at her disposal only the money necessary for a journey taken under
ordinary circumstances, how could she manage to accomplish it under
conditions which made it not only perilous but expensive?

"Well," said he, "if she takes the route to Perm,
it is nearly impossible but that I shall fall in with her.
Then, I will watch over her without her suspecting it;
and as she appears to me as anxious as myself to reach Irkutsk,
she will cause me no delay."

But one thought leads to another. Michael Strogoff had till now thought
only of doing a kind action; but now another idea flashed into his brain;
the question presented itself under quite a new aspect.

"The fact is," said he to himself, "that I have much more need of her
than she can have of me. Her presence will be useful in drawing
off suspicion from me. A man traveling alone across the steppe,
may be easily guessed to be a courier of the Czar. If, on the contrary,
this young girl accompanies me, I shall appear, in the eyes of all,
the Nicholas Korpanoff of my podorojna. Therefore, she must
accompany me. Therefore, I must find her again at any cost.
It is not probable that since yesterday evening she has been able
to get a carriage and leave Nijni-Novgorod. I must look for her.
And may God guide me!"

Michael left the great square of Nijni-Novgorod, where the tumult
produced by the carrying out of the prescribed measures had now
reached its height. Recriminations from the banished strangers,
shouts from the agents and Cossacks who were using them so brutally,
together made an indescribable uproar. The girl for whom he searched