"Did you make any mention to Oleg of the man following you?"
"No, it never occurred to me. But there, I suppose, he only followed
me, just as other men seem sometimes to follow me--to look into my
face."
"You are used to admiration," I said, "and therefore take no notice of
it. Pretty women so soon become blase."
"Oh! So you denounce me as blase--eh, Uncle Colin?" she cried, just as
we arrived before the door in Brunswick Square. "That is the latest! I
really don't think it fair to criticise me so constantly," and she
pouted.
Then she gave me her little gloved hand, and I bent over it as I wished
her good-night.
I wished to question Oleg regarding the man we had seen, but I could not
do so before her.
I turned back along the promenade, and was walking leisurely towards the
"Metropole," when suddenly from out of the shadow of one of the
glass-partitioned shelters the dark figure of a man emerged, and I heard
my name pronounced.
It was the ubiquitous Hartwig, wearing his gold pince-nez. As was his
habit, he sprang from nowhere. I had clapped my hand instinctively upon
my revolver, but withdrew it instantly.
"Good evening, Mr Trewinnard," he said. "I've met you here as I don't
want to be seen at the `Metropole' to-night. I have travelled straight
through from Petersburg here. I landed at Dover this afternoon, went up
to Victoria, and down here. I arrived at eight o'clock, but learning
that Her Highness was dining with you, I waited until you left her. It
is perhaps as well that I am here," he added.
"Why?" I asked.
"Because I've been on the pier with you to-night," was the reply of the
chief of the detective department of Russia, "and I have seen how
closely you have been watched by a person whom even Oleg Lobko, usually
so well-informed, does not suspect--a person who is extremely dangerous.
I do not wish to alarm you, Mr Trewinnard," he added in a low voice,
"but I heard in Petersburg that something is intended here in Brighton,
and the Emperor sent me post-haste to you."
"Who is this person who has been watching us?" I asked eagerly. "I
noticed him."
"Oleg doesn't know him, but I do. I have had certain suspicions, and
only five days ago I made a discovery in Petersburg--an amazing
discovery--which confirmed my apprehensions. The man who has been
watching you with distinctly evil intent is a most notorious and evasive
character named Danilo Danilovitch."
"Danilovitch!" I cried. "I know him, but I did not recognise him
to-night. His appearance has so changed."
"Yes, it has. But I have been watching him all the evening. He
returned by the midnight train to London."
"I can tell you where he is in hiding," I said.
"You can!" he cried. "Excellent! Then we will both go and pay him a
surprise call to-morrow. There is danger--a grave and imminent danger--
for both Her Highness and yourself; therefore it must be removed. There
is peril in the present situation--a distinct peril which I had never
suspected. A disaster may happen at any moment if we are not wary and
watchful. And there's another important point, Mr Trewinnard," added
the great detective; "do you happen to know a tall, thin, sharp-featured
young man called Richard Drury?"