“Ah! So they found him guilty, eh?” I heard the General exclaim. “Well, we shall be commended by his Majesty for our shrewdness.”
“Shrewdness!” observed the visitor, with a hollow laugh. “True, we may call it so, but entre nous, I do not like the aspect affairs might assume if all the facts were known.”
“What do you mean? One Nihilist, more or less, surely cannot matter!”
“The arrest was made at the cost of the girl Natalya’s life.”
“She committed suicide,” replied the Tzar’s agent quickly. “And what is more, her body has been buried without identification.”
“She did not commit suicide,” said the detective calmly. “She was murdered!”
“How are you aware of that?”
“The spies of the Secret Police are everywhere. One was present when she was flung into the river—it was I.”
“Hush! speak lower,” urged the General. “My servant might overhear.” Then he added: “Listen, and I will prove to you that our action was justifiable. Gaston Guéneau, who was an attaché at Petersburg, and whose father owns the Château, was likely to be of service to Russia, and for that reason I carefully courted his companionship. I was not long in discovering that he entertained Nihilistic views, and that he was an old friend of Lebedeff’s. Gaston and Natalya, although not lovers, frequently met clandestinely in the interests of the revolutionary movement. Natalya, by some unaccountable means, discovered that I was connected with the Imperial Police, and on informing Gaston, prevailed upon him to steal some papers relating to our investigations regarding her father. He called upon me one day, and I was incautious enough to leave him here alone for a few moments, during which time he purloined a most important letter, one, that if ever produced, would be most damning evidence against us, and probably cause our expulsion from France. It exposed our little plot against Lebedeff, and explained the manner in which the bombs were to be introduced into his house. Of course, you quite understand that the Bureau at Petersburg was growing impatient, and we were bound to arrest some one.”
“One Nihilist is as good as another, providing you can fasten a conspiracy upon him, eh?” remarked the visitor with sarcasm.