"Do you know what is in store for you now?"
"Siberia, or death; one is as bad as the other. I'm only sorry that I did not have a chance to use my knife before you struck me; that's all."
"I have not a doubt of it. And yet you may escape both, Siberia and death, if you are reasonable."
"How? I'll be reasonable fast enough if you can prove that to me."
"Do you speak English?"
"Yes; as well as I do French, and Russian, and German, and half a dozen other languages."
"Then you heard and understood everything that passed between the prince and me?"
"Certainly. I might have pretended that I did not, if I had thought to do so. Still it would have made no difference, any way."
"Not much, that's a fact. Why did you hide in this room?"
"To hear what you said. To get what information I could. I certainly did not do it for the fun of the thing."