“I am foolish, monsieur,” she replied, slightly agitated. “I saw the man before, as I entered the cathedral, and felt as if he watched me. Adieu, M. le Maréchal, I must leave you.”
She gave me her hand at parting, and I followed her a little way with Pierrot until I saw her and her woman safe in the Zotof carriage, which was in waiting across the square.
CHAPTER V.
THE TOWER OF IVAN VELIKI.
After seeing mademoiselle safe in her carriage, I turned to look for the tall stranger who had startled her, but he had vanished. I gazed about me in some astonishment, for the square was open, and a moment before he had been at our heels.
“Morbleu!” I exclaimed sharply, “where is the fellow?”
“He went back into the cathedral, your Excellency,” Pierrot replied quietly; “he walks fast and takes but a moment to disappear.”
“You have noticed him before?” I asked, my mind full of conjectures.
“Three times, monsieur,” Pierrot said,—“once at the palace, once behind M. de Lambert in the Zemlianui-gorod, and once at the house of Prince Dolgoruky.”
I started, a solution of the mystery occurring to me.
“Is he an attendant of Prince Dolgoruky?” I asked.