pass that he might be far out at sea.

But just as the hour was drawing near for the sailing of the vessel,
Robert Audley came in one day, full of a great scheme.

A friend of his, another of those barristers whose last thought is of a
brief, was going to St. Petersburg to spend the winter, and wanted
Robert to accompany him. Robert would only go on condition that George
went too.

For a long time the young man resisted; but when he found that Robert
was, in a quiet way, thoroughly determined upon not going without him,
he gave in, and consented to join the party. What did it matter? he
said. One place was the same to him as another; anywhere out of England;
what did he care where?

This was not a very cheerful way of looking at things, but Robert Audley
was quite satisfied with having won his consent.

The three young men started under very favorable circumstances, carrying
letters of introduction to the most influential inhabitants of the
Russian capital.

Before leaving England, Robert wrote to his cousin Alicia, telling her
of his intended departure with his old friend George Talboys, whom he
had lately met for the first time after a lapse of years, and who had
just lost his wife.

Alicia's reply came by return post, and ran thus: