THE COUNTESS' DIAMOND.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XLVIII, Issue 81918, 25 February 1907, Page 4

THE COUNTESS' DIAMOND.

(In Three Chapters.)

CHAPTER 11. ' The stainvuy and the corridors wero deserted. A light shone from under the door of Number 41. I bad made up my mind by that time, and turned (lie handle firmly, and walked in, and if there had been anyone inside, I should have said, " Oh, I beg your pardon," and walked out again. But, of course, the room was empty, and I searched' it at a glance, and shut the door behind me. The jewels were not there. I was in a sitting-room, furnished in the ordinary big-hotel luxury and bad taste. A door opened off it in the right hand wall; evidently there was a bedroom en suite; and it was there I must look for my treasures.

I crossed the carpet and entered the bedroom. The place was in darkness, and I was fumbling for the electric light switch, when of a sudden my eye caught a gleam of many coloured lights from the dressing table. What luck ; what stupendous luck. There the gems were lying ready to rny hand I could have sung aloud with satisfaction. But I did not do that, I turned and began to walk across the Hoor, but at the end of the first step I halted, and a thing happened which turned all my blood to ice. I heard the outer door of the sittingroom open, and Diinitri's voice say, "Go in first, Sonia, and receive them."

If the means had been at hand, I would have killed myself at that moment to have got away from what appeared to bo my certain shame. But I was empty handed, and helpless, and I stood in the darkness of that bedroom like a man dazed, and looked on through the slit of the doorway. There were ten men with the Countess in the other room. The two I had seen before and two others were in evening dress; the rest wore ordinary black and tweed, with that something indefinable in the cut which marks off the foreigner. The chatter 'of their voices rang through my head for full ten minutes without leaving any impression, and then someone rapped a table for silence, and spoke. " Friends," he said, " our ally here, who is in the British Parliament, on our behalf, understands no Russian. He has come to-night to see justice done, and it is right that he should appreciate everything that happens. So if it please you, we will conduct our proceedings in French." The assembly chattered out its cordial consent, and the Englishman thanked them. His accent was vile, but his French was glib enough. Parioff went on—" I was sorry to drag you away so unceremoniously from our other meeting, but necessity knows no etiquette. News was brought me that treachery had been done to our Cause. Our plans for—you know what—have been betrayed. The whole scheme is totally spoilt for the present. And I make no doubt that more of our friends in Petersburg are at this moment matching off towards Saghalien. The Czar's gold," he added, bitterly, " has once more saved his Imperial hide." " I'm beginning to admire the Czar," said Dimitri. " His hand is everywhere. He is a man worth fighting against." Parioff frowned and waved him to silence. " The traitor is growing alarmed already. He fears the reach of our arm here in London, and has made arrangements to return to Petersburg to-morrow. But before he goes he has promised to call at this hotel to make his adieux to the Countess, and perhaps we may induce him not to forget the ceremony"— He drew from his pocket a sheaf of papers, and pitched them on the table. The English M.P. and the other man in evening dress took them up to examine " Tnese are written proofs of the man's treachery, and again we have to thank the Countess here for putting them into our hands, and directing vengeance to the right man. It only remains then to fix upon his sentence." " Oh, death, I suppose," said a man with pock-marked face. " There is no reason for deviating from our general rule that I can sec." " Except," said Parioff, " the difficulty of carrying it out. I make no doubt that our caller will have a couple of detectives waiting outside in Northumberland Avenue till he shall have finished his call. We are all more or less known to them, and if our man is not forthcoming again in this life, it will go hard with us. We can't afford to sacrifice ourselves for a case like this; the Cause has more work for us to do; and we must exact our penalty, and at the same time keep ourselves safe, but I have brought this with me," he said, " from the club," and turned round, and drew from the pocket of his overcoat, which lay on a chair, a shorthandled whip with two metal rings, in the lash, and a beak-like hook at its end. Dimitri frowned. " Oh, I say," he protested, "to knout the man is worse than killing him." " Precisely," said Parioff, and looked at his watch. "He has earned the hardest punishment we can give. Think of tho misery he has caused to his associates. Think of the poor wretches now tramping towards Asia and exile. And now, friends, please, get ready for this traitor's reception. He named his time, and he will be punctuul. He may drop in upon us any minute. We must cease talking or our voices will scare him. He thinks that there is no one here but the Countess." The men settled themselves on to their seats, and forebore even to whisper. The Countess leaned with one white elbow on the mantelpiece, looking into the fire, and biting her lips. The English M.P. went methodically through the sheaf of papers. For myself I stood in a dull agony where I wa3, I had crept over to the outer door of the bedroom and found it locked, and it seemed that my detection was only a matter of time. Ten minutes dragged on with a horrible slowness. It appeared to me that hours passed, and I made certain that the man who was expected had got wind of what awaited him, and was staying under snug protection elsewhere. And I think some of the Nihilists had gathered the same notion, for they began to get restless, and to throw glances of inquiry across at Parioff. But he always nodded back with confidence, and 'at last a sharp knock rattled on the panels in the door. (To be Continued.) HOLDS ITS GlTarjND THE FOLLOWING TESTIMONY FBO3I HAXAIA IS EASILY. PBOVEM.