“Yes.”
“For what reason?”
“To seek a dear friend.”
“A woman, I presume?” she asked, with an ill-disguised sneer.
“Yes, Madame, it is a woman.”
“And her name is Mariána Néstoff, eh?” she asked slowly, watching my face.
“You are right. But how did you know?”
“I heard of her arrest. It is the common talk of Petersburg. The police made a raid at one of the meetings, and captured twenty of our comrades. Some explosives were found in Mariána’s room, and she has been sent to Sredne Kolymsk.”
“My God!” I cried. “Why, that is beyond the Arctic Circle—the worst region in all Siberia!”
She nodded, sighing slightly. “It must indeed be a terrible blow to you,” she said.