"I have my suspicions, and I do not wish others to be involved in my affairs, to suffer through me. Yet it is the others who suffer," he continued, speaking, as it seemed, more to himself than to me. "For I come through unscathed every time, while they--"
He broke off and sat for a minute or more frowning, and biting his mustache.
A sudden thought struck me. I rose and crossed to the French window which stood open. Outside was a small balcony, gay with red and white flowers. I nipped off a single blossom, closed the window, and returned to where he sat, watching my movements intently.
"I, too, have my suspicions, sir," I said significantly. "I wonder if they coincide with yours."
I laid the flower on the table beside him, flattening out the five scarlet petals, and resumed my seat.
I saw instantly that he recognized the symbol, and knew what it meant, doubtless better than I did.
He glanced from it to me, then round the room, crossed to the door, opened it quickly, saw Mishka was standing outside, on guard, and closed it again.
"Now, who are you and what do you know?" he asked quietly. "Speak low; the very walls have ears."
"It is safer to surmise nothing, Mr. Wynn. I only ask what you know!"
"Well, I know that some member of the League, the organization, that this represents," I pointed to the flower, "murdered an Englishman."
"Mr. Carson, a journalist. You knew him?" he exclaimed.
"Yes, and I am going to Petersburg as his successor."
"Then you have great need to act with more caution than--pardon me--you have manifested so far," he rejoined. "Well, what more?"
"One of the heads of the League, a man named Selinski, who called himself Cassavetti, was murdered in London a week ago."
That startled him, I saw, though he controlled himself almost instantly.
"I found him," I answered, and thereupon gave him the bare facts.
"And the English police, they have the matter in hand? Whom do they suspect?" he demanded.
"I cannot tell you, though they say they have a clue."
He paced to the window and stood there for a minute or more with his back towards me. Then he returned and looked down at me.
"I wonder why you have told me this, Mr. Wynn," he said slowly. "And how you came to connect me with these affairs."