Highness better if I had known more. But I could only guess. I had to grope in the dark all the time."
"Do you imagine I am going to take you into my confidence?" asked Serganoff. "What manner of fool am I? Tell me what you have guessed. You may sit down; nobody will come in, and if they do you can be buttoning my boots."
Boolba wiped his damp face with a handkerchief and leaned nearer to the man.
"If the Grand Duke dies, a certain illustrious person succeeds to his estates," he said, "but not to his title."
Serganoff looked at him sharply. The man had put into words the one difficulty which had occupied the mind of the Chief of Police for months.
"Well?" he said.
"The title is in the gift of the Czar," said Boolba. "He alone can create a Grand Duke who succeeds but is not in the direct line. Therefore, the killing of Yaroslav would bring little but the property to the illustrious person. Only if His Imperial Majesty decided upon a worthier holder, or if the Grand Duke fell under a cloud at Court, could it pass to the illustrious person."
"That I know," said Serganofi. "Well?"
"Well, Highness, would it not be better if the Grand Duke were disgraced, if he were brought to St. Petersburg to answer certain charges which the
