“Anything else?” asked the Prince.
“Nothing else, your Highness, except good-night.”
“Oh, by the way, I forgot to pay my cabman. Of course it isn’t his fault that he brought me here.”
“I shall have pleasure in sending him to you, and again, good-night.”
“Good-night,” said the Prince.
He closed the door of his cabin, pulled out his note-book, and rapidly wrote two letters, one of which he addressed to Drummond and the other to the Czar. When the cabman came he took him within the cabin and closed the door.
“Here,” he said in a loud voice that the sentry could overhear if he liked, “how much do I owe you?”
The driver told him.
“That’s too much, you scoundrel,” he cried aloud, but as he did so he placed three gold pieces in the palm of the driver’s hand together with the two letters, and whispered:
“Get these delivered safely, and I’ll give you ten times this money if you call on Prince Lermontoff at the address on that note.”