“Well?” I said, interrogatively, after I had read it.
“Do you think it can be Natalya Lebedeff?”
“Ah!” I ejaculated, suddenly recollecting her mysterious disappearance. “We will go to the Morgue and ascertain.”
We at once left the Boulevard and proceeded to the house of the dead behind Notre Dame.
It needed not a second glance at the rigid body lying upon its cold slate slab to tell that Pouzàtov’s surmise was correct. The body was that of the pretty Natalya. Instantly my thoughts reverted to Gaston Guéneau. Could he be her murderer?
Half an hour afterwards I called at General Martianoff’s, when Shiryàlov handed me secretly a sheet of paper folded small, which I quickly transferred to my pocket. It was a detailed account of the movements of the Chief of Secret Police during the last twenty-four hours.
At midnight the prominent members of the Circle of Paris met at a house in La Glacière. I produced reports and papers which conclusively showed that General Martianoff was the head of the Russian spies in the French capital, and Shiryàlov, who also attended, made a statement. The manner in which Lebedeff had been watched, arrested, and sent back to Petersburg had aroused the ire and hatred of every man present, and it was unanimously agreed that the ex-Governor of Mstislavl, being a sworn enemy of Russian freedom, should be sentenced to death.
The president of the Tribunal then took a number of pieces of paper, and upon one sketched roughly the death-emblem of our Order. The papers were then folded carefully, placed in a box, and every man drew one. The drawing was carried on in silence. The one to whose lot it fell to strike the fatal blow made no sign, and none in that assembly were aware who had been selected to carry out the sentence. Silence is always preserved in such cases in order to ensure absolute secrecy, and to give the murderer a better chance of evading the police.
That night, as Shiryàlov and I were returning to Paris together, I noticed he appeared thoughtful and morose, and asked the reason.
“I must leave the General’s service to-morrow,” he replied. “There is an urgent reason that I should do so.”