Canfield was also invaluable. As managing director of the Messenger
Service with many of his employees working as spies, it was a
comparatively easy matter to intercept letters and messages and to
obtain a knowledge of the contents of documents through their skilled
efforts.
I have given this resumé of conditions as I established them to avoid
going into detail respecting the sources of the information I made use
of, but it will be understood now how thorough was my knowledge
whenever I chose to exert it.
During the time that passed as I have described, I became a factor in
St. Petersburg society. Supposed to possess unlimited wealth
(accumulated, by the way, in Mexican mines, for it sounded well), with
the crest of a noble family then extinct and half forgotten ornamenting
my cards and stationery, and introduced by Prince Michael, who was
known to be high in favor with the czar, palace doors were thrown wide
open to receive me. I was young then, and women said that I was
handsome, while men found me genial, companionable, and their master at
most games and with every sort of weapon; things which men respect even
if they do resent them.
The regular police systems, even to the mysterious Third Section which
has no equivalent or parallel in the world, were entirely ignorant of
the existence of my espionage, and many times during the months that
followed I fell under suspicion. My power was so much greater than
theirs that I possessed one abundant advantage, that of knowing their
spies; and many of these, from time to time, I purposely allowed to
become inmates of my house, from which they inevitably carried away the
precise information that I wished them to obtain.
By the time the organization of the fraternity was completed, I had
information in my possession which if it had gone to the emperor, would
have created a social upheaval such as has never been witnessed in
history. But many of the most anarchistic and irrepressible leaders of
the nihilists were quietly arrested and sent where they would be
rendered harmless, and others who were less violent, I left undisturbed
and in seeming security, knowing that they would ultimately lead me to
the point I wished to attain, the very root of the evil which I had
determined to eradicate; but it was six months after my arrival in St.
Petersburg when I met with the adventure which I regarded as the most
remarkable of my experience, and which is really the reason for this
story.
"Well, Derrington," the prince said to me one night shortly after our
return from a function of more than ordinary prominence. He had stopped
at my rooms for a smoke and a chat before retiring. "Have you received
an invitation from the princess?"
"What princess?" I asked.