"Stand up, Ivanovitch," said the voice, "and be seated. I have a good deal to say, and it is not my habit to talk to any man when I find him on his knees."
Boris rose a little unsteadily and faced about, to find the most disconcerting eyes of Sir Paul bent full upon him.
Still retaining the revolver in his hand, the baronet seated himself upon the edge of his bed and then motioned to his host to sit down upon a chair.
For a few minutes the two men gazed at each other with curiosity and interest. Swiftly, however, it came to Paul that a man in Boris's apparent position was not likely to be engaged in theft. There sprang into his brain the notion that the man was simply searching through his belongings with the idea of blackmail.
It almost made Paul laugh to think that any man should attempt to blackmail him. He had nothing to disguise, nothing to hide.
Indeed, as he sat easily on the edge of the bed, looking at the dark, disconcerted face before him, he had half a mind to throw his weapon aside and to tell Ivanovitch to go his way in peace.
"What did you find?" Paul asked.
Boris did not even blink his heavy-lidded eyes.
"Nothing," he said.
"Yet," rejoined Paul, almost meditatively, "you must have been here some minutes at least before I arrived."