Russia a few weeks later, Southbourne [Pg 22]would have sent me instead of him; I should perhaps have met with his fate. I knew, of course, that at this time a “special” in Russia ran quite as many risks as a war correspondent on active service; but it was one thing to encounter a stray bullet or a bayonet thrust in the course of one’s day’s work,—say during an émeute,—and quite another to be murdered in cold blood.

[Pg 22]

“That’s terrible!” I said huskily, at last. “He was such a splendid chap, too, poor Carson. Have you any details?”

“Yes; he was found in his rooms, stabbed to the heart. He must have been dead twenty-four hours or more.”

“And the police have tracked the murderer?”

“No, and I don’t suppose they will. They’ve so many similar affairs of their own on hand, that an Englishman more or less doesn’t count. The Embassy is moving in the matter, but it is very unlikely that anything will be discovered beyond what is known already,—that it was the work of an emissary of some secret society with which Carson had mixed himself up, in defiance of my instructions.”

He paused and lighted another cigarette.

“How do you know he defied your instructions?” I burst out indignantly. The tone of his allusion to Carson riled me. “Don’t you always expect us to send a good story, no matter how, or at what personal risk, we get the material?”

“Just so,” he asserted calmly. “By the way, if you’re in a funk, Wynn, you needn’t go. I can get another man to take your place to-night.”

“I’m not in a funk, and I mean to go, unless you [Pg 23]want to send another man. If you do, send him and be damned to you both!” I retorted hotly. “Look here, Lord Southbourne; Carson never failed in his duty,—I’d stake my life on that! And I’ll not allow you, or any man, to sneer at him when he’s dead and can’t defend himself!”

[Pg 23]

Southbourne dropped his cigarette and stared at me, a dusky flush rising under his sallow skin. That is the only time I have ever seen any sign of emotion on his impassive face.

“I apologize, Mr. Wynn,” he said stiffly. “I ought not to have insinuated that you were afraid to undertake this commission. Your past record has proved you the very reverse of a coward! And, I assure 

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