She saw my surprise. “You have convinced me, that is all. I had forgotten.”

“Forgotten what?”

“It is never too late to——” She paused.

“To what?”

“To remember what I can still do,” she replied cryptically. “I will tell Ladislas about the sleigh.” And without more she smiled again and left me.

I returned to Bremenhof.

“I have sent for a sleigh to take us to your house. You have given me your word that I shall be safe——”

“I swear it,” he cried eagerly.

“I am going to trust to it, but not without taking a precaution on my own account. My liberty will be in your hands while I am in your house; and you had better know that I would rather lose my life than be sent to your cursed mines in Siberia. Get that clearly into your mind.”

“I swear to you——”