CHAPTER II.
I AM A NIHILIST.
"I think if you don't mind we will go back to the station," said my companion, stopping after we had gone a little way without speaking. "It is very convenient for talking. Besides, you have to decide whether this thing shall be carried any farther."
"I have already decided," I replied, quietly. "I am going through with it, if it is at all possible. But I have thought of many difficulties."
"You must know all that I can tell you, please, before you decide, or I shall be very uncomfortable." She said this very firmly.
"Certainly you must tell me everything that will help me to know what manner of man I am now." I smiled as I said this to reassure her; but she was very earnest and a little pale.
She waited a while until there was no one near us, and then said in a low tone:—
"My brother is mixed up with the Nihilists in some way. I don't know how, quite: but I believe they suspect him of having played them false, and I think his life is threatened. Those two men you saw at the station were spies, sent either to stop him, or, if he got away, to follow him."
"But they didn't attempt to stop him."
"No, they mistook you for him, thinking they could see through the disguise of a clean shaven face. Had you entered the train, they would very likely have told you openly not to go, or have warned you of the consequences."