Show i 01 4 AD 5 SPY ir the I 1 h e mystery er y of a eilent love i awer C ader WILLIAM U QUEUX U AUTHOR j P TOC ta CLO cloard aed DOOK BOOK etca illustration 16 C D RM US or TW shar co 00 w w iff w T SYNOPSIS 10 gordon bregg lining dining aboard idith hornby tho the acht loans owner accident accidentally girr ail baes aea a torn photograph of 0 j a young barl atiat rha night tile consuls consul n safe bate Is robbed tho the police find flint hornby is 8 it fraud anil and the he lolas lola name a falmo also one in ill condon la is trapp trapped etl nearly to t tits 8 death by A furmer farmer air vant olinto visit via t ing ln in bregg meets azurle mur e 1 r 0 I 1 tol I 1 ap appeals ears and muriel azurle I 1 introduces nt r d h him m ua as martin at n tier fail catli rs rb arieno fr lenil cregg sms t it a copy of tile the torn photograph 0 on tho 0 iola I ola and lium finds that flint tile xeni girl in Murl Mur elg fels friend disappears abegg discovers dl acovera llie lie I 1 ody body of 0 it murdered q in itani luch wood tile the body disappears appears end and in un ita place la in found tile the oily boly ot of olinto muriel and search Itan wood together Rother tc and fina tip body ot of armida Olin tos wife when the alio leolice go to thu tho wood tile the body ha has disappeared appeared in 1 london abegg nit meets eta olinto alive and well vell kremr lr eMr the doting yoting girt of file I 1 tie torn photograph 0 1 0 graph and finds that oho be Is I 1 mma klina heath 11 11 t lill gilece of if haron baron oberg who has taken her or to abo abor finland and that she holds holdi n secret arresting ing ofte on h tila to r return e turn to Itan gregg finds anda t thi 11 tied led front rom italton chater who had called thero there lie iio KOCH goes to abo anil alter after a tilt with tile police chief la in con to tile tho place where vin allma is IB lin CHAPTER XI the castle of tho the terror the big finn rowed me down the a sw ollon river after nearly it a mile the stream uaen opened out into a broad lake where in the distance I 1 saw rising sheer and high aiom the wa water batera tera a long square aquaro building of three stories with ft a tall round tower at at one corner an old medieval castle it seemed to be from one of the small windows of the tower as wo we came into view of tt it a light was wait shining upon the water and my guide seeing it grunted in satis faction it lad bad undoubtedly been placed there its aa signal after waiting tie live minutes or so he pulled straight t across the lakato lake to the high dark tower tower that descended into the water the place was wao as grim and silent as any I 1 had ever seen an impregnable stronghold hold of the days before siege guns were invented the fortress of some feudal prince or count who had probably held the surrounding country in thralldom A small wooden ledge and limit half a dozen steps led up to a low arched door which opened noiselessly and the dark figure of a woman stood stood peering forth my guide uttered some reassert reassuring urt ng word vord in finnish in a low half whisper and then slowly pushed the boat along to the ledge saying your high nobility may disembark there Is itt at present no danger I 1 rose gripped a big rusty chain to steady myself and climbed into the narrow doorway in the ponderous wall where I 1 found myself in the darkness beside the female who had apparently sheen been expecting our arrival and watching our signal without a word she led me through a short passage and then striking a match snatch lit a big old fashioned lantern As the light fell upon her I 1 recognized that she was a member of some religious legious order the thin ascetic countenance teri ance was that of a woman of strong character and her funereal habit seemed much too large for her stunted shrunken figure the sister speaks french I 1 hazarded in that language knowing that in most convents throughout europe wrench french Is known out ms leur lour but fire are you not afraid ito to venture here hare no strangers are permitted here you know if your presence was discovered you would not leave this place alive so I 1 warn you by admitting you I 1 am betraying tny my trust and that 1 I 1 should not have done were it compulsory noti not 11 how the order of the chief of even herene he reve rewe cannot afford to offend him allm so the follow fellow Bo horansky had really kept faith with me and at his order the closed door of the convent had abeen opened of course cours enot not I 1 answered rus elan alan officialdom Is all powerful in finland nowadays no wadas but where Is the lady y you are still prepared to risk your liberty and life she asked in a hoarse voice full of grim meaning 1 I am 1 I said lead me to her you itsou are on an russian soil now mc sms leur not english she remarked ancher to aher broken english it if your object were known you ou would never be spared to return to your own land she sighed you do not know the mysteries and terrors of finland I 1 ant am a french subject born in tours and brought to when I 1 was fifteen I 1 have been lit in finland forty anve years once we were happy hero here but since the czar appointed haron baroo Ober gito be governor general and the she shrugged her shoulders without finishing her sentence baron oberg governor general of finland I 1 gasped certainly did you not know she said dropping into french it is four years now that he be has held supreme power to crush and these poor finns ah this country co once so prosperous la Is a blot upon the he face of europe ills methods are tile the worst and mot unscrupulous or of any employed by russia defore before lie he caime caw tier liepp lie was the best hated bated wap man in petersburg arid and that they say ls is why the emperor sent hint him to u us where does this baron ille live I 1 asked surprised that lie he should occupy so eo high a place in russian officialdom the representative ot of tile the czar with powers as at great as tho the emperor himself at t tile the government palace in ile hel sing tors and elms elma heath Is here in this grim fort fortress resal I 1 why ah ab insi ms leur cur how can call I 1 tell uy by reason of 0 family secrets perhaps they account for so much you know the fact that the baron was ruler of finland amazed nio me for I 1 had half expected him film to bo be somo some clover adventurer yet as the events of the past lashed flashed through my brain I 1 recollected I 1 that hat in Rat inoch wood had been found tile the miniature of the russian order of saint anne a distinction which in all probability had been conferred upon him if so the coincidence to say eay thie least was a remarkable one I 1 questioned my companion further regarding the baron ah ms leur she eho declared they call him the strangler of the finns it was vas he who ordered the peasants of kasica to be logged flogged until four of them died and tile the czar gave him the star of white eagle for it ho he who suppressed halt the newspapers and put eighteen editors in prison tor for publishing a report ot of a meeting of the swedes lu in he who encourages corruption and bribery among the officials for or the furtherance of russian interests he who has ordered rus elan to be the lan language guam who has restricted public education who has overtaxed and ground down the people until now the mine la Is laid and finland to is ready for open revolt the prisons are arc filled with the innocent women are flogged the poor are starving arid and tile the strangler as aa they call him reports to the czar that fin finland land is 13 submissive and to is I 1 had bad hoard heard something of this abominable state of affairs from time to time from the english press but had never taken notice of the name of tile the oppressor so the uncle of elma heath wait waa the strangler of finland the man who in four years had reduced a prosperous country to a state of ruin arid and revolt cannot I 1 see her at once I 1 asked feeling that we had remained too long there it my presence in that place was perilous the sooner I 1 escaped from it the better yes come she said but silence walk softly and holding up the old horn born lantern to give me light the led me out into the low stone corridor again conducting nie me through a number of intricate passages all bare and gloomy the stones worn hollow by bythe the feet of ages into a small square chamber the floor of which was carpeted and where suspended high above was a lamp that shed but a taint faint light over the barely furnished place beyond was waa another smaller room into which the old nun disappeared for a moment then site she came forth leading a strange wan little fig uro ure in a gray gown a figure whose face was the most perfect and most lovely I 1 bad ever seen her wealth of chestnut hair fell disheveled about her shoulders and as her hands w were clasped before tier her she looked straight at me in surprise its as she was led towards me she walked but feebly and her countenance was deathly pale her dress as she come came beneath the lamp was I 1 saw coarse yet clean and tier her beautiful regular features which in her photograph had bad held me in such fascination were even more sweet and more matchless than I 1 had believed them to be I 1 stood before her dum founded in admiration in silence she bowed gracefully and then looked at me with astonishment apparently wondering what 1 I a pe perfect stranger required of her miss elma heath I 1 presume I 1 exclaimed at last may I 1 introduce myself to you my name la is gordon gregg english by birth cosmopolitan by instinct I 1 have como come here to ask you a question a question that concerns myself lydia moreton has sent tile me to you I 1 noticed that her great brown eyes watched my lips and not my face her own lips moved but she looked at me with an inexpressible sadness no sound escaped her I 1 stood rigid before her as one turned to stone for in that instant lit in a flash indeed I 1 realized the awful truth she was uns both dear deaf and dumb she raised her clasped hands to me in silence yet with tears welling in tier her splendid eyes I 1 saw that upon her wrists were a pair of bright steel gyves ahat is this place I 1 demanded of the woman in the religious habit when I 1 recovered front from the shock of tho the poor girls terrible affliction whore where am it I 1 this la Is the castle of bajana the criminal lunatic asylum of finland was tier her answer the prisoner as aa you see las has lost both speech and hearing uit and aumba I 1 cried loo kinji at the tal il original of that destroyed photograph on board the lola but she has not always been sot no I 1 think not always replied the sister alster quietly hut but she can write responses to my questions 7 alas no was waa the old womans comans whispered reply her mind la in affected she Is unfortunately a hopeless lunatic I 1 looked straight into those sad wide open yet unflinching brown eyes utterly confounded those white wrists hold held in steel that palo face and blanched lips the inertness of tier her movements all told their own tragic tale and yet that lot teril otte r had read dictated in secret most probably because her hands bands were not true free was certainly not the outpourings pou rings of a madwoman slie she had spoken of death it was true yet was it not to bo be supposed that she was slowly being driven to suicide she had kept tier her secret arid and she wished the man horrify the man who was to marry muriel Leith court to know the room in which we stood was evidently an apartment sot apart for her use for beyond was tile tiny bedchamber yet the small high up window was closely barred anti and the cold bareness of the was waa sufficient indeed to cause anyone confined there to prefer death to captivity again I 1 spoke to her slowly and kindly but thero there was no response that she was absolutely dumb waa only too apparent yet surely she had bad not always been so sot I 1 had bad gone in search of her because the beauty of her portrait had magnetized me and I 1 had now found her to be oven even more lovely than her picture yet alast suffering from an affliction that rendered her life a tragedy the realization ot of the terrible truth staggered me such a perfect face as hers I 1 had never before set eyes upon so BO beautiful so clear cut so refined so eminently the countenance of one wellborn wel and yet so ineffably sad so full of blank unutterable despair she placed her clasped hands to her mouth and made signs by shaking her head that she could neither understand nor respond I 1 took my wallet from and wrote upon a piece of paper in ft a large hand band the words 1 I lya moreton my name Is gordon gregg when her eager gaze fell upon the words she became instantly filled with af V i she raised her clasped hands to me MB in silence excitement and nodded quickly then holding her steel clasped wrists towards me she ahe looked wistfully at me as though imploring me to release her from the awful bondage in that silent tomb though the woman who had led me there endeavored to prevent tit it I 1 ha handed rid her the pencil and placed the paper on the table for her to write the nun tried to snatch but I 1 held lier her arm gently and forcibly saying lit in french no I 1 wish to see it if she Is really insane you will at least allow me this satisfaction and while we were in altercation elma with the pencil in her fingers tried to write but by reason of her hands being bound so eo closely was unable at length however after several attempts she succeeded in printing in uneven capitals the response 1 I know you you were on the I 1 yacht I 1 thought they killed you the thin faced old woman saw her response a reply that was surely rational enough and her brows contracted with displeasure wily why are you here I 1 wrote I 1 not allowing the sister to get sight of my question in response she wrote painfully and laboriously 1 I am condemned for a crime I 1 did not commit take me from here or I 1 shall kill myself ahl ah I 1 exclaimed the old woman you see poor girl she belleve bell siber self innocenti innocent they all da dut but why la Is she here I 1 demanded fiercely 1 I 1 do not know ms leur it Is not my duty to inquire tho the history of their crimes when they are ill I 1 nurea nura them that Is all and who la Is the commandant of thin fortress tress colonel if he be know knew that t had admitted you you would never leave this place alive this Is tho the of finland tho the place of imprisonment for those who have conspired against the state tho the prison of political conspirators ell eh 7 alna alas ms ins leur yeal the place in which some of the poor creatures are tortured in norderto order to obtain confessions and information with as much cruelty as in the black days of the inquisition these walls are thick and their cries are not heard beard from the oubliettes below the lake I 1 had find long ago heard of the horrors of indeed who has nov not heard of them who has traveled in Itus russia sla the very mention of the modern bastile on lako lake ladoga cadoga where no prisoner has ever been known to come forth alive la is sufficient to cause any russian to turn pale and I 1 was waa in the of Flu finland landl 1 I 1 turned over the sheet of paper and wrote the question did baron oberg send you here in response she printed the words worda 1 I believe so I 1 was arrested in hel alel sing foro toll lydia where I 1 am do you know muriel I 1 inquired by the same means whereupon e she replied that they were at school together did you see me on board the lola I 1 wrote yes yea but I 1 could not warn you although I 1 had overheard their intentions eions a they took me ashore when you had gone to siena after three days day I 1 found myself deat dear and dumb I 1 was wa made mad so BO who did it A doctor I 1 suppose people who said they were my friends put me under chloroform I 1 turned to the woman in the ro |