upper clerk. Michael Strogoff would not be long in making everything
right with the police and being free in his movements.

Whilst waiting, he looked about him, and what did he see?
There, fallen, rather than seated, on a bench, was a girl,
prey to a silent despair, although her face could scarcely
be seen, the profile alone being visible against the wall.
Michael Strogoff could not be mistaken. He instantly recognized
the young Livonian.

Not knowing the governor's orders, she had come to the police office
to get her pass signed. They had refused to sign it. No doubt
she was authorized to go to Irkutsk, but the order was peremptory--
it annulled all previous au-thorizations, and the routes to Siberia
were closed to her. Michael, delighted at having found her again,
approached the girl.

She looked up for a moment and her face brightened on recognizing
her traveling companion. She instinctively rose and, like a drowning
man who clutches at a spar, she was about to ask his help.

At that moment the agent touched Michael on the shoulder,
"The head of police will see you," he said.

"Good," returned Michael. And without saying a word to her for whom
he had been searching all day, without reassuring her by even a gesture,
which might compromise either her or himself, he followed the man.

The young Livonian, seeing the only being to whom she could look
for help disappear, fell back again on her bench.