Danevitch took measures to have every outlet from Kronstadt watched. Then he set off for St. Petersburg. In reasoning the matter out, it was clear to him that several, perhaps many, persons had had a hand in the conspiracy.
The infernal machine carried on board the North Star by the man calling himself Orloff was hardly likely to be the work of one man. Any way, a woman was mixed up in the business.
The official document that Orloff had presented was written on Government paper, and it bore the Government seal. The officer of the North Star who had examined it before admitting the pseudo-clock-regulator, and who was amongst those who escaped without hurt from the explosion, testified to that.
Such being the case, and the order being written on what was known as ‘Admiralty’ paper, it followed that it must have been stolen from the Admiralty office. It struck Danevitch that the thief was probably a female employé in the Admiralty Palace, and that it was she who accompanied Orloff to Kronstadt.
This was a mere surmise, but it seemed feasible, and with Danevitch all theories were worth testing. Whoever it was, in the hurry of leaving the tavern at that town she had left behind her a glove.
It was a black silk-thread glove, ornamented at the back with sprigs worked in white silk. With this glove in his possession, Danevitch proceeded to the Admiralty Palace. But as soon as he arrived he learnt that Miss Catherine Snell had made a statement about Anna Plevski having visited Room 12 and requested to look at the plans of the North Star.
Anna was at once confronted with Danevitch. Asked where she had been the night before, she replied indignantly, ‘At home, of course.’
Did she know a person named Orloff? No, she did not. Why did she go to Catherine Snell and ask her to show her the plans of the North Star? Simply to gratify her curiosity, nothing else. She was next asked if she had worn gloves the day previous. She replied that she had. What sort were they? Kid gloves, she answered. Had she those gloves with her? No; she had left them at home, and had come to the office that morning without gloves.
After a few more inquiries she was allowed to return to her duties, but was kept under strict surveillance, while poor Catherine Snell was suspended for dereliction of duty.
In the meantime Danevitch proceeded to Anna’s lodgings, and a search there brought to light the fellow to the glove left in the tavern at Kronstadt. It had been thrown carelessly by the girl on the top of a chest of drawers. This glove was a damning piece of evidence that Anna had accompanied Orloff to Kronstadt the day before, and that established, it was a logical deduction that she had stolen the stamped paper on which he had written, or caused to be written, the order which had gained him admission on board of the North Star. All this, of course, was plain sailing. Catherine Snell’s statement had made matters easy so far. But there was a good deal more to be learnt, a great deal to be sifted before the truth would be revealed.