” I declared, rising to my feet. “If your lordship has no further instructions to give me, I will leave you.”
“One instant!” cried Lord Bedale. “On arriving in Petersburg you will go straight to report yourself to her majesty the Empress Dagmar.”
I bowed my head to conceal the expression which might have told his lordship that I intended to do nothing of the kind.
“Your credentials,” he added with a touch of theatricality, “will consist of a single word.”
“And that word?” I inquired.
He handed me a sealed envelope.