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diff --git a/31860-8.txt b/31860-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..f7deceb --- /dev/null +++ b/31860-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11332 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Red Symbol, by John Ironside + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Red Symbol + +Author: John Ironside + +Illustrator: F. C. Yohn + +Release Date: April 1, 2010 [EBook #31860] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE RED SYMBOL *** + + + + +Produced by D Alexander and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was +produced from images generously made available by The +Internet Archive) + + + + + + + + + + THE + + RED SYMBOL + + BY + + JOHN IRONSIDE + + WITH ILLUSTRATIONS BY + F. C. YOHN + + BOSTON + LITTLE, BROWN, AND COMPANY + 1910 + + + + + _Copyright, 1909, 1910_, + BY LITTLE, BROWN, AND COMPANY. + + _All rights reserved._ + + Published, April, 1910 + + THE UNIVERSITY PRESS, CAMBRIDGE, U. S. A. + + + + + [Illustration: _I heard him mutter in French: "The symbol! Then it is + she!"_ FRONTISPIECE. See p. 16] + + + + +CONTENTS + + + CHAPTER PAGE + + I. THE MYSTERIOUS FOREIGNER 1 + II. THE SAVAGE CLUB DINNER 9 + III. THE BLOOD-STAINED PORTRAIT 17 + IV. THE RIVER STEPS 26 + V. THE MYSTERY THICKENS 33 + VI. "MURDER MOST FOUL" 41 + VII. A RED-HAIRED WOMAN 48 + VIII. A TIMELY WARNING 55 + IX. NOT AT BERLIN 62 + X. DISQUIETING NEWS 68 + XI. "LA MORT OU LA VIE!" 74 + XII. THE WRECKED TRAIN 82 + XIII. THE GRAND DUKE LORIS 89 + XIV. A CRY FOR HELP 96 + XV. AN UNPLEASANT EXPERIENCE 103 + XVI. UNDER SURVEILLANCE 110 + XVII. THE DROSHKY DRIVER 115 + XVIII. THROUGH THE STORM 122 + XIX. NIGHT IN THE FOREST 128 + XX. THE TRIBUNAL 133 + XXI. A FORLORN HOPE 139 + XXII. THE PRISON HOUSE 145 + XXIII. FREEMAN EXPLAINS 152 + XXIV. BACK TO ENGLAND 158 + XXV. SOUTHBOURNE'S SUSPICIONS 164 + XXVI. WHAT JIM CAYLEY KNEW 172 + XXVII. AT THE POLICE COURT 179 + XXVIII. WITH MARY AT MORWEN 186 + XXIX. LIGHT ON THE PAST 192 + XXX. A BYGONE TRAGEDY 198 + XXXI. MISHKA TURNS UP 204 + XXXII. BACK TO RUSSIA ONCE MORE 211 + XXXIII. THE ROAD TO ZOSTROV 217 + XXXIV. THE OLD JEW 223 + XXXV. A BAFFLING INTERVIEW 229 + XXXVI. STILL ON THE ROAD 235 + XXXVII. THE PRISONER OF ZOSTROV 241 + XXXVIII. THE GAME BEGINS 247 + XXXIX. THE FLIGHT FROM ZOSTROV 254 + XL. A STRICKEN TOWN 260 + XLI. LOVE OR COMRADESHIP? 268 + XLII. THE DESERTED HUNTING LODGE 274 + XLIII. THE WOMAN FROM SIBERIA 281 + XLIV. AT VASSILITZI'S 287 + XLV. THE CAMPAIGN AT WARSAW 294 + XLVI. THE BEGINNING OF THE END 301 + XLVII. THE TRAGEDY IN THE SQUARE 308 + XLVIII. THE GRAND DUCHESS PASSES 315 + XLIX. THE END OF AN ACT 322 + L. ENGLAND ONCE MORE 329 + LI. THE REAL ANNE 336 + LII. THE WHOLE TRUTH 344 + + + + +ILLUSTRATIONS + + + I heard him mutter in French: "The symbol! Then it is + she!" _Frontispiece_ + + The rooms were in great disorder, and had been + subjected to an exhaustive search _Page 51_ + + His stern face, seen in the light of the blazing + wreckage, was ghastly " 87 + + In that instant I had caught a glimpse of a white + face " 102 + + Then, in a flash, I knew him " 228 + + "My God, how they hate me!" I heard Loris say + softly " 259 + + "I knew thou wouldst come," she said " 268 + + Some one comes behind my chair " 354 + + + + +THE RED SYMBOL + + + + +CHAPTER I + +THE MYSTERIOUS FOREIGNER + + +"Hello! Yes--I'm Maurice Wynn. Who are you?" + +"Harding. I've been ringing you up at intervals for hours. Carson's ill, +and you're to relieve him. Come round for instructions to-night. Lord +Southbourne will give them you himself. Eh? Yes, Whitehall Gardens. +Ten-thirty, then. Right you are." + +I replaced the receiver, and started hustling into my dress clothes, +thinking rapidly the while. + +For the first time in the course of ten years' experience as a special +correspondent, I was dismayed at the prospect of starting off at a +moment's notice--to St. Petersburg, in this instance. + +To-day was Saturday, and if I were to go by the quickest route--the Nord +express--I should have three days' grace, but the delay at this end +would not compensate for the few hours saved on the journey. No, +doubtless Southbourne would expect me to get off to-morrow or Monday +morning at latest. He was--and is--the smartest newspaper man in +England. + +Well, I still had four hours before I was due at Whitehall Gardens; and +I must make the most of them. At least I should have a few minutes alone +with Anne Pendennis, on our way to the dinner at the Hotel Cecil,--the +Savage Club "ladies" dinner, where she and my cousin Mary would be +guests of Jim Cayley, Mary's husband. + +Anne had promised to let me escort her,--the Cayley's brougham was a +small one, in which three were emphatically a crowd,--and the drive from +Chelsea to the Strand, in a hansom, would provide me with the +opportunity I had been wanting for days past, of putting my fate to the +test, and asking her to be my wife. + +I had thought to find that opportunity to-day, at the river picnic Mary +had arranged; but all my attempts to secure even a few minutes alone +with Anne had failed; though whether she evaded me by accident or design +I could not determine, any more than I could tell if she loved me. +Sometimes, when she was kind, my hopes rose high, to fall below zero +next minute. + +"Steer clear of her, my boy," Jim Cayley had said to me weeks ago, when +Anne first came to stay with Mary. "She's as capricious as she's +imperious, and a coquette to her finger-tips. A girl with hair and eyes +like that couldn't be anything else." + +I resented the words hotly at the time, and he retracted them, with a +promptitude and good humor that disarmed me. Jim was a man with whom it +was impossible to quarrel. Still, I guessed he had not changed his +opinion of his wife's guest, though he appeared on excellent terms with +her. + +As for Mary, she was different. She loved Anne,--they had been fast +friends ever since they were school-girls together at Neuilly,--and if +she did not fully understand her, at least she believed that her +coquetry, her capriciousness, were merely superficial, like the hard, +glittering quartz that enshrines and protects the pure gold,--and has to +be shattered before the gold can be won. + +Mary, I knew, wished me well, though she was far too wise a little woman +to attempt any interference. + +Yes, I would end my suspense to-night, I decided, as I wrestled with a +refractory tie. + +Ting ... ting ... tr-r-r-ing! Two short rings and a long one. Not the +telephone this time, but the electric bell at the outer door of my +bachelor flat. + +Who on earth could that be? Well, he'd have to wait. + +As I flung the tie aside and seized another, I heard a queer scratching +noise outside, stealthy but distinct. I paused and listened, then +crossed swiftly and silently to the open door of the bedroom. Some one +had inserted a key in the Yale lock of the outer door, and was vainly +endeavoring to turn it. + +I flung the door open and confronted an extraordinary figure,--an old +man, a foreigner evidently, of a type more frequently encountered in the +East End than Westminster. + +"Well, my friend, what are you up to?" I demanded. + +The man recoiled, bending his body and spreading his claw-like hands in +a servile obeisance, quaint and not ungraceful; while he quavered out +what was seemingly an explanation or apology in some jargon that was +quite unintelligible to me, though I can speak most European languages. +I judged it to be some Russian patois. + +I caught one word, a name that I knew, and interrupted his flow of +eloquence. + +"You want Mr. Cassavetti?" I asked in Russian. "Well, his rooms are on +the next floor." + +I pointed upwards as I spoke, and the miserable looking old creature +understood the gesture at least, for, renewing his apologetic +protestations, he began to shuffle along the landing, supporting himself +by the hand-rail. + +I knew my neighbor Cassavetti fairly well. He was supposed to be a +press-man, correspondent to half a dozen Continental papers, and gave +himself out as a Greek, but I had a notion that Russian refugee was +nearer the mark, though hitherto I had never seen any suspicious +characters hanging around his place. + +But if this picturesque stranger wasn't a Russian Jew, I never saw one. +He certainly was no burglar or sneak-thief, or he would have bolted when +I opened the door. The key with which he had attempted to gain ingress +to my flat was doubtless a pass-key to Cassavetti's rooms. He seemed a +queer person to be in possession of such a thing, but that was +Cassavetti's affair, and not mine. + +"Here, you'd better have your key," I called, jerking it out of my lock. +It was an ordinary Yale key, with a bit of string tied to it, and a +fragment of dirty red stuff attached to that. + +The stranger had paused, and was clinging to the rail, making a queer +gasping sound; and now, as I spoke, he suddenly collapsed in a heap, his +dishevelled gray head resting against the balustrade. + +I guessed I'd scared him pretty badly, and as I looked down at him I +thought for a moment he was dead. + +I went up the stairs, and rang Cassavetti's bell. There was no answer, +and I tried the key. It fitted right enough, but the rooms were empty. + +What was to be done? Common humanity forbade me to leave the poor wretch +lying there; and to summon the housekeeper from the basement meant +traversing eight flights of stairs, for the block was an old-fashioned +one, and there was no elevator. Besides, I reckoned that Cassavetti +would prefer not to have the housekeeper interfere with his queer +visitor. + +I ran back, got some whiskey and a bowl of water, and started to give +first aid to my patient. + +I saw at once what was wrong,--sheer starvation, nothing less. I tore +open the ragged shirt, and stared aghast at the sight that met my eyes. +The emaciated chest was seamed and knotted with curious scars. I had +seen similar scars before, and knew there was but one weapon in the +world--the knout--capable of making them. The man was a Russian then, +and had been grievously handled; some time back as I judged, for the +scars were old. + +I dashed water on his face and breast, and poured some of the whiskey +down his throat. He gasped, gurgled, opened his eyes and stared at me. +He looked like a touzled old vulture that has been badly scared. + +"Buck up, daddy," I said cheerfully, forgetting he wouldn't understand +me. I helped him to his feet, and felt in my trouser pocket for a coin. +It was food he wanted, but I had none to give him, except some crackers, +and I had wasted enough time over him already. If I didn't get a hustle +on, I should be late for my appointment with Anne. + +He clutched at the half-crown, and bent his trembling old body again, +invoking, as I opined, a string of blessings on my unworthy head. +Something slipped from among his garments and fell with a tinkle at my +feet. I stooped to pick it up and saw it was an oval piece of tin, in +shape and size like an old-fashioned miniature, containing a portrait. +He had evidently been wearing it round his neck, amulet fashion, for a +thin red cord dangled from it, that I had probably snapped in my haste. + +He reached for it with a quick cry, but I held on to it, for I +recognized the face instantly. + +It was a photograph of Anne Pendennis--badly printed, as if by an +amateur--but an excellent likeness. + +Underneath were scrawled in red ink the initials "A. P." and two or +three words that I could not decipher, together with a curious +hieroglyphic, that looked like a tiny five-petalled flower, drawn and +filled in with the red ink. + +How on earth did this forlorn old alien have Anne's portrait in his +possession? + +He was cute enough to read my expression, for he clutched my arm, and, +pointing to the portrait, began speaking earnestly, not in the patois, +but in low Russian. + +My Russian is poor enough, but his was execrable. Still, I gathered that +he knew "the gracious lady," and had come a long way in search of her. +There was something I could not grasp, some allusion to danger that +threatened Anne, for each time he used the word he pointed at the +portrait with agonized emphasis. + +His excitement was so pitiable, and seemed so genuine, that I determined +to get right to the root of the mystery if possible. + +I seized his arm, marched him into my flat, and sat him in a chair, +emptying the tin of crackers before him, and bidding him eat. He +started crunching the crackers with avidity, eyeing me furtively all the +time as I stood at the telephone. + +I must let Anne know at once that I was detained. + +I could not get on to the Cayley's number, of course. Things always +happen that way! Well, I would have to explain my conduct later. + +But I failed to elicit much by the cross-examination to which I +subjected my man. For one thing, neither of us understood half that the +other said. + +I told him I knew his "gracious lady;" and he grovelled on the floor, +clawing at my shoes with his skinny hands. + +I asked him who he was and where he came from, but could make nothing of +his replies. He seemed in mortal fear of some "Selinski"--or a name that +sounded like that; and I did discover one point, that by Selinski he +meant Cassavetti. When he found he had given that much away, he was so +scared that I thought he was going to collapse again, as he did on the +staircase. + +And yet he had been entrusted with a pass-key to Cassavetti's rooms! + +Only two items seemed perfectly clear. That his "gracious lady" was in +danger,--I put that question to him time after time, and his answer +never varied,--and that he had come to warn her, to save her if +possible. + +I could not ascertain the nature of the danger. When I asked him he +simply shook his head, and appeared more scared than ever; but I +gathered that he would be able to tell "the gracious lady," and that she +would understand, if he could only have speech with her. But when I +pressed him on this idea of danger he did a curious thing. He picked up +Cassavetti's key, flattened the bit of red stuff on the palm of his +hand, and held it towards me, pointing at it as if to indicate that here +was the clue that he dare not give in words. + +I looked at the thing with interest. A tawdry artificial flower, with +five petals, and in a flash I understood that the hieroglyphic on the +portrait represented the same thing,--a red geranium. But what did they +mean, anyhow, and what connection was there between them? I could not +imagine. + +Finally I made him understand--or I thought I did--that he must come to +me next day, in the morning; and meanwhile I would try and arrange that +he should meet his "gracious lady." + +He grovelled again, and shuffled off, turning at every few steps to make +a genuflection. + +I half expected him to go up the stairs to Cassavetti's rooms, but he +did not. He went down. I followed two minutes later, but saw nothing of +him, either on the staircase or the street. He had vanished as suddenly +and mysteriously as he had appeared. + +I whistled for a hansom, and, as the cab turned up Whitehall, Big Ben +chimed a quarter to eight. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +THE SAVAGE CLUB DINNER + + +Dinner was served by the time I reached the Cecil, and, as I entered the +salon, and made my way towards the table where our seats were, I saw +that my fears were realized. Anne was angry, and would not lightly +forgive me for what she evidently considered an all but unpardonable +breach of good manners. + +I know Mary had arranged that Anne and I should sit together, but now +the chair reserved for me was on Mary's left. Her husband sat at her +right, and next him was Anne, deep in conversation with her further +neighbor, who, as I recognized with a queer feeling of apprehension, was +none other than Cassavetti himself! + +Mary greeted me with a comical expression of dismay on her pretty little +face. + +"I'm sorry, Maurice," she whispered. "Anne would sit there. She's very +angry. Where have you been, and why didn't you telephone? We gave you +ten minutes' grace, and then came on, all together. It wasn't what you +might call lively, for Jim had to sit bodkin between us, and Anne never +spoke a word the whole way!" + +Jim said nothing, but looked up from his soup and favored me with a grin +and a wink. He evidently imagined the situation to be funny. I did not. + +"I'll explain later, Mary," I said, and moved to the back of Anne's +chair. + +"Will you forgive me, Miss Pendennis?" I said humbly. "I was detained at +the last moment by an accident. I rang you up, but failed to get an +answer." + +She turned her head and looked up at me, with a charming smile, in which +I thought I detected a trace of contrition for her hasty condemnation of +me. + +"An accident? You are hurt?" she asked impulsively. + +"No, it happened to some one else; and it concerns you, Cassavetti," I +continued, addressing him, for, as I confessed that I was unhurt, Anne's +momentary flash of compunction passed, and her perverse mood reasserted +itself. With a slight shrug of her white shoulders she resumed her +dinner, and though she must have heard what I told Cassavetti, she +betrayed no sign of interest. + +In as few words as possible I related the circumstances, suppressing +only any mention of the discovery of Anne's portrait in the alien's +possession, and our subsequent interview in my rooms. I remembered the +man's terror of Cassavetti--or Selinski--as he had called him, and his +evident conviction that he was in some way connected with the danger +that threatened "the gracious lady," who, alas, seemed determined to be +anything but gracious to me on this unlucky evening. + +Cassavetti listened impassively. I watched his dark face intently, but +could learn nothing from it, not even whether he had expected the man, +or recognized him from my description. + +"Without doubt one of my old pensioners," he said unconcernedly. +"Strange that I should have missed him, for I was in my rooms before +seven, and only left them to come on here. Accept my regrets, my friend, +for the trouble he occasioned you, and my thanks for your kindness to +him." + +The words and the tone were courteous enough, and yet they roused in me +a sudden fierce feeling of antagonism against this man, whom I had +hitherto regarded as an interesting and pleasant acquaintance. For one +thing, I saw that Anne had been listening to the brief colloquy, and had +grasped the full significance of his remark as to the time when he +returned to his rooms. The small head, with its gleaming crown of +chestnut hair, was elevated with a proud little movement, palpable +enough to my jealous and troubled eyes. I could not see her face, but I +knew well that her eyes flashed stormy lightnings at that moment. +Wonderful hazel eyes they were, changing with every mood, now dark and +sombre as a starless night, now light and limpid as a Highland burn, +laughing in the sunshine. + +She imagined that the excuse I had made was invalid; for if, as +Cassavetti inferred, his--and my--mysterious visitor had been off the +premises before seven o'clock, I ought still to have been able to keep +my appointment with her. Well, I would have to undeceive her later! + +"Don't look so solemn, Maurice," Mary said, as I seated myself beside +her. "Tell me all about everything, right now." + +I repeated what I had already told Cassavetti. + +"Well, I call that real interesting!" she declared. "If you'd left that +poor old creature on the stairs, you'd never have forgiven yourself, +Maurice. It sounds like a piece out of a story, doesn't it, Jim?" + +"You're right, my dear! A fairy story," chuckled Jim, facetiously. "You +think so, anyhow, eh, Anne?" + +Thus directly appealed to, she had to turn to him, and I heard him +explaining his question, which she affected not to understand; heard +also her answer, given with icy sweetness, and without even a glance in +my direction. + +"Oh, no, I am sure Mr. Wynn is not capable of inventing such an excuse." + +Thereupon she resumed her conversation with Cassavetti. They were +speaking in French, and appeared to be getting on astonishingly well +together. + +That dinner seemed interminable, though I dare say every other person in +the room except my unlucky self--and perhaps Mary, who is the most +sympathetic little soul in the world--enjoyed it immensely. + +I told her of my forthcoming interview with Southbourne, and the +probability that I would have to leave London within forty-eight hours. +She imparted the news to Jim in a voice that must have reached Anne's +ears distinctly; but she made no sign. + +Was she going to continue my punishment right through the evening? It +looked like it. If I could only have speech with her for one minute I +would win her forgiveness! + +My opportunity came at last, when, after the toast of "the King," chairs +were pushed back and people formed themselves into groups. + +A pretty woman at the next table--how I blessed her in my +heart!--summoned Cassavetti to her side, and I boldly took the place he +vacated. + +Anne flashed a smile at me,--a real smile this time,--and said demurely: + +"So you're not going to sulk all the evening--Maurice?" + +This was carrying war into the opposite camp with a vengeance; but that +was Anne's way. + +I expect Jim Cayley set me down as a poor-spirited skunk, for showing no +resentment; but I certainly felt none now. Anne was not a girl whom one +could judge by ordinary standards. Besides, I loved her; and she knew +well that one smile, one gracious word, would compensate for all past +capricious unkindness. Yes, she must have known that; too well, perhaps, +just then. + +"I told the truth just now, though not all of it," I said, in a rapid +undertone. + +"I knew you were keeping something back," she declared merrily. "And now +you have taken your punishment, sir, you may give your full +explanation." + +"I can't here; I must see you alone. It is something very +serious,--something that concerns you nearly." + +"Me! But what about your mysterious old man?" + +"It concerns him, too--both of you--" + +Even as I spoke, once more the incredibility of any connection between +this glorious creature and that poor, starved, half-demented wreck of +humanity, struck me afresh. + +"But I can't tell you now, as I said, and--hush--don't let him hear; and +beware of him, I implore you. No, it's not mere jealousy,--though I +can't explain, here." I had indicated Cassavetti with a scarcely +perceptible gesture, for I knew that, though he was still talking to the +pretty woman in black, he was furtively watching us. + +A curious expression crossed Anne's mobile face as she glanced across at +him, from under her long lashes. + +But her next words, spoken aloud, had no reference to my warning. + +"Is it true that you are leaving town at once?" + +"Yes. I may come to see you to-morrow?" + +"Come as early as you like--in reason." + +That was all, for Cassavetti rejoined us, dragging up a chair in place +of the one I had appropriated. + +"So you and Mr. Wynn are neighbors," she said gaily. "Though he never +told me so." + +"Doubtless he considered me too insignificant," replied Cassavetti, +suavely enough, though I felt, rather than saw, that he eyed me +malignantly. + +"Oh, you are not in the least insignificant, though you are +exasperatingly--how shall I put it?--opinionated," she retorted, and +turned to me. "Mr. Cassavetti has accused me of being a Russian." + +"Not accused--complimented," he interpolated, with a deprecatory bow. + +"You see?" Anne appealed to me in the same light tone, but our eyes met +in a significant glance, and I knew that she had understood my warning, +perhaps far better than I did myself; for after all I had been guided by +instinct rather than knowledge when I uttered it. + +"I have told him that I have never been in Russia," she continued, "and +he is rude enough to disbelieve a lady!" + +"I protest--and apologize also," asserted Cassavetti, "though you are +smoking a Russian cigarette." + +"As two-thirds of the women here are doing. The others are non-smoking +frumps," she laughed. + +"But you smoke them with such a singular grace." + +The words and tone were courtier-like, but their inference was +unmistakable. I could have killed him for it! A swift glance from Anne +commanded silence and self-restraint. + +"You are a flatterer, Mr. Cassavetti," she said in mock reproof. "Come +along, good people; there's plenty of room here!" as other acquaintances +joined us. "Oh, some one's going to recite--hush!" + +The next hour or so passed pleasantly, and all too quickly. Anne was the +centre of a merry group, and was now in her wittiest and most gracious +mood. Cassavetti remained with us, speaking seldom, though he could be a +brilliant conversationalist when he liked. He listened to Anne's every +word, watched every gesture, unobtrusively, but with a curious +intentness. + +Soon after ten, people began to leave, some who lived at a distance, +others who would finish the evening elsewhere. Anne was going on to a +birthday supper at Mrs. Dennis Sutherland's house in Kensington, to +which many theatrical friends had been bidden. The invitation was an +impromptu one, given and accepted a few minutes ago, and now the famous +actress came to claim her guest. + +"Ready, Anne? Sorry you can't come with us, Mr. Wynn; but come later if +you can." + +We moved towards the door all together, Anne and her hostess with their +hands full of red and white flowers. The "Savages" had raided the table +decorations, and presented the spoils to their guests. + +Cassavetti intercepted Anne. + +"Good night, Miss Pendennis," he said in a low voice, adding, in French, +"Will you give me a flower as souvenir of our first meeting?" + +She glanced at her posy, selected a spray of scarlet geranium, and +presented it to him with a smile, and a word that I did not catch. + +He looked at her more intently than ever as he took it. + +"A thousand thanks, mademoiselle. I understand well," he said, with a +queer thrill in his voice, as of suppressed excitement. + +As she passed on I heard him mutter in French: "The symbol! Then it is +she! Yes, without doubt it is she!" + + + + +CHAPTER III + +THE BLOOD-STAINED PORTRAIT + + +In the vestibule I hung around waiting till Anne and Mrs. Dennis +Sutherland should reappear from the cloak-room. + +It was close on the time when I was due at Whitehall Gardens, but I must +have a parting word with Anne, even at the risk of being late for the +appointment with my chief. + +Jim and Mary passed through, and paused to say good night. + +"It's all right, Maurice?" Mary whispered. "And you're coming to us +to-morrow, anyhow?" + +"Yes; to say good-bye, if I have to start on Monday." + +"Just about time you were on the war-path again, my boy," said Jim, +bluffly. "Idleness is demoralizing, 'specially in London." + +Now this was scarcely fair, considering that it was little more than a +month since I returned from South Africa, where I had been to observe +and report on the conditions of labor in the mines; nor had I been by +any means idle during those weeks of comparative leisure. But I knew, +of course, that this was an oblique reference to my affair with +Anne; though why Jim should disapprove of it so strongly passed my +comprehension. If Anne chose to keep me on tenter-hooks, well that was +my affair, not his! Still, I wasn't going to quarrel with Jim over his +opinion, as I should have quarrelled with any other man. + +Anne joined me directly, and we had two precious minutes together under +the portico. Mrs. Sutherland's carriage had not yet come into the +courtyard, and she herself was chatting with folks she knew. + +There were plenty of people about, coming and going, but Anne and I +paced along out of the crowd, and paused in the shadow of one of the +pillars. + +She looked ethereal, ghostlike, in her long white cloak, with a filmy +hood thing drawn loosely over her shining hair. + +I thought her paler than usual--though that might have been the effect +of the electric lights overhead--and her face was wistful, but very fair +and sweet and innocent. One could scarcely believe it the same face +that, a few minutes before, had been animated by audacious mischief and +coquetry. Truly her moods were many, and they changed with every +fleeting moment. + +"I've behaved abominably to you all the evening," she whispered +tremulously. "And yet you've forgiven me." + +"There's nothing to forgive. The queen can do no wrong," I answered. +(How Jim Cayley would have jeered at me if he could have heard!) "Anne, +I love you. I think you must know that by this time, dear." + +"Yes, I know, and--and I am glad--Maurice, though I don't deserve that +you should love me. I've teased you so shamefully--I don't know what +possessed me!" + +If I could only have kissed those faltering lips! But I dare not. We +were within range of too many curious eyes. Still, I held her hand in +mine, and our eyes met. In that brief moment we saw each into the +other's soul, and saw love there, the true love passionate and pure, +that, once born, lasts forever, through life and death and all eternity. + +She was the first to speak, breaking a silence that could have lasted +but a fraction of time, but there are seconds in which one experiences +an infinitude of joy or sorrow. + +"And you are going away--so soon! But we shall meet to-morrow?" + +"Yes, we'll have one day, at least; there is so much to say--" + +Then, in a flash, I remembered the old man and Cassavetti,--the mystery +that enshrouded them, and her. + +"I may not be able to come early, darling," I continued hurriedly. "I +have to see that old man in the morning. He says he knows you,--that you +are in danger; I could not make out what he meant. And he spoke of +Cassavetti; he came to see him, really. That was why I dare not tell you +the whole story just now--" + +"Cassavetti!" she echoed, and I saw her eyes dilate and darken. "Who is +he--what is he? I never saw him before, but he came up and talked to Mr. +Cayley, and asked to be introduced to me; and--and I was so vexed with +you, Maurice, that I began to flirt with him; and then--oh, I don't +know--he is so strange--he perplexes--frightens me!" + +"And yet you gave him a flower," I said reproachfully. + +"I can't think why! I felt so queer, as if I couldn't help myself. I +just had to give him one,--that one; and when I looked at +him,--Maurice, what does a red geranium mean? Has it--" + +"Mrs. Dennis Sutherland's carriage!" bawled a liveried official by the +centre steps. + +Mrs. Sutherland swept towards us. + +"Come along, Anne," she cried, as we moved to meet her. "Perhaps we +shall see you later, Mr. Wynn? You'll be welcome any time, up to one +o'clock." + +I put them into the carriage, and watched them drive away; then started, +on foot, for Whitehall Gardens. The distance was so short that I could +cover it more quickly walking than driving. + +The night was sultry and overcast; and before I reached my destination +big drops of rain were spattering down, and the mutter of thunder +mingled with the ceaseless roll of the traffic. + +I was taken straight to Lord Southbourne's sanctum, a handsomely +furnished, but almost ostentatiously business-like apartment. + +Southbourne himself, seated at a big American desk, was making +hieroglyphics on a sheet of paper before him while he dictated rapidly +to Harding, his private secretary, who manipulated a typewriter close +by. + +He looked up, nodded to me, indicated a chair, and a table on which were +whiskey and soda and an open box of cigarettes, and invited me to help +myself, all with one sweep of the hand, and without an instant's +interruption of his discourse,--an impassioned denunciation of some +British statesman who dared to differ from him--Southbourne--on some +burning question of the day, Tariff Reform, I think; but I did not +listen. I was thinking of Anne; and was only subconsciously aware of +the hard monotonous voice until it ceased. + +"That's all, Harding. Thanks. Good night," said Southbourne, abruptly. + +He rose, yawned, stretched himself, sauntered towards me, subsided into +an easy-chair, and lighted a cigarette. + +Harding gathered up his typed slips, exchanged a friendly nod with me, +and quietly took himself off. + +I knew Southbourne's peculiarities fairly well, and therefore waited for +him to speak. + +We smoked in silence for a time, till he remarked abruptly: "Carson's +dead." + +"Dead!" I ejaculated, in genuine consternation. I had known and liked +Carson; one of the cleverest and most promising of Southbourne's "young +men." + +He blew out a cloud of smoke, watched a ring form and float away as if +it were the only interesting thing in the world. Then he fired another +word off at me. + +"Murdered!" + +He blew another smoke ring, and there was a spell of silence. I do not +even now know whether his callousness was real or feigned. I hope it was +feigned, though he affected to regard all who served him, in whatever +capacity, as mere pieces in the ambitious game he played, to be used or +discarded with equal skill and ruthlessness, and if an unlucky pawn fell +from the board,--why it was lost to the game, and there was an end of +it. + +Murdered! It seemed incredible. I thought of Carson as I last saw him, +the day before I started for South Africa, when we dined together and +made a night of it. If I had been available when the situation became +acute in Russia a few weeks later, Southbourne would have sent me +instead of him; I should perhaps have met with his fate. I knew, of +course, that at this time a "special" in Russia ran quite as many risks +as a war correspondent on active service; but it was one thing to +encounter a stray bullet or a bayonet thrust in the course of one's +day's work,--say during an _émeute_,--and quite another to be murdered +in cold blood. + +"That's terrible!" I said huskily, at last. "He was such a splendid +chap, too, poor Carson. Have you any details?" + +"Yes; he was found in his rooms, stabbed to the heart. He must have been +dead twenty-four hours or more." + +"And the police have tracked the murderer?" + +"No, and I don't suppose they will. They've so many similar affairs of +their own on hand, that an Englishman more or less doesn't count. The +Embassy is moving in the matter, but it is very unlikely that anything +will be discovered beyond what is known already,--that it was the work +of an emissary of some secret society with which Carson had mixed +himself up, in defiance of my instructions." + +He paused and lighted another cigarette. + +"How do you know he defied your instructions?" I burst out indignantly. +The tone of his allusion to Carson riled me. "Don't you always expect us +to send a good story, no matter how, or at what personal risk, we get +the material?" + +"Just so," he asserted calmly. "By the way, if you're in a funk, Wynn, +you needn't go. I can get another man to take your place to-night." + +"I'm not in a funk, and I mean to go, unless you want to send another +man. If you do, send him and be damned to you both!" I retorted hotly. +"Look here, Lord Southbourne; Carson never failed in his duty,--I'd +stake my life on that! And I'll not allow you, or any man, to sneer at +him when he's dead and can't defend himself!" + +Southbourne dropped his cigarette and stared at me, a dusky flush rising +under his sallow skin. That is the only time I have ever seen any sign +of emotion on his impassive face. + +"I apologize, Mr. Wynn," he said stiffly. "I ought not to have +insinuated that you were afraid to undertake this commission. Your past +record has proved you the very reverse of a coward! And, I assure you, I +had no intention of sneering at poor Carson or of decrying his work. But +from information in my possession I know that he exceeded his +instructions; that he ceased to be a mere observer of the vivid drama of +Russian life, and became an actor in it, with the result, poor chap, +that he has paid for his indiscretion with his life!" + +"How do you know all this?" I demanded. "How do you know--" + +"That he was not in search of 'copy,' but in pursuit of his private +ends, when he deliberately placed himself in peril? Well, I do know it; +and that is all I choose to say on this point. I warned him at the +outset,--as I need not have warned you,--that he must exercise infinite +tact and discretion in his relations with the police, and the +bureaucracy which the police represent; and also with the people,--the +democracy. That he must, in fact, maintain a strictly impartial and +impersonal attitude and view-point. Well, that's just what he failed to +do. He became involved with some secret society; you know as well as I +do--better, perhaps--that Russia is honeycombed with 'em. Probably in +the first instance he was actuated by curiosity; but I have reason to +believe that his connection with this society was a purely personal +affair. There was a woman in it, of course. I can't tell you just how he +came to fall foul of his new associates, for I don't know. Perhaps they +imagined he knew too much. Anyhow, he was found, as I have said, stabbed +to the heart. There is no clue to the assassin, except that in Carson's +clenched hand was found an artificial flower,--a red geranium, which--" + +I started upright, clutching the arms of my chair. A red geranium! The +bit of stuff dangling from Cassavetti's pass-key; the hieroglyphic on +the portrait, the flower Anne had given to Cassavetti, and to which he +seemed to attach so much significance. All red geraniums. What did they +mean? + +"The police declare it to be the symbol of a formidable secret +organization which they have hitherto failed to crush; one that has +ramifications throughout the world," Southbourne continued. "Why, man, +what's wrong with you?" he added hastily. + +I suppose I must have looked ghastly; but I managed to steady my voice, +and answer curtly: "I'll tell you later. Go on, what about Carson?" + +He rose and crossed to his desk before he answered, scrutinizing me with +keen interest the while. + +"That's all. Except that this was found in his breast-pocket; I got it +by to-night's mail. It's in a horrid state; the blood soaked through, of +course." + +He picked up a small oblong card, holding it gingerly in his +finger-tips, and handed it to me. + +I think I knew what it was, even before I looked at it. A photograph of +Anne Pendennis, identical--save that it was unframed--with that which +was in the possession of the miserable old Russian, even to the +initials, the inscription, and the red symbol beneath it! + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +THE RIVER STEPS + + +"This was found in Carson's pocket?" I asked, steadying my voice with an +effort. + +He nodded. + +I affected to examine the portrait closely, to gain a moment's time. +Should I tell him, right now, that I knew the original; tell him also of +my strange visitant? No; I decided to keep silence, at least until after +I had seen Anne, and cross-examined the old Russian again. + +"Have you any clue to her identity?" I said, as I rose and replaced the +blood-stained card on his desk. + +"No. I've no doubt the Russian Secret Police know well enough who she +is; but they don't give anything away,--even to me." + +"They sent you that promptly enough," I suggested, indicating the +photograph with a fresh cigarette which I took up as I resumed my seat. +I had managed to regain my composure, and have no doubt that Southbourne +considered my late agitation was merely the outcome of my natural horror +and astonishment at the news of poor Carson's tragic fate. And now I +meant to ascertain all he knew or suspected about the affair, without +revealing my personal interest in it. + +"Not they! It came from Von Eckhardt. It was he who found poor Carson; +and he took possession of that"--he jerked his head towards the +desk--"before the police came on the scene, and got it through." + +I knew what that meant,--that the thing had not been posted in Russia, +but smuggled across the frontier. + +I had met Von Eckhardt, who was on the staff of an important German +newspaper, and knew that he and Carson were old friends. They shared +rooms at St. Petersburg. + +"Now why should Von Eckhardt run such a risk?" I asked. + +"Can't say; wish I could." + +"Where was he when poor Carson was done for?" + +"At Wilna, he says; he'd been away for a week." + +"Did he tell you about this Society, and its red symbol?" + +"'Pon my soul, you've missed your vocation, Wynn. You ought to have been +a barrister!" drawled Southbourne. "No, I knew all that before. As a +matter of fact, I warned Carson against that very Society,--as I'm +warning you. Von Eckhardt merely told me the bare facts, including that +about the bit of geranium Carson was clutching. I drew my own inference. +Here, you may read his note." + +He tossed me a half-sheet of thin note-paper, covered on one side with +Von Eckhardt's crabbed German script. + +It was, as he had said, a mere statement of facts, and I mentally +determined to seize an early opportunity of interviewing Von Eckhardt +when I arrived at Petersburg. + +"You needn't have troubled to question me," resumed Southbourne, in his +most nonchalant manner. "I meant to tell you the little I know,--for +your own protection. This Society is one of those revolutionary +organizations that abound in Russia, but more cleverly managed than +most of them, and therefore all the more dangerous. Its members are said +to be innumerable, and of every class; and there are branches in every +capital of Europe. A near neighbor of yours, by the way, is under +surveillance at this very moment, though I believe nothing definite has +been traced to him." + +"Cassavetti!" I exclaimed with, I am sure, an excellent assumption of +surprise. + +"You've guessed it first time; though his name's Vladimir Selinski. If +you see him between now and Monday, when you must start, I advise you +not to mention your destination to him, unless you've already done so. +He was at the Savage Club dinner to-night, wasn't he?" + +One of Southbourne's foibles was to pose as a kind of "Sherlock Holmes," +but I was not in the least impressed by this pretension to omniscience. +He was a member of the club, and ought to have been at the dinner +himself. If he had looked down the list of guests he must have seen +"Miss Anne Pendennis" among the names, and yet I believed he had not the +slightest suspicion that she was the original of that portrait! + +"I saw him there," I said, "but I told him nothing of my movements; +though we are on fairly good terms. Do you think I'm quite a fool, Lord +Southbourne?" + +He looked amused, and blew another ring before he answered, +enigmatically: "David said in his haste 'all men are liars.' If he'd +said at his leisure 'all men are fools,--when there's a woman in the +case'--he'd have been nearer the mark!" + +"What do you mean?" I demanded, hotly enough. + +"Well, I also dined at the Cecil to-night, though not with the +'Savages,' and I happened to hear that you and Cassavetti--we'll call +him that--were looking daggers at each other, and that the lady, who was +remarkably handsome, appeared to enjoy the situation! Who is she, Wynn? +Do I know her?" + +I watched him closely, but his face betrayed nothing. + +"I think your informant must have been a--journalist, Lord Southbourne," +I said very quietly. "And we seem to have strayed pretty considerably +from the point. I came here to take your instructions, and if I'm to +start at nine on Monday I shall not see you again." + +He shrugged his shoulders. + +"All right; we'll get to business. Here's the new code; get it off by +heart between now and Monday, and destroy the copy. It's safer. Here's +your passport, duly _viséd_, and a cheque. That's all, I think. I don't +need to teach you your work. But I don't want you to meet with such a +fate as Carson's; so I expect you to be warned by his example. And you +are not to make any attempt to unravel the mystery of his death. I tell +you that for your own safety! The matter has been taken up from the +Embassy, and everything possible will be done to hunt the assassin down. +Good-bye, and good luck!" + +We shook hands and I went out into the night. It was now well past +midnight, and the streets were even quieter than usual at that hour, for +there had been a sharp storm while I was with Southbourne. I had heard +the crash of thunder at intervals, and the patter of heavy rain all the +time. Now the storm was over, the air was cool and fresh, the sky clear. +The wet street gleamed silver in the moonlight, and was all but +deserted. The traffic had thinned down to an occasional hansom or +private carriage, and there were few foot-passengers abroad. I did not +meet a soul along the whole of Whitehall except the policemen, their wet +mackintoshes glistening in the moonlight. + +But, as I reached the corner of Parliament Square, I saw, just across +the road, a man and woman walking rapidly in the direction of +Westminster Bridge. I glanced at them casually, then looked again, more +intently. The man looked like a sailor; he wore a pea-jacket and a +peaked cap, while the woman was enveloped in a long dark cloak, and had +a black scarf over her head. I saw a gleam of jewelled shoe-buckles as +she picked her way daintily across the wet roadway to the further corner +by the Houses of Parliament. + +My heart seemed to stand still as I watched her. At any other time or +place I would have sworn that I knew the tall, slender figure, the +imperial poise of the head, the peculiarly graceful gait, swift but not +hurried. I inwardly jeered at myself for my idiocy. My mind was so full +of Anne Pendennis that I must imagine every tall, graceful woman was +she! This lady was doubtless a resident in the southern suburbs, +detained by the storm, and now on her way to one of the all-night trams +that start from the far side of Westminster Bridge. There was quite a +suburban touch in a woman in evening dress being escorted by a man in a +pea-jacket. She might be an _artiste_, too poor to afford a cab home. + +Nevertheless, while these thoughts ran through my mind, I was following +the couple. They walked so swiftly that I did not decrease the distance +between us. Half-way across the bridge I was intercepted by a beggar, +who whined for "the price of a doss" and kept pace with me, till I got +rid of him with the bestowal of a coin; but when I looked for the couple +I was stalking they had disappeared. + +I quickened my pace to a run, and at the further end looked anxiously +ahead, but could see no trace of them. There were more people stirring +in the Westminster Bridge Road, even at this hour; street hawkers +starting home with their sodden barrows, the usual disreputable knot of +loungers gathered around a coffee-stall; but those whom I looked for had +vanished. Swiftly as they were walking they could scarcely have +traversed the distance between the bridge and the trams in so short a +time. + +Had they gone down the steps to the river embankment? I paused and +listened, thought I heard a faint patter, as of a woman's high heels on +the stone steps, and ran down the flight. + +The paved walk below St. Thomas' Hospital was deserted; I could see far +in the moonlight. But near at hand I heard the plash of oars. I looked +around and saw that to the right there was a second flight of steps, +almost under the shadow of the first arch of the bridge, and leading +right down to the river. + +I vaulted the bar that guarded the top of the flight and ran down the +steps. Yes, there was the boat, with the sailor and another man pulling +at the oars, and the woman sitting in the stern. The scarf had slipped +back a little, and I saw the glint of her bright hair. + +"Anne! Anne!" I cried desperately. + +She heard and turned her face. + +My God, it was Anne herself! For a second only I saw her face +distinctly, then she pulled the scarf over it with a quick gesture; the +boat shot under the dark shadow of the arches and disappeared. + +I stood dumbfounded for some minutes, staring at the river, and trying +to convince myself that I was mad--that I had dreamt the whole incident. + +When at last I turned to retrace my steps I saw something dark lying at +the top of the steps, stooped, and picked it up. + +It was a spray of scarlet geranium! + + + + +CHAPTER V + +THE MYSTERY THICKENS + + +When I regained the bridge I crossed to the further parapet and looked +down at the river. I could see nothing of the boat; doubtless it had +passed out of sight behind a string of barges that lay in the tideway. +As I watched, the moon was veiled again by the clouds that rolled up +from the west, heralding a second storm; and in another minute or so a +fresh deluge had commenced. + +But I scarcely heeded it. I leaned against the parapet staring at the +dark, mysterious river and the lights that fringed and spanned it like +strings of blurred jewels, seen mistily through the driving rain. + +I was bareheaded, for the fierce gust of wind that came as harbinger of +the squall had swept off my hat and whirled it into the water, where +doubtless it would be carried down-stream, on the swiftly ebbing tide, +in the wake of that boat which was hastening--whither? I don't think I +knew at the time that my hat was gone. I have lived through some strange +and terrible experiences; but I have seldom suffered more mental agony +than I did during those few minutes that I stood in the rain on +Westminster Bridge. + +I was trembling from head to foot, my soul was sick, my mind distracted +by the effort to find any plausible explanation of the scene I had just +witnessed. + +What was this mystery that encompassed the girl I loved; that had closed +around her now? A mystery that I had never even suspected till a few +hours ago, though I had seen Anne every day for this month past,--ever +since I first met her. + +But, after all, what did I know of her antecedents? Next to nothing; and +that I had learned mainly from my cousin Mary. + +Now I came to think of it, Anne had told me very little about herself. I +knew that her father, Anthony Pendennis, came of an old family, and +possessed a house and estate in the west of England, which he had let on +a long lease. Anne had never seen her ancestral home, for her father +lived a nomadic existence on the Continent; one which she had shared, +since she left the school at Neuilly, where she and Mary first became +friends. + +I gathered that she and her father were devoted to each other; and that +he had spared her unwillingly for this long-promised visit to her old +school-fellow. Mary, I knew, would have welcomed Mr. Pendennis also; but +by all accounts he was an eccentric person, who preferred to live +anywhere rather than in England, the land of his birth. He and Anne were +birds of passage, who wintered in Italy or Spain or Egypt as the whim +seized him; and spent the summer in Switzerland or Tyrol, or elsewhere. +In brief they wandered over Europe, north and south, according to the +season; avoiding only the Russian Empire and the British Isles. + +I had never worried my mind with conjectures as to the reason of this +unconventional mode of living. It had seemed to me natural enough, as I, +too, was a nomad; a stranger and sojourner in many lands, since I left +the old homestead in Iowa twelve years ago, to seek my fortune in the +great world. During these wonderful weeks I had been spellbound, as it +were, by Anne's beauty, her charm. When I was with her I could think +only of her; and in the intervals,--well, I still thought of her, and +was dejected or elated as she had been cruel or kind. To me her many +caprices had seemed but the outcome of her youthful light-heartedness; +of a certain naďve coquetry, that rendered her all the more dear and +desirable; "a rosebud set about with little wilful thorns;" a girl who +would not be easily wooed and won, and, therefore, a girl well worth +winning. + +But now--now--I saw her from a different standpoint; saw her enshrouded +in a dark mystery, the clue to which eluded me. Only one belief I clung +to with passionate conviction, as a drowning man clings to a straw. She +loved me. I could not doubt that, remembering the expression of her +wistful face as we parted under the portico so short a time ago, though +it seemed like a lifetime. Had she planned her flight even then,--if +flight it was,--and what else could it be? + +My cogitations terminated abruptly for the moment as a heavy hand was +laid on my shoulder, and a gruff voice said in my ear: "Come, none o' +that, now! What are you up to?" + +I turned and faced a burly policeman, whom I knew well. He recognized +me, also, and saluted. + +"Beg pardon; didn't know it was you, sir. Thought it was one of these +here sooicides, or some one that had had--well, a drop too much." + +He eyed me curiously. I dare say I looked, in my hatless and drenched +condition, as if I might come under the latter category. + +"It's all right," I answered, forcing a laugh. "I wasn't meditating a +plunge in the river. My hat blew off, and when I looked after it I saw +something that interested me, and stayed to watch." + +It was a lame explanation and not precisely true. He glanced over the +parapet in his turn. The rain was abating once more, and the light was +growing as the clouds sped onwards. The moon was at full, and would only +set at dawn. + +"I don't see anything," he remarked. "What was it, sir? Anything +suspicious?" + +His tone inferred that it must have been something very much out of the +common to have kept me there in the rain. Having told him so much I was +bound to tell him more. + +"A rowboat, with two or three people in it; going down-stream. That's +unusual at this time of night--or morning--isn't it?" + +He grinned widely. + +"Was that all? It wasn't worth the wetting you've got, sir!" + +"I don't see where the joke comes in," I said. + +"Well, sir, you newspaper gents are always on the lookout for +mysteries," he asserted, half apologetically. "There's nothing out of +the way in a boat going up or down-stream at any hour of the day or +night; or if there was the river police would be on its track in a +jiffy. They patrol the river same as we walk our beat. It might have +been one of their boats you saw, or some bargees as had been making a +night of it ashore. If I was you, I'd turn in as soon as possible. +'Tain't good for any one to stand about in wet clothes." + +We walked the length of the bridge together, and he continued to hold +forth loquaciously. We parted, on the best of terms, at the end of his +beat; and following his advice, I walked rapidly homewards. I was +chilled to the bone, and unutterably miserable, but if I stayed out all +night that would not alter the situation. + +The street door swung back under my touch, as I was in the act of +inserting my latch-key in the lock. Some one had left it open, in +defiance of the regulations, well known to every tenant of the block. I +slammed it with somewhat unnecessary vigor, and the sound went booming +and echoing up the well of the stone staircase, making a horrible din, +fit to wake the seven sleepers of Ephesus. + +It did waken the housekeeper's big watch-dog, chained up in the +basement, and he bayed furiously. I leaned over the balustrade and +called out. He knew my voice, and quieted down at once, but not before +his master had come out in his pyjamas, yawning and blinking. Poor old +Jenkins, his rest was pretty frequently disturbed, for if any one of the +bachelor tenants of the upper flats--the lower ones were let out as +offices--forgot his street-door key, or returned in the small hours in a +condition that precluded him from manipulating it, Jenkins would be rung +up to let him in; and, being one of the best of good sorts, would +certainly guide him up the staircase and put him comfortably to bed. + +"I'm right down sorry, Jenkins," I called. "I found the street door +open, and slammed it without thinking." + +"Open! Well there, who could have left it open, going out or in?" he +exclaimed, seeming more perturbed than the occasion warranted. "Must +have been quite a short time back, for it isn't an hour since Caesar +began barking like he did just now; and he never barks for nothing. I +went right up the stairs and there was no one there and not a sound. +The door was shut fast enough then, for I tried it. It couldn't have +been Mr. Gray or Mr. Sellars, for they're away week ending, and Mr. +Cassavetti came in before twelve. I met him on the stairs as I was +turning the lights down." + +"Perhaps he went out again to post," I suggested. "Good night, Jenkins." + +"Good night, sir. You got caught in the storm, then?" He had just seen +how wet I was, and eyed me curiously, as the policeman had done. + +"Yes, couldn't see a cab and had to come through it. Lost my hat, too; +it blew off," I answered over my shoulder, as I ran up the stairs. +Lightly clad though he was, Jenkins seemed inclined to stay gossiping +there till further orders. + +When I got into my flat and switched on the lights, I found I still +held, crumpled up in my hand, the bit of geranium I had picked up on the +river steps. But for that evidence I might have persuaded myself that I +had imagined the whole thing. I dropped the crushed petals into the +waste-paper basket, and, as I hastily changed from my wet clothes into +pyjamas, I mentally rehearsed the scene over and over again. Could I +have been misled by a chance resemblance? Impossible. Anne was not +merely a beautiful girl, but a strikingly distinctive personality. I had +recognized her figure, her gait, as I would have recognized them among a +thousand; that fleeting glimpse of her face had merely confirmed the +recognition. As for her presence in Westminster at a time when she +should have been at Mrs. Dennis Sutherland's house in Kensington, or at +home with the Cayleys in Chelsea, that could be easily accounted for on +the presumption that she had not stayed long at Mrs. Sutherland's. Had +the Cayleys already discovered her flight? Probably not. Was Cassavetti +cognizant of it,--concerned with it in any way; and was the incident +of the open door that had so perplexed Jenkins another link in the +mysterious chain? At any rate, Cassavetti was not the man dressed as a +sailor; though he might have been the man in the boat. + +The more I brooded over it the more bewildered--distracted--my brain +became. I tried to dismiss the problem from my mind, "to give it up," in +fact; and, since sleep was out of the question, to occupy myself with +preparations for the packing that must be done to-morrow--no, to-day, +for the dawn had come--if I were to start for Russia on Monday morning. + +But it was no use. I could not concentrate my mind on anything; +also, though I'm an abstemious man as a rule, I guess I put away a +considerable amount of whiskey. Anyhow, I've no recollection of going to +bed; but I woke with a splitting headache, and a thirst I wouldn't take +five dollars for, and the first things I saw were a whiskey bottle and +soda syphon--both empty--on the dressing-table. + +As I lay blinking at those silent witnesses--the bottle had been nearly +full overnight--and trying to remember what had happened, there came a +knock at my bedroom door, and Mrs. Jenkins came in with my breakfast +tray. + +She was an austere dame, and the glance she cast at that empty whiskey +bottle was more significant and accusatory than any words could have +been; though all she said was: "I knocked before, sir, with your shaving +water, but you didn't hear. It's cold now, but I'll put some fresh +outside directly." + +I mumbled meek thanks, and, when she retreated, poured out some tea. I +guessed there were eggs and bacon, the alpha and omega of British ideas +of breakfast, under the dish cover; but I did not lift it. My soul--and +my stomach--revolted at the very thought of such fare. + +I had scarcely sipped my tea when I heard the telephone bell ring in the +adjoining room. I scrambled up and was at the door when Mrs. Jenkins +announced severely: "The telephone, Mr. Wynn," and retreated to the +landing. + +"Hello?" + +"Is that Mr. Wynn?" responded a soft, rich, feminine voice that set my +pulses tingling. "Oh, it is you, Maurice; I'm so glad. We rang you up +from Chelsea, but could get no answer. You won't know who it is +speaking; it is I, Anne Pendennis!" + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +"MURDER MOST FOUL" + + +"I'm speaking from Charing Cross station; can you hear me?" the voice +continued. "I've had a letter from my father; he's ill, and I must go to +him at once. I'm starting now, nine o'clock." + +I glanced at the clock, which showed a quarter to nine. + +"I'll be with you in five minutes--darling!" I responded, throwing in +the last word with immense audacity. "_Au revoir_; I've got to hustle!" + +I put up the receiver and dashed back into my bedroom, where my cold +bath, fortunately, stood ready. Within five minutes I was running down +the stairs, as if a sheriff and posse were after me, while Mrs. Jenkins +leaned over the hand-rail and watched me, evidently under the impression +that I was the victim of sudden dementia. + +There was not a cab to be seen, of course; there never is one in +Westminster on a Sunday morning, and I raced the whole way to Charing +Cross on foot; tore into the station, and made for the platform whence +the continental mail started. An agitated official tried to stop me at +the barrier. + +"Too late, sir, train's off; here--stand away--stand away there!" + +He yelled after me as I pushed past him and scooted along the platform. +I had no breath to spare for explanations, but I dodged the porters who +started forward to intercept me, and got alongside the car, where I saw +Anne leaning out of the window. + +"Where are you going?" I gasped, running alongside. + +"Berlin. Mary has the address!" Anne called. "Oh, Maurice, let go; +you'll be killed!" + +A dozen hands grasped me and held me back by main force. + +"See you--Tuesday!" I cried, and she waved her hand as if she +understood. + +"It's--all right--you fellows--I wasn't trying--to board--the car--" I +said in jerks, as I got my breath again, and I guess they grasped the +situation, for they grinned and cleared off, as Mary walked up to me. + +"Well, I must say you ran it pretty fine, Maurice," she remarked +accusatively. "And, my! what a fright you look! Why, you haven't shaved +this morning; and your tie's all crooked!" + +I put my hand up to my chin. + +"I was only just awake when Anne rang me up," I explained +apologetically. "It's exactly fifteen and a half minutes since I got out +of bed; and I ran the whole way!" + +"You look like it, you disreputable young man," she retorted laughing. +"Well, you'd better come right back to breakfast. You can use Jim's +shaving tackle to make yourself presentable." + +She marched me off to the waiting brougham, and gave me the facts of +Anne's hasty departure as we drove rapidly along the quiet, +clean-washed, sunny streets. + +"The letter came last night, but of course Anne didn't get it till she +came in this morning, about three." + +"Did you sit up for her?" + +"Goodness, no! Didn't you see Jim lend her his latch-key? We knew it +would be a late affair,--that's why we didn't go,--and that some one +would see her safe home, even if you weren't there. The Amory's motored +her home in their car; they had to wait for the storm to clear. I had +been sleeping the sleep of the just for hours, and never even heard her +come in. She'll be dead tired, poor dear, having next to no sleep, and +then rushing off like this--" + +"What's wrong with Mr. Pendennis?" I interpolated. "Was the letter from +him?" + +"Why, certainly; who should it be from? We didn't guess it was +important, or we'd have sent it round to her at Mrs. Sutherland's last +night. He's been sick for some days, and Anne believes he's worse than +he makes out. She only sent word to my room a little before eight; and +then she was all packed and ready to go. Wild horses wouldn't keep Anne +from her father if he wanted her! We're to send her trunks on +to-morrow." + +While my cousin prattled on, I was recalling the events of a few hours +back. I must have been mistaken, after all! What a fool I had been! Why +hadn't I gone straight to Kensington after I left Lord Southbourne? I +should have spared myself a good deal of misery. And yet--I thought of +Anne's face as I saw it just now, looking out of the window, pale and +agitated, just as it had looked in the moonlight last night. No! I might +mentally call myself every kind of idiot, but my conviction remained +fixed; it was Anne whom I had seen. Suppose she had left Mrs. +Sutherland's early, as I had decided she must have done, when I racked +my brains in the night. It was close on one o'clock when I saw her on +the river; she might have landed lower down. I did not know--I do not +know even now--if there were any steps like those by Westminster Bridge, +where a landing could be effected; but suppose there were, she would be +able to get back to Cayleys by the time she had said. But why go on such +an expedition at all? Why? That was the maddening question to which I +could not even suggest an answer. + +"What was it you called to Anne about seeing her on Tuesday?" demanded +Mary, who fortunately did not notice my preoccupation. + +"I shall break my journey there." + +"Of course. I forgot you were off to-morrow. Where to?" + +"St. Petersburg." + +"My! You'll have a lively time there by all accounts. Here we are; I +hadn't time for breakfast, and I'm hungry. Aren't you?" + +As we crossed the hall I saw a woman's dark cloak, flung across an oak +settee. It struck me as being rather like that which Anne--if it were +Anne--had worn. Mary picked it up. + +"That oughtn't to be lying there. It's Mrs. Sutherland's. Anne borrowed +it last night as her own was flimsy for a car. I must send it back +to-day. Go right up to Jim's dressing-room, Maurice; you'll find all you +want there." + +She ran up the stairs before me, the cloak over her arm, little thinking +how significant that cloak was to me. + +I cut myself rather badly while shaving, and I evinced a poor appetite +for breakfast. Jim and Mary, especially Jim, saw fit to rally me on +that, and on my solemn visage, which was not exactly beautified by the +cut. I took myself off as soon after the meal as I decently could, on +the plea of getting through with my packing; though I promised to return +in the evening to say good-bye. + +I had remembered my appointment with the old Russian, and was +desperately anxious not to be out if he should come. + +On one point I was determined. I would give no one, not even Mary, so +much as a hint of the mysteries that were half-maddening me; at least +until I had been able to seek an explanation of them from Anne herself. + +My man never turned up, nor had he been there while I was absent, as I +elicited by a casual inquiry of Jenkins as to whether any one had +called. + +I told him when I returned from the Cayleys that I was going away in the +morning, and he came to lend a hand with the packing and clearing up. + +"No, sir, not a soul's been; the street door was shut all morning. I'd +rather be rung up a dozen times than have bad characters prowling about +on the staircase. There's a lot of wrong 'uns round about Westminster! +Seems quieter than usual up here to-day, don't it, sir? With all the +residentials away, except you." + +"Why, is Cassavetti away, too?" I asked, looking up. + +"I think he must be, sir, for I haven't seen or heard anything of him. +But I don't do for him as I do for you and the other gents. He does for +himself, and won't let me have a key, or the run of his rooms. His +tenancy's up in a week or two, and a pretty state we shall find 'em in, +I expect! We shan't miss him like we miss you, sir. Shall you be long +away this time?" + +"Can't say, Jenkins. It may be one month or six--or forever," I added, +remembering Carson's fate. + +"Oh, don't say that, sir," remonstrated Jenkins. + +"I wonder if Mr. Cassavetti is out. I'd like to say good-bye to him," I +resumed presently. "Go up and ring, there's a good chap, Jenkins. And if +he's there, you might ask him to come down." + +It struck me that I might at least ascertain from Cassavetti what he +knew of Anne. Why hadn't I thought of that before? + +Jenkins departed on his errand, and half a minute later I heard a yell +that brought me to my feet with a bound. + +"Hello, what's up?" I called, and rushed up the stairs, to meet Jenkins +at the top, white and shaking. + +"Look there, sir," he stammered. "What is it? 'Twasn't there this +morning, when I turned the lights out, I'll swear!" + +He pointed to the door-sill, through which was oozing a sluggish, +sinister-looking stream of dark red fluid. + +"It's--it's blood!" he whispered. + +I had seen that at the first glance. + +"Shall I go for the police?" + +"No," I said sharply. "He may be only wounded." + +I went and hammered at the door, avoiding contact with that horrible +little pool. + +"Cassavetti! Cassavetti! Are you within, man?" I shouted; but there was +no answer. + +"Stand aside. I'm going to break the lock," I cried. + +I flung myself, shoulder first, against the lock, and caught at the +lintel to save myself from falling, as the lock gave and the door swung +inwards,--to rebound from something that it struck against. + +I pushed it open again, entered sideways through the aperture, and +beckoned Jenkins to follow. + +Huddled up in a heap, almost behind the door, was the body of a man; the +face with its staring eyes was upturned to the light. + +It was Cassavetti himself, dead; stabbed to the heart. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +A RED-HAIRED WOMAN! + + +I bent over the corpse and touched the forehead tentatively with my +finger-tips. It was stone cold. The man must have been dead many hours. + +"Come on; we must send for the police; pull yourself together, man!" I +said to Jenkins, who seemed half-paralyzed with fear and horror. + +We squeezed back through the small opening, and I gently closed the +door, and gripping Jenkins by the arm, marched him down the stairs to my +rooms. He was trembling like a leaf, and scarcely able to stand alone. + +"We've never had such a thing happen before," he kept mumbling +helplessly, over and over again. + +I bade him have some whiskey, if he could find any, and remain there to +keep an eye on the staircase, while I went across to Scotland Yard; for, +through some inexplicable pig-headedness on the part of the police +authorities, not even the headquarters was on the telephone. + +The Abbey bells were ringing for afternoon service, and there were many +people about, churchgoers and holiday makers in their Sunday clothes. +The contrast between the sunny streets, with their cheerful crowds, and +the silent sinister tragedy of the scene I had just left struck me +forcibly. + +If I had sent Jenkins on the errand, I guess he would have created quite +a sensation. That is why I went myself; and I doubt if any one saw +anything unusual about me, as I threaded my way quietly through the +throng at Whitehall corner, where the 'buses stop to take up passengers. + +A minute or two later I was in an inspector's room at "the Yard," giving +my information to a little man who heard me out almost in silence, +watching me keenly the while. + +I imagine that I appeared quite calm. I could hear my own voice stating +the bald facts succinctly, but, to my ears, it sounded like the voice of +some one else, for it was with a great effort that I retained my +composure. I knew that this strange and terrible event which I had been +the one to discover was only another link in the chain of circumstances, +which, so far as my knowledge went, began less than twenty-four hours +ago; a chain that threatened to fetter me, or the girl I loved. For my +own safety I cared nothing. My one thought was to protect Anne, who must +be, either fortuitously, or of her own will, involved in this tangled +web of intrigue. + +I should, of course, be subjected to cross-examination, and, on my way +to Scotland Yard, I had decided just what I meant to reveal. I would +have to relate how I encountered the old Russian, when he mistook my +flat for Cassavetti's; but of the portrait in his possession, of our +subsequent interview, and of the incident of the river steps, I would +say nothing. + +For the present I merely stated how Jenkins and I had discovered the +fact that a murder had been committed. + +"I dined in company with Mr. Cassavetti last night," I continued. "But +before that--" + +I was going to mention the mysterious Russian; but my auditor checked +me. + +"Half a minute, Mr. Wynn," he said, as he filled in some words on a +form, and handed it to a police officer waiting inside the door. The man +took the paper, saluted, and went out. + +"I gather that you did not search the rooms? That when you found the man +lying dead there, you simply came out and left everything as it was?" + +"Yes. I saw at once we could do nothing; the poor fellow was cold and +rigid." + +I felt that I spoke dully, mechanically; but the horror of the thing was +so strongly upon me, that, if I had relaxed the self-restraint I was +exerting, I think I should have collapsed altogether. This business-like +little official, who had received the news that a murder had been +committed as calmly as if I had merely told him some one had tried to +pick my pocket, could not imagine and must not suspect the significance +this ghastly discovery held for me, or the maddening conjectures that +were flashing across my mind. + +"I wish every one would act as sensibly; it would save us a lot of +trouble;" he remarked, closing his note-book, and stowing it, and his +fountain pen, in his breast-pocket. "I will return with you now; my men +will be there before we are, and the divisional surgeon won't be long +after us." + +[Illustration: _The rooms were in great disorder, and had been subjected +to an exhaustive search._ Page 51] + +We walked the short distance in silence; and when we turned the corner +of the street where the block was situated, I saw that the news had +spread, as such news always does, in some unaccountable fashion, for +a little crowd had assembled, gazing at the closed street-door, and +exchanging comments and ejaculations. + +I pulled out my keys, but, for all the self-control I thought I was +maintaining, my hand trembled so I could not fit the latch-key into the +lock. + +"Allow me," said my companion, and took the bunch out of my shaking +hand, just as the door was opened from within by a constable who had +stationed himself in the lobby. + +On the top landing we overtook another constable, and two plain-clothes +officers, to whom Jenkins was volubly asserting his belief that it was +none other than the assassin who had left the door open in the night. + +The minute investigation that followed revealed several significant +facts. One was that the assassin must have been in the rooms for some +considerable time before Cassavetti returned,--to be struck down the +instant he entered. The position of the body, just behind the door, +proved that. Also he was still wearing his thin Inverness, and his hat +had rolled to a corner of the little hall. He had not even had time to +replace his keys in his trousers pocket; they dangled loosely from their +chain, and jingled as the body was lifted and moved to the inner room. + +The rooms were in great disorder, and had been subjected to an +exhaustive search; even the books had been tumbled out of their shelves +and thrown on the floor. But ordinary robbery was evidently not the +motive, for there were several articles of value scattered about the +room; nor had the body been rifled. Cassavetti wore a valuable diamond +ring, which was still on his finger, as his gold watch was still in his +breast-pocket; it had stopped at ten minutes to twelve. + +"Run down, so that shows nothing," the detective remarked, as he opened +it and looked at the works. "Do you know if your friend carried a +pocket-book, Mr. Wynn? He did? Then that's the only thing missing. It +was papers they were after, and I presume they got 'em!" + +That was obvious enough, for not a scrap of written matter was +discovered, nor the weapon with which the crime was committed. + +"It's a fairly straightforward case," Inspector Freeman said +complacently, later, when the gruesome business was over, and the body +removed to the mortuary. "A political affair, of course; the man was a +Russian revolutionary--we used to call 'em Nihilists a few years +ago--and his name was no more Cassavetti than mine is! Now, Mr. Wynn, +you told me you knew him, and dined with him last night. Do you care to +give me any particulars, or would you prefer to keep them till you give +evidence at the inquest?" + +"I'll give them you now, of course," I answered promptly. "I can't +attend the inquest, for I'm leaving England to-morrow morning." + +"Then you'll have to postpone your journey," he said dryly. "For you're +bound to attend the inquest; you'll be the most important witness. May I +ask where you were going?" + +I told him, and he nodded. + +"So you're one of Lord Southbourne's young men? Thought I knew your +face, but couldn't quite place you," he responded. "Hope you won't meet +with the same fate as your predecessor. A sad affair, that; we got the +news on Friday. Sounds like much the same sort of thing as this"--he +jerked his head towards the ceiling--"except that Mr. Carson was an +Englishman, who never ought to have mixed himself up with a lot like +that." + +Again came that expressive jerk of the head, and his small bright eyes +regarded me more shrewdly and observantly than ever. + +"Let me give you a word of warning, Mr. Wynn; don't you follow his +example. Remember Russia's not England--" + +"I know. I've been there before. Besides, my chief warned me last +night." + +"Lord Southbourne? Just so; he knows a thing or two. Well, now about +Cassavetti--" + +I was glad enough to get back to the point; it was he and not I who had +strayed from it, for I was anxious to get rid of him. + +I gave him just the information I had decided upon, and flattered myself +that I did it with a candor that precluded even him from suspecting that +I was keeping anything back. To my immense relief he refrained from any +questioning, and at the end of my recital put up his pocket-book, and +rose, holding out his hand. + +"Well, you've given me very valuable assistance, Mr. Wynn. Queer old +card, that Russian. We shouldn't have much difficulty in tracing him, +though you never can tell with these aliens. They've as many bolt holes +as a rat. You say he's the only suspicious looking visitor you've ever +seen here?" + +"The only one of any kind I've encountered who wanted Cassavetti. After +all, I knew very little of him, and though we were such near neighbors, +I saw him far more often about town than here." + +"You never by any chance saw a lady going up to his rooms, or on the +staircase as if she might be going up there? A red-haired woman,--or +fair-haired, anyhow--well-dressed?" + +"Never!" I said emphatically, and with truth. "Why do you ask?" + +"Because there was a red-haired woman in his flat last night. That's +all. Good day, Mr. Wynn." + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +A TIMELY WARNING + + +It was rather late that evening when I returned to the Cayleys; for I +had to go to the office, and write my report of the murder. It would be +a scoop for the "Courier;" for, though the other papers might get hold +of the bare facts, the details of the thrilling story I constructed were +naturally exclusive. I made it pretty lurid, and put in all I had told +Freeman, and that I intended to repeat at the inquest. + +The news editor was exultant. He regarded a Sunday murder as nothing +short of a godsend to enliven the almost inevitable dulness of the +Monday morning's issue at this time of year. + +"Lucky you weren't out of town, Wynn, or we should have missed this, and +had to run in with the rest," he remarked with a chuckle. + +Lucky! + +"Wish I had been out of town," I said gloomily. "It's a ghastly affair." + +"Get out! Ghastly!" he ejaculated with scorn. "Nothing's ghastly to a +journalist, so long as it's good copy! You ought to have forgotten you +ever possessed any nerves, long ago. Must say you look a bit off color, +though. Have a drink?" + +I declined with thanks. His idea of a drink in office hours, was, as I +knew, some vile whiskey fetched from the nearest "pub," diluted with +warm, flat soda, and innocent of ice. I'd wait till I got to Chelsea, +where I was bound to happen on something drinkable. As a good American, +Mary scored off the ordinary British housewife, who preserves a fixed +idea that ice is a sinful luxury, even during a spell of sultry summer +weather in London. + +I drove from the office to Chelsea, and found Mary and Jim, with two or +three others, sitting in the garden. The house was one of the few +old-fashioned ones left in that suburb, redolent of many memories and +associations of witty and famous folk, from Nell Gwynn to Thomas +Carlyle; and Mary was quite proud of her garden, though it consisted +merely of a small lawn and some fine old trees that shut off the +neighboring houses. + +"At last! You very bad boy. We expected you to tea," said Mary, as I +came down the steps of the little piazza outside the drawing-room +windows. "You don't mean to tell me you've been packing all this time? +Why, goodness, Maurice; you look worse than you did this morning! You +haven't been committing a murder, have you?" + +"No, but I've been discovering one," I said lamely, as I dropped into a +wicker chair. + +"A murder! How thrilling. Do tell us all about it," cried a pretty, +kittenish little woman whose name I did not know. Strange how some women +have an absolutely ghoulish taste for horrors! + +"Give him a chance, Mrs. Vereker," interposed Jim hastily, with his +accustomed good nature. "He hasn't had a drink yet. Moselle cup, +Maurice, or a long peg?" + +He brought me a tall tumbler of whiskey and soda, with ice clinking +deliciously in it; and I drank it and felt better. + +"That's good," I remarked. "I haven't had anything since I breakfasted +with you,--forgot all about it till now. You see I happened to find the +poor chap--Cassavetti--when I ran up to say good-bye to him." + +"Cassavetti!" cried Jim and Mary simultaneously, and Mary added: "Why, +that was the man who sat next us--next Anne--at dinner last night, +wasn't it? The man the old Russian you told us about came to see?" + +I nodded. + +"The police are after him now; though the old chap seemed harmless +enough, and didn't look as if he'd the physical strength to murder any +one," I said, and related my story to a running accompaniment of +exclamations from the feminine portion of my audience, especially Mrs. +Vereker, who evinced an unholy desire to hear all the most gruesome +details. + +Jim sat smoking and listening almost in silence, his jolly face +unusually grave. + +"This stops your journey, of course, Maurice?" he said at length; and I +thought he looked at me curiously. Certainly as I met his eyes he +avoided my gaze as if in embarrassment; and I felt hot and cold by +turns, wondering if he had divined the suspicion that was torturing +me--suspicion that was all but certainty--that Anne Pendennis was +intimately involved in the grim affair. He had always distrusted her. + +"For a day or two only. Even if the inquest is adjourned, I don't +suppose I'll have to stop for the further hearing," I answered, +affecting an indifference I was very far from feeling. + +"Then you won't be seeing Anne as soon as you anticipated," Mary +remarked. "I must write to her to-morrow. She'll be so shocked." + +"Did Miss Pendennis know this Mr. Cassavetti?" inquired Mrs. Vereker. + +"We met him at the dinner last night for the first time. Jim and Maurice +knew him before, of course. He seemed a very fascinating sort of man." + +"Where is Miss Pendennis, by the way?" pursued the insatiable little +questioner. "I was just going to ask for her when Mr. Wynn turned up +with his news." + +"Didn't I tell you? She left for Berlin this morning; her father's ill. +She had to rush to get away." + +"To rush! I should think so," exclaimed Mrs. Vereker. "Why, she was at +Mrs. Dennis Sutherland's last night; though I only caught a glimpse of +her. She left so early; I suppose that was why--" + +I stumbled to my feet, feeling sick and dizzy, and upset the little +table with my glass that Jim had placed at my elbow. + +"Sorry, Mary, I'm always a clumsy beggar," I said, forcing a laugh. +"I'll ask you to excuse me. I must get back to the office. I've to see +Lord Southbourne when he returns. He's been out motoring all day." + +"Oh, but you'll come back here and sleep," Mary protested. "You can't go +back to that horrible flat--" + +"Nonsense!" I said almost roughly. "There's nothing wrong with the flat. +Do you suppose I'm a child or a woman?" + +She ignored my rudeness. + +"You look very bad, Maurice," she responded, almost in a whisper, as we +moved towards the house. I was acutely conscious that the others were +watching my retreat; especially that inquisitive little Vereker woman, +whom I was beginning to hate. When we entered the dusk of the +drawing-room, out of range of those curious eyes, I turned on my cousin. + +"Mary--for God's sake--don't let that woman--or any one else, speak +of--Anne--in connection with Cassavetti," I said, in a hoarse undertone. + +"Anne! Why, what on earth do you mean?" she faltered. + +"He doesn't mean anything, except that he's considerably upset," said +Jim's hearty voice, close at hand. He had followed us in from the +garden. "You go back to your guests, little woman, and make 'em talk +about anything in the world except this murder affair. Try frocks and +frills; when Amy Vereker starts on them there's no stopping her; and if +they won't serve, try palmistry and spooks and all that rubbish. Leave +Maurice to me. He's faint with hunger, and inclined to make an ass of +himself even more than usual! Off with you!" + +Mary made a queer little sound, that was half a sob, half a laugh. + +"All right; I'll obey orders for once, you dear, wise old Jim. Make him +come back to-night, though." + +She moved away, a slender ghostlike little figure in her white gown; and +Jim laid a heavy, kindly hand on my shoulder. + +"Buck up, Maurice; come along to the dining-room and feed, and then tell +me all about it." + +"There's nothing to tell," I persisted. "But I guess you're right, and +hunger's what's wrong with me." + +I managed to make a good meal--I was desperately hungry now I came to +think of it--and Jim waited on me solicitously. He seemed somehow +relieved that I manifested a keen appetite. + +"That's better," he said, as I declined cheese, and lighted a cigarette. +"'When in difficulties have a square meal before you tackle 'em; that's +my maxim,--original, and worth its weight in gold. I give it you for +nothing. Now about this affair; it's more like a melodrama than a +tragedy. You know, or suspect, that Anne Pendennis is mixed up in it?" + +"I neither know nor suspect any such thing," I said deliberately. I had +recovered my self-possession, and the lie, I knew, sounded like truth, +or would have done so to any one but Jim Cayley. + +"Then your manner just now was inexplicable," he retorted quietly. "Now, +just hear me out, Maurice; it's no use trying to bluff me. You think I +am prejudiced against this girl. Well, I'm not. I've always acknowledged +that she's handsome and fascinating to a degree, though, as I told you +once before, she's a coquette to her finger-tips. That's one of her +characteristics, that she can't be held responsible for, any more than +she can help the color of her hair, which is natural and not touched up, +like Amy Vereker's, for instance! Besides, Mary loves her; and that's a +sufficient proof, to me, that she is 'O. K.' in one way. You love her, +too; but men are proverbially fools where a handsome woman is +concerned." + +"What are you driving at, Jim?" I asked. At any other time I would have +resented his homily, as I had done before, but now I wanted to find out +how much he knew. + +"A timely warning, my boy. I suspect, and you know, or I'm very much +mistaken, that Anne Pendennis had some connection with this man who is +murdered. She pretended last night that she had never met him before; +but she had,--there was a secret understanding between them. I saw that, +and so did you; and I saw, too, that her treatment of you was a mere +ruse, though Heaven knows why she employed it! I can't attempt to fathom +her motive. I believe she loves you, as you love her; but that she's not +a free agent. She's not like an ordinary English girl whose antecedents +are known to every one about her. She, and her father, too, are involved +in some mystery, some international political intrigues, I'm pretty +sure, as this unfortunate Cassavetti was. I don't say that she was +responsible for the murder. I don't believe she was, or that she had any +personal hand in it--" + +I had listened as if spellbound, but now I breathed more freely. +Whatever his suspicions were, they did not include that she was actually +present when Cassavetti was done to death. + +"But she was most certainly cognizant of it, and her departure this +morning was nothing more or less than flight," he continued. "And--I +tell you this for her sake, as well as for your own, Maurice--your +manner just now gave the whole game away to any one who has any +knowledge or suspicion of the facts. Man alive, you profess to love Anne +Pendennis; you do love her; I'll concede that much. Well, do you want to +see her hanged, or condemned to penal servitude for life?" + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +NOT AT BERLIN + + +"Hanged, or condemned to penal servitude for life." + +There fell a dead silence after Jim Cayley uttered those ominous words. +He waited for me to speak, but for a minute or more I was dumb. He had +voiced the fear that had been on me more or less vaguely ever since I +broke open the door and saw Cassavetti's corpse; and that had taken +definite shape when I heard Freeman's assertion concerning "a red-haired +woman." + +And yet my whole soul revolted from the horrible, the appalling +suspicion. I kept assuring myself passionately that she was, she must +be, innocent; I would stake my life on it! + +Now, after that tense pause, I turned on Jim furiously. + +"What do you mean? Are you mad?" I demanded. + +"No, but I think you are," Jim answered soberly. "I'm not going to +quarrel with you, Maurice, or allow you to quarrel with me. As I told +you before, I am only warning you, for your own sake, and for Anne's. +You know, or suspect at least--" + +"I don't!" I broke in hotly. "I neither know nor suspect that--that +she--Jim Cayley, would you believe Mary to be a murderess, even if all +the world declared her to be one? Wouldn't you--" + +"Stop!" he said sternly. "You don't know what you're saying, you young +fool! My wife and Anne Pendennis are very different persons. Shut up, +now! I say you've got to hear me! I have not accused Anne Pendennis of +being a murderess. I don't believe she is one. But I do believe that, if +once suspicion is directed towards her, she would find it very +difficult, if not impossible, to prove her innocence. You ought to know +that, too, and yet you are doing your best, by your ridiculous behavior, +to bring suspicion to bear on her." + +"I!" + +"Yes, you! If you want to save her, pull yourself together, man; play +your part for all it's worth. It's an easy part enough, if you'd only +dismiss Anne Pendennis from your mind; forget that such a person +exists. You've got to give evidence at this inquest. Well, give it +straightforwardly, without worrying yourself about any side issues; and, +for Heaven's sake, get and keep your nerves under control, or--" + +He broke off, and we both turned, as the door opened and a smart +parlor-maid tripped into the room. + +"Beg pardon, sir. I didn't know you were here," she said with the demure +grace characteristic of the well-trained English servant. "It's nearly +supper-time, and I came to see if there was anything else wanted. I laid +the table early." + +"All right, Marshall. I've been giving Mr. Wynn some supper, as he has +to be off. You needn't sound the gong for a few minutes." + +"Very well, sir. If you'd ring when you're ready, I'll put the things +straight." + +She retreated as quietly as she had come, and I think we both felt that +her entrance and exit relieved the tension of our interview. + +I rose and held out my hand. + +"Thanks, Jim. I can't think how you know as much as you evidently do; +but, anyhow, I'll take your advice. I'll be off, now, and I won't come +back to-night, as Mary asked me to. I'd rather be alone. See you both +to-morrow. Good night." + +I walked back to Westminster, lingering for a considerable time by the +river, where the air was cool and pleasant. The many pairs of lovers +promenading the tree-shaded Embankment took no notice of me, or I of +them. + +As I leaned against the parapet, watching the swift flowing murky tide, +I argued the matter out. + +Jim was right. I had behaved like an idiot in the garden just now. Well, +I would take his advice and buck up; be on guard. I would do more than +that. I would not even vex myself with conjectures as to how much he +knew, or how he had come by that knowledge. It was impossible to adopt +one part of his counsel--impossible to "forget that such a person as +Anne Pendennis ever existed;" but I would only think of her as the girl +I loved, the girl whom I would see in Berlin within a few days. + +I wrote to her that night, saying nothing of the murder, but only that I +was unexpectedly detained, and would send her a wire when I started, so +that she would know when to expect me. Once face to face with her, I +would tell her everything; and she would give me the key to the mystery +that had tortured me so terribly. But I must never let her know that I +had doubted her, even for an instant! + +The morning mail brought me an unexpected treasure. Only a post-card, +pencilled by Anne herself in the train, and posted at Dover. + +It was written in French, and was brief enough; but, for the time being, +it changed and brightened the whole situation. + + "I scarcely hoped to see you at the station, _mon ami_; + there was so little time. What haste you must have made to + get there at all! Shall I really see you in Berlin? I do + want you to know my father. And you will be able to tell me + your plans. I don't even know your destination! The + Reichshof, where we stay, is in Friedrich Strasse, close to + Unter den Linden. _Au revoir!_ + + A. P." + +A simple message, but it meant much to me. I regarded it as a proof that +her hurried journey was not a flight, but a mere coincidence. + +Mary had a post-card, too, from Calais; just a few words with the +promise of a letter at the end of the journey. She showed it to me when +I called round at Chelsea on Monday evening to say good-bye once more. +The inquest opened that morning, and was adjourned for a week. Only +formal and preliminary evidence was taken--my own principally; and I was +able to arrange to leave next day. Inspector Freeman made the orthodox +statement that "the police were in possession of a clue which they were +following up;" and I had a chat with him afterwards, and tried to ferret +out about the clue, but he was close as wax. + +We parted on the best of terms, and I was certain he did not guess that +my interest in the affair was more than the natural interest of one +who was as personally concerned in it as I was, with the insatiable +curiosity of the journalist superadded. Whatever I had been yesterday, +I was fully master of myself to-day. + +Jim was out when I reached Chelsea, somewhat to my relief; and Mary was +alone for once. + +She welcomed me cordially, as usual, and commended my improved +appearance. + +"I felt upset about you last night, Maurice; you weren't a bit like +yourself. And what on earth did you mean in the drawing-room--about +Anne?" she asked. + +"Sheer madness," I said, with a laugh. "Jim made that peg too strong, +and I'm afraid I was--well, a bit screwed. So fire away, if you want to +lecture me; though, on my honor, it was the first drink I'd had all +day!" + +I knew by the way she had spoken that Jim had not confided his +suspicions to her. I didn't expect he would. + +She accepted my explanation like the good little soul she is. + +"I never thought of that. It's not like you, Maurice. But I won't +lecture you this time, though you did scare me! I guess you felt pretty +bad after finding that poor fellow. I felt shuddery enough even at the +thought of it, considering that we knew him, and had all been together +such a little while before. Has the murderer been found yet?" + +"Not that I know of. The inquest's adjourned, and I'm off to-morrow. +I'll have to come back if necessary; but I hope it won't be. Any message +for Anne? I shall see her on Wednesday." + +"No, only what I've already written: that I hope her father's better, +and that she'd persuade him to come back with her. She was to have +stayed with us all summer, as you know; and I'm not going to send her +trunks on till she writes definitely that she can't return. My private +opinion of Mr. Pendennis is that he's a cranky and exacting old pig! He +resented Anne's leaving him, and I surmise this illness of his is only +a ruse to get her back again. Anne ought to be firmer with him!" + +I laughed. Mary, as I knew, had always been "firm" with her "poppa," in +her girlish days; had, in fact, ruled him with a rod of iron--cased in +velvet, indeed, but inflexible, nevertheless! + +I started on my delayed journey next morning, and during the long day +and night of travel my spirits were steadily on the up-grade. + +Cassavetti, the murder, all the puzzling events of the last few days, +receded to my mental horizon--vanished beyond it--as boat and train bore +me swiftly onwards, away from England, towards Anne Pendennis. + +Berlin at last. I drove from the Potsdam station to the nearest +barber's,--I needed a shave badly, though I had made myself otherwise +fairly spick and span in the toilet car,--and thence to the hotel Anne +had mentioned. + +She would be expecting me, for I had despatched the promised wire when I +started. + +"Send my card up to Fraulein Pendennis at once," I said to the waiter +who came forward to receive me. + +He looked at me--at the card--but did not take it. + +"Fraulein Pendennis is not here," he asserted. "Herr Pendennis has +already departed, and the Fraulein has not been here at all!" + + + + +CHAPTER X + +DISQUIETING NEWS + + +I stared at the man incredulously. + +"Herr Pendennis has departed, and the Fraulein has not been here at +all!" I repeated. "You must be mistaken, man! The Fraulein was to arrive +here on Monday, at about this time." + +He protested that he had spoken the truth, and summoned the manager, +who confirmed the information. + +Yes, Herr Pendennis had been unfortunately indisposed, but the +sickness had not been so severe as to necessitate that the so +charming and dutiful Fraulein should hasten to him. He had a telegram +received,--doubtless from the Fraulein herself,--and thereupon with much +haste departed. He drove to the Friedrichstrasse station, but that was +all that was known of his movements. Two letters had arrived for Miss +Pendennis, which her father had taken, and there was also a telegram, +delivered since he left. + +Both father and daughter, it seemed, were well known at the hotel, where +they always stayed during their frequent visits to the German capital. + +I was keenly disappointed. Surely some malignant fate was intervening +between Anne and myself, determined to keep us apart. Why had she +discontinued her journey; and had she returned to England,--to the +Cayleys? If not, where was she now? Unanswerable questions, of course. +All I could do was to possess my soul in patience, and hope for tidings +when I reached my destination. And meanwhile, by breaking my journey +here, for the sole purpose of seeing her, I had incurred a delay of +twelve hours. + +One thing at least was certain,--her father could not have left Berlin +for the purpose of meeting her _en route_, or he would not have +started from the Friedrichstrasse station. + +With a rush all the doubts and perplexities that I had kept at bay, even +since I received Anne's post-card, re-invaded my mind; but I beat them +back resolutely. I would not allow myself to think, to conjecture. + +I moped around aimlessly for an hour or two, telling myself that Berlin +was the beastliest hole on the face of the earth. Never had time dragged +as it did that morning! I seemed to have been at a loose end for a +century or more by noon, when I found myself opposite the entrance of +the Astoria Restaurant. + +"When in difficulties--feed," Jim Cayley had counselled, and a long +lunch would kill an hour or so, anyhow. + +I had scarcely settled myself at a table when a man came along and +clapped me on the shoulder. + +"Wynn, by all that's wonderful. What are you doing here, old fellow?" + +It was Percy Medhurst, a somewhat irresponsible, but very decent +youngster, whom I had seen a good deal of in London, one way and +another. He was a clerk in the British Foreign Office, but I hadn't the +least idea that he had been sent to Berlin. He had dined at the Cayleys +only a week or two back. + +"I'm feeding--or going to feed. What are you doing here?" I responded, +as we shook hands. I was glad to see him. Even his usually frivolous +conversation was preferable to my own meditations at the moment. + +"Just transferred, regular stroke of luck. Only got here last night; +haven't reported myself for duty yet. I say, old chap, you look rather +hipped. What's up?" + +"Hunger," I answered laconically. "And I guess that's easily remedied. +Come and join me." + +We talked of indifferent matters for a time, or rather he did most of +the talking. + +"Staying long?" he asked at last, as we reached the coffee and liqueur +stage. We had done ourselves very well, and I, at least, felt in a much +more philosophic frame of mind than I had done for some hours past. + +"No, only a few hours. I'm _en route_ for Petersburg." + +"What luck; wish I was. Berlin's all right, of course, but a bit stodgy; +and they're having a jolly lot of rows at Petersburg,--with more to +come. I say, though, what an awful shame about that poor chap Carson. +Have you heard of it?" + +"Yes; I'm going to take his place. What do you know about him, anyhow?" + +"You are? I didn't know him at all; but I know a fellow who was awfully +thick with him. Met him just now. He's frightfully cut up about it all. +Swears he'll hunt down the murderer sooner or later--" + +"Von Eckhardt? Is he here?" I ejaculated. + +"Yes. D'you know him? An awfully decent chap,--for a German; though he's +always spouting Shakespeare, and thinks me an ass, I know, because I +tell him I've never read a line of him, not since I left Bradfield, +anyhow. Queer how these German johnnies seem to imagine Shakespeare +belongs to them! You should have heard him just now! + + 'He was my friend, faithful and just to me,' + +--and raving about his heart being in the coffin with Caesar; suppose he +meant Carson. 'Pon my soul I could hardly keep a straight face; but I +daren't laugh. He was in such deadly earnest." + +I cut short these irrelevant comments on Von Eckhardt's verbal +peculiarities, with which I was perfectly familiar. + +"How long's he here for?" + +"Don't know. Rather think, from what he said, that he's chucked up his +post on the _Zeitung_--" + +"What on earth for?" + +"How should I know? I tell you he's as mad as a hatter." + +"Wonder where I'd be likely to find him; not at the _Zeitung_ office, if +he's left. I must see him this afternoon. Do you know where he hangs +out, Medhurst?" + +"With his people, I believe; somewhere in Charlotten Strasse or +thereabouts. I met him mooning about in the Tiergarten this morning." + +I called a waiter and sent him for a directory. There were scores of Von +Eckhardts in it, and I decided to go to the _Zeitung_ office, and +ascertain his address there. + +Medhurst volunteered to walk with me. + +"How are the Cayleys?" he asked, as we went along. "Thought that +handsome Miss Pendennis was going to stay with them all the summer. By +Jove, she is a ripper. You were rather gone in that quarter, weren't +you, Wynn?" + +I ignored this last remark. + +"How did you know Miss Pendennis had left?" I asked, with assumed +carelessness. + +"Why? Because I met her at Ostend on Sunday night, to be sure. I +week-ended there, you know. Thought I'd have a private bit of a spree, +before I had to be officially on the _Spree_." + +He chuckled at the futile pun. + +"You saw Anne Pendennis at Ostend. Are you certain it was she?" I +demanded. + +"Of course I am. She looked awfully fetching, and gave me one of her +most gracious bows--" + +"You didn't speak to her?" I pursued, throwing away the cigarette I had +been smoking. My teeth had met in the end of it as I listened to this +news. + +My ingenuous companion seemed embarrassed by the question. + +"Well, no; though I'd have liked to. But--fact is, I--well, of course, I +wasn't alone, don't you know; and though she was a jolly little +girl--she--I couldn't very well have introduced her to Miss Pendennis. +Anyhow, I shouldn't have had the cheek to speak to her; she was with an +awfully swagger set. Count Loris Solovieff was one of 'em. He's really +the Grand Duke Loris, you know, though he prefers to go about incog. +more often than not. He was talking to Miss Pendennis. Here's the +office. I won't come in. Perhaps I'll turn up and see you off to-night. +If I don't, good-bye and good luck; and thanks awfully for the lunch." + +I was thankful to be rid of him. I dare not question him further. I +could not trust myself to do so; for his words had summoned that black +horde of doubts to the attack once more, and this time they would not +be vanquished. + +Small wonder that I had not found Anne Pendennis at Berlin! What was she +doing at Ostend, in company with "a swagger set" that included a Russian +Grand Duke? I had heard many rumors concerning this Loris, whom I had +never seen; rumors that were the reverse of discreditable to him. He was +said to be different from most of his illustrious kinsfolk, inasmuch +that he was an enthusiastic disciple of Tolstoy, and had been dismissed +from the Court in disgrace, on account of his avowed sympathy with the +revolutionists. + +But what connection could he have with Anne Pendennis? + +And she,--she! Were there any limits to her deceit, her dissimulation? +She was a traitress certainly; perhaps a murderess. + +And yet I loved her, even now. I think even more bitter than my +disillusion was the conviction that I must still love her, though I had +lost her--forever! + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +"LA MORT OU LA VIE!" + + +I took a cab from the newspaper office to Von Eckhardt's address,--a +flat in the west end. + +I found him, as Medhurst had reported, considerably agitated. He is a +good-hearted chap, and a brilliant writer, though he's too apt to allow +his feelings to carry him away; for he's even more sentimental than the +average German, and entirely lacking in the characteristic German +phlegm. He is as vivacious and excitable as a Frenchman, and I fancy +there's a good big dash of French blood in his pedigree, though he'd be +angry if any one suggested such a thing! + +He did not know me for a moment, but when I told him who I was he +welcomed me effusively. + +"Ah, now I remember; we met in London, when I was there with my poor +friend. 'We heard at midnight the clock,' as our Shakespeare says. And +you are going to take his place? I have not yet the shock recovered of +his death; from it I never shall recover. O judgment, to brutish beasts +hast thou fled, and their reason men have lost. My heart, with my friend +Carson, in its coffin lies, and me, until it returns, you must excuse!" + +I surmised that he was quoting Shakespeare again, as he had to Medhurst. +I wanted to smile, though I was so downright wretched. He would air what +he conceived to be his English, and he was funny! + +"Would you mind speaking German?" I asked, for there was a good deal I +wanted to learn from him, and I guessed I should get at it all the +sooner if I could head him off from his quotations. His face fell, and I +hastened to add-- + +"Your English is splendid, of course, and you've no possible need to +practise it; but my German's rusty, and I'd be glad to speak a bit. Just +you pull me up, if you can't understand me, and tell me what's wrong." + +My German is as good as most folks', any day, but he just grabbed at my +explanation, and accepted it with a kindly condescension that was even +funnier than his sentimental vein. Therefore the remainder of our +conversation was in his own language. + +"I hear you've left the _Zeitung_," I remarked. "Going on another +paper?" + +"The editor of the _Zeitung_ dismissed me," he answered explosively. +"Pig that he is, he would not understand the reason that led to my +ejection from Russia!" + +"Conducted to the frontier, and shoved over, eh? How did that happen?" I +asked. + +"Because I demanded justice on the murderers of my friend," he declared +vehemently. "I went to the chief of the police, and he laughed at me. +There are so many murders in Petersburg, and what is one Englishman more +or less? I went to the British Embassy. They said the matter was being +investigated, and they emphatically snubbed me. They are so insular, so +narrow-minded; they could not imagine how strong was the bond of +friendship between Carson and me. He loved our Shakespeare, even as I +love him." + +"You wrote to Lord Southbourne," I interrupted bluntly. "And you sent +him a portrait,--a woman's portrait that poor Carson had been carrying +about in his breast-pocket. Now why did you do that? And who is the +woman?" + +His answer was startling. + +"I sent it to him to enable him to recognize her, and warn her if he +could find her. I knew she was in London, and in danger of her life; and +I knew of no one whom I could summon to her aid, as Carson would have +wished, except Lord Southbourne, and I only knew him as my friend's +chief." + +"But you never said a word of all this in the note you sent to +Southbourne with the photograph. I know, for he showed it me." + +"That is so; I thought it would be safer to send the letter separately; +I put a mere slip in with the photograph." + +Had Southbourne received that letter? If so, why had he not mentioned it +to me, I thought; but I said aloud: "Who is the woman? What is her name? +What connection had she with Carson?" + +"He loved her, as all good men must love her, as I myself, who have seen +her but once,--so beautiful, so gracious, so devoted to her country, to +the true cause of freedom,--'a most triumphant lady' as our Sha--" + +"Her name, man; her name!" I cried somewhat impatiently. + +"She is known under several," he answered a trifle sulkily. "I believe +her real name is Anna Petrovna--" + +That conveyed little; it is as common a name in Russia as "Ann Smith" +would be in England, and therefore doubtless a useful alias. + +"But she has others, including two, what is it you call them--neck +names?" + +"Nicknames; well, go on." + +"In Russia those who know her often speak of her by one or the +other,--'La Mort,' or 'La Vie,' it is safer there to use a pseudonym. +'La Mort' because they say,--they are superstitious fools,--that +wherever she goes, death follows, or goes before; and 'La Vie' because +of her courage, her resource, her enthusiasm, her so-inspiring +personality. Those who know, and therefore love her most, call her that. +But, as I have said, she has many names, an English one among them; I +have heard it, but I cannot recall it. That is one of my present +troubles." + +"Was it 'Anne Pendennis,' or anything like that?" I asked, huskily. + +"Ach, that is it; you know her, then?" + +"Yes, I know her; though I had thought her an English woman." + +"That is her marvel!" he rejoined eagerly. "In France she is a +Frenchwoman; in Germany you would swear she had never been outside the +Fatherland; in England an English maiden to the life, and in Russia she +is Russian, French, English, German,--American even, with a name to suit +each nationality. That is how she has managed so long to evade her +enemies. The Russian police have been on her track these three years; +but they have never caught her. She is wise as the serpent, harmless as +the dove--" + +I had to cut his rhapsodies short once more. + +"What is the peril that threatens her? She was in England until +recently; the Secret Police could not touch her there?" + +"It is not the police now. They are formidable,--yes,--when their grasp +has closed on man or woman; but they are incredibly stupid in many ways. +See how often she herself has slipped through their fingers! But this is +far more dangerous. She has fallen under the suspicion of the League." + +"The League that has a red geranium as its symbol?" + +He started, and glanced round as if he suspected some spy concealed even +in this, his own room. + +"You know of it?" he asked in a low voice. + +"I have heard of it. Well, are you a member of it?" + +"I? Gott in Himmel, no! Why should I myself mix in these Russian +politics? But Carson was involved with them,--how much even I do not +know,--and she has been one of them since her childhood. Now they say +she is a traitress. If possible they will bring her before the Five--the +secret tribunal. Even they do not forget all she has done for them; and +they would give her the chance of proving her innocence. But if she will +not return, they will think that is sufficient proof, and they will kill +her, wherever she may be." + +"How do you know all this?" + +"Carson told me before I left for Wilna. He meant to warn her. They +guessed that, and they condemned, murdered him!" + +He began pacing up and down the room, muttering to himself; and I sat +trying to piece out the matter in my own mind. + +"Have you heard anything of a man called Cassavetti; though I believe +his name was Selinski?" I asked at length. + +Von Eckhardt turned to me open-mouthed. + +"Selinski? He is himself one of the Five; he is in London, has been +there for months; and it is he who is to bring her before the tribunal, +by force or guile." + +"He is dead, murdered; stabbed to the heart in his own room, even as +Carson was, four days ago." + +He sat down plump on the nearest chair. + +"Dead! That, at least, is one of her enemies disposed of! That is good +news, splendid news, Herr Wynn. Why did you not tell me that before? 'To +a gracious message an host of tongues bestow,' as our Shakespeare says. +How is it you know so much? Do you also know where she is? I was told +she would be here, three days since; that is why I have waited. And she +has not come! She is still in England?" + +"No, she left on Sunday morning. I do not know where she is, but she has +been seen at Ostend with--the Russian Grand Duke Loris." + +I hated saying those last words; but I had to say them, for, though I +knew Anne Pendennis was lost to me, I felt a deadly jealousy of this +Russian, to whom, or with whom she had fled; and I meant to find out all +that Von Eckhardt might know about him, and his connection with her. + +"The Grand Duke Loris!" he repeated. "She was with him, openly? Does she +think him strong enough to protect her? Or does she mean to die with +him? For he is doomed also. She must know that!" + +"What is he to her?" + +I think I put the question quietly; though I wanted to take him by the +throat and wring the truth out of him. + +"He? He is the cause of all the trouble. He loves her. Yes, I told you +that all good men who have but even seen her, love her; she is the +ideal of womanhood. One loves her, you and I love her; for I see well +that you yourself have fallen under her spell! We love her as we love +the stars, that are so infinitely above us,--so bright, so remote, so +adorable! But he loves her as a man loves a woman; she loves him as a +woman loves a man. And he is worthy of her love! He would give up +everything, his rank, his name, his wealth, willingly, gladly, if she +would be his wife. But she will not, while her country needs her. It is +her influence that has made him what he is,--the avowed friend of the +persecuted people, ground down under the iron heel of the autocracy. Yet +it is through him that she has fallen under suspicion; for the League +will not believe that he is sincere; they will trust no aristocrat." + +He babbled on, but I scarcely heeded him. I was beginning to pierce the +veil of mystery, or I thought I was; and I no longer condemned Anne +Pendennis, as, in my heart, I had condemned her, only an hour back. The +web of intrigue and deceit that enshrouded her was not of her spinning; +it was fashioned on the tragic loom of Fate. + +She loved this Loris, and he loved her? So be it! I hated him in my +heart; though, even if I had possessed the power, I would have wrought +him no harm, lest by so doing I should bring suffering to her. +Henceforth I must love her as Von Eckhardt professed to do, or was his +protestation mere hyperbole? "As we love the stars--so infinitely above +us, so bright, so remote!" + +And yet--and yet--when her eyes met mine as we stood together under the +portico of the Cecil, and again in that hurried moment of farewell at +the station, surely I had seen the love-light in them, "that beautiful +look of love surprised, that makes all women's eyes look the same," when +they look on their beloved. + +So, though for one moment I thought I had unravelled the tangle, the +next made it even more complicated than before. Only one thread shone +clear,--the thread of my love. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +THE WRECKED TRAIN + + +I found the usual polyglot crowd assembled at the Friedrichstrasse +station, waiting to board the international express including a number +of Russian officers, one of whom specially attracted my attention. He +was a splendid looking young man, well over six feet in height, but so +finely proportioned that one did not realize his great stature till one +compared him with others--myself, for instance. I stand full six feet in +my socks, but he towered above me. I encountered him first by cannoning +right into him, as I turned from buying some cigarettes. He accepted my +hasty apologies with an abstracted smile and a half salute, and passed +on. + +That in itself was sufficiently unusual. An ordinary Russian +officer,--even one of high rank, as this man's uniform showed him to +be,--would certainly have bad-worded me for my clumsiness, and probably +have chosen to regard it as a deliberate insult. Your Russian as a rule +wastes no courtesy on members of his own sex, while his vaunted +politeness to women is of a nature that we Americans consider nothing +less than rank impertinence; and is so superficial, that at the least +thing it will give place to the sheer brutality that is characteristic +of nearly every Russian in uniform. Have I not seen? But pah! I won't +write of horrors, till I have to! + +Before I boarded the sleeping car I looked back across the platform, and +saw the tall man returning towards the train, making his way slowly +through the crowd. A somewhat noisy group of officers saluted him as he +passed, and he returned the salute mechanically, with a sort of +preoccupied air. + +They looked after him, and one of them shrugged his shoulders and said +something that evoked a chorus of laughter from his companions. I heard +it; though I doubt if the man who appeared to be the object of their +mirth did. Anyhow, he made no sign. There was something curiously serene +and aloof about him. + +"Wonder who he is?" I thought, as I sought my berth, and turned in at +once, for I was dead tired. + +I slept soundly through the long hours while the train rushed onwards +through the night; and did not wake till we were nearing the grim old +city of Konigsberg. I dressed, and made my way to the buffet car, to +find breakfast in full swing and every table occupied, until I reached +the extreme end of the car, where there were two tables, each with both +seats vacant. + +I had scarcely settled myself in the nearest seat, when my shoulder was +grabbed by an excited individual, who tried to haul me out of my place, +vociferating a string of abuse, in a mixture of Russian and German. + +I resisted, naturally, and indignantly demanded an explanation. I had to +shout to make myself heard. He would not listen, or release his hold, +while with his free hand he gesticulated wildly towards two soldiers, +who, I now saw, were stationed at the further door of the car. In an +instant they had covered me with their rifles, and they certainly looked +as if they meant business. But what in thunder had I done? + +At that same moment a man came through the guarded doorway,--the tall +officer who had interested me so strongly last night. + +He paused, and evidently took in the situation at a glance. + +"Release that gentleman!" he commanded sternly. + +My captor obeyed, so promptly that I nearly lost my balance, and only +saved myself from an ignominious fall by tumbling back into the seat +from which he had been trying to eject me. The soldiers presented arms +to the new-comer, and my late assailant, all the spunk gone out of him, +began to whine an abject apology and explanation, which the officer cut +short with a gesture. + +I was on my feet by this time, and, as he turned to me, I said in +French: "I offer you my most sincere apologies, Monsieur. The other +tables were full, and I had no idea that these were reserved--" + +"They are not," he interrupted courteously. "At least they were reserved +in defiance of my orders; and now I beg you to remain, Monsieur, and to +give me the pleasure of your company." + +I accepted the invitation, of course; partly because, although it was +given so frankly and unceremoniously, it was with the air of one whose +invitations were in the nature of "commands;" and also because he now +interested me more strongly than ever. I knew that he must be an +important personage, who was travelling incognito; though a man of such +physique could not expect to pass unrecognized. Seen in daylight he +appeared even more remarkable than he had done under the sizzling arc +lights of the station. His face was as handsome as his figure; +well-featured, though the chin was concealed by a short beard, +bronze-colored like his hair, and cut to the fashion set by the present +Tsar. His eyes were singularly blue, the clear, vivid Scandinavian blue +eyes, keen and far-sighted as those of an eagle, seldom seen save in +sailor men who have Norse blood in their veins. + +I wonder now that I did not at once guess his identity, though he gave +me no clue to it. + +When he ascertained that I was an American, who had travelled +considerably and was now bound for Russia, he plied me with shrewd +questions, which showed that he had a pretty wide knowledge of social +and political matters in most European countries, though he had never +been in the States. + +"This is your first visit to Russia?" he inquired, presently. "No?" + +I explained that I had spent a winter in Petersburg some years back, and +had preserved very pleasant memories of it. + +"I trust your present visit may prove as pleasant," he said courteously. +"Though you will probably perceive a great difference. Not that we are +in the constant state of excitement described by some of the foreign +papers," he added with a slight smile. "But Petersburg is no longer the +gay city it was, 'Paris by the Neva' as we used to say. We--" + +He checked himself and rose as the train pulled up for the few minutes' +halt at Konigsberg; and with a slight salute turned and passed through +the guarded doorway. + +"Can you tell me that officer's name?" I asked the conductor, as I +retreated to the rear car. + +"You know him as well as I do," he answered ambiguously, pocketing the +tip I produced. + +"I don't know his name." + +"Then neither do I," retorted the man surlily. + +I saw no more of my new acquaintance till we reached the frontier, when, +as with the other passengers I was hustled into the apartment where +luggage and passports are examined, I caught a glimpse of him striding +towards the great _grille_, that, with its armed guard, is the actual +line of demarcation between the two countries. Beside him trotted a fat +little man in the uniform of a staff officer, with whom he seemed to be +conversing familiarly. + +Evidently he was of a rank that entitled him to be spared the ordeal +that awaited us lesser mortals. + +The tedious business was over at last; and, once through the barrier, I +joined the throng in the restaurant, and looked around to see if he was +among them. He was not, and I guessed he had already gone on,--by a +special train probably. + +The long hot day dragged on without any incident to break the monotony. +I turned in early, and must have been asleep for an hour or two when I +was violently awakened by a terrific shock that hurled me clear out of +my berth. + +I sat up on the floor of the car, wondering what on earth could +have happened. The other passengers were shrieking and cursing, +panic-stricken, though I guess they were more frightened than hurt, +for the car had at least kept the rails. I don't recollect how I +managed to reach the door, but I found myself outside peering through +the semi-darkness at an appalling sight. + +[Illustration: _His stern face, seen in the light of the blazing +wreckage, was ghastly._ Page 87] + +The whole of the front part of the train was a wreck; the engine lay on +its side, belching fire and smoke, and the cars immediately behind it +were a heap of wreckage, from which horrible sounds came, screams of +mortal fear and pain. Even as I stood, staring, dazed like a drunken +man, a flame shot up amid the piled-up mass of splintered wood. The +wreckage was already afire, and as I saw that, I dashed forward. Others +were as ready as I, and in half a minute we were frantically hauling at +the wreckage, and endeavoring to extricate the poor wretches who were +writhing and shrieking under it, before the fire should reach them. + +A big man worked silently beside me, and together we got out several of +the victims, till the flames drove us back, and we stood together, a +little away from the scene, breathing hard, and incapable for the moment +of any fresh exertion. + +I looked at him then for the first time, though I had known all along +that he was my courtly friend of the previous morning. His stern face, +seen in the sinister light of the blazing wreckage, was ghastly; it was +smeared with the blood that oozed from a wound across his forehead, and +his blue eyes were aflame with horror and indignation. + +He was evidently quite unaware of my presence, and I heard him mutter: +"It was meant for me! My God! it was meant for me! And I have survived, +while these suffer." + +I do not know what instinct prompted me to look behind at that moment, +just in time to see that a man had stolen out from among the pines in +our rear, and was in the act of springing on my companion. + +"_Gardez!_" I cried warningly, as I saw the glint of an upraised knife, +and flung myself on the fellow. As if my shout had been a signal, more +men swarmed out of the forest and surrounded us. + +What followed was confused and unreal as a nightmare. My antagonist was +a wiry fellow, strong and active as a wild cat; also he had his knife, +while I, of course, was unarmed. He got in a nasty slash with his weapon +before I could seize and hold his wrist with my left hand. We wrestled +in grim silence, till at last I had him down, with my knee on his chest. +I shifted my hand from his wrist to his throat and choked the fight out +of him, anyhow; then felt for the knife, but he must have flung it from +him, and I had no time to search for it among the brushwood. + +I sprang up and looked for my companion. He had his back to a tree and +was hitting out right and left at the ruffians round him,--like hounds +about a stag at bay. + +"_A moi!_" I yelled to those by the train, who were still ignorant of +what was happening so close at hand, and rushed to his assistance. I +hurled aside one man, who staggered and fell; dashed my fist in the face +of a second; he went down too, but at the same moment I reeled under a +crashing blow, and fell down--down--into utter darkness. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +THE GRAND DUKE LORIS + + +I woke with a splitting headache to find myself lying in a berth in a +sleeping car; the same car in which I had been travelling when the +accident--or outrage--occurred; for the windows were smashed and some of +the woodwork splintered. + +I guessed that there were a good many of the injured on board, for above +the rumble of the train, which was jogging along at a steady pace, I +could hear the groans of the sufferers. + +I put my hand up to my head, and found it swathed in wet bandages, warm +to the touch, for the heat in the car was stifling. + +A man shuffled along, and seeing that I was awake, went away, returning +immediately with a glass of iced tea, which I drank with avidity. I +noticed that both his hands were bandaged, and he carried his left arm +in a sling. + +"What more can I get the _barin_, now he is recovering?" he asked, in +Russian, with sulky deference. + +"Where are we going,--to Petersburg?" I asked. + +"No. Back to Dunaburg; it will be many hours before the line is +restored." + +I was not surprised to hear this, knowing of old the leisurely way in +which Russians set about such work. + +"My master has left me to look after your excellency," he continued, in +the same curious manner, respectful almost to servility but sullen +withal. "What are your orders?" + +I guessed now that he belonged to my tall friend. + +"I want nothing at present. Who is your master?" + +He looked at me suspiciously out of the corners of his eyes. + +"Your excellency knows very well; but if not it isn't my business to +say." + +I did not choose to press the point. I could doubtless get the +information I wanted elsewhere. + +"You are a discreet fellow," I said with a knowing smile, intended to +impress him with the idea that I had been merely testing him by the +question. "Well, at least you can tell me if he is hurt?" + +"No, praise to God, and to your excellency!" he exclaimed, with more +animation than he had yet shown. "It would have gone hard with him if he +had been alone! I was searching for him among the wreckage, fool that I +was, till I heard your excellency shout; and then I ran--we all ran--and +those miscreants fled, all who could. We got five and--" he grinned +ferociously--"well, they will do no more harm in this world! But it is +not well for the _barin_ to talk much yet; also it is not wise." + +He glanced round cautiously and then leaned over me, and said with his +lips close to my ear: + +"Your excellency is to remember that you were hurt in the explosion; +nothing happened after that. My master bade me warn you! And now I will +summon the doctor," he announced aloud. + +A minute later a good-looking, well-dressed man bustled along to my side +and addressed me in French. + +"Ah, this is better. Simple concussion, that is all; and you will be all +right in a day or two, if you will keep quiet. I wish I could say that +of all my patients! The good Mishka has been keeping the bandages wet? +Yes; he is a faithful fellow, that Mishka; but you will find him surly, +_hein_? That is because Count Solovieff left him behind in attendance on +you." + +So that was the name,--Count Solovieff. Where had I heard it before? I +remembered instantly. + +"You mean the Grand Duke Loris?" I asked deliberately. + +His dark eyes twinkled through their glasses. + +"_Eh bien_, it is the same thing. He is travelling incognito, you +understand, though he can scarcely expect to pass unrecognized, _hein_? +He is a very headstrong young man, Count Solovieff, and he has some +miraculous escapes! But he is brave as a lion; he will never acknowledge +that there is danger. Now you will sleep again till we reach Dunaburg. +Mishka will be near you if you need him." + +I closed my eyes, though not to sleep. So this superb young soldier, who +had interested and attracted me so strangely, was the man whom Anne +loved! Well, he was a man to win any woman's heart; I had to acknowledge +that. I could not even feel jealous of him now. Von Eckhardt was right. +I must still love her, as one infinitely beyond my reach; as the page +loved the queen. + + "Is she wronged? To the rescue of her honour + My heart! + Is she poor? What costs it to be styled a donor + Merely an earth to cleave, a sea to part. + But that fortune should have thrust all this upon her!" + +Yes, I must for the future "choose the page's part," and, if she should +ever have need of me, I would serve her, and take that for my reward! + +I fell asleep on that thought, and only woke--feeling fairly fit, +despite the dull ache in my head and the throbbing of the flesh wound in +my shoulder--when we reached Dunaburg, and the cars were shunted to a +siding. + +Mishka turned up again, and insisted on valeting me after a fashion, +though I told him I could manage perfectly well by myself. I had come +out of the affair better than most of the passengers, for my baggage had +been in the rear part of the train, and by the time I got to the hotel, +close to the station, was already deposited in the rooms that, I found, +had been secured for me in advance. + +I had just finished the light meal which was all Dr. Nabokof would allow +me, when Mishka announced "Count Solovieff," and the Grand Duke Loris +entered. + +"Please don't rise, Mr. Wynn," he said in English. "I have come to thank +you for your timely aid. You are better? That is good. You got a nasty +knock on the head just at the end of the fun, which was much too bad! It +was a jolly good fight, wasn't it?" + +He laughed like a schoolboy at the recollection; his blue eyes shining +with sheer glee, devoid of any trace of the ferocity that usually marks +a Russian's mirth. + +"That's so," I conceded. "And fairly long odds; two unarmed men against +a crowd with knives and bludgeons. Why don't you carry a revolver, sir?" + +"I do, as a rule. Why don't you?" + +"Because I guess it would have been confiscated at the frontier. I'm a +civilian, and--I've been in Russia before! But if you'd had a +six-shooter--" + +"There would have been no fight; they would have run the sooner,--all +the better for some of them," he answered, and as he spoke the mirth +passed from his face, leaving it stern and sad. "I ought to have had a +revolver, of course, but I was pitched out of bed without any warning, +as I presume you were. By the way, Mr. Wynn, in the official report no +mention is made of our--how do you call it?" + +"Scrimmage?" I suggested. + +"Ah, that is the word. Our scrimmage. Your name is in the list of +those wounded by the explosion of the bomb. It was a bomb, as perhaps +you have learned. Believe me, as you are going to Petersburg, and +expect to remain there for some time, you will be the safer if no +one--beyond myself and the few others on the spot, most of whom can be +trusted--knows that you saved my life. Ah, yes, indeed you did that!" he +added quickly, as I made a dissentient gesture. "I could not have kept +them off another minute. Besides, you saw them first, and warned me; +otherwise we should both have been done for at once." + +"Do you know who they were?" I asked. + +He shrugged his broad shoulders. + +"I have my suspicions, and I do not wish others to be involved in my +affairs, to suffer through me. Yet it is the others who suffer," he +continued, speaking, as it seemed, more to himself than to me. "For I +come through unscathed every time, while they--" + +He broke off and sat for a minute or more frowning, and biting his +mustache. + +A sudden thought struck me. I rose and crossed to the French window +which stood open. Outside was a small balcony, gay with red and white +flowers. I nipped off a single blossom, closed the window, and returned +to where he sat, watching my movements intently. + +"I, too, have my suspicions, sir," I said significantly. "I wonder if +they coincide with yours." + +I laid the flower on the table beside him, flattening out the five +scarlet petals, and resumed my seat. + +I saw instantly that he recognized the symbol, and knew what it meant, +doubtless better than I did. + +He glanced from it to me, then round the room, crossed to the door, +opened it quickly, saw Mishka was standing outside, on guard, and closed +it again. + +"Now, who are you and what do you know?" he asked quietly. "Speak low; +the very walls have ears." + +"I know very little, but I surmise--" + +"It is safer to surmise nothing, Mr. Wynn. I only ask what you know!" + +"Well, I know that some member of the League, the organization, that +this represents," I pointed to the flower, "murdered an Englishman." + +"Mr. Carson, a journalist. You knew him?" he exclaimed. + +"Yes, and I am going to Petersburg as his successor." + +"Then you have great need to act with more caution than--pardon me--you +have manifested so far," he rejoined. "Well, what more?" + +"One of the heads of the League, a man named Selinski, who called +himself Cassavetti, was murdered in London a week ago." + +That startled him, I saw, though he controlled himself almost instantly. + +"Are you sure of that?" + +"I found him," I answered, and thereupon gave him the bare facts. + +"And the English police, they have the matter in hand? Whom do they +suspect?" he demanded. + +"I cannot tell you, though they say they have a clue." + +He paced to the window and stood there for a minute or more with his +back towards me. Then he returned and looked down at me. + +"I wonder why you have told me this, Mr. Wynn," he said slowly. "And how +you came to connect me with these affairs." + +"I was told that your Highness was also in danger, and I wished to warn +you." + +"I thank you. Who was your informant?" + +"I am not at liberty to say. But--there is another who is also in +danger." + +I paused. My throat felt dry and husky all at once; my heart was +thumping against my ribs. I had told myself that I was not jealous of +him, but--it was hard to speak of her to him! + +He misconstrued my hesitation. + +"You may trust me, Mr. Wynn," he said gravely. "This person, do I know +him?" + +I stood up, resting my hand on the table for support. + +"It is not a man. It is the lady whom some speak of as _La +Mort_,--others as _La Vie_." + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +A CRY FOR HELP + + +A dusky flush rose to his face, and his blue eyes flashed ominously. I +noticed that a little vein swelled and pulsed in his temple, close by +the strip of flesh-colored plaster that covered the wound on his +forehead. + +But, although he appeared almost equally angry and surprised, he held +himself well in hand. + +"Truly you seem in possession of much information, Mr. Wynn," he said +slowly. "I must ask you to explain yourself. Do you know this lady?" + +"Yes." + +"How do you know she is in danger?" + +"Chiefly from my own observation." + +"You know her so well?" he asked incredulously. "Where have you met +her?" + +"In London." + +The angry gleam vanished from his eyes, and he stood frowning in +perplexed thought, resting one of his fine, muscular white hands on the +back of a tawdry gilt chair. + +"Strange," he muttered beneath his mustache. "She said nothing. By what +name did you know her--other than those pseudonyms you have mentioned?" + +"Miss Anne Pendennis." + +"Ah!" + +I thought his face cleared. + +"And what is this danger that threatens her?" + +"I think you may know that better than I do," I retorted, with a glance +at the flower--the red symbol--that made a vivid blot of color like a +splash of blood on the white table-cloth. + +"That is true; although you appear to know so much. Therefore, why have +you spoken of her at all?" + +Again I got that queer feeling in my throat. + +"Because you love her!" I said bluntly. "And I love her, too. I want you +to know that; though I am no more to her than--than the man who waits on +her at dinner, or who opens a cab door for her and gets a smile and a +coin for his service!" + +It was a childish outburst, perhaps, but it moved Loris Solovieff to a +queer response. + +"I understand," he said softly in French. + +He spoke English admirably, but in emotional moments he lapsed into the +language that is more familiar than their mother-tongue to all Russians +of his rank. + +"It is so with us all. She loves Russia,--our poor Russia, agonizing in +the throes of a new birth; while we--we love her, the woman. She will +play with us, use us, fool us, even betray us, if by so doing she can +serve her country; and we--accept the situation--are content to serve +her, to die for her. Is that not so, Monsieur?" + +"That is so," I said, marvelling at the way in which he had epitomized +my own ideas, which, it seemed, were his also. Yet Von Eckhardt had +asserted that she--Anne Pendennis--loved this man; and it was difficult +to think of any woman resisting him. + +"Then we are comrades?" he cried, extending his hand, which I gripped +cordially. "Though we were half inclined to be jealous of each other, +eh? But that is useless! One might as well be jealous of the sea. And we +can both serve her, if she will permit so much. For the present she is +in a place of comparative safety. I shall not tell you where it is, but +at least it is many leagues from Russia; and she has promised to remain +there,--but who knows? If the whim seizes her, or if she imagines her +presence is needed here, she will return." + +"Yes, I guess she will," I conceded. (How well he understood her.) + +"She is utterly without fear, utterly reckless of danger," he continued. +"If she should be lured back to Russia, as her enemies on both sides +will endeavor to lure her, she will be in deadly peril, from which even +those who would give their lives for her may not be able to save her." + +"At least you can tell me if her father has joined her?" I asked. + +"Her father? No, I cannot tell you that; simply because I do not know. +But, as I have said, so long as she remains in the retreat that has been +found for her she will be safe. As for this--" he took up the blossom +and rubbed it to a morsel of pulp, between his thumb and finger, "you +will be wise to conceal your knowledge of it, Mr. Wynn; that is, if you +value your life. And now I must leave you. We shall meet again ere long, +I trust. I am summoned to Peterhof; and I may be there for some time. If +you wish to communicate with me--" + +He broke off, and remained silent, in frowning thought, for a few +seconds. + +"I will ask you this," he resumed. "If you should have any news +of--her--you will send me word, at once, and in secret? Not openly; I am +surrounded by spies, as we all are here! Mishka shall remain here, and +accompany you to Petersburg. He will show you where and how you can +leave a message that will reach me speedily and infallibly. For the +present good-bye--and a swift recovery!" + +He saluted me, and clanked out of the room. I heard him speaking to +Mishka, who had remained on guard outside the door. A minute or two +later there was a bustle in the courtyard below, whence, for some time +past, had sounded the monotonous clank of a stationary motor car. + +I went to the window, walking rather unsteadily, for I felt sick and +dizzy after this strange and somewhat exciting interview. Two +magnificent cars were in waiting, surrounded by a little crowd of +officers in uniform and soldiers on guard. After a brief interval the +Grand Duke came out of the hotel and entered the first car, followed by +the stout rubicund officer I had seen in attendance on him at Wirballen. +A merry little man he seemed, and as he settled himself in his seat he +said something which drew a laugh from the Duke. Looking down at his +handsome debonnaire face, it was difficult to believe that he was +anything more than a light-hearted young aristocrat, with never a care +in the world. And yet I guessed then--I know now--that he was merely +bluffing an antagonist in a game that he was playing for grim +stakes,--nothing less than life and liberty! + +Three days later I arrived, at last, in Petersburg, to find letters from +England awaiting me,--one from my cousin Mary, to whom I had already +written, merely telling her that I missed Anne at Berlin, and asking if +she had news of her. There could be no harm in that. Anne had played her +part so well that, though Jim had evidently suspected her,--I wondered +now how he came to do so, though I'd have to wait a while before I could +hope to ask him,--Mary, I was certain, had not the least idea that her +stay with them was an episode in a kind of game of hide and seek. To her +the visit was but the fulfilment of the promise made when they were +school-girls together. And I guessed that Anne would keep up the +deception, which was forced upon her in a way, and that she would write +to Mary. She would lie to her, directly or indirectly; that was almost +inevitable. But she would write, just because she loved Mary, and +therefore would not willingly cause her anxiety. I was sure of that in +my own mind; and I hungered for news of her; even second-hand news. But +she had not written! + +"I am so anxious about Anne," my cousin's letter ran. "We've had no +word from her since that post-card from Calais, and I can't think why! +She has no clothes with her, to speak of, for she only took her +dressing-bag; and I don't like to send her things on till I hear from +her; besides, I hoped she would come back to us soon! Did you see her at +Berlin?" + +I put the letter aside; I could not answer it at present. Mary would +receive mine from Dunaburg, and would forward me any news that might +have reached her in the interval. + +And meanwhile I had little to distract my mind. Things were very quiet, +stagnant in fact, in Petersburg during those hot days of early summer; +even the fashionable cafés in the Nevski Prospekt were practically +deserted, doubtless because the heat, that had set in earlier than +usual, had driven away such of their gay frequenters as were not +detained in the city on duty. + +I slept ill during those hot nights, and was usually abroad early. One +lovely June morning my matutinal stroll led me,--aimlessly I thought, +though who knows what subtle influences may direct our most seemingly +purposeless actions, and thereby shape our destiny--along the +Ismailskaia Prospekt,--which, nearly a year back, had been the scene of +the assassination of De Plehve, the man who for two years had controlled +Petersburg with an iron hand. + +There were comparatively few people abroad, and they were work-people on +their way to business, and vendors setting out their wares on the stalls +that line the wide street on either side. + +Suddenly a droshky dashed past, at a pace that appeared even swifter +than the breakneck rate at which the Russian droshky driver loves to +urge his horses along. It was evidently a private one, drawn by three +horses abreast, and I glanced at it idly, as it clattered along with the +noise of a fire-engine. Just as it was passing me one of the horses +slipped on the cobblestones, and came down with a crash. + +There was the usual moment of confusion, as the driver objurgated +vociferously, after the manner of his class, and a man jumped out of the +vehicle and ran to the horse's head. + +I stood still to watch the little incident; there was no need for my +assistance, for the clever little beast had already regained his +footing. + +Then a startling thing occurred. + +A woman's voice rang out in an agonized cry, in which fear and joy were +strangely blended. + +"Maurice! Maurice Wynn! Help! Save me!" + +On the instant the man sprang back into the droshky, and it was off +again on its mad career; but in that instant I had caught a glimpse of a +white face, the gleam of bright hair; and knew that it was Anne--Anne +herself--who had been so near me, and was now being whirled away. + +Something white fluttered on the cobblestones at my feet. I stooped and +picked it up. Only a handkerchief, a tiny square of embroidered cambric, +crumpled and soiled,--her handkerchief, with her initials "A. P." in the +corner! + +[Illustration: _In that instant I had caught a glimpse of a white face._ +Page 102] + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +AN UNPLEASANT EXPERIENCE + + +With the handkerchief in my hand, I started running wildly after the +fast disappearing droshky, only to fall plump into the arms of a surly +gendarme, a Muscovite giant, who collared me with one hand, while he +drew his revolver with the other, and brandished it as if he was minded +to bash my face in with the butt end, a playful little habit much in +vogue with the Russian police. + +"Let me go. I'm all right; I'm an American," I cried indignantly. "I +must follow that droshky!" + +It was out of sight by this time, and he grunted contemptuously. But he +put up his weapon, and contented himself with hauling me off to the +nearest bureau, where, in spite of my protestations, I was searched from +head to foot roughly enough, and all the contents of my pockets annexed, +as well as the handkerchief. Then I was unceremoniously thrust into a +filthy cell, and left there, in a state of rage and humiliation that can +be better imagined than described. I seemed to have been there for half +a lifetime, though I found afterwards it was only about two hours, when +I was fetched out, and brought before the chief of the bureau,--a +pompous and truculent individual, with shifty bead-like eyes. + +My belongings lay on the desk before him,--with the exception of my +loose cash, which I never saw again. + +He began to question me arrogantly, but modified his tone when I +asserted that I was an American citizen, resident in Petersburg as +representative of an English newspaper; and reminded him that, if he +dared to detain me, he would have to reckon with both the American and +English authorities. + +"That is all very well; but you have yet to explain how you came to be +breaking the law," he retorted. + +"What law have I broken?" I demanded. + +"You were running away." + +"I was not. I was running after a droshky." + +"Why?" + +"Because there was a woman in it--a lady--an Englishwoman or American, +who called out to me to help her." + +"Who was the woman?" + +"How should I know?" I asked blandly. I remembered what Von Eckhardt +had told me,--that the police had been on Anne's track for these three +years past. If the peril in which she was now placed was from the +revolutionists, as it must be, I could not help her by betraying her to +the police. + +"You say she was English or American? Why do you say so?" + +"Because she called out in English: 'Help! Save me!' I heard the words +distinctly, and started to run after the droshky. Wouldn't you have done +the same in my place? I guess you're just the sort of man who'd be first +to help beauty in distress!" + +This was sarcasm and sheer insolence. I couldn't help it, he looked such +a brutal little beast! But he took it as a compliment, and actually +bowed and smirked, twirling his mustache and leering at me like a satyr. + +"You have read me aright, Monsieur," he said quite amiably. "So this +lady was beautiful?" + +"Well, I can't say. I didn't really see her; the droshky drove off the +very instant she called out. One of the horses had been down, and I was +standing to look at it," I explained, responding diplomatically to his +more friendly mood. I wanted to get clear as soon as possible, for I +knew that every moment was precious. "I just saw a hat and some dark +hair--" + +"Dark, eh? Should you know her again?" + +"I guess not. I tell you I didn't really see her face." + +"How could she know you were an American?" + +I shrugged my shoulders. + +"Perhaps she can't speak any language but English." + +"What is this?" He held up the handkerchief, and sniffed at it. It was +faintly perfumed. How well I knew that perfume, sweet and elusive as +the scent of flowers on a rainy day. + +"A handkerchief. It fell at my feet, and I picked it up before I started +to run." + +"It is marked 'A. P.' Do you know any one with those initials?" + +Those beady eyes of his were fixed on my face, watching my every +expression, and I knew that his questions were dictated by some definite +purpose. + +"Give me time," I said, affecting to rack my brains in an effort of +recollection. "I don't think,--why, yes--there was Abigail Parkinson, +Job Parkinson's wife,--a most respectable old lady I knew in the +States,--the United States of America, you know." + +His eyes glinted ominously, and he brought his fat, bejewelled hand down +on the table with a bang. + +"You are trifling with me!" + +"I'm not!" I assured him, with an excellent assumption of injured +innocence. "You asked me if I knew any one with those initials, and I'm +telling you." + +"I am not asking you about old women on the other side of the world! +Think again! Might not the initials stand for--Anna Petrovna, for +instance?" + +So he had guessed, after all, who she was! + +"Anna what? Oh--Petrovna. Why, yes, of course they stand for that, but +it's a Russian name, isn't it? And this lady was English, or American!" + +He was silent for a minute, fingering the handkerchief, which I longed +to snatch from the contamination of his touch. + +"A mistake has been made, as I now perceive, Monsieur," he said +smoothly, at last. "I think your release might be accomplished without +much difficulty." + +He paused and looked hard at my pocket-book. + +"I guess if you'll hand me that note case it can be accomplished right +now," I suggested cheerfully. I don't believe there's a Russian official +living, high or low, who is above accepting a bribe, or extorting +blackmail; and this one proved no exception to the rule. + +I passed him a note worth about eight dollars, and he grasped and shook +my hand effusively as he took it. + +"Now we are friends, _hein_?" he exclaimed. "Accept my felicitations at +the so happy conclusion of our interview. You understand well that duty +must be done, at whatever personal cost and inconvenience. Permit me to +restore the rest of your property, Monsieur; this only I must retain." +He thrust the handkerchief into his desk. "Perhaps--who knows--we may +discover the fair owner, and restore it to her." + +His civility was even more loathsome to me than his insolence had been, +and I wanted to kick him. But I didn't. I offered him a cigarette, +instead, and we parted with mutual bows and smiles. + +Once on the street again I walked away in the opposite direction to that +I should have taken if I had been sure I would not be followed and +watched; but I guessed that, for the present at least, I would be kept +under strict surveillance, and doubtless at this moment my footsteps +were being dogged. + +Therefore I made first for the café where I usually lunched, and, a +minute after I had seated myself, a man in uniform strolled in and +placed himself at a table just opposite, with his back to me, but his +face towards a mirror, in which, as I soon discovered, he was watching +my every movement. + +"All right, my friend. Forewarned is forearmed; I'll give you the slip +directly," I thought, and went on with my meal, affecting to be absorbed +in a German newspaper, which I asked the waiter to bring me. + +In the ordinary course I should have met people I knew, for the café +was frequented by most of the foreign journalists in Petersburg, but +the hour was early for _déjeuner_, and the spy and I had the place to +ourselves for the present. + +I knew that I should communicate the fact that Anne was in Petersburg to +the Grand Duke Loris as soon as possible; in the hope that he might know +or guess who were her captors, and where they were taking her; but it +was imperative that I should exercise the utmost caution. + +After we reached Petersburg, and before he left me, Mishka had, as his +master had promised, given me instructions as to how I was to send a +private message to the Duke in case of necessity. He took me to a house +in a mean street near the Ismailskaia Prospekt--not half a mile from the +place where I was arrested this morning--of which the ground floor was a +poor class café frequented chiefly by workmen and students. + +"You will go to the place I shall show you," he had informed me +beforehand, "and call for a glass of tea, just like any one else. Then +as you pay for it, you drop a coin,--so. You will pick it up, or the +waiter will,--it is all one, that; any one may drop a coin accidentally! +Now, if you were just an ordinary customer, nothing more would happen; +the waiter would keep near your table for a minute or two, and that +is all. But if you are on business you will ask him, 'Is Nicolai +Stefanovitch here to-day?' Or you may say any name you think of,--a +common one is best. He will answer, 'At what hour should he be here?' +and you say, 'I do not know when he returns--from his work.' Or 'from +Wilna,' or elsewhere; that is unimportant, like the name. But the +questions must be put so, and there must be the pause, between the two +words 'returns from' just for one beat of the clock as it were, or while +one blows one's nose, or lights a cigarette. Then he will know you are +one of us, and will go away; and presently one will come and sit at the +table, and say, 'I am so and so,--' the name you mentioned. He will +drink his tea, and you will go out together; and if it is a note you +will pass it to him, so that none shall see; or if it is a message, you +will tell it him very quietly." + +We rehearsed the shibboleth in my room. I did it right the first time, +much to Mishka's satisfaction; and when we reached the café he let me +be spokesman. Within three minutes a cadaverous looking workman in a +red blouse lounged up to our table, ordered his glass of tea, nodded to +me as if I was an old acquaintance, and muttered the formula. + +He and I had gone out together, leaving Mishka in the café,--since in +Russia three men walking and conversing together are bound to be eyed +suspiciously,--and my new acquaintance remarked: + +"There is no message, as I know; this is but a trial, and you have done +well. If there should be a letter, a cigarette, with the tobacco hanging +a little loose at each end,--" he rolled one as he spoke and made a +slovenly job of it,--"is an excellent envelope, and one that we +understand." + +We had separated at the end of the street, and Mishka rejoined me later +at my hotel. But I had not needed to try the shibboleth since, though +I had dropped into the café more than once, and drank my glass of +tea,--without dropping a coin. And now the moment had come when I must +test the method of communication as speedily as possible. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +UNDER SURVEILLANCE + + +I paid my bill, strolled out, and in the doorway encountered a man I +knew slightly--a young officer--with whom I paused to chat, thereby +blocking the doorway temporarily, with the result that I found my friend +the spy--as I was now convinced he was--at my elbow. My unexpected halt +had pulled him up short. + +"Pardon!" I said with the utmost politeness, stepping aside, so he had +to pass out, though I guessed he was angry enough at losing my +conversation, for I was telling Lieutenant Mirakoff of my arrest,--as a +great joke, at which we both laughed uproariously. + +"They should have seen that you were a foreigner, and therefore quite +mad,--and harmless," he cried. + +"Now, I ought to call you out for that!" I asserted. + +"At your service!" he answered, still laughing, as we separated. + +The spy was apparently deeply interested in the contents of a shop +window near at hand, and I went off briskly in the other direction; but +in a minute or two later, when I paused, ostensibly to compare my watch +with a clock which I had just passed, I saw, as I glanced back, that he +was on my track once more. + +This was getting serious, and I adopted a simple expedient to give him +the slip for the present. I hailed a droshky and bade the fellow drive +to a certain street, not far from that where Mishka's café was situated. +We started off at the usual headlong speed, and presently, as we +whirled round a corner, I called on the driver to stop, handed him a +fare that must have represented a good week's earnings, and ordered him +to drive on again as fast as he could, and for as long as his horse +would hold out. + +He grinned, "clucked" to his horse, and was off on the instant, while I +turned into a little shop close by, whence I had the satisfaction, less +than half a minute after, of seeing a second droshky dash past, in +pursuit of the first, with the spy lolling in it. If my Jehu kept +faith--there was no telling if he would do that or not, though I had to +take the risk--_monsieur le mouchard_ would enjoy a nice drive, at the +expense of his government! + +In five minutes I was at the café, where I dropped my coin; it rolled to +a corner and the waiter picked it up, while I sipped my tea and grumbled +at the scarcity of lemon. I asked the prescribed question when he +restored the piece; and almost immediately Mishka himself joined me. +This was better than I had dared to hope, for I knew I could speak to +him freely; in fact I told him everything, including the ruse by which I +had eluded my vigilant attendant. + +"You must not try that again," he said, in his sulky fashion. "It has +served once, yes; but it will not serve again. When he finds that you +have cheated him he will make his report, and then you will have, not +one, but several spies to reckon with; that is, if they think it worth +while. Still you have done well,--very well. Now you must wait until you +hear from my master." Mishka never mentioned a name if he could avoid +doing so. + +"But can't you give me some idea as to where she is likely to be?" I +demanded. To wait, and continue to act my part, as if there was no such +person as Anne Pendennis in the world and in deadly peril was just about +the toughest duty imaginable. + +"I can tell you nothing, and you, by yourself, can do nothing," he +retorted stolidly. "If you are wise you will go about your business as +if nothing had happened. But be in your rooms by--nine o'clock to-night. +It is unlikely that we can send you any word before then." + +Nine o'clock! And it was now barely noon! Nine mortal hours; and within +their space what might not happen? But there was no help for it. Mishka +had spoken the truth; by myself I could do nothing. + +It was hard--hard to be bound like this, with invisible fetters; and to +know all the time that the girl I loved was so near and yet so far, +needing my aid, while I was powerless to help her,--I, who would so +gladly lay down my life for her. + +Who was she? What was she? How was her fate linked with that of this +great grim land,--a land "agonizing in the throes of a new birth?" If +she had but trusted me in the days when we had been together, could I +have saved her then? Have spared her the agony my heart told me she was +suffering now? + +Yes,--yes, I said bitterly to myself. I could have saved her, if she had +trusted me; for then she would have loved me; would have been content to +share my life. A roving life it would have been, of course, for we were +both nomads by choice as well as by chance, and the nomadic habit, once +formed, is seldom broken. But how happy we should have been! Our +wanderings would never have brought us to Russia, though. Heavens, how +I hated--how I still hate it; the greatest and grandest country in the +world, viewed under the aspect of sheer land; a territory to which even +our own United States of America counts second for extent, for +fertility, for natural wealth in wood and oil and minerals. A country +that God made a paradise, or at least a vast storehouse for the supply +of human necessities and luxuries; but a country of which man has made +such a hell, that, in comparison with it, Dante's "Inferno" reads like a +story of childish imaginings. + +Yes, Russia was a hell upon earth; and Petersburg was the centre and +epitome of it, I said in my soul, as I loitered on one of the bridges +that afternoon, and looked on the swift flowing river, on the splendid +buildings, gleaming white, as the gilded cupolas and spires of the +churches gleamed fire red, under the brilliant sunshine. A fair city +outwardly, a whited sepulchre raised over a charnel-house. A city of +terror, wherein every man is an Ishmael, knowing--or suspecting--that +every other man's hand is against him. + +There was a shadow over the whole land, over the city, over myself, the +stranger within its gate; and in that shadow the girl I loved was +impenetrably enveloped. + +I raised my eyes, and there, fronting me across the water, sternly +menacing, were the gray walls of the fortress-prison, named, as if in +grim mockery, the fortress of "Peter and Paul." Peter, who denied his +Lord, though he loved Him; Paul, who denied his Lord before he knew and +loved Him! Perhaps the name is not so inconsistent, after all. The deeds +that are done behind the walls of that fortress-prison by men who call +themselves Christians, are the most tremendous denial of Christ that +this era has witnessed. + +Sick at heart, I turned away, and walked moodily back to my hotel. The +proprietor was in the lobby, and the whole staff seemed to be on the +spot. They all looked at me as if they thought I might be some recently +discovered wild animal, and I wondered why. But as no one spoke to me, I +asked the clerk at the bureau for my key. + +"I have it not; others--the police--have it," he stammered. + +"Oh, that's it, is it?" I said. "They're up there now? All right." + +I went up the stairs--there was no elevator--and found a couple of +soldiers posted outside my door. + +"Well, what are you doing here?" I asked, in good enough Russian. "This +is my room, and I'll thank you to let me pass." + +The one on the right of the door flung it open with a flourish, and +motioned me to enter. + +As I passed him he said, with a laugh to his fellow, "So--the rat goes +into the trap!" + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +THE DROSHKY DRIVER + + +Inside were two officials busily engaged in a systematic search of my +effects. Truly the secret police had lost no time! + +I had already decided on the attitude I must adopt. It was improbable +that they would arrest me openly; that would have involved trouble with +the Embassies, but they could, if they chose, conduct me to the frontier +or give me twenty-four hours' notice to quit Russia, as they had to Von +Eckhardt, and that was the very last thing I desired just now. + +"Good evening, gentlemen," I said amiably. "You seem to be pretty busy +here. Can I give you any assistance?" + +I spoke in French, as I didn't want to air my Russian for their +edification, though I had improved a good deal in it. + +One of them, who seemed boss, looked up and said brusquely, though not +exactly uncivilly: "Ah, Monsieur, you have returned somewhat sooner than +we expected. We have a warrant to search your apartment." + +"That's all right; pray continue, though I give you my word you won't +find anything treasonable. I'm a foreigner, as of course you know; and I +haven't the least wish or intention to mix myself up with Russian +affairs." + +"And yet you correspond with the Grand Duke Loris," he said dryly. + +"I don't!" I answered promptly. "I've never written a line to that +gentleman in my life, nor he to me." + +"There are other ways of corresponding than by writing," he retorted. I +guessed I had been watched to the café after all, but I maintained an +air of innocent unconcern, and, after all, his remark might be merely a +"feeler." I rather think now that it was. One can never be sure how much +the Russian Secret Police do, or do not, know; and one of their pet +tricks is to bluff people into giving themselves away. + +So I ignored his remark, selected a cigarette, and, seeing that he had +just finished his--I've wondered sometimes if a Russian official sleeps +with a cigarette between his lips, for I fear he wouldn't sleep +comfortably without!--handed him the case, with an apology for my +remissness. He accepted both the apology and the cigarette, and looked +at me hard. + +"I said, Monsieur, that there are other ways of corresponding than by +writing!" he repeated with emphasis. + +"Of course there are," I assented cheerfully. "But I don't see what that +has to do with me in the present instance. I only know the Grand Duke +very slightly. I was hurt in that railway accident last month, and his +Highness was good enough to order one of his servants to look after me; +and he also called to see me at an hotel in Dunaburg. I thought it very +condescending of him. Though I don't suppose I'd have the chance of +meeting him again, as there are no Court festivities now; or if there +are, we outsiders aren't invited to them. Won't your friend accept one +of my cigarettes?" + +This was addressed to the other man, who seemed to be doing all the +work, and was puzzling over some pencil notes in English which he +had picked out of my waste-paper basket. They were the draft of +my yesterday's despatch to the _Courier_, a perfectly innocuous +communication that I had sent openly; it didn't matter whether it +arrived at its destination or not. As I have said, Petersburg was +quiet to stagnation just now; though one never knew when the material +for some first-class sensational copy might turn up. + +"I'll translate that for you right now, if you like," I said politely. +"Or you can take it away with you!" + +I think they were both baffled by my apparent candor and nonchalance; +but the man who was bossing the show returned to the charge +persistently. + +"Ah, that railway accident. Yes. But surely you have made a slight +mistake, Monsieur? You incurred your injuries, from which, I perceive, +you have so happily recovered." + +He bowed, and I bowed. If I hadn't known all that lay behind, this +exchange of words and courtesy--a kind of fencing, with both of us +pretending that the buttons were on the foils--would have tickled me +immensely. Even as it was I could appreciate the funny side of it. I was +playing a part in a comedy,--a grim comedy, a mere interlude in +tragedy,--but still comic. + +"You incurred these, I say, not in the accident, but while gallantly +defending the Grand Duke from the dastards who assailed him later!" + +I worked up a modest blush; or I tried to. + +"I see that it is useless to attempt to conceal anything from you, +Monsieur; you know too much!" I confessed, laughing. "But I'm a modest +man; besides, I didn't do very much, and his Highness seemed quite +capable of taking care of himself." + +I saw a queer glint in his eyes, and I guessed then that the attempt on +the life of the Grand Duke had been engineered by the police themselves, +and not, as I had first imagined, by the revolutionists. + +My antagonist waved his hand with an airy gesture of protestation. + +"You underrate your services, Monsieur Wynn! I wonder if you would have +devoted them so readily to his Highness if--" + +He paused portentously. + +"If?" I inquired blandly. "Do have another cigarette!" + +"If you had known of his connection with the woman who is known as _La +Mort_?" + +That wasn't precisely what he said. I don't choose to write the words in +any language; but I wanted to knock his yellow teeth down his throat; to +choke the life out of him for the vile suggestion his words contained! I +dared not look at him; my eyes would have betrayed everything that he +was seeking to discover. I looked at the end of the cigarette I was +lighting, and wondered how I managed to steady the hand that held the +match. + +"I really do not understand you!" I asserted blandly. + +"Perhaps you may know her as Anna Petrovna?" he suggested. + +"Anna Petrovna!" I repeated. "Now, that's the second time to-day I've +heard the lady's name; and I can't think why you gentlemen should +imagine it means anything to me. Who is she, anyhow?" + +I looked at him now, fair and square; met and held the gimlet gaze of +his eyes with one of calm, interested inquiry. We were fighting a duel, +to which a mere physical fight is child's play; and--I meant to win! + +"You do not know?" he asked. + +"I do not; though I'd like to. The officer at the bureau this morning--I +don't suppose I need tell you that I was arrested and detained for a +time--seemed to think I should know her; but he wouldn't give me any +information. You've managed to rouse my curiosity pretty smartly between +you!" + +"I fear it must remain unsatisfied, Monsieur, so far as I am concerned," +he said suavely. "Well, we will relieve you of our presence. I +congratulate you on the admirable order in which you keep your papers." + +His subordinate had risen, with an expressive shrug of his shoulders. I +knew their search must be futile, since I had fortunately destroyed Mary +Cayley's letter the day I received it; and there was nothing among my +papers referring either directly or indirectly to Anne. + +"You'll want to see this, of course," I suggested, tendering my +passport. He glanced through it perfunctorily, and handed it back with a +ceremonious bow. So far as manners went, he certainly was an improvement +on the official at the bureau; and of course he already knew that my +personal papers were all right. + +He gave me a courteous "good evening," and the other man, who hadn't +uttered a syllable the whole time, saluted me in silence. I heard one of +them give an order to the guards outside, and then the heavy tramp of +their feet descending the staircase. + +I started tidying up; it would help to pass the time until I might +expect some message from the Grand Duke. Mishka had said nine o'clock, +and it was not yet seven. + +Presently there came a knock at my door. I wondered if this might be +another police visitation; but it was only one of the hotel servants to +say a droshky driver was below, demanding to see me. He produced a dirty +scrap of paper with my name and address scrawled on it, which the man +had brought. I thought at once of the man who had driven me in the +morning, and wondered how on earth he got my name and address. I was +sure it must be he when I heard that he declared "the excellency had +told him to call for payment." This was awkward; the fellow must be +another police spy, probably doing a bit of blackmailing on his own +account. Well, I'd better see him, anyhow. I told the man to bring him +up. + +"He is a dangerous looking fellow," he demurred. + +"That's my lookout and not yours," I said. "If he wants to see me he's +got to come up. I'm certainly not going down to him." + +He went off unwillingly, and a minute or two later returned, showing in +my queer visitor, a big burly chap who seemed civil and harmless enough. + +I didn't think at first sight he was the man who drove me, but they all +look so much alike in their filthy greatcoats and low-crowned hats. He +had a big grizzled beard and a thatch of matted hair, from which his +little swinish eyes peered out with a leer. Yes, he looked exactly like +any other of his class, but-- + +As he entered behind the servant, touched his greasy hat, and growled a +guttural greeting, he opened his eyes full and looked at me for barely a +second, but it was sufficient. + +"Oh, it is you, Ivan; why didn't you send your name up?" I said roughly. +"How much is it I owe you? Here, wait a minute; as you are here, you can +take a message for me. Wait here while I write it. It's all right; I +know the fellow," I added to the servant. "You needn't wait." + +He went out, and for a minute my visitor and I stood silently regarding +each other. His disguise was perfect; I should never have penetrated it +but for the warning he had flashed from those bright blue eyes, that +now, leering and nearly closed, looked dark and pig-like again. + +The droshky driver was the Grand Duke Loris himself. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +THROUGH THE STORM + + +I moved to the door and locked it noiselessly. I dared not open it to +see if the servant had gone, for if he had not that would have roused +his suspicions at once. The Duke had already crossed to the further side +of the room, and I joined him there. + +He wasted no time in preliminaries. + +"Mishka has told me all," he began, speaking in English, though still in +the hoarse low growl appropriate to his assumed character. "And I have +learned much since. There is to be a meeting to-night, and if things are +as I suspect she will be brought before the tribunal. We must save her +if we can. Will you come? To say it will be at the risk of your life is +to put it mildly. It will be a forlorn hope." + +"I'll come; tell me how," I said. + +"You will go to the place where you met Mishka to-day, dine there, and +change your clothes. They will have some for you, and you need not use +the formula. They expect you already; I knew you would come! Mishka will +join you, and will accompany you to the rank where I shall be waiting +with my droshky. You will hire me in the usual way; and we will tell you +my plans when we are clear of the city. Have you any weapon?" + +"No." + +He felt in an inner pocket of his filthy greatcoat and brought out a +revolver and a handful of spare cartridges. + +"It's loaded; you can have these, too, though if there's any shooting I +doubt if you'll have the chance of reloading. Let's hope you won't fall +in with the police for the third time to-day! Mishka will join you +between nine and ten. We need not start till then,--these light nights +are a drawback, but that cannot be helped. The meeting will be held as +usual, after midnight. That is all now. I must not stay longer. Give me +the note you spoke of. A blank sheet--anything--I will destroy it +immediately." + +I put a sheet of note-paper into an envelope, and addressed it to +Lieutenant Mirakoff at his barracks. His was the first name that +occurred to me. + +"You know him?" he asked, pointing to the name. + +"Very slightly." + +He nodded and picked up the note, holding it carefully by one corner +between his filthy thumb and finger. + +I unlocked the door as quietly as I had locked it, and a moment later he +opened it noisily and backed out, growling guttural and surly thanks; +backed right up against the servant, who, as we both guessed, was +waiting just outside. Even I was surprised at the altercation that +followed. A Russian droshky driver has a bigger command of bad language +than any other cabby in the world, and the Grand Duke Loris had +evidently studied his part from life. He was letter perfect in it! + +I strode to the door and flung it open. + +"Here, stop that!" I shouted. "Be off with you, Ivan; you impudent +rascal!" + +He leered at me and shambled off, but I could hear the coarse voice +growling ribaldries all the way down the staircase. + +It was a masterpiece of impersonation! + +I waited a while, till I judged it safe to start on the first stage of +my expedition. I meant to take a circuitous route to the café, in case I +was still being watched. I would run no unnecessary risks, not for my +own sake, but I guessed that the success of our enterprise--whatever it +was--would depend on the exercise of infinite caution, at the beginning, +anyhow. I felt strangely elated, happier than I had done for many a long +day; although I knew that the worst, or almost the worst, had come to +pass, and that Anne was here, in the power of her enemies. But we were +going to save her,--we would save her. "A forlorn hope" even Loris +Solovieff had called it. Nothing of the kind. Could anything that such a +man as he attempted be a forlorn hope; and together, working loyally +side by side, what could we not dare, and accomplish? Nothing seemed +impossible to-night. + +"Merely an earth to cleave, a sea to part!" + +I kept a wary lookout as I made my way along the streets, most of them +thronged at this hour of the summer evening. The air was sultry, and +huge masses of cloud were piling up, ominous of a storm before long. + +I reached the café eventually and, so far as I knew, unobserved, and +came out of it an hour or so later, looking, I hope, as like a shabbily +attired Russian student as the Grand Duke Loris looked like a droshky +driver, accompanied by a man of the artisan type, who might have been my +father,--none other than Mishka himself. + +The sky was overcast, and already, above the rumble of the traffic, one +could hear the mutter of distant thunder. It reminded me of that +eventful night in London, little more than a month ago, though I had +seemed to live a lifetime since then. + +"The storm comes soon," said Mishka. "That is well, very well." + +We came to a rank where several droshkys were standing; and he paused +irresolute, fumbling in his pocket. + +"We will drive, Paul," he asserted aloud, with the air of a man who has +just decided to indulge in an extravagance. "Yes, I say we will; the +storm comes soon, and thy mother is alone." + +He began to haggle, after the usual fashion, with the nearest driver; +and again I marvelled at the Duke's disguise; for it was he, of course. + +Once clear of the city Mishka unfolded the plan. + +"Presently we turn across country and come to a house; there we leave +the droshky; and there also will be horses for us in readiness if we +should need them--later. Thence we go on foot through the forest to the +meeting-place. We must separate when we get near it, but you will keep +close to Ivan"--we spoke always of the Duke by that name--"and I will +come alone. You will be challenged, and you will give the word, 'For +Freedom,' and the sign I showed you. Give it to me, now." + +He held out his hand, palm upwards; and I touched it with my thumb and +fingers in turn; five little taps. + +"Good, you are a quick learner--Paul! The meeting will be in an old +chapel,--or so we imagine; the place is changed many times, but it must +be there, or in the clearing. Either way there will be little light, +there among the pines. That is in our favor. If she is there, we shall +know how to act; we must decide then. She will be accused--that is +certain--but the five may acquit her. If that comes to pass--good; we +shall easily get speech with her, and perhaps she may return with us. At +least she will be safe for the moment. But if they condemn her, we must +act quickly and all together. We must save her and get her +away,--or--die with her!" + +"Well said!" growled "Ivan." + +The rain was pattering down now in big drops, and the lightning flashes +were more frequent, the thunder nearer each time. The horse shied as +there came a more vivid flash than before, followed almost instantly by +a crackling roll--the storm was upon us. + +As the thunder ceased, I found "Ivan" had pulled the horse up, and was +listening intently. I listened also, and above the faint tinkle of our +bells and the slight movements of the horse, I heard, faint, as yet, but +rapidly approaching, the thud of hoofs and the jangle of accoutrements. + +"A patrol," said "Ivan" quickly. "They are coming towards us; I saw them +by the lightning flash. They will challenge us, and I shall drive on, +trusting to the darkness and storm. If they follow--as they probably +will--and shoot, you two must seize your opportunity, and jump. There is +just the chance that they may not see you; I shall drive on. If I +distance them, I will follow you. But we must not all be taken, and it +will be better for me than for you." + +He started again on the instant, and another flash showed several +mounted figures just ahead. + +A challenge rang out, and "Ivan's" reply was to lash the horse into a +gallop. We charged through them, and they wheeled after us, and fired. I +heard the "zsp" of a bullet as it ripped through the leather hood close +to my ear; but in the darkness and confusion they fired wildly. And, for +the present at any rate, our gallant little horse was more than a match +for theirs, and was distancing them rapidly. + +Another flash, and "Now!" roared "Ivan," above the roar of the thunder. +I had already sprung up, knowing that I must jump before the next flash +came; and Mishka, as I found afterwards, did the same. + +Steadying myself for a moment, I let myself drop, stumbled backward for +a few steps, fell, and rolled into the ditch, just as the pursuers +clattered past, in a whirlwind of oaths. + +For the moment I, at least, had escaped; but where was Mishka? + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +NIGHT IN THE FOREST + + +As the sounds of flight and pursuit receded, I crawled out of the ditch, +and called softly to my companion, who answered me, from the other side +of the road, with a groan and an oath. + +"I am hurt; it is my leg--my ankle; I cannot stand," he said +despairingly. + +As the lightning flared again, I saw his face for a moment, plastered +with black mud, and furious with pain and chagrin. I groped my way +across to him, hauled him out of the ditch, and felt his limbs to try to +ascertain the extent of his injury. + +It might have been worse, for there were no broken bones, as I had +feared at first; but he had a badly sprained ankle. + +"Bind it--hard, with your handkerchief," he said, between his set teeth. +"We must get out of this, into the wood. They will return directly." + +His grit was splendid, for he never uttered a sound--though his foot +must have hurt him badly--as I helped him up. Supporting him as well as +I could, we stumbled into the wood, groping our way through the +darkness, and thankful for every flash that gave us light, an instant at +a time, and less dazzling--though more dangerous--here under the canopy +of pine branches than yonder on the open road. + +Even if Mishka had not been lamed, our progress must have been slow, for +the undergrowth was thick; still, he managed to get along somehow, +leaning on me, and dragging himself forward by grasping each slender +pine trunk that he lurched up against. + +He sank down at length, utterly exhausted, and, in the pause that +followed, above the sound of our labored breathing and the ceaseless +patter of the rain on the pines, I heard the jangle of the cavalry +patrol returning along the road. Had "Ivan" eluded or outdistanced them? +Were they taking him back with them, a prisoner; or, worst of all, had +they shot him? + +The sounds passed--how close we still were to the road!--and gradually +died away. + +"He has escaped, thanks be to God!" Mishka said, in a hoarse whisper. + +"How do you know that?" + +"If they had overtaken him they would have found the droshky empty, and +would have sought us along the road." + +"Well, what now? How far are we from the meeting-place?" + +"Three versts, more or less. We should have been there by this time! +Come, let us get on. Have you the pocket lamp? We can use it now. It +will help us a little, and we shall strike a track before long." + +The lamp was a little flash-light torch which I had slipped into my +pocket at the last moment, and showed to Mishka when I was changing my +clothes. It served us well now, for the lightning flashes were less +frequent; the worst of the storm was over. + +I suppose we must have gone about half a verst--say the third of an +English mile--when we found the track he had mentioned, a rough and +narrow one, trodden out by the foresters, and my spirits rose at the +sight of it. At least it must lead somewhere! + +Here Mishka stumbled and fell again. + +"It is useless. I can go no further, and I am only a hindrance. But +you--what will you do--?" + +"I'm going on; I'll find the place somehow." + +"Follow the track till you come to an open space,--a clearing; it is a +long way ahead. Cross that to your right, and, if your lamp holds, or +the storm passes, you will see a tree blazed with five white marks, such +as the foresters make. There is another track there; follow it till you +are challenged; and the rest will be easy. God be with you." + +We gripped hands and parted. I guessed we should not meet again in this +world, though we might in the next,--and that pretty soon! + +I pushed on rapidly. The track, though narrow, was good enough, and I +only had to flash my torch occasionally. I was afraid of the battery +giving out, which, as a fact, it did before I emerged in the clearing +Mishka had mentioned. But the light was better now, for the storm had +passed; and in this northern latitude there is no real night in summer, +only "the daylight sick," as Von Eckhardt would say. Out in the clearing +I could see quite a distance. The air felt fresh and pleasant and the +patch of sky overhead was an exquisite topaz tint. I stood to draw +breath, and for a moment the sheer splendor of the night,--the solemn +silence,--held me spellbound with some strange emotion in which awe and +joy were mingled. Yes, joy! For although I had lost my two good +comrades, and was undertaking, alone, a task which could scarcely have +been accomplished by three desperate men, my heart was light. I had +little hope, now, of saving Anne, as we reckon salvation in this poor +earth-life; but I could, and would, die with and for her; and together, +hand in hand, we would pass to the fuller, freer life beyond, where the +mystery that encompassed her, and that had separated us, would vanish. + +I was about to cross the clearing, keeping to the right and seeking for +the blazed tree, as Mishka had told me, when I heard the faint sound of +stealthy footsteps through the wet grass that grew tall and rank here in +the open. In the soft light a shadowy figure came from the opposite +side, passed across the space, and disappeared among the further trees, +followed almost immediately by two more. The time was now, as I guessed, +after midnight, and these were late comers, who had been delayed by the +storm, or perhaps, like myself, had had to dodge the patrol. + +I followed the last two in my turn, and at the place where they +re-entered the wood I saw the gleam of the white blazes on the tree. I +had struck the path right enough, and went along it confidently in the +gloom of the trees, for perhaps a hundred yards, when a light flashed a +few paces in front of me, just for a second, and I saw against the gleam +the figures of the two men who were preceding me. They had passed on +when I reached the place, and a hand grasped my shoulder, while the +light was flashed in my face. I saw now it was a dark lantern, such as +policemen carry in England. + +"The password, stranger, and the sign," a hoarse voice whispered in the +darkness that followed the momentary flash of light. + +I felt for his hand, gave both word and sign, and was allowed to go on, +to be challenged again in a similar manner at a little distance. Here +the picket detained me. + +"You are a stranger, comrade; do you know the way?" he asked. All the +questions and answers had been in Russian. + +"No. I will follow those in front." + +He muttered something, and a second man stepped out on to the path, and +bade me follow him. How many others were at hand I do not know. The wood +seemed full of stealthy sounds. + +My guide followed the path for only a short distance further, then +turned aside, drawing me after him, his hand on my coat-sleeve. + +"Be careful; the trees are thick hereabouts," he said in a low voice, as +he walked sideways. He seemed to know every inch of the way. I followed +his example, and after a minute or two of this crab-like progress we +emerged into a second clearing, smaller than the first, made round a +small building, from which came the subdued sound of voices, though for +a moment I could see no light. Then a door was partially opened, +emitting a faint gleam, and two men passed in,--doubtless those whom I +had seen in front of me just now. + +Without a word my guide turned back into the darkness, and I walked +forward boldly, pushed the door, which gave under my touch, and entered +the place. + + + + +CHAPTER XX + +THE TRIBUNAL + + +It was a small, ruinous chapel, the windows of which had been roughly +boarded up; and, so far as I could see by the dim light cast by two oil +lanterns hung on the walls, all those assembled inside were men,--about +fifty in number I guessed, for the place was by no means crowded. There +was a clear space at the further end, round the raised piece where the +altar had once stood, and where four men were seated on a bench of some +sort. I could not distinguish their faces, for they all wore their hats, +and the lamplight was so dim that it only served to make the darkness +visible. The atmosphere was steamy, too, for we were a drenched and +draggled lot. + +There was no excitement at present; one of the four men on the dais was +speaking in a level monotonous voice; but, as I cautiously edged my way +towards the front, I felt that this silent, sinister crowd was in deadly +earnest, as was the man who was addressing it. He was speaking in +Russian, and I could not make out quite all he said. + +I gathered that some resolution was about to be passed, for just as I +got sufficiently forward to peer round and convince myself that Anne was +not there, each man present, except myself and two others, held up his +right hand. I followed suit instantly, judging that to be wisest, and +one of the other two--he was standing close beside me--put his up, after +a momentary hesitation that I think was unnoticed save by myself. I took +a sidelong glance at him. He was an elderly, distinguished looking man, +with a short gray beard cut to a point, and an upturned gray mustache. +He was listening intently, but, though I couldn't see his face +distinctly, I got the impression that he also was a stranger, and that +he understood even less than I did what was going on. + +The president spoke again. + +"Are there any here who are against the election of Constantine"--I +could not catch the other name, which was a long Polish one, I +think--"to the place on the council, vacant since the murder of our +comrade, Vladimir Selinski?" + +Selinski! Cassavetti! He little guessed as he spoke that the man who +found Cassavetti's body was now within five paces of him! + +Not a hand was raised, and the man who had not voted stepped on to the +dais, in obedience to a gesture from the president, and took his seat in +silence. + +A hoarse murmur of approval went round; but that was all. The grim +quietude of these men was more fearful than any amount of noise could +have been, and, as the president raised his hand slightly, a dead +silence fell. + +"Remains now only that we do justice on the murderess of Selinski, the +traitress who has betrayed our secrets, has frustrated many of our +plans, has warned more than one of those whom we have justly doomed to +death--her lover among them--with the result that they have escaped, for +the present. We would not condemn her unheard, but so far she is +obdurate; she defies us, endeavors once more to trick us. If she were +other than she is, or rather than she has been, she would have been +removed long since, when suspicion first fell upon her; but there are +many of us who love her still, who would not believe her guilty without +the evidence of their own eyes and ears; and therefore we have brought +her here that she may speak for herself, defend herself if that is +possible. It will rest with you to acquit or condemn her!" + +He spoke quite quietly, but the cool, deliberate malignity of his tone +was horrible; and somehow I knew that the majority of those present +shared his animosity against the prisoner, although he had spoken of +"many of us who love her." + +The man beside me touched my arm, and spoke to me in French. + +"Do you understand him?" + +"Yes, do you?" + +"No." + +There was no time for more, for, at a signal from the president, a door +at the side near the dais was opened, and a woman was led in by two men, +each holding her by an arm. They released her, and she stepped back a +pace, and stood against the wall, her hands pressed against it on either +side, bracing herself like a royal creature at bay. + +It was Anne herself, and for a moment I stood, unable to move, scarcely +able to breathe. There was something almost unearthly about her beauty +and courage. The feeble lamplight seemed to strengthen, and to +concentrate itself on her face,--colorless save for the vivid red +lips,--on her eyes, wide and brilliant with indignation, on the bright +hair that shone like a queenly crown. Wrath, and scorn, and defiance +were expressed by the beautiful face, the tense figure; but never a +trace of fear. + +They were all looking at her, as I was, in silence,--a curious hush that +lasted but a few seconds, but in which I could hear the beating of my +own heart; it sounded as loud as a sledge hammer. + +The spell was broken by a cry from the man with the pointed beard next +me who sprang forward towards her, shouting in English: "Anne! Anne! It +is I, your father!" + +I was only just less quick; we reached her almost together, and faced +about, shielding her with our bodies, and covering those nearest us with +our revolvers. + +"Father! Maurice!" I heard her sob. "Oh, I knew, I knew you would come!" + +"What is this devilry?" shouted Anthony Pendennis in French. "How comes +my daughter here? She is a British subject, and you--you shall pay +dearly--" + +He got no further. Our action had been so swift, so unexpected, that the +whole crowd stood still, as if paralyzed by sheer astonishment, for a +few breathless seconds. + +"Spies! Traitors! Kill them all!" shouted the president, springing +forward, revolver in hand. + +Those words were his last, for he threw up his arms and fell as my first +shot got him. The rest came at us all together, like a mob of furious +wild beasts. They were all armed, some with revolvers, others with the +horrible little bludgeons they call "killers,"--a short heavy bar of +lead set on a strong copper spring, no bigger than an ordinary round +office ruler, but more deadly at close quarters than a revolver. + +I flung up my left hand, tore down the lamp that hung just above us, +and hurled it among them. It was extinguished as it fell, and that gave +us a small advantage, for the other lamp was at the far end, and its +faint light did not reach us, but only served to dimly show us our +antagonists. I felt Anne sink down to the floor behind me, though +whether a shot had reached her or she had fainted I did not know. + +When I had emptied my revolver I dropped it, grabbed a "killer" from the +hand of a fellow I had shot pointblank, and laid about me with that. I +suppose Pendennis did the same. As Loris had warned me, when it came to +shooting, there was no time for reloading; but the "killer" was all +right. I wonder he hadn't given me one! + +We were holding our own well, in spite of the tremendous odds, and after +a while--though whether it was five minutes or fifty I couldn't +say--they gave back a bit. There was quite a heap of dead and wounded +round about us; but I don't think Anne's father was hurt as yet, and I +felt no pain, though my left arm hung limp and useless, numbed by a blow +from a "killer" that had missed my head; and something warm was dripping +down my right wrist. + +"What now?" I heard Pendennis say, in that brief lull in the +pandemonium. + +"God knows. We can't get to the door; we must fight it out here; they're +coming on again. On guard!" + +We swung up our weapons, but before the rush could reach us, there was a +crash close at hand; the door through which Anne and her guards had +entered the chapel was thrown open, and a big man dashed in,--Loris +himself, still in his disguise. So he had reached us at last! + +He must have grasped the situation at a glance, for he shouted: "Back; +back for your lives! By the other door. We are betrayed; the soldiers +are here. They are coming this way. Save yourselves!" + + + + +CHAPTER XXI + +A FORLORN HOPE + + +They were a craven crew,--bold enough when arrayed in their numbers +against two men and one helpless girl, but terror-stricken at these +fresh tidings. + +That was my opinion of them at the time, but perhaps it was unjust. +Every man who attended that meeting had done so at the deliberate risk +of his life and liberty. Most of them had undoubtedly tramped the whole +way to the rendezvous, through the storm and swelter of the summer +night, and they were fatigued and unstrung. Also, the Russian--and +especially the revolutionary Russian--is a queer psychological amalgam. +Ordinarily as callous and stoical as a Chinaman in the infliction or +endurance of death or torture, he is yet a bundle of high-strung nerves, +and at any moment his cool cynicism is liable to give place to sheer +hysteria. + +Therefore at the warning shout, panic seized them, and they fled, +helter-skelter, through the main door. In less than a minute the place +was clear of all but ourselves and the dead and wounded on the floor. + +Loris slammed the door, barred it, and strode back to us. Pendennis was +kneeling beside Anne, calling her by her name, and I leaned against the +wall, staring stupidly down at them. I was faint and dizzy all at once, +incapable for the moment of either speech or action. + +"Well done, my friend!" the Duke exclaimed. "You thought I had failed +you, eh? Come, we must get out of this quickly. They will return when +they find it is a ruse. Is she hurt?" + +He pushed Pendennis aside unceremoniously, and lifted Anne in his arms, +as easily as if she had been a child. + +I think she must have been regaining consciousness, for I heard him say +rapidly and tenderly: + +"Courage, _petite_, thou shalt soon be safe." + +"Who are you?" demanded Pendennis, peering at him in perplexity. His +disguise was palpable and incongruous enough, now that he was speaking +in his natural voice. + +"Her friend, as I presume you are; therefore follow if you would save +her and yourself. There is no time for talk!" + +With Anne in his arms he made for the door by which he had entered, and +Pendennis rushed after him. Anne's arms were round his neck; she was +clinging to him, and her head lay on his shoulder. I saw the gleam of +her bright hair as they passed through the doorway,--the last I was to +see of Anne Pendennis for many a long day. + +I staggered forward, trying to beat back the horrible faintness that was +overwhelming me, and to follow them, stumbled over a corpse, and fell +headlong. An agonizing pain shot through me, beginning at my left arm, +and I knew now that it was broken. The pain dispelled the faintness for +the time being, but I made no attempt to rise. Impossible to follow +them now, or even if not impossible, I could be of no service; I should +only hamper their flight. Better stay here and die. + +I think I prayed that I might die soon; I know I prayed that they might +yet reach safety. Where had Anne's father sprung from? How could he have +known of her capture, of this meeting in the heart of the woods? How had +he made his way here? + +Why, he must himself belong to this infernal society, as she did; that +was it, of course. What an abominable din this was in my head,--worse to +bear than the pain of my wounds. In my head? No, the noise was +outside--shrieks and shouts, and the crackle of rifles. I dragged myself +to a sitting posture and listened. The Duke had said that his tale of +the soldiers was a mere ruse, but certainly there was a fight going on +outside. Were the soldiers there, and had Loris unwittingly spoken the +truth,--or had he himself betrayed the revolutionists as a last +resource? Unanswerable questions, all of them; so why worry about them? +But they kept whirling round maddeningly in my half delirious brain, +while the din still raged without, though it seemed to be abating. + +The remaining lamp had flickered out, but sufficient light came now +through the gaps in the broken roof to enable me to see about me. The +place was like a shambles round the spot where we had taken our stand; +there were five or six bodies, besides the president, whom I had shot at +first. It was his corpse I had stumbled over, so he had his revenge in a +way. + +I found myself wondering idly how long it would be before they would +search the chapel, and if it would be worth while to try and get out by +the door through which Loris had come and gone; but, though I made a +feeble effort to get on my feet, it was no good. I was as weak as an +infant. I discovered then that I was soaked with blood from bullet +wounds in my right arm and in my side, though I felt no pain from them +at the time; all the pain was concentrated in my broken left arm. + +There came a battering at the barred door, to which my back was turned, +and a moment afterwards the other door swung open, and an officer sprang +in, sword in hand, followed by a couple of soldiers with fixed bayonets. + +He stopped short, with an exclamation of astonishment, at the sight of +the dead man, and I laughed aloud, and called: + +"Hello, Mirakoff!" + +It was queer; I recognized him, I heard myself laugh and speak, in a +strange detached fashion, as if I was some one else, having no +connection with the battered individual half sitting, half lying on the +blood-stained floor. + +"Who is it?" he asked, staying his men with a gesture, and staring down +at me with a puzzled frown. + +"Maurice Wynn." + +"Monsieur Wynn! _Ma foi!_ What the devil are you doing here?" + +"Curiosity," I said. "And I guess I've paid for it!" + +I suppose I must have fainted then, for the next thing I knew I was +sitting with my back to a tree, while a soldier beside me, leaning on +his rifle, exchanged ribald pleasantries with some of his comrades who, +assisted by several stolid-faced _moujiks_, were busily engaged in +filling in and stamping down a huge and hastily dug grave. + +At a little distance, three officers, one of them Mirakoff, were talking +together, and beside them, thrown on an outspread coat, was a heap of +oddments, chiefly papers, revolvers, and "killers." As I looked a +soldier gathered these up into a bundle, and hoisted it on his shoulder. +A watch and chain fell out, and he picked them up, and pocketed them. + +I heard a hoarse word of command on the right, and saw a number of +prisoners--the remnant of the revolutionists, each with a soldier beside +him--file into the wood. They all looked miserable enough, poor +wretches. Some were wounded, scarcely able to stand, and their guards +urged them forward by prodding them with their bayonets. + +I wondered why I wasn't among them, and guessed if they tried to make me +march that way, I'd just stay still and let them prod the life out of +me! + +I still felt dazed and queer, and my broken left arm hurt me badly. It +hung helpless at my side, but my right arm had been roughly bandaged and +put in a sling, and I could feel a wad over the other wound, held in +place by a scarf of some kind. My mouth and throat were parched with a +burning thirst that was even worse than the pain in my arm. + +The group of officers dispersed, and Mirakoff crossed over to me. + +"Well, you are recovering?" he asked curtly. + +I moved my lips, but no sound would come, so I just looked up at him. + +He saw how it was with me, and ordered the soldier to fetch water. He +was a decent youngster, that Mirakoff, too good for a Russian; he must +have had some foreign blood in him. + +"This is a serious matter," he said, while the man was gone. "Lucky I +chanced on you, or you'd have been finished off at once, and shoved in +there with the rest"--he jerked his head towards the new-made grave. +"I've done the best I could for you. You'll be carried through the wood, +and sent in a cart to Petersburg, instead of having to run by the +stirrup, as the others who can stand must do. But you'd have to go to +prison. What on earth induced you to come here?" + +The man came back with the water, and I drank greedily, and found my +voice, though the words came slowly and clumsily. + +"Curiosity, as I told you." + +"Curiosity to see '_La Mort_,' you mean?" + +"No; though I've got pretty close to death," I said, making a feeble +pun. (We were, of course, speaking in French.) + +"I don't mean death; I mean a woman who is called '_La Mort_.' Her +name's Anna Petrovna. She was to have been there. Did you see her? Was +she there?" + +I forgot my pain for the instant, in the relief that his words conveyed. +Surely he would not have put that question to me if she was already a +prisoner. Loris must have got away with her, and, for the present, at +least, she was safe. + + + + +CHAPTER XXII + +THE PRISON HOUSE + + +"There was a woman," I confessed. "And that's how I came to be chipped +about. They were going to murder her." + +"To murder her!" he exclaimed. "Why, she's one of them; the cleverest +and most dangerous of the lot! Said to be a wonderfully pretty girl, +too. Did you see her?" + +"Only for a moment; there wasn't much light. From what I could make out +they accused her of treachery, and led her in; she stood with her back +against the wall,--she looked quite a girl, with reddish hair. Then the +row began. There were only two or three took her part, and I joined in; +one can't stand by and see a helpless girl shot or stabbed by a lot of +cowardly brutes." + +I had found an air of apparent candor serve me before, and guessed it +might do so again. + +"Well, what then?" + +"That's all I remember clearly; we had a lively time for a few minutes, +and then some one shouted that the soldiers were coming; and the next I +knew I was sitting on the floor, wondering what had happened. I'd been +there quite a while when you found me." + +"It is marvellous how she always escapes," he said, more to himself than +to me. "Still, we've got a good haul this time. Now, how did you get +here? Some one must have told you, guided you?" + +"That I can't tell you." + +"You mean you won't?" + +"Well, put it that way if you like." + +"Don't be a fool, Wynn; I am asking you for your own sake. If you don't +tell me, you'll be made to tell later. You haven't the least idea what +you've let yourself in for, man! Come, did not Count Solovieff--you know +well who I mean--bring you here?" + +"No. I came alone." + +"At least he knew you were coming?" + +"He may have done. I can't say." + +He shrugged his shoulders. + +"Have it your own way. You will regret your obstinacy later; remember, I +have warned you." + +"Thanks,--it's good of you, Mirakoff; but I've told you all I mean to +tell any one." + +He paused, biting his mustache, and frowning down at me. + +"Fetch more water," he said abruptly to the soldier, who had heard all +that passed, and might or might not understand; the Russians are a +polyglot people. + +"I have done what I could," Mirakoff continued hurriedly in the brief +interval while we were alone. "You had two passports. I took the false +one,--it is yonder; they will think it belongs to one of the dead men. +Your own is still in your pocket; the police will take it when you get +to prison; at least it will show your identity, and may make things +easier." + +"Thanks, again," I said earnestly. "And if you could contrive to send +word to the American or English Embassy, or both." + +"I'll see what I can do. Give him the water," he added, as the soldier +again returned. + +He watched as I drank, then turned on his heel and left me, without +another word. He had, as I knew, already compromised his dignity +sufficiently by conversing with me at all. + +But he had cheered me immensely. I was sure now that those three--Anne, +her father, and Loris--had got clear away, doubtless to the house Mishka +had mentioned, where horses would be waiting for them; and by this time +they might be far from the danger zone. Therefore I felt able to face +what lay in store for myself, however bad it might be. It was bad +enough, even at the beginning; though, as Mirakoff had said, it would +have been worse but for his intervention. A few minutes after he left +me, I was hoisted into a kind of improvised carrying chair, borne by a +couple of big soldiers, who went along the narrow track at a jog-trot, +and amused themselves by bumping me against every tree trunk that was +conveniently near. They had been ordered to carry me, and they did so; +but I think I'd have suffered less if I had marched with the others, +even counting in the bayonet prods! + +We reached the road at last, where horses were waiting, and a wagon, +containing several wounded prisoners. I was thrown in on top of them, +and we started off at a lumbering gallop, the guard of soldiers +increasing in numbers as those who had followed on foot through the wood +mounted and overtook us. I saw Mirakoff pass and ride on ahead; he did +not even glance in my direction. More than once we had to stop to pick +up a dead or dying man, one of the batch of prisoners who had been +forced to "run by the stirrup," with their hands tied behind them, and a +strap passed round their waist, attaching them to the stirrup of the +horse, which its rider urges to full speed,--that is part of the fun. It +is a very active man who can maintain the pace, though it is marvellous +what some can accomplish under the sharp incentives of fear and pain. He +who stumbles is jerked loose and left by the wayside where he fell; as +were those whom we found, and who were tossed into the wagon with as +much unconcern as scavengers toss refuse into their carts. + +It was during one of these brief halts I saw something that discounted +the tidings I had heard from Mirakoff. + +I was the least hurt of any of the wretched occupants of the wagon, and +I had managed to drag myself to the far end and to sit there, in the +off-side corner, my knees hunched up to my chin. My arms were helpless, +so I could do nothing to assist my unfortunate companions, and could +only crouch there, with my teeth set, enduring the pain that racked me, +with as much fortitude as I could muster. + +There was a clatter and jingle on the road behind us, and an instant +later a droshky passed, at a comparatively slow pace,--the one horse +seemed almost spent,--preceded and followed by a small escort of +cavalry. + +For the moment I forgot the torture I was enduring, as I recognized, +with dismay, the Grand Duke Loris as one of the two occupants of the +little carriage,--a bizarre, disreputable-looking figure, for he still +wore the filthy clothes and the dirty face of "Ivan," the droshky man, +though the false beard and wig were gone. Yet, in spite of his attire +and the remains of his disguise, he looked every inch a prince. His blue +eyes were wide and serene, and he held a cigarette between two begrimed +fingers. Beside him was a spick and span officer, sitting well back in +his corner and looking distinctly uncomfortable; while the easy grace of +the Duke's attitude would have suited a state-carriage rather than this +shabby little vehicle; though it suited that, too. + +He glanced at the cart, and our eyes met. I saw a flash of recognition +in his, but next instant the droshky, with its escort, had passed, and +we were lumbering on again. + +He also was a prisoner, then! But what of Anne and her father? Had they +escaped? Surely, if they had been taken, he would not have sat there +smoking so unconcernedly! But who could tell? I, at least, knew him for +a consummate actor. + +Well, conjecture was futile; and I was soon in a state of fever, +consequent on pain and loss of blood, that rendered conjecture, or +coherent thought of any kind impossible. + +I don't even recollect arriving at the prison,--that same grim fortress +of Peter and Paul which I had mused on as I looked at it across the +river such a short time back, reckoned by hours, an eternity reckoned by +sensations! What followed was like a ghastly nightmare; worse, for it +was one from which there was no awaking, no escape. Often even now I +start awake, in a sweat of fear, having dreamed that I was back again in +that inferno, racked with agony, faint with hunger, parched with thirst. +For the Russian Government allows its political prisoners twelve ounces +of black bread a day, and there's never enough water to slake the +burning thirst of the victims, or there wasn't in those awful summer +days, which, I have been told, are yet a degree more endurable than the +iron cold of winter. + +Small wonder that of the hundreds of thousands of prisoners who are +flung into Russian jails only a small percentage are ever brought to +trial, and executed or deported to Siberia. The great majority are never +heard of again; they are dead to the outside world when the great gates +clang behind them, and soon they perish from pain and hunger and +privation. It is well for them if they are delicate folk, whose misery +is quickly ended; it is the strong who suffer most in the instinctive +struggle for life. + +Whether I was ever interrogated I don't know to this day, nor exactly +how long I was in the horrible place; I guess it was about a fortnight, +but it was a considerable time, even after I left it, before I was able +even to attempt to piece things out in my mind. + +I was lying on my bunk,--barely conscious, though no longer +delirious,--when one of the armed warders came and shook me by the +shoulder, roughly bidding me get up and follow him. I tried to obey, but +I was as weak as a rat, and he just put his arm round me and hauled me +along, easily enough, for he was a muscular giant, and I was something +like a skeleton. + +I didn't feel the faintest interest in his proceedings, for I was almost +past taking interest in anything; but I remembered later that we went +along some flagged passages, and up stone stairs, passing more than one +lot of sentries. He hustled me into a room and planked me down on a +bench with my back to the wall, where I sat, blinking stupidly for a +minute. Then, with an effort, I pulled myself together a bit, and was +able to see that there were several men in the room, two of them in +plain clothes, and the face of one of them seemed vaguely familiar. + +"Is this your man, Monsieur?" I heard one of the Russians say; and the +man at whom I was staring answered gravely: "I don't know; if he is, you +have managed to alter him almost out of knowledge." + +I knew by his accent that he was an Englishman, and a moment later I +knew who he was, as he came close up to me and said sharply: "Maurice +Wynn?" + +"Yes, I'm Wynn," I managed to say. "How are you, Inspector Freeman?" + +Somehow at the moment it did not seem in the least wonderful that he +should be here in Petersburg, and in search of me. I didn't even feel +astonished at his next words. + +"Maurice Wynn, I have a warrant for your arrest on the charge of +murdering Vladimir Selinski,--alias Cassavetti." + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII + +FREEMAN EXPLAINS + + +The next I knew I was in bed, in a cool, darkened room, with a man +seated in an easy-chair near at hand, smoking a cigarette, and reading +what looked remarkably like an English newspaper. + +I lay and looked at him lazily, for a few minutes. I hadn't the least +idea as to where I was, or how I came there; I didn't feel any curiosity +on the point. The blissful consciousness of cleanliness and comfort was +quite sufficient for me at present. My broken arm had been set and put +in rude splints while I was in the prison, by one of my fellow +sufferers, I expect, and was now scientifically cased in plaster of +Paris; the bullet wounds in my right arm and side were properly dressed +and strapped, and felt pretty comfortable till I tried to shift my +position a little, when I realized they were there. + +At the slight movement the man in the chair laid down his paper and came +up to the bed. + +"Hello, Mr. Wynn; feel a bit more like yourself, eh?" he asked bluffly, +in English. + +"Why, yes, I feel just about 'O. K.,' thanks," I responded, and laughed +inanely. My voice sounded funny--thin and squeaky--and it jumped from +one note to another. I hadn't the least control over it. "Say, where am +I, and who are you? I guess you've done me a good turn!" + +"Humph, I suppose we have. Good Lord, think of an Englishman--you're an +American, but it's all the same in this case--being treated like that by +these Russian swine! You're still in St. Petersburg; we've got to patch +you up a bit before we can take you back to good old England." + +Now why should he, or any one else, be "taking me back to England?" I +puzzled over it in silence before I put the question. + +"Never you mind about that now," he said with brusque kindliness. "All +you've got to think about is getting strong again." + +But already I began to remember, and past events came jumping before my +mind like cinematograph pictures. + +"You fetched me out of prison,--you and Inspector Freeman," I said +slowly. + +"Look here, don't you worry," he began. + +"Yes, I must--I want to get things clear; wait a bit. He said something. +I know; he came to arrest me for murder,--the murder of Cassavetti." + +"Just so; and a jolly good thing for you he did! But, as you've +remembered that much, I must warn you that I'm a detective in charge of +you, and anything you say will be used against you." + +More cinematograph pictures,--Cassavetti as I saw him, lying behind the +door, his eyes open, staring; myself on the steps below Westminster +Bridge, calling to Anne, as she sat in the boat. Anne! No more pictures, +but a jiggery of red and black splashes, and then a darkness, through +which I passed somehow into a pleasant place,--a garden where roses +bloomed and a fountain plashed, and Anne was beside me; I held her hand +in mine. + +Now she was gone, she had vanished mysteriously. What was that man +saying? "The Fraulein has not been here at all!" Why, she was here a +moment ago; what a fool that waiter was! A waiter? No, he was a droshky +driver; I knew it, though I could not see him. There were other voices +speaking now,--men's voices,--subdued but distinct; and as I listened I +came back from the land of dreams--or delirium--to that of reality. + +"Yes, he's been pretty bad, sir. He came to himself quite nicely, and +began to talk. No, I didn't tell him anything, as you said I wasn't to, +but he remembered by himself, and then I had to warn him, and he went +right off again." + +"You're an ass, Harris," said another voice. "What did you want to speak +to him at all for?" + +I opened my eyes at that, and saw Freeman and the other man looking down +at me. + +"He isn't an ass; he's a real good sort," I announced. "And I didn't +murder Cassavetti, though I'd have murdered half a dozen Cassavettis to +get out of that hell upon earth yonder!" + +I shut my eyes again, settled myself luxuriously against my pillows, and +went,--back to Anne and the rose-garden. + +I suppose I began to pull round from that time, and in a few days I was +able to get up. I almost forgot that I was still in custody, and even +when I remembered the fact, it didn't trouble me in the least. After +what I had endured in the Russian prison, it was impossible, at present, +anyhow, to consider Detective-Inspector Freeman and his subordinate, +Harris, as anything less than the best of good fellows and good nurses. +True, they never left me to myself for an instant; one or other of them +was always in close attendance on me; but there was nothing of espionage +in that attendance. They merely safe-guarded me, and, at the same time, +helped me back to life, as if I had been their comrade rather than their +prisoner. Freeman, in due course, gave me his formal warning that +"anything I said with respect to the crime with which I was charged +would be used against me;" but in all other respects both he and Harris +acted punctiliously on the principle held by only two civilized nations +in the world,--England and the United States of America,--that "a man is +regarded as innocent in the eyes of the law until he has been tried and +found guilty." + +"Well, how goes it to-day?" Freeman asked, as he relieved his lieutenant +one morning. "You look a sight better than you did. D'you think you can +stand the journey? We don't want you to die on our hands _en route_, you +know!" + +"We'll start to-day if you like; I'm fit enough," I answered. "Let's get +back and get it over. It's a preposterous charge, you know; but--" + +"We needn't discuss that, Mr. Wynn," he interrupted hastily. + +"All right; we won't. Though I fancy I shouldn't have been alive at this +time if you hadn't taken it into your heads to hunt me down as the +murderer of a man who wasn't even a naturalized Englishman. You came +just in the nick of time, Mr. Freeman." + +"Well, yes, I think we did that," he conceded. "You were the most +deplorable object I've ever seen in the course of my experience,--and +that's fairly long and varied. I'd like to know how you got into their +clutches; though you needn't say if it has any connection with--" + +"Why, certainly. It's nothing to do with Cassavetti, or Selinski, or +whatever his name was," I said. + +"I got wind of a Nihilist meeting in the woods, went there out of +curiosity; and the soldiers turned up. There was a free fight; they got +the best of it, took me prisoner with the others, and that's all. But +how did you trace me? How long had you been in Petersburg?" + +"Only a couple of days. Found you had disappeared and the Embassies were +raising Cain. It seemed likely you'd been murdered, as Carson was. The +police declared they were making every effort to trace you, without +success; and I doubt if they would have produced you, even in response +to the extradition warrant, but that some one mysteriously telephoned +information to the American Embassy that you were in prison--in the +fortress--and even gave your number; though he would not give his own +name or say where he was speaking from." + +Who was it, I wondered,--Loris or Mirakoff? It must have been one or the +other. He had saved my life, anyhow. + +"So acting on that, we simply went and demanded you; and good heavens, +what a sight you were! I thought you'd die in the droshky that we +brought you here in. I couldn't help telling the officer who handed you +over that I couldn't congratulate him on his prison system; and he +grinned and said: + +"'Ah, I have heard that you English treat your prisoners as honored +guests. We prefer our own methods.'" + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV + +BACK TO ENGLAND + + +We started for England the next night, second class, and travelled right +through, as I stood the journey better than any of us expected. After we +crossed the frontier, I doubt if any of our fellow travellers, or any +one else, for the matter of that, had the least suspicion that I was a +prisoner being taken back to stand my trial on the gravest of all +charges, and not merely an invalid, assiduously tended by my two +companions. I didn't even realize the fact myself at the time,--or at +least I only realized it now and then. + +"Well, Mr. Wynn, you've looked your last on Russia, and jolly glad I +should be if I were you," Freeman remarked cheerfully when we were in +the train again, on the way to Konigsberg. + +"Looked my last,--what do you mean?" Even as I spoke I remembered why he +was in charge of me, and laughed. + +"Oh, I suppose you think you're going to hang me on this preposterous +murder charge." + +He was upset that I should imagine him guilty of such a breach of what +he called professional etiquette, as, it seemed, any reference to my +present position would have been. + +"I meant that, if you wanted to go back, you wouldn't be allowed to. +They've fired you out, and won't have you again at any price," he +explained stiffly. + +"Oh, won't they? I guess they will if I want to go. Look here, Freeman, +I bet you twenty dollars, say five pounds English, that I'll be back in +Russia within six months from this date,--that is, if I think fit,--and +that they'll admit me all right. You'd have to trust me, for I can't +deposit the stakes at present; I will when we get back to England. Is it +a deal?" + +His answer was enigmatic, and I took it as complimentary. + +"Well, you are a cough-drop!" he exclaimed. "No, I can't take the +bet,--'twouldn't be professional; though I'd like to know, without +prejudice, as the lawyers say, why on earth you should want to go back. +I should have thought you'd had quite enough of it." + +I could not tell him the real reason,--that, if I lived, I should never +rest till I had at least learned the fate of Anne Pendennis. + +"There's a fascination about it," I explained. "They're back in the +middle ages there; and you never know what's going to happen next, to +yourself or any one else." + +"Well, I'm--blessed! You'd go back just for that!" + +"Why, certainly," I assented. + +There were several things I'd have liked to ask him, but I did not +choose to; for I guessed he would not have answered me. One was whether +he had traced the old Russian whose coming had been the beginning of all +the trouble, so far as I was concerned, anyway; and how he knew that a +woman--a red-haired woman as he had said--had been in Cassavetti's rooms +the night he was murdered. + +If that woman were Anne--as in my heart I knew she must have been, +though I wouldn't allow myself to acknowledge it--he must have +discovered further evidence that cleared her, or he would certainly have +been prosecuting a search for her, instead of arresting me. + +However, I hoped to get some light on the mystery either when my case +came before the magistrate, or between then and the trial, supposing I +was committed for trial. + +It was when we were nearing Dover, about three o'clock on a heavenly +summer morning, that I began to understand my position. We were all on +deck,--I lying at full length on a bench, with plenty of cushions about +me, and a rug over me. + +"Well, we're nearly in," Freeman remarked cheerfully. "Another five +minutes will do it. Feel pretty fit?" + +"Splendid," I answered, swinging my feet off the bench, and sitting up. + +"That's all right. Here, take Harris's arm--so. I sha'n't worry about +your left arm; this will do the trick." + +"This" meant that a handcuff was snapped round my right wrist, and its +fellow, connected with it by a chain, round Harris's left. + +I shivered involuntarily at the touch of the steel, at the sensation of +being a prisoner in reality,--fettered! + +"I say, that isn't necessary," I remonstrated, rather unsteadily. "You +must know that I shall make no attempt to escape." + +"Yes, I know that, but we must do things decently and in order," he +answered soothingly, as one would speak to a fractious child. "That's +quite comfortable, isn't it? You'd have had to lean on one of us anyhow, +being an invalid. There, the rug over your shoulder--so; not a soul will +notice it, and we'd go ashore last; we've a compartment reserved on the +train, of course." + +I dare say he was right, and that none of the many passengers noticed +anything amiss; but I felt as if every one must be staring at me,--a +handcuffed felon. The "bracelet" didn't hurt me at all, like those that +had been forced on my swollen wrists in the Russian prison, and that had +added considerably to the tortures I endured; but somehow it seemed +morally harder to bear,--as a slight but deliberate insult from one who +has been a friend hurts more than any amount of injury inflicted by an +avowed enemy. + +They were both as kind and considerate as ever during the last stage of +our journey. From Dover to Charing Cross, Harris, I know, sat in a most +cramped and uncomfortable position all the way, so that I should rest as +easily as possible; but in some subtle manner our relationship had +changed. I had, of course, been their prisoner all along, but the fact +only came home to me now. + +From Charing Cross we went in a cab to the prison, through the sunny +streets, so quiet at this early hour. + +"Cheer up," counselled Freeman, as I shook hands with him and Harris, +from whom I was now, of course, unshackled. "You'll come before the +magistrate to-morrow or next day; depends on what the doctor says. He'll +see you directly. You'll want to communicate with your friends at once, +of course, and start arranging about your defence. I can send a wire, or +telephone to any one on my way home if you like." + +He really was an astonishing good sort, though he had been implacable on +the handcuff question. + +I thanked him, and gave him Jim Cayley's name and address and telephone +number. + +"All right; I'll let Mr. Cayley know as soon as possible," he said, +jotting the details in his note-book. "What about Lord Southbourne?" + +"I'll send word to him later." + +I felt distinctly guilty with respect to Southbourne. I ought, of +course, to have communicated with him--or rather have got Freeman to do +so--as soon as I began to pull round; but somehow I'd put off the +unpleasant duty. I had disobeyed his express instructions, as poor +Carson had done; and the disobedience had brought its own punishment to +me, as to Carson, though in a different way; but Southbourne would +account that as nothing. He would probably ignore me; or if he did not +do that, his interest would be strictly impersonal,--limited to the +amount of effective copy I could turn out as a result of my experiences. + +Therefore I was considerably surprised when, some hours afterwards, +instead of Jim Cayley, whom I was expecting every moment, Lord +Southbourne himself was brought up to the cell,--one of those kept for +prisoners on remand, a small bare room, but comfortable enough, and +representing the acme of luxury in comparison with the crowded den in +which I had been thrown in Petersburg. + +Lord Southbourne's heavy, clean-shaven face was impassive as ever, and +he greeted me with a casual nod. + +"Hello, Wynn, you've been in the wars, eh? I've seen Freeman. He says +you were just about at the last gasp when he got hold of you, and is +pluming himself no end on having brought you through so well." + +"So he ought!" I conceded cordially. "He's a jolly good sort, and it +would have been all up with me in another few hours. Though how on earth +he could fix on me as Cassavetti's murderer, I can't imagine. It's a +fool business, anyhow." + +"H'm--yes, I suppose so," drawled Southbourne, in that exasperatingly +deliberate way of his. "But I think you must blame--or thank--me for +that!" + + + + +CHAPTER XXV + +SOUTHBOURNE'S SUSPICIONS + + +"You! What had you to do with it?" I ejaculated. + +"Well, Freeman was hunting on a cold scent; yearning to arrest some one, +as they always do in a murder case. He'd thought of you, of course. +Considering that you were on the spot at the time, I wonder he didn't +arrest you right off; but he had formed his own theory, as detectives +always do, and in nine cases out of ten they're utterly wrong!" + +"Do you know what the theory was?" I asked. + +"Yes. He believed that the murder was committed by a woman; simply +because a woman must have helped to ransack the rooms during +Cassavetti's absence." + +"How did he know that?" + +"How did you know it?" he counter-queried. + +"Because he told me at the time that a woman had been in the rooms, +but he wouldn't say any more, except that she was red-haired, or +fair-haired, and well dressed. I wondered how he knew that, but he +wouldn't tell me." + +"He has never told me," Southbourne said complacently. "Though I guessed +it, all the same, and he couldn't deny it, when I asked him. She dropped +hairpins about, or a hairpin rather,--women always do when they're +agitated,--an expensive gilt hairpin. That's how he knew she was +certainly fair-haired, and probably well dressed." + +I remembered how, more than once, I had picked up and restored to Anne +a hairpin that had fallen from her glorious hair. Jim and Mary Cayley +had often chaffed her about the way she shed her hairpins around. + +"What sort of hairpins?" I asked. + +"A curved thing. He showed it me when I bowled him out about them. I +know the sort. My wife wears them,--patent things, warranted not to fall +out, so they always do. They cost half a crown a packet in that +quality." + +I knew the sort, too, and knew also that my former suspicion was now a +certainty. Anne had been to Cassavetti's rooms that night; though +nothing would ever induce me to believe she was his murderess. + +"Well, I fail to see how that clue could have led him to me," I said, +forcing a laugh. I didn't mean to let Southbourne, or any one else, +guess that I knew who that hairpin had belonged to. + +"It didn't; it led him nowhere; though I believe he spent several days +going round the West End hairdressers' shops. There's only one of them, +a shop in the Haymarket, keeps that particular kind of hairpin, and they +snubbed him; they weren't going to give away their clients' names. And +there was nothing in the rooms to give him a clue. All Cassavetti's +private papers had been carried off, as you know. Then there was the +old Russian you told about at the inquest. He seems to have vanished off +the face of the earth; for nothing has been seen or heard of him. So, +as I said, Freeman was on a cold scent, and thought of you again. He +came to me, ostensibly on other business. I'd just got the wire from +Petersburg--Nolan of _The Thunderer_ sent it--saying you'd walked out of +your hotel three nights before, and hadn't been seen or heard of since. +It struck me that the quickest way to trace you, if you were still above +ground, was to set Freeman on your track straight away. So I told him at +once of your disappearance; and he started cross-questioning me, with +the result,--well--he went off eventually with the fixed idea that you +were more implicated in the murder than had appeared possible at the +time, and that your disappearance was in some way connected with it. +Wait a bit,--let me finish! The next I heard was that he was off to St. +Petersburg with an extradition warrant; and, from what he told me just +now, he was just in time. Yes, it was the quickest way; they'd never +have released you on any other consideration!" + +"No, I guess they wouldn't," I responded. "You've certainly done me a +good turn, Lord Southbourne,--saved my life, in fact. But what about +this murder charge? Is it a farce, or what? You don't believe I murdered +the man, do you?" + +"I? Good heavens, no! If I had I shouldn't have troubled to set Freeman +on you," he answered languidly. I've met some baffling individuals, but +never one more baffling than Southbourne. + +"As far as we are concerned it is a farce,--though he doesn't think it +one. He imagines he's got a case after his own heart. To snatch a man +out of the jaws of death, nurse him back to life, and hand him over to +be hanged; that's his idea of a neat piece of business. But it will be +all right, of course. I doubt if you'll even be sent for trial; but if +you are, no jury would convict you. Anyhow, I've sent for Sir George +Lucas,--he ought to be here directly,--and I've given him _carte +blanche_, at my expense, of course; so if a defence is needed you'd have +the best that's to be got." + +I began to stammer my thanks and protestations. I should never have +dreamed of engaging the famous lawyer, who, if the matter did not prove +as insignificant as Southbourne seemed to anticipate, and I had to stand +my trial, would, in his turn, secure an equally famous K. C.,--a luxury +far beyond my own means. + +But Southbourne checked me at the outset. + +"That's all right," he said in his lazy way. "I can't afford to lose a +good man,--when there's a chance of saving him. I hadn't the chance with +Carson; he was a good man, too, though he was a fool,--as you are! But, +after all, it's the fools who rush in where angels fear to tread; +therefore they're a lot more valuable in modern journalism than any +angel could be, when they survive their folly, as you have so far! and +now I want to know just what you were up to from the time you left your +hotel till you were handed over by the Russian authorities; that is, if +you feel equal to it. If not, another time will do, of course." + +I told him just as much--or as little--as I had already told Freeman. He +watched me intently all the time from under his heavy lids, and nodded +as I came to the end of my brief recital. + +"You'll be able to do a good series; even if you're committed for trial +you'll have plenty of time, for the case can't come on till September. +'The Red Terror in Russia' will do for the title; we'll publish it in +August, and you must pile it on thick about the prison. It's always a +bit difficult to rake up sufficient horrors to satisfy the public in the +holidays; what gluttons they are! But, look here, didn't I tell you not +to meddle with this sort of thing?" + +I had been expecting this all along, and was ready for it now. + +"You did. But, as you've just said, 'Fools rush in,' etcetera. And I'm +quite willing to acknowledge that there's a lot more of fool than angel +in me." + +"You're not fool enough to disobey orders without some strong motive," +he retorted. "So now,--why did you go to that meeting?" + +I was determined not to tell him. Anne might be dead, or in a Russian +prison, which was worse than death; at any rate nearly two thousand +miles of sea and land separated us, and I was powerless to aid her,--as +powerless as I had been while I lay in the prison of Peter and Paul. But +there was one thing I could still do; I could guard her name, her fame. +It would have been a desecration to mention her to this man Southbourne. +True, he had proved himself my good and generous friend; but I knew him +for a man of sordid mind, a man devoid of ideals, a man who judged +everything by one standard,--the amount of effective "copy" it would +produce. He would regard her career, even the little of it that was +known to me, as "excellent material" for a sensational serial, which he +would commission one of his hacks to write. No, neither he nor any one +else should ever learn aught of her from me; her name should never, if I +could help it, be touched and smirched by "the world's coarse thumb and +finger." + +So I answered his question with a repetition of my first statement. + +"I got wind of the meeting, and thought I'd see what it was like." + +"Although I had expressly warned you not to do anything of the kind?" + +"Well, yes; but still you usually give one a free hand." + +"I didn't this time. Was the woman at the meeting?" + +"What woman?" I asked. + +"The woman whose portrait I showed you,--the portrait Von Eckhardt found +in Carson's pocket. Why didn't you tell me at the time that you knew +her?" + +"Simply because I don't know her," I answered, bracing up boldly for the +lie. + +"And yet she sat next to Cassavetti at the Savage Club dinner, an hour +or two before he was murdered; and you talked to her rather +confidentially,--under the portico." + +I tried bluff once more, though it doesn't come easily to me. I looked +him straight in the face and said deliberately: + +"I don't quite understand you, Lord Southbourne. That lady at the Hotel +Cecil was Miss Anne Pendennis, a friend of my cousin, Mrs. Cayley. Do +you know her?" + +"Well--no." + +"Then who on earth made you think she was the original of that +portrait?" + +"Cayley the dramatist; he's your cousin's husband, isn't he? I showed +the portrait to him, and he recognized it at once." + +This was rather a facer, and I felt angry with Jim! + +"Oh, Jim!" I said carelessly. "He's almost as blind as a mole, and he's +no judge of likenesses. Why he always declares that Gertie Millar's the +living image of Edna May, and he can't tell a portrait of one from the +other without looking at the name (this was quite true, and we had often +chipped Jim about it). There was a superficial likeness of course; I saw +it myself at the time." + +"You didn't mention it." + +"Why, no, I didn't think it necessary." + +"And the initials?" + +"A mere coincidence. They stand for Anna Petrovna. Von Eckhardt told me +that. I saw him in Berlin. She's a well-known Nihilist, and the police +are after her in Russia. So you see, if you or any others are imagining +there's any connection between her and Miss Pendennis, you're quite +wrong." + +"H'm," he said enigmatically, and I was immensely relieved that a warder +opened the door at that moment and showed in Sir George Lucas. + +"Oh, here you are, Lucas," said Southbourne, rising and shaking hands +with him. "This is your client, Mr. Wynn. I'll be off now. See you again +before long, but I'll give you a bit of advice, with Sir George's +permission. Never prevaricate to your lawyer; tell him everything right +out. That's all." + +"Thanks; I guess that's excellent advice, and I'll take it," I said. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVI + +WHAT JIM CAYLEY KNEW + + +I did take Lord Southbourne's advice, partly; for in giving Sir George +Lucas a minute account of my movements on the night of the murder, I did +not prevaricate, but I made two reservations, neither of which, so far +as I could see, affected my own case in the least. + +I made no mention of the conversation I had with the old Russian in my +own flat; or of the incident of the boat. If I kept silence on those two +points, I argued to myself, it was improbable that Anne's name would be +dragged into the matter. For whatever those meddling idiots, Southbourne +or Jim Cayley (I'd have it out with Jim as soon as I saw him!), might +suspect, they at least did not know for a certainty of her identity as +Anna Petrovna, of her presence in Cassavetti's rooms that night, or of +her expedition on the river. + +Sir George cross-examined me closely as to my relation with Cassavetti; +we always spoke of him by that name, rather than by his own, which was +so much less familiar; and on that point I could, of course, answer him +frankly enough. Our acquaintanceship had been of the most casual kind; +he had been to my rooms several times, but had never invited me to his. +I had only been in them thrice; the first time when I unlocked the door +with the pass-key with which the old Russian had tried to unlock my +door, and then I hadn't really gone inside, only looked round, and +called; and the other occasions were when I broke open the door and +found him murdered, and returned in company with the police. + +"You saw nothing suspicious that first time?" he asked. "You are sure +there was no one in the rooms then?" + +"Well, I can't be certain. I only just looked in; and then ran down +again; I was in a desperate hurry, for I was late, as it was; I thought +the whole thing a horrible bore, but I couldn't leave the old man +fainting on the stairs. Cassavetti certainly wasn't in his rooms then, +anyhow, and I shouldn't think any one else was; for he told me +afterwards, at dinner, that he came in before seven. He must have just +missed the old man." + +"What became of the key?" + +"I gave it back to the old man." + +"Although you thought it strange that such a person should be in +possession of it?" + +"Well, it wasn't my affair, was it?" I remonstrated. "I didn't give him +the key in the first instance." + +"Now will you tell me, Mr. Wynn, why, when you left Lord Southbourne, +you did not go straight home? That's a point that may prove important." + +"I didn't feel inclined to turn in just then, so I went for a stroll." + +"In the rain?" + +"It wasn't raining then; it was a lovely night for a little while, till +the second storm came on, and my hat blew off." + +"And when you got in you heard no sound from Mr. Cassavetti's rooms? +They're just over yours, aren't they? Nothing at all, either during the +night or next morning?" + +"Nothing. I was out all the morning, and when I came in I fetched up the +housekeeper to help me pack. It was he who remarked how quiet the place +was. Besides, the poor chap had evidently been killed as soon as he got +home." + +"Just so, but the rooms might have been ransacked after and not before +the murder," Sir George said dryly. "Though I don't think that's +probable. Well, Mr. Wynn, you've told me everything?" + +"Everything," I answered promptly. + +"Then we shall see what the other side have to say at the preliminary +hearing." + +He chatted for a few minutes about my recent adventures in Russia; and +then, to my relief, took himself off. I felt just about dead beat! + +In the course of the day I got a wire from Jim Cayley, handed in at +Morwen, a little place in Cornwall. + +"Returning to town at once; be with you to-morrow." + +He turned up early next morning. + +"Good heavens, Maurice, what's all this about?" he demanded. "We've been +wondering why we didn't hear from you; and now--why, man, you're an +utter wreck!" + +"No, I'm not. I'm getting round all right now," I assured him. "I got +into a bit of a scrimmage, and then into prison. They very nearly did +for me there; but I guess I've as many lives as a cat." + +"But this murder charge? It's in the papers this morning; look here." + +He held out a copy of _The Courier_, pointing to a column headed: + + "THE WESTMINSTER MURDER. + ARREST OF A WELL-KNOWN JOURNALIST," + +and further down I saw among the cross-headings: + + "_Romantic Circumstances._" + +"Half a minute; let's have a look," I exclaimed, snatching the paper, +fearing lest under that particular cross-heading there might be some +allusion to Anne, or the portrait. But there was not; the "romantic +circumstances" were merely those under which the arrest was effected. +Whoever had written it,--Southbourne himself probably,--had laid it on +pretty thick about the special correspondents of _The Courier_ obtaining +"at the risk of their lives the exclusive information on which the +public had learned to rely," and a lot more rot of that kind, together +with a highly complimentary _précis_ of my career, and a hint that +before long a full account of my thrilling experiences would be +published exclusively in _The Courier_. Southbourne never lost a chance +of advertisement. + +The article ended with the announcement: "Sir George Lucas has +undertaken the defence, and Mr. Wynn is, of course, prepared with a full +answer to the charge." + +"Well, that seems all right, doesn't it?" I asked coolly. + +"All right?" spluttered Jim, who was more upset than I'd ever seen him. +"You seem to regard being run in for murder as an everyday occurrence!" + +"Well, it's preferable to being in prison in Russia! If Freeman hadn't +taken it into his thick head to fix on me, I should have been dead and +gone to glory by this time. Look here, Jim, there's nothing to worry +about, really. I asked Freeman to wire or 'phone to you yesterday when +we arrived, thinking, of course, you'd be at Chelsea; then Southbourne +turned up, and was awfully good. He's arranged for my defence, so +there's nothing more to be done at present. The case will come before +the magistrate to-morrow; so far as I'm concerned I'd rather it had come +on to-day. I don't suppose for an instant they'd send me for trial. The +police can't have anything but the flimsiest circumstantial evidence +against me. I guess I needn't assure you that I didn't murder the man!" + +He looked at me queerly through his glasses; and I experienced a faint, +but distinctly uncomfortable, thrill. Could it be possible that he, who +knew me so well, could imagine for a moment that I was guilty? + +"No, I don't believe you did it, my boy," he said slowly. "But I +do believe you know a lot more about it than you owned up to at the +time. Have you forgotten that Sunday night--the last time I saw you? +Because if you have, I haven't! I taxed you then with knowing--or +suspecting--that Anne Pendennis was mixed up with the affair in some way +or other. It was your own manner that roused my suspicions then, as well +as her flight; for it was flight, as we both know now. If I had done my +duty I should have set the police on her; but I didn't, chiefly for +Mary's sake,--she's fretting herself to fiddle-strings about the jade +already, and it would half kill her if she knew what the girl really +was." + +"Stop," I said, very quietly. "If you were any other man, I would call +you a liar, Jim Cayley. But you're Mary's husband and my old friend, so +I'll only say you don't know what you're talking about." + +"I do," he persisted. "It is you who don't or pretend you don't. I've +learned something even since you've been away. I told you I believed +both she and her father were mixed up with political intrigues; I spoke +then on mere suspicion. But I was right. She belongs to the same secret +society that Cassavetti was connected with; there was an understanding +between them that night, though it's quite possible they hadn't met each +other before. Do you remember she gave him a red geranium? That's their +precious symbol." + +"Did you say all this to Southbourne when he showed you the portrait +that was found on Carson?" I interrupted. + +"What, you know about the portrait, too?" + +"Yes; he showed it me that same night, when I went to him after the +dinner. It's not Anne Pendennis at all." + +"But it is, man; I recognized it the moment I saw it, before he told me +anything about it." + +"You recognized it!" I echoed scornfully. "We all know you can never +recognize a portrait unless you see the name underneath. There was a +kind of likeness. I saw it myself; but it wasn't Anne's portrait! Now +just you tell me, right now, what you said to Southbourne. Any of this +nonsense about her and Cassavetti and the red symbol?" + +"No," he answered impatiently. "I put two and two together and made that +out for myself, and I've never mentioned it to a soul but you." + +I breathed more freely when I heard that. + +"I just said when I looked at the thing: 'Hello, that's Anne Pendennis,' +and at that he began to question me about her, and I guessed he had some +motive, so I was cautious. I only told him she was my wife's old school +friend, who had been staying with us, but that I didn't know very much +about her; she lived on the Continent with her father, and had gone back +to him. You see I reckoned it was none of my business, or his, and I +meant to screen the girl, for Mary's sake, and yours. But now, this has +come up; and you're arrested for murdering Cassavetti. Upon my soul, +Maurice, I believe I ought to have spoken out! And if you stand in +danger." + +"Listen to me, Jim Cayley," I said determinedly. "You will give me your +word of honor that, whatever happens, you'll never so much as mention +Anne's name, either in connection with that portrait or Cassavetti; that +you'd never give any one even a hint that she might have been +concerned--however innocently--in this murder." + +"But if things go against you?" + +"That's my lookout. Will you give your word--and keep it?" + +"No." + +"Very well. If you don't, I swear I'll plead 'Guilty' to-morrow!" + + + + +CHAPTER XXVII + +AT THE POLICE COURT + + +The threat was sufficient and Jim capitulated. + +"Though you are a quixotic fool, Maurice, and no mistake," he asserted +vehemently. + +"Tell me something I don't know," I suggested. "Something pleasant, for +a change. How's Mary?" + +"Not at all well; that's why we went down to Cornwall last week; we've +taken a cottage there for the summer. The town is frightfully stuffy, +and the poor little woman is quite done up. She's been worrying about +Anne, too, as I said; and now she'd be worrying about you! She wanted to +come up with me yesterday, when I got the wire,--it was forwarded from +Chelsea,--but I wouldn't let her; and she'll be awfully upset when she +sees the papers to-day. We don't get 'em till the afternoon down there." + +"Well, let her have a wire beforehand," I counselled. "Tell her I'm all +right, and send her my love. You'll turn up at the court to-morrow to +see me through, I suppose? Tell Mary I'll probably come down to Morwen +with you on Friday. That'll cheer her up no end." + +"I hope you may! But suppose it goes against you, and you're committed +for trial?" Jim demanded gloomily. His customary cheeriness seemed to +have deserted him altogether at this juncture. + +"I'm not going to suppose anything so unpleasant till I have to," I +asserted. "Be off with you, and send that wire to Mary!" + +I wanted to get rid of him. He wasn't exactly an inspiriting companion +just now; besides, I thought it possible that Southbourne might come to +see me again; and I had determined to tackle him about that portrait, +and try to exact the same pledge from him that I had from Jim. He might, +of course, have shown it to a dozen people, as he had to Jim; and on the +other hand he might not. + +He came right enough, and I opened on him at once. He looked at me in +his lazy way, through half-closed lids,--I don't think I've ever seen +that man open his eyes full,--and smiled. + +"So you do know the lady, after all," he remarked. + +"I'm not talking of the original of the portrait, but of Miss +Pendennis," I retorted calmly. "I've seen Cayley, and he's quite ready +to acknowledge that he was misled by the likeness; but so may other +people be if you've been showing it around." + +"Well, no; as it happens, I haven't done that. Only you and he have seen +it, besides myself. I showed it him because I knew you and he were +intimate, and I wanted to see if he would recognize her, as you did,--or +thought you did,--when I showed it you, though you wouldn't own up to +it. I'm really curious to know who the original is." + +"So am I, to a certain extent; but anyhow, she's not Miss Pendennis!" I +said decisively; though whether he believed me or not I can't say. "And +I won't have her name even mentioned in connection with that portrait!" + +"And therefore with,--but no matter," he said slowly. "I wish, for your +own sake, and not merely to satisfy my curiosity, that you would be +frank with me, or, if not with me, at least with Sir George. However, +I'll do what you ask. I'll make no further attempts, at present, to +discover the original of that portrait." + +That was not precisely what I had asked him, but I let it pass. I knew +by his way of saying it that he shared my conviction--and Jim's--that it +was Anne's portrait right enough; but I had gained my point, and that +was the main thing. + +The hearing at the police court next day was more of an ordeal than I +had anticipated, chiefly because of my physical condition. I had seemed +astonishingly fit when I started,--in a cab, accompanied by a couple of +policemen,--considering the extent of my injuries, and the sixty hours' +journey I had just come through; and I was anxious to get the thing +over. But when I got into the crowded court, where I saw numbers of +familiar faces, including Mary's little white one,--she had come up from +Cornwall after all, bless her!--I suddenly felt myself as weak as a cat. +I was allowed a seat in the dock, and I leaned back in it with what was +afterwards described by the reporters as "an apathetic air," though I +was really trying my hardest to avoid making an ass of myself by +fainting outright. That effort occupied all the energy I had, and I only +heard scraps of the evidence, which seemed, to my dulled brain, to +refer to some one else and not to me at all. + +At last there came a confused noise, shouting and clapping, and above it +a stentorian voice. + +"Silence! Silence in the court!" + +Some one grasped my right arm--just where the bandage was, though he +didn't know that--and hurt me so badly that I started up involuntarily, +to find Sir George and Southbourne just in front of the dock holding out +their hands to me, and I heard a voice somewhere near. + +"Come along, sir, this way; you can follow to the ante-room, gentlemen; +can't have a demonstration in Court." + +I felt myself guided along by the grip on my arm that was like a red-hot +vice; there were people pressing about me, all talking at once, and +shaking hands with me. + +I heard Southbourne say, sharper and quicker than I'd ever heard him +speak before: + +"Here, look out! Stand back, some of you!" + +The next I knew I was lying on a leather sofa with my head resting on +something soft. My collar and tie lay on the floor beside me, and my +face was wet, and something warm splashed down on it, just as I began to +try and recollect what had happened. Then I found that I was resting on +Mary's shoulder, and she was crying softly; it was one of her tears that +was trickling down my nose at this instant. She wiped it off with her +damp little handkerchief. + +"You poor boy; you gave us a real fright this time," she exclaimed, +smiling through her tears,--a wan little ghost of a smile. "But we'll +soon have you all right again when we get you home." + +"I'm all right now, dear; I'm sorry I've upset you so," I said, and Jim +bustled forward with some brandy in a flask, and helped me sit up. + +I saw then that Sir George and Southbourne were still in the room; the +lawyer was sitting on a table close by, watching me through his +gold-rimmed pince-nez, and Southbourne was standing with his back to us, +staring out of the window. + +"What's happened, anyhow?" I asked, and Sir George got off the table and +came up to me. + +"Charge dismissed; I congratulate you, Mr. Wynn," he said genially. +"There wasn't a shred of real evidence against you; though they tried to +make a lot out of that bit of withered geranium found in your +waste-paper basket; just because the housekeeper remembered that +Cassavetti had a red flower in his buttonhole when he came in; but I was +able to smash that point at once, thanks to your cousin." + +He bowed towards Mary, who, as soon as she saw me recovering, had +slipped away, and was pretending to adjust her hat before a dingy +mirror. + +"Why, what did Mary do?" + +"Passed me a note saying that you had the buttonhole when you left the +Cecil. I called her as a witness and she gave her evidence splendidly." + +"Lots of the men had them," Mary put in hurriedly. "I had one, too, and +so did Anne--quite a bunch. And my! I should like to know what that +housekeeper had been about not to empty the waste-paper basket before. +I don't suppose he's touched your rooms since you left them, Maurice!" + +"It might have been a very difficult point," Sir George continued +judicially; "the only one, in fact. For Lord Southbourne's evidence +disposed of the theory the police had formed that you had returned +earlier in the evening, and that when you did go in and found the door +open your conduct was a mere feint to avert suspicion. And then there +was the entire lack of motive, and the derivative evidence that more +than one person--and one of them a woman--had been engaged in ransacking +the rooms. Yes, it was a preposterous charge!" + +"But it served its purpose all right," drawled Southbourne, strolling +forward. "They'd have taken their time if I'd set them on your track +just because you had disappeared. Congratulations, Wynn. You've had more +than enough handshaking, so I won't inflict any more on you. Wonder what +scrape you'll find yourself in next?" + +"He won't have the chance of getting into any more for some time to +come. I shall take care of that!" Mary asserted, with pretty severity. +"Put his collar on, Jim; and we'll get him into the brougham." + +"My motor's outside, Mrs. Cayley. Do have that. It's quicker and +roomier. Come on, Wynn; take my arm; that's all right. You stand by on +his other side, Cayley. Sir George, will you take Mrs. Cayley and fetch +the motor round to the side entrance? We'll follow." + +I guess I'd misjudged him in the days when I'd thought him a +cold-blooded cynic. He had certainly proved a good friend to me right +through this episode, and now, impassive as ever, he helped me along and +stowed me into the big motor. + +Half the journalists in London seemed to be waiting outside, and raised +a cheer as we appeared. Mary declared that it was quite a triumphant +exit. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVIII + +WITH MARY AT MORWEN + + +"It's terrible, Maurice! If only I could have a line, even a wire, from +her, or her father, just to say she was alive, I wouldn't mind so much." + +"She may have written and the letter got lost in transit," I suggested. + +"Then why didn't she write again, or wire?" persisted Mary. "And there +are her clothes; why, she hadn't even a second gown with her. I believe +she's dead, Maurice; I do indeed!" + +She began to cry softly, poor, dear little woman, and I did not know +what to say to comfort her. I dare not give her the slightest hint as to +what had befallen Anne, or of my own agony of mind concerning her; for +that would only have added to her distress. And I knew now why it was +imperative that she should be spared any extra worry, and, if possible, +be reassured about her friend. + +"Nonsense!" I exclaimed. "You'd have heard soon enough if anything had +happened to her. And the clothes prove nothing; her father's a wealthy +man, and, when she found the things didn't arrive, she'd just buy more. +Depend upon it, her father went to meet her when he left the hotel at +Berlin, and they're jaunting off on their travels together all right." + +"I don't believe it!" she cried stormily. "Anne would have written to +me again and again, rather than let me endure this suspense. And if one +letter went astray it's impossible that they all should. But you--I +can't understand you, Maurice! You're as unsympathetic as Jim, and +yet--I thought--I was sure--you loved her!" + +This was almost more than I could stand. + +"God knows I do love her!" I said as steadily as I could. "She will +always be the one woman in the world for me, Mary, even if I never see +or hear of her again. But I'm not going to encourage you in all this +futile worry, nor is Jim. He's not unsympathetic, really, but he knows +how bad it is for you, as you ought to know, too. Anne's your friend, +and you love her dearly--but--remember, you're Jim's wife, and more +precious to him than all the world." + +She flushed hotly at that; I saw it, though I was careful not to look +directly at her. + +"Yes, I--I know that," she said, almost in a whisper. "And I'll try not +to worry, for his,--for all our sakes. You're right, you dear, kind old +boy; but--" + +"We can do nothing," I went on. "Even if she is ill, or in danger, we +can do nothing till we have news of her. But she is in God's hands, as +we all are, little woman." + +"I do pray for her, Maurice," she avowed piteously. "But--but--" + +"That's all you can do, dear, but it is much also. More things are +wrought by prayer than this world dreams of. Keep on praying--and +trusting--and the prayers will be answered." + +She looked at me through her tears, lovingly, but with some +astonishment. + +"Why, Maurice, I've never heard you talk like that before." + +"I couldn't have said it to any one but you, dear," I said gruffly; and +we were silent for a spell. But she understood me, for we both come from +the same sturdy old Puritan stock; we were both born and reared in the +faith of our fathers; and in this period of doubt and danger and +suffering it was strange how the old teaching came back to me, the firm +fixed belief in God "our refuge and strength, a very present help in +trouble." That faith had led our fathers to the New World, three +centuries ago, had sustained them from one generation to another, in the +face of difficulties and dangers incalculable; had made of them a great +nation; and I knew it now for my most precious heritage. + +"_I should utterly have fainted; but that I believe verily to see the +goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. O tarry thou the Lord's +leisure; be strong and He shall comfort thy heart; and put thou thy +trust in the Lord._ + +"_Through God we will do great acts; and it is He that shall tread down +our enemies._" + +Half forgotten for so many years, but familiar enough in my +boyhood,--when my father read a psalm aloud every morning before +breakfast, and his wrath fell on any member of the household who was +absent from "the reading,"--the old words recurred to me with a new +significance in the long hours when I lay brooding over the mystery and +peril which encompassed the girl I loved. They brought strength and +assurance to my soul; they saved me from madness during that long period +of forced inaction that followed my collapse at the police court. + +Mary, and Jim, too,--every one about me, in fact,--despaired of my life +for many days, and now that I was again convalescent and they brought me +down to the Cornish cottage, my strength returned very slowly; but all +the more surely since I was determined, as soon as possible, to go in +search of Anne, and I knew I could not undertake that quest with any +hope of success unless I was physically fit. + +I had not divulged my intention to any one, nor did I mean to do so if I +could avoid it; certainly I would not allow Mary even to suspect my +purpose. At present I could make no plans, except that of course I +should have to return to Russia under an assumed name; and as a further +precaution I took advantage of my illness to grow a beard and mustache. +They had already got beyond the "stubby" and disreputable stage, and +changed my appearance marvellously. + +Mary objected strenuously to the innovation, and declared it made me +"look like a middle-aged foreigner," which was precisely the effect I +hoped for; though, naturally, I didn't let her know that. + +Under any other circumstances I would have thoroughly enjoyed my stay +with her and Jim at the cottage, a quaint, old-fashioned place, with a +beautiful garden, sloping down to the edge of the cliffs, where I was +content to sit for hours, watching the sea--calm and sapphire blue in +these August days--and striving to possess my soul in patience. In a +way I did enjoy the peace and quietude, the pure, delicious air; for +they were means to the ends I had in view,--my speedy recovery, and the +beginning of the quest which I must start as soon as possible. + +We were sitting in the garden now,--Mary and I alone for once, for Jim +was off to the golf links. + +I had known, all along, of course, that she was fretting about Anne; but +I had managed, hitherto, to avoid any discussion of her silence, which, +though more mysterious to Mary than to me, was not less distressing. And +I hoped fervently that she wouldn't resume the subject. + +She didn't, for, to my immense relief, as I sat staring at the fuchsia +hedge that screened the approach to the house, I saw a black clerical +hat bobbing along, and got a glimpse of a red face. + +"There's a parson coming here," I remarked inanely, and Mary started up, +mopping her eyes with her ridiculous little handkerchief. + +"Goodness! It must be the vicar coming to call,--I heard he was +back,--and I'm such a fright! Talk to him, Maurice, and say I'll be down +directly." + +She disappeared within the house just as the old-fashioned door-bell +clanged sonorously. + +A few seconds later a trim maid-servant--that same tall parlor-maid who +had once before come opportunely on the scene--tripped out, conducting a +handsome old gentleman, whom she announced as "the Reverend George +Treherne." + +I rose to greet him, of course. + +"I'm very glad to see you, Mr. Treherne," I said, and he could not know +how exceptionally truthful the conventional words were. "I must +introduce myself--Maurice Wynn. My cousin, Mrs. Cayley, will be down +directly; Jim--Mr. Cayley--is on the golf links. Won't you sit +down--right here?" + +I politely pulled forward the most comfortable of the wicker chairs. + +"Thanks. You're an American, Mr. Wynn?" he asked. + +"That's so," I said, wondering how he guessed it so soon. + +We got on famously while we waited for Mary, chatting about England in +general and Cornwall in particular. He'd been vicar of Morwen for over +forty years. + +I had to confess that I'd not seen much of the neighborhood at present, +though I hoped to do so now I was better. + +"It's the loveliest corner in England, sir!" he asserted +enthusiastically. "And there are some fine old houses about; you +Americans are always interested in our old English country seats, aren't +you? Well, you must go to Pencarrow,--a gem of its kind. It belongs to +the Pendennis family, but--" + +"Pendennis!" I exclaimed, sitting up in astonishment; "not Anthony +Pendennis!" + +He looked at me as if he thought I'd suddenly taken leave of my senses. + +"Yes, Anthony Pendennis is the present owner; I knew him well as a young +man. But he has lived abroad for many years. Do you know him?" + + + + +CHAPTER XXIX + +LIGHT ON THE PAST + + +"Yes, I've met him once, under very strange circumstances," I answered. +"I'd like to tell them to you; but not now. I don't want my cousin to +know anything about it," I added hastily, for I heard Mary's voice +speaking to the maid, and knew she would be out in another minute. + +"May I come and see you, Mr. Treherne? I've a very special reason for +asking." + +He must have thought me a polite lunatic, but he said courteously: + +"I shall be delighted to see you at the vicarage, Mr. Wynn, and to hear +any news you can give me concerning my old friend. Perhaps you could +come this evening?" + +I accepted the invitation with alacrity. + +"Thanks; that's very good of you. I'll come round after dinner, then. +But please don't mention the Pendennises to my cousin, unless she does +so first. I'll explain why, later." + +There was no time for more, as Mary reappeared. + +A splendid old gentleman was the Rev. George Treherne. Although he must +certainly have been puzzled by my manner and my requests, he concealed +the fact admirably, and steered clear of any reference to Pencarrow or +its owner; though, of course, he talked a lot about his beloved +Cornwall while we had tea. + +"He's charming!" Mary declared, after he had gone. "Though why a man +like that should be a bachelor beats me, when there are such hordes of +nice women in England who would get married if they could, only there +aren't enough men to go round! I guess I'll ask Jane Fraser." + +She paused meditatively, chin on hand. + +"No,--Jane's all right, but she'd just worry him to death; there's no +repose about Jane! Margaret Haynes, now; she looks early Victorian, +though she can't be much over thirty. She'd just suit him,--and that +nice old vicarage. I'll write and ask her to come down for a week or +two,--right now! What do you think, Maurice?" + +"That you're the most inveterate little matchmaker in the world. Why +can't you leave the poor old man in peace?" I answered, secretly +relieved that she had, for the moment, forgotten her anxiety about Anne. + +She laughed. + +"Bachelorhood isn't peace; it's desolation!" she declared. "I'm sure +he's lonely in that big house. What was that he said about expecting you +to-night?" + +"I'm going to call round after dinner and get hold of some facts on +Cornish history," I said evasively. + +I hadn't the faintest notion as to what I expected to learn from him, +but the moment he had said he knew Anthony Pendennis the thought flashed +to my mind that he might be able to give me some clue to the mystery +that enveloped Anne and her father; and that might help me to shape my +plans. + +I would, of course, have to tell him the reason for my inquiries, and +convince him that they were not prompted by mere curiosity. I was filled +with a queer sense of suppressed excitement as I walked briskly up the +steep lane and through the churchyard,--ghostly looking in the +moonlight,--which was the shortest way to the vicarage, a picturesque +old house that Mary and I had already viewed from the outside, and +judged to be Jacobean in period. As I was shown into a low-ceiled room, +panelled and furnished with black oak, where the vicar sat beside a log +fire, blazing cheerily in the great open fireplace, I felt as if I'd +been transported back to the seventeenth century. The only anachronisms +were my host's costume and my own, and the box of cigars on the table +beside him, companioning a decanter of wine and a couple of tall, +slender glasses that would have rejoiced a connoisseur's heart. + +Mr. Treherne welcomed me genially. + +"You won't find the fire too much? There are very few nights in our West +Country, here by the sea at any rate, when a fire isn't a comfort after +sunset; a companion, too, for a lonely man, eh? It's very good of you to +come round to-night, Mr. Wynn. I have very few visitors, as you may +imagine. And so you have met my old friend, Anthony Pendennis?" + +I was thankful of the opening he afforded me, and answered promptly. + +"Yes; but only once, and in an extraordinary way. I'll tell you all +about it, Mr. Treherne; and in return I ask you to give me every bit of +information you may possess about him. I shall respect your confidence, +as, I am sure, you will respect mine." + +"Most certainly I shall do that, Mr. Wynn," he said with quiet emphasis, +and forthwith I plunged into my story, refraining only from any allusion +to Anne's connection with Cassavetti's murder. That, I was determined, I +would never mention to any living soul; determined also to deny it +pointblank if any one should suggest it to me. + +He listened with absorbed interest, and without any comment; only +interposing a question now and then. + +"It is astounding!" he said gravely at last. "And so that poor child has +been drawn into the whirlpool of Russian politics, as her mother was +before her,--to perish as she did!" + +"Her mother?" I asked. + +"Yes, did she--Anne Pendennis--never tell you, or your cousin, her +mother's history?" + +"Never. I doubt if she knew it herself. She cannot remember her mother +at all; only an old nurse who died some years ago. Do you know her +mother's history, sir?" + +"Partly; I'll tell you all I do know, Mr. Wynn,--confidence for +confidence, as you said just now. She was a Polish lady,--the Countess +Anna Vassilitzi; I think that was the name, though after her marriage +she dropped her title, and was known here in England merely as Mrs. +Anthony Pendennis. Her father and brother were Polish noblemen, who, +like so many others of their race and rank, had been ruined by Russian +aggression; but I believe that, at the time when Anthony met and fell in +love with her,--not long before the assassination of the Tzar Alexander +the Second,--the brother and sister at least were in considerable favor +at the Russian Court; though whether they used their position there for +the purpose of furthering the political intrigues in which, as +transpired later, they were both involved, I really cannot say. I fear +it is very probable. + +"I remember well the distress of Mr. and Mrs. Pendennis,--Anthony's +parents,--when he wrote and announced his engagement to the young +countess. He was their only child, and they had all the old-fashioned +English prejudice against 'foreigners' of every description. Still they +did not withhold their consent; it would have been useless to do so, for +Anthony was of age, and had ample means of his own. He did not bring his +wife home, however, after their marriage; they remained in Russia for +nearly a year, but at last, soon after the murder of the Tzar, they came +to England,--to Pencarrow. + +"They did not stay many weeks; but during that period I saw a good deal +of them. Anthony and I had always been good friends, though he was +several years my junior, and we were of entirely different temperaments; +his was, and is, I have no doubt, a restless, romantic disposition. His +people ought to have made a soldier or sailor of him, instead of +expecting him to settle down to the humdrum life of a country gentleman! +While as for his wife--" + +He paused and stared hard at the ruddy glow of the firelight, as if he +could see something pictured therein, something that brought a strange +wistfulness to his fine old face. + +"She was the loveliest and most charming woman I've ever seen!" he +resumed emphatically. "As witty as she was beautiful; a gracious +wit,--not the wit that wounds, no, no! 'A perfect woman nobly +planned'--that was Anna Pendennis; to see her, to know her, was to love +her! Did I say just now that she misused her influence at the Russian +Court in the attempt to further what she believed to be a right and holy +cause--the cause of freedom for an oppressed people? God forgive me if I +did! At least she had no share in the diabolical plot that succeeded all +too well,--the assassination of the only broad-minded and humane +autocrat Russia has ever known. I'm a man of peace, sir, but I'd +horsewhip any man who dared to say to my face that Anna Pendennis was a +woman who lent herself to that devilry, or any other of the kind--yes, +I'd do that even now, after the lapse of twenty-five years!" + +"I know," I said huskily. "That's just how I feel about Anne. She must +be very like her mother!" + + + + +CHAPTER XXX + +A BYGONE TRAGEDY + + +He sat so long silent after that outburst that I feared he might not be +willing to tell me any more of what I was painfully eager to hear. + +"Did she--the Countess Anna--die here, sir?" I asked at last. + +He roused himself with a start. + +"I beg your pardon; I had almost forgotten you were there," he said +apologetically. "Die here? No; better, far better for her if she had! +Still, she was not happy here. The old people did not like her; did not +try to like her; though I don't know how they could have held out +against her, for she did her best to conciliate them, to conform to +their narrow ways,--except to the extent of coming to church with them. +She was a devout Roman Catholic, and she explained to me once how the +tenacity with which the Polish gentry held to their religious views was +one more cause of offence against them in the eyes of the Russian +bureaucracy and episcopacy. I don't think Mrs. Pendennis--Anthony's +mother--ever forgave me for the view I took of this matter; she +threatened to write to the bishop. She was a masterful old lady--and I +believe she would have done it, too, if Anthony and his wife had +remained in the neighborhood. But the friction became unbearable, and +he took her away. I never saw her again; never again! + +"They went to London for a time; and from there they both wrote to me. +We corresponded frequently, and they invited me to go and stay with +them, but I never went. Then--it was in the autumn of '83--they returned +to Russia, and the letters were less frequent. They were nearly always +from Anna; Anthony was never a good correspondent! I do not know even +now whether he wrote to his parents, or they to him. + +"I had had no news from Russia for some months, when Mr. Pendennis died +suddenly; he had been ailing for a long time, but the end came quite +unexpectedly. Anthony was telegraphed for and came as quickly as +possible. I saw very little of him during his stay, a few days only, +during which he had to get through a great amount of business; but I +learned that his wife was in a delicate state of health, and he was +desperately anxious about her. I fear he got very little sympathy from +his mother, whose aversion for her daughter-in-law had increased, if +that were possible, during their separation. Poor woman! Her rancour +brought its own punishment! She and her son parted in anger, never to +meet again. She only heard from him once,--about a month after he left, +to return to Russia; and then he wrote briefly, brutally in a way, +though I know he was half mad at the time. + +"'My wife is dead, though not in childbirth. If I had been with her, I +could have saved her,' he wrote. 'You wished her dead, and now your +wish is granted; but I also am dead to you. I shall never return to +England; I shall never bring my child home to the house where her mother +was an alien.' + +"He has kept his word, as you know. He did not write to me at all; and +it was years before I heard what had happened during his absence, and on +his return. When he reached the frontier he was arrested and detained in +prison for several days. Then, on consideration of the fact that he was +a British subject--" + +"That doesn't weigh for much in Russia to-day," I interpolated. + +"It did then. He was informed that his wife had been arrested as an +accomplice in a Nihilist plot; that she had been condemned to +transportation to Siberia, but had died before the sentence could be +executed. Also that her infant, born a few days before her arrest, had +been deported, with its nurse, and was probably awaiting him at +Konigsberg. Finally he himself was conducted to the frontier again, and +expelled from 'Holy Russia.' The one bit of comfort was the child, whom +he found safe and sound under the care of the nurse, a German who had +taken refuge with her kinsfolk in Konigsberg, and who confirmed the +terrible story. + +"I heard all this about ten years ago," Treherne continued, "when by the +purest chance I met Pendennis in Switzerland. I was weather-bound by a +premature snowstorm for a couple of days, and among my fellow sufferers +at the little hostelry were Anthony and his daughter." + +"Anne herself! What was she like?" I asked eagerly. + +"A beautiful girl,--the image of her dead mother," he answered slowly. +"Or what her mother must have been at that age. She was then about--let +me see--twelve or thirteen, but she seemed older; not what we call a +precocious child, but womanly beyond her years, and devoted to her +father, as he to her. I took him to task; tried to persuade him to come +back to England,--to his own home,--if only for his daughter's sake. But +he would not listen to me. + +"'Anne shall be brought up as a citizeness of the world,' he declared. +'She shall never be subjected to the limitations of life in England.' + +"I must say they seemed happy enough together!" he added with a sigh. + +"Well, that is all I have to tell you, Mr. Wynn. From that day to this I +have neither seen nor heard aught of Anthony Pendennis and his daughter; +but I fear there is no doubt that he has allowed her--possibly even +encouraged her--to become involved with some of these terrible secret +societies, that do no good, but incalculable harm. Perhaps he may have +inspired her with an insane idea of avenging her mother; and now she has +shared her mother's fate!" + +"I will not believe that till I have proof positive," I said slowly. + +"But how can you get such proof?" he asked. + +"I don't know yet; but I'm going to seek it--to seek her!" + +"You will return to Russia?" + +"Why, yes; I meant to do that all along; whatever you might have told me +would have made no difference to that determination!" + +"But, my dear young man, you will be simply throwing your life away!" he +remonstrated. + +"I think not, and it's not very valuable, anyway. I thank you for your +story, sir; it helps me to understand things a bit,--Anne's motive, and +her father's; and it gives me a little hope that they may have escaped, +for the time, anyhow. He evidently knew the neighborhood well, or he +couldn't have turned up at that meeting; and if once he could get her +safely back to Petersburg, he could claim protection for them both at +the Embassy, though--" + +"If he had been able to do that, surely he or she would have +communicated with your cousin, Mrs. Cayley?" he asked, speaking the +thought that was in my own mind. + +"That's so; still there's no use in conjecturing. You'll not let my +cousin get even a hint of what I've told you, Mr. Treherne? If she +finds out that Pencarrow belongs to Mr. Pendennis, she'll surely +cross-question you about him, and Mary's so sharp that she'll see at +once you're concealing something from her, if you're not very discreet." + +"Thanks for the warning. I promise you that I'll be very discreet, Mr. +Wynn," he assured me. "Dear me--dear me, it seems incredible that such +things should be!" + +It did seem incredible, there in that peaceful old-world room, with +never a sound to break the silence but the lazy murmur of the waves, far +below; heard faintly but distinctly,--a weird, monotonous, never ceasing +undersong. + +We parted cordially; he came right out to the porch, and I was afraid +he might offer to walk some of the way with me. I wanted to be alone to +try and fix things up in my mind; for though the history of Anne's +parentage gave me a clue to her motives, there was much that still +perplexed me. + +Why had she always told Mary that she knew nothing of Russia,--had never +been there? Well, doubtless that was partly for Mary's own sake, to +spare her anxiety, and partly because of the vital necessity for +secrecy; but a mere evasion would have served as well as the direct +assertion,--I hated to call it a lie even in my own mind! And why, oh +why had she not trusted me, let me serve her; for she knew, she must +have known--that I asked for nothing better than that! + +But I could come to no conclusion whatever as I leaned against the +churchyard wall, gazing out over the sea, dark and mysterious save where +the moonlight made a silver track across the calm surface. As well try +to fathom the secret of the sea as the mystery that enshrouded Anne +Pendennis! + +On one point only I was more resolved than ever,--to return to Russia at +the earliest possible moment. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXI + +MISHKA TURNS UP + + +"You must have found Cornish history very fascinating, Maurice," Mary +declared at breakfast-time next morning. "Jim says it was nearly twelve +when you got back. You bad boy to keep such late hours, after you've +been so ill, too!" + +"I'm all right again now," I protested. "And the vicar certainly is a +very interesting companion." + +There were a couple of letters, one from the _Courier_ office, and +another from Harding, Lord Southbourne's private secretary, and both +important in their way. + +Harding wrote that Southbourne would be in town at the end of the week, +_en route_ for Scotland, and wished to see me if I were fit for service. +"A soft job this time, a trip to the States, so you'll be able to +combine business with pleasure." + +Under any other circumstances I could have done with a run home; but +even while I read the letter I decided that Southbourne would have to +entrust the matter--whatever it might be--to some one else. + +I opened the second letter, a typed note, signed by Fenning the news +editor, enclosing one of the printed slips on which chance callers have +to write their name and business. I glanced at that first, and found it +filled in with an almost indecipherable scrawl. I made out the name and +address right enough as "M. Pavloff, Charing Cross Hotel," and puzzled +over a line in German, which I at length translated as "bearing a +message from Johann." Now who on earth were Pavloff and Johann? + + "Dear Wynn," the note ran: + + "One of your Russian friends called here to-night, and + wanted your address, which of course was not given. I saw + him--a big surly-looking man, who speaks German fairly well, + but would not state his business--so I promised to send + enclosed on to you. + + "Hope you're pulling round all right! + + "Yours sincerely, + "WALTER FENNING." + +A big surly-looking man. Could it be Mishka? I scarcely dared hope it +was, remembering how and where I parted from him; but that underlined +"Johann" might--must mean "Ivan," otherwise the Grand Duke Loris. To +give the German rendering of the name was just like Mishka, who was the +very embodiment of caution and taciturnity. + +"Well, I've got my marching orders," I announced. "I'll have to go back +to London to-day, Mary, to meet Southbourne. Where's the time-table?" + +Mary objected, of course, on the score that I was not yet strong enough +for work, and I reassured her. + +"Nonsense, dear; I'm all right, and I've been idle too long." + +"Idle! When you've turned out that Russian series." + +"A month ago, and I haven't done a stroke since." + +"But is this anything special?" she urged. "Lord Southbourne is not +sending you abroad again,--to Russia?" + +"No fear of that, little woman; and if he did they would stop me at the +frontier, so don't worry. Harding mentioned the States in his note." + +"Oh, that would be lovely!" she assented, quite reassured. I was +thankful that she and Jim were settled down in this out-of-the-way place +for the next few weeks, any way. It would be easy to keep them in +ignorance of my movements, and, once away, they wouldn't expect to hear +much of me. In my private capacity I was a proverbially remiss +correspondent. + +They both came with me the seven-mile drive to the station; and even +Jim, to my relief, didn't seem to have the least suspicion that my +hurried departure was occasioned by any other reason than that I had +given. + +Anne's name had never been mentioned between him and myself since my +release. Perhaps he imagined I was forgetting her, though Mary knew +better. + +I sent a wire from Exeter to "M. Pavloff," and when I arrived at +Waterloo, about half-past ten at night, I drove straight to the Charing +Cross Hotel, secured a room there, and asked for Herr Pavloff. + +I was taken up to a private sitting-room, and there, right enough, was +Mishka himself. In his way he was as remarkable a man as his master; as +imperturbable, and as much at home in a London hotel, as in the café +near the Ismailskaia Prospekt in Petersburg. + +He greeted me with a warmth that I felt to be flattering from one of his +temperament. In many ways he was a typical Russian, almost servile, in +his surly fashion, towards those whom he conceived to be immeasurably +his superiors in rank; more or less truculent towards every one else; +and, as a rule, suspicious of every one, high or low, with whom he came +in contact, save his master, and, I really believe, myself. + +At an early stage in our acquaintanceship he had abandoned the air of +sulky deference which he had shown when we first met on the car +returning to Dunaburg after the accident, and had treated me more or +less _en camarade_, though in a kind of paternal manner; and yet I doubt +if he was my senior in years. He was a man of considerable education, +too, though he was usually careful to conceal the fact. To this day I do +not know the exact position he held in his master's service. It may +perhaps be described as that of confidential henchman,--a medićval +definition, but in Russia one is continually taken back to the Middle +Ages. One thing, at least, was indubitable,--his utter devotion to his +master. + +"So, the little man kept his word, and sent for you. That is well. And +you have come promptly; that also is well. It is what you would do," he +said, eying me quite affectionately. "We did not expect to meet +again,--and in England, _hein_?" + +"That we didn't!" I rejoined. "Say, Mishka, how did you get clear; and +how did you know where to find me?" + +"One thing at a time. First, I have brought you a letter. Read it." + +With exasperating deliberation he fetched out a bulky pocket-book, and +extracted therefrom a packet, which proved to be a thick cream envelope, +carefully protected from soilure by an outer wrapping of paper. + +Within was a letter written in French, and in a curiously fine, precise +caligraphy. It was dated August 10th, from the Castle of Zostrov, and +it conveyed merely an invitation to visit the writer, and the assurance +that the bearer would give me all necessary information. + +"I can offer you very little in the way of entertainment, unless you +happen to be a sportsman, which I think is probable. There is game in +abundance, from bear downwards," was the last sentence. + +It was a most discreet communication, signed merely with the initial +"L." + +"Read it," I said, handing it to Mishka. He glanced through it, nodded, +and handed it back. He knew its contents before, doubtless; but still I +gathered that he could read French as well as German. + +"Well, are you coming?" he asked. + +"Why, certainly; but what about the information his Highness mentions?" + +He put up his hand with a swift, warning gesture, and glanced towards +the door, muttering: + +"There is no need of names or titles." + +"Or of precautions here!" I rejoined impatiently. "Remember, we are +in England, man!" + +"True, I forgot; but still, caution is always best. About this +information. What do you wish to know?" + +"Why, everything, man; everything! How did you escape? What +is--he--doing at this place; have you news of _her_? That first, +and above all!" + +"That I cannot give, for I have it not. I think he knows somewhat, +and if that is so he himself will tell you. But I have heard +nothing--nothing! For the rest, I crawled further into the forest, and +lay quiet there. I heard enough through the night to know somewhat at +least that was befalling, but I kept still. What could I have done to +aid? And later, I made my way to a place of safety; and thence, in due +time, to Zostrov, where I joined my master. It is one of his estates, +and he is banished there, for how long? Who can say? Till those about +the Tzar alter their minds, or till he himself sees reason to go +elsewhere! They dare do nothing more to him, openly, for he is a prince +of the blood, when all is said, and the Tzar loves him; so does the +Tzarina (God guard her), though indeed that counts for little! It is not +much, this banishment,--to him at least. It might have been worse. And +he is content, for the present. He finds much work ready to his hand. We +get news, too; much more news than some imagine,--the censor among them. +We heard of your deliverance almost as soon as it was accomplished, and, +later, of your--what do you call it?" + +"Acquittal?" I suggested. + +"That would be the word; you were proved innocent." + +"Not exactly; there was not sufficient evidence of my guilt and so I was +discharged," I answered; and as I spoke I remembered that, even now, I +was liable to be rearrested on that same charge, since I had not been +tried and acquitted by a jury. + +"We know, of course," he continued, "that you did not murder that swine +Selinski." + +"How do you know that?" I demanded. + +"That I may not tell you, but this I may: if you had been condemned, +well--" + +He blew a big cloud of smoke from his cigar, a cloud that obscured his +face, and out of it he spoke enigmatically: + +"Rest assured you will never be hung for the murder of Vladimir +Selinski, although twenty English juries might pronounce you guilty! +But enough of that. The question is will you return with me, or will you +not? He has need of you; or thinks he has, which is the same thing; and +I can smooth the way. There will be risks." + +"I know all about that," I interrupted impatiently. "And I shall go with +you, of course!" + +"Of course," he acquiesced phlegmatically. But, as he spoke, he held out +his big blunt hand; and I gripped it hard. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXII + +BACK TO RUSSIA ONCE MORE + + +Two days later I saw Lord Southbourne, and resigned my position as a +member of his staff. I felt myself mean in one way, when I thought of +how he had backed me right through that murder business,--and before it, +when he set Freeman on my track. + +He showed neither surprise nor annoyance; in fact he seemed, if +anything, more nonchalant than usual. + +"Well, of course you know your own affairs best. I haven't any use for +men who cultivate interests outside their work; and you've done the +straight thing in resigning now that you 'here a duty divided do +perceive,' as I heard a man say the other day." + +"Von Eckhardt!" I exclaimed. + +"Guessed it first time," he drawled. "Could any one else in this world +garble quotations so horribly? If he would only give 'em in German they +would be more endurable, but he insists on exhibiting his English. By +the way, he has relinquished his vendetta." + +"That on Carson's account?" + +"Yes, he believes the murderer, or murderers, must have been wiped out +in that affair where you came to grief so signally. He had heard about +it before he saw your stuff, though no official account was allowed to +get through; and he gave me some rather interesting information, quite +gratuitously." + +"Does it concern me, or--any one I know?" I asked, steadying my voice +with an effort. + +"Well, not precisely; since you only know the lady by repute, and by her +portrait." + +I remembered that Von Eckhardt was the one person besides myself who was +aware of Anne's identity, which I had betrayed to him in that one +unguarded moment at Berlin, for which I had reproached myself ever +since. True, before I parted from him, I had exacted a promise that he +would never reveal the fact that he knew her English name; never mention +it to any one. But he was an erratic and forgetful individual; he might +have let the truth out to Southbourne, but the latter's face, as I +watched it, revealed nothing. + +"Oh, that mysterious and interesting individual," I said indifferently. +"Do you mind telling what he said about her?" + +"Not at all. It appears that he admires her enthusiastically, in a quite +impersonal sort of way--high-flown and sentimental. He's a typical +German! He says she is back in Russia, with her father or uncle. She +belongs to the Vassilitzi family, Poles who have been political +intriguers for generations, and have suffered accordingly. They're +actively engaged in repairing the damage done to their precious Society +in that incident you know of, when all the five who formed the +executive, and held and pulled the strings, were either killed or +arrested." + +This was startling news enough, and it was not easy to maintain the +non-committal air of mild interest that I guessed to be the safest. +Still I think I did manage it. + +"That's queer," I remarked. "He said the Society had turned against her, +condemned her to death." + +Southbourne shrugged his shoulders slightly. + +"I'm only repeating what he told me. Thought you might like to hear it. +She must be an energetic young woman; wish I had her on my staff. If you +should happen to meet her you can tell her so. I'd give her any terms +she liked to ask." + +Was he playing with me,--laughing at me? I could not tell. + +"All right, I'll remember; though if she's in Russia it's very unlikely +that I shall ever see her in the flesh," I said coolly. "Did he say just +where she was? Russia's rather vague." + +"No. Shouldn't wonder if she wasn't Warsaw way. McIntyre--he's at +Petersburg in your place--says they're having no end of ructions there, +and asked if he should go down,--but it's not worth the risk. He's a +good man, a safe one, but he's not the sort to get stuff through in +defiance of the censor, though he's perfectly willing to face any amount +of physical danger. So I told him not to go; especially as we shan't +want any more sensational Russian stuff at present; unless--well, of +course, if you should happen on any good material, you can send it +along; for I presume you are not going over to Soper, eh?" + +"Of course I'm not!" I said with some warmth. Soper was chief proprietor +of several newspapers in direct opposition to the group controlled by +Southbourne, and he certainly had made me more than one advantageous +offer,--the latest only a week or two back, just after my Russian +articles appeared in _The Courier_. + +"I didn't suppose you were, though I know he wants you," Southbourne +rejoined. "I should rather like to know what you are up to; but it's +your own affair, of course, and you're quite right to keep your own +counsel. Anyhow, good luck to you, and good-bye, for the present." + +I was glad the interview was over, though it left me in ignorance as to +how much he knew or suspected about my movements and motives. I guessed +it to be a good deal; or why had he troubled to tell me the news he had +heard from Von Eckhardt? If it were true, if Anne were no longer in +danger from her own party, and was again actively associated with it, +her situation was at least less perilous than it had been before, when +she was threatened on every side. And also my chances of getting into +communication with her were materially increased. + +I related what I had learned to Mishka, who made no comment beyond a +grunt which might mean anything or nothing. + +"Do you think it is true?" + +"Who knows? It is over a fortnight since I left; and many things may +happen in less time. Perhaps we shall learn when we return, perhaps +not." + +In some ways Mishka was rather like a Scotsman. + +A few days later his preparations were complete. The real or ostensible +object of his visit to England was to buy farm implements and machinery, +as agent for his father, who, I ascertained, was land steward of part of +the Zostrov estates, and therefore a person of considerable importance. +That fact, in a way, explained Mishka's position, which I have before +defined as that of "confidential henchman." I found later that the +father, as the son, was absolutely devoted to their master, who in his +turn trusted them both implicitly. They were the only two about him +whom he could so trust, for, as he had once told me, he was surrounded +by spies. + +Mishka's business rendered my re-entry into the forbidden land an easily +arranged matter. Several of the machines he bought were American +patents, and my rôle was that of an American mechanic in charge of them. +As a matter of fact I do know a good deal about such things; and I had +never forgotten the apprenticeship to farming I had served under my +father in the old home. Poor old dad! As long as he lived he never +forgave me for turning my back on the farm and taking to journalism, +after my college course was over. He was all the more angry with me +because, as he said, in the vacation I worked better than any two +laborers; as I did,--there's no sense in doing things by halves! + +It would have been a very spry Russian who had recognized Maurice Wynn, +the physical wreck that had left Russia in the custody of two British +police officers less than three months back, in "William P. Gould," a +bearded individual who spoke no Russian and only a little German, and +whose passport--issued by the American Minister and duly _viséd_ by the +Russian Ambassador in London--described him as a native of Chicago. + +Also we travelled by sea, from Hull to Riga, taking the gear along with +us; which in itself minimized the chance of detection. + +We were to travel by rail from Riga to Wilna, via Dunaburg; and the rest +of the journey, rather over than under a hundred and twenty miles, must +be by road, riding or driving. From Wilna the goods we were taking would +follow us under a military escort. + +"How's that?" I asked, when Mishka told me of this. "Who's going to +steal a couple of wagon-loads of farm things?" + +His reply was enigmatic. + +"You think you know something of Russia, because you've seen Petersburg +and Moscow, and have never been more than ten miles from a railroad. +Well, you are going to know something more now; not much, perhaps, but +it may teach you that those who keep to the railroad see only the froth +of a seething pot. We know what is in the pot, but you, and others like +you, do not; therefore you wonder that the froth is what it is." + +A seething pot. The time soon came when I remembered his simile, and +acknowledged its truth; and I knew then that that pot was filled with +hell-broth! + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIII + +THE ROAD TO ZOSTROV + + +Even before we left Riga,--where we were delayed for a couple of days +getting our goods through the Customs and on to the train,--I realized +somewhat at least of the meaning of Mishka's enigmatic utterance. Not +that we experienced any adventures. I suppose I played my part all right +as the American mechanic whose one idea was safeguarding the machinery +he was in charge of. Anyhow we got through the necessary interviews with +truculent officials without much difficulty. Most of them were unable to +understand the sort of German I chose to fire off at them, and had to +rely on Mishka's services as interpreter. The remarks they passed upon +me were not exactly complimentary,--low-grade Russian officials are +foul-mouthed enough at the best of times, and now, imagining that +I did not know what they were saying, they let loose their whole +vocabulary,--while I blinked blandly through the glasses I had assumed, +and, in reply to a string of filthy abuse, mildly suggested that they +should get a hustle on, and pass the things promptly. + +I quite appreciated the humor of the situation, and I guess Mishka did +so, too, for more than once I saw his deep-set eyes twinkle just for a +moment, as he discreetly translated my remarks, and, at the same time, +cordially endorsed our tyrants' freely expressed opinions concerning +myself. + +"You have done well, 'Herr Gould,' yes, very well," he condescended to +say, when we were at last through with the troublesome business. "We are +safe enough so far, though for my part I shall be glad to turn my back +on this hole, where the trouble may begin at any moment." + +"What trouble?" I asked. + +"God knows," he answered evasively, with a characteristic movement of +his broad shoulders. "Can you not see for yourself that there is trouble +brewing?" + +I had seen as much. The whole moral atmosphere seemed surcharged with +electricity; and although as yet there was no actual disturbance, beyond +the individual acts of ruffianism that are everyday incidents in all +Russian towns, the populace, the sailors, and the soldiery eyed each +other with sullen menace, like so many dogs, implacably hostile, but not +yet worked up to fighting pitch. A few weeks later the storm burst, and +Riga reeked with fire and carnage, as did many another city, town, and +village, from Petersburg to Odessa. + +I discerned the same ominous state of things--the calm before the +storm--at Dunaburg and Wilna, but it was not until we had left the +railroad and were well on our two days' cross-country ride to Zostrov +that I became acquainted with two important ingredients in that +"seething pot" of Russian affairs,--to use Mishka's apt simile. Those +two ingredients were the peasantry and the Jews. + +Hitherto I had imagined, as do most foreigners, whose knowledge of +Russia is purely superficial, and does not extend beyond the principal +cities, that what is termed the revolutionary movement was a conflict +between the governing class,--the bureaucracy which dominates every one +from the Tzar himself, an autocrat in name only, downwards,--and the +democracy. The latter once was actively represented only by the various +Nihilist organizations, but now includes the majority of the urban +population, together with many of the nobles who, like Anne's kindred, +have suffered, and still suffer so sorely under the iron rule of +cruelty, rapacity, and oppression that has made Russia a byword among +civilized nations since the days of Ivan the Terrible. But now I +realized that the movement is rendered infinitely complex by the +existence of two other conflicting forces,--the _moujiks_ and the Jews. +The bureaucracy indiscriminately oppresses and seeks to crush all three +sections; the democracy despairs of the _moujiks_ and hates the Jews, +though it accepts their financial help; while the _moujiks_ distrust +every one, and also hate the Jews, whom they murder whenever they get +the chance. + +That's how the situation appeared to me even then, before the curtain +went up on the final act of the tragedy in which I and the girl I loved +were involved; and the fact that all these complex elements were present +in that tragedy must be my excuse for trying to sum them up in a few +words. + +I've knocked around the world somewhat, and have had many a long and +perilous ride through unknown country, but never one that interested me +more than this. I've said before that Russia is still back in the Middle +Ages, but now, with every verst we covered, it seemed to me we were +getting farther back still,--to the Dark Ages themselves. + +We passed through several villages on the first day, all looking +exactly alike. A wide thoroughfare that could not by any stretch of +courtesy be called a street or road, since it showed no attempt at +paving or making and was ankle-deep in filthy mud, was flanked by +irregular rows of low wooden huts, reeking with foulness, and more like +the noisome lairs of wild beasts than human habitations. Their +inhabitants looked more bestial than human,--huge, shaggy men who peered +sullenly at us with swinish eyes, bleared and bloodshot with +drunkenness; women with shapeless figures and blunt faces, stolid masks +expressive only of dumb hopeless endurance of misery,--the abject misery +that is the lot of the Russian peasant woman from birth to death. I was +soon to learn that this centuries' old habit of patient endurance was +nearly at an end, and that when once the mask is thrown aside the fury +of the women is more terrible, because more deliberate and merciless, +than the brutality of the men. + +At a little distance, perhaps, would be a small chapel with the priest's +house adjacent, and the somewhat more commodious houses of the +tax-gatherer and _starosta_--the head man of the village, when he +happened to be a farmer. Sometimes he was a kalak keeper, scarce one +degree superior to his fellows. One could tell the tax-gatherer's house +a mile away by its prosperous appearance, and the kind of courtyard +round it, closed in with a solid breast-high log fence; for in these +days the hated official may at any moment find his house besieged by a +mob of vodka-maddened _moujiks_ and implacable women. If he and his +guard of one or two armed _stragniki_ (rural police) are unable to hold +out till help comes,--well, there is red murder, another house in +flames, a vodka orgy in the frenzied village, and retribution next day +or the day after, when the Cossacks arrive, and there is more red +murder. Then every man, woman, and child left in the place is +slaughtered; and the agglomeration of miserable huts that form the +village is burned to the ground. + +That, at least, is the explanation Mishka gave me when we rode through a +heap of still smouldering and indescribably evil-smelling ruins, where +there was no sign of life, beyond a few disreputable-looking pigs and +fowls grubbing about in what should have been the cultivated ground. The +peasant's holdings are inconceivably neglected, for the _moujik_ is the +laziest creature on God's earth. In the days of his serfdom he worked +under the whip, but as a freeman he has reduced his labor to a minimum, +especially since the revolutionary propagandists have told him that he +is the true lord of the soil, who should pay no taxes, and should live +at ease,--and in sloth. + +The sight and stench of that holocaust sickened me, but Mishka rode +forward stolidly, unmoved either physically or mentally. + +"They bring it on themselves," he said philosophically. "If they would +work more and drink less they could live and pay their taxes well enough +and there would be no trouble." + +"But why on earth didn't they make themselves scarce after they'd +settled scores with the tax collector, instead of waiting to be +massacred?" I mused. + +"God knows," said Mishka. "The _moujik_ is a beast that goes mad at the +sight and smell of blood, and one that takes no thought for the morrow. +Also, where would they run to? They would soon be hunted down. Now they +have had their taste of blood, and paid for it in full, that is all. +There were no Jews there," he jerked his head backwards, "otherwise they +might have had their taste without payment." + +"What do you mean?" I asked. + +He shrugged his broad shoulders. + +"Wait, and perhaps you will see. Have you never heard of a _pogrom_?" + +And that was all I could get out of him at the time. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIV + +THE OLD JEW + + +We halted for the night at a small town, with some five or six thousand +inhabitants as I judged, of whom three-fourths appeared to be Jews. +Compared with the villages we had passed, the place was a flourishing +one; and seemed quiet enough, though here again, as at Wilna and Riga, +there was something ominous in the air. Nearly all the business was in +the hands of the Jews; and their shops and houses, poor enough, +according to civilized notions, were far and away more prosperous +looking than those of their Russian neighbors; while their synagogue was +the most imposing block in the town, which is not saying much, perhaps. + +We put up at the best inn in the place, where we found fresh horses +waiting us, as we had done at a village half-way on our day's march, +under the care of a couple of men in uniform. There was a telegraph wire +to Zostrov, and Mishka had sent word of our coming. I learned later +that, when the Grand Duke was in residence, a constant line of +communication was maintained with relays of horses for carriages or +riders between the Castle and the railroad. + +I had wondered, when Mishka told me the arrangements for the journey, +why on earth motor cars weren't used over this last stage, but when I +found what the roads were like, when there were any roads at all, I +guessed it was wise to rely on horses, and on the light and strong +Russian travelling carriages that go gayly over the roughest track, +rather than on the best built motor procurable. + +The landlord of the inn was a Jew, of course,--a lean old man with +greasy ear locks and a long beard, above which his hooked nose looked +like the beak of a dejected eagle. He welcomed us with cringing +effusion, and gave us of his best. I'd have thought the place filthy, if +I hadn't seen and smelt those Russian villages; but it was well +appointed in a way. The dinner-table, set in the one bedroom which we +were to share, so that we might dine privately and in state, was spread +with a cloth, which, though grimy to a degree, was of fine damask, and +displayed forks, spoons, and candlesticks of solid silver. The frowsy +sheets and coverlids on the three beds were of linen and silk. Evidently +Moses Barzinsky was a wealthy man; and his wife,--a fat dame, with beady +eyes and a preposterous black wig,--served us up as good a meal as I've +ever tasted. I complimented her on it when she brought in the samovar; +for here, in the wilds, it didn't seem to matter about keeping up my +pretended ignorance of the language. She was flattered, and assumed +quite a motherly air towards me; she didn't cringe like her husband. As +I sat there, sipping my tea, and chatting with her, I little guessed +what would befall the comfortable, homely, good-tempered old lady a very +few days hence. Mishka listened in disapproving silence to our +interchange of badinage, and, when our hostess retreated, he entered on +a grumbling protest. + +"You are very indiscreet," he grunted. "Why do you want to chatter with +a thing like that?" + +He jerked his pipe towards the doorway; Mishka despised the cigarette +which, to every other Russian I have met, seems as necessary to life as +the air he breathes; and when he hadn't a cigar fell back on a +distinctly malodorous briar. + +"Why in thunder shouldn't I talk to her?" I demanded. "She's the only +creature I've heard laugh since I got back into Holy Russia; it cheers +one up a bit, even to look at her!" + +"You are a fool," was his complimentary retort. "And she is +another--like all women--or she would know these are no days for +laughter. But, I tell you once more, you cannot be too cautious. You +must remember that you know no Russian. You are only an American who has +come to help the prince while away his time of exile by trying to turn +the Zostrov _moujiks_ into good farmers. That, in itself, is a form of +madness, of course, but doubtless they think it may keep him out of more +dangerous mischief." + +"Who are 'they'? I wish you'd be a bit more explicit," I remonstrated. +He did make me angry sometimes. + +"That is not my business," he answered stolidly. "My business is to obey +orders, and one of those is to bring you safely to Zostrov." + +I could not see how my innocent conversation with the fat Jewish +housewife could endanger the safety of either of us; but I had already +learned that it was quite useless to argue with Mishka; so, adopting +Brer Fox's tactics, "I lay low and said nuffin." We smoked in silence +for some minutes, while I mused over the strangeness of my position. I +had determined to return to Russia in search of Anne; had hailed +Mishka's intervention, seized on the opportunity provided by the Grand +Duke's invitation, as if they were God-sent. And yet here I was, +seemingly even farther from news of her than I had been in England, +playing my part as a helpless pawn in a game that I did not understand +in the least. + +The landlord entered presently, and obsequiously beckoned Mishka to the +far end of the room, where they held a whispered conversation, which I +tried not to listen to, though I could not help overhearing frequent +references to the _starosta_ (mayor), an important functionary in a town +of this size, and the commandant of the garrison. From my post of +observation by the window I had already noticed a great number of +soldiers about; though whether there was anything unusual in the +presence of such a strong military force I, of course, did not know. + +Mishka crossed over to me. + +"I am going out for a time. You will remain here?" + +"I'll see. Perhaps I'll go for a stroll later," I replied. It had +occurred to me that he regarded me almost as a prisoner, and I wanted to +make sure on that point. + +"Please yourself," he returned in his sullen manner. "But if you go, +remember my warning, and observe caution. If there should be any +disturbance in the streets, keep out of it; or, if you should be within +here, close the shutters and put the lights out." + +"All right. I guess I'm fairly well able to take care of myself," I said +imperturbably; though I thought he might have given me credit for the +possession of average common sense, anyhow! + +I went out soon after he did, more as a kind of assertion of my +independence than because I was inclined for a walk. It was some time +since I'd been so many hours in the saddle as I had that day, and I was +dead tired. + +It was a glorious autumn evening, clear and still, with the glow of the +sunset still lingering in the western sky, though the moon was rising, +and putting to shame the squalid lights of the streets and shops. The +sidewalks--a trifle cleaner and more level than the rutted roadway +between them--were thronged with passers; many of them were soldiers +swaggering in their disreputably slovenly uniforms, and leering at every +heavy-visaged Russian woman they met. I did not see one woman abroad +that evening who looked like a Jewess; though there were Jews in plenty, +slinking along unobtrusively, and eying the Russian soldiers and +townsmen askance, with glances compounded of fear and hatred. + +I attracted a good deal of attention; a foreigner was evidently an +unusual object in that town. But I was not really molested; and, acting +on Mishka's advice, I affected ignorance of the many and free remarks +passed on my personal appearance. + +I walked on, almost to the outskirts of the little town, and turned to +retrace my steps, when I was waylaid by a pedler, who had passed me a +minute or so before. He looked just like scores of others I had seen +within the last few minutes, except that he carried a small but heavy +pack, and walked heavily, leaning on his thick staff like a man wearied +with a long day's tramp. + +Now I found he had halted, and as I came abreast with him, he held out +one skinny hand with an arresting gesture. For a moment I thought he was +merely begging, but his first words dispelled that notion. + +"Is it wise of the English excellency to walk abroad alone,--here?" he +asked earnestly, in a voice and patois that sounded queerly familiar. I +stopped short and stared at him, and then, in a flash, I knew him, +though as yet he had not recognized me, save as a foreigner. + +He was the old Jew who had come to my flat on the night of Cassavetti's +murder! + +[Illustration: _Then, in a flash, I knew him._ Page 228] + + + + +CHAPTER XXXV + +A BAFFLING INTERVIEW + + +"It is less safe than the streets of London, perhaps," I said quietly, +in Russian. "But what of that? And how long is it since you left there, +my friend?" + +He peered at me suspiciously, and spread his free hand with the quaint, +graceful gesture he had used before. I'd have known the man anywhere by +that alone; though in some ways he looked different now, less frail and +emaciated than he had been, with a wiry vigor about him that made him +seem younger than I had thought him. + +"The excellency mistakes!" he said. "How should such an one as I get to +London?" + +"That is for you to say. I know only that you are the man who wanted to +see Vladimir Selinski. And now you've got to come and see me, at once, +at the inn kept by Moses Barzinsky." + +"Speak lower, Excellency," he stammered, glancing nervously around. "In +God's name, go back to your inn. You are in danger, as all strangers are +here; yea, and all others! That is why I warned you. But you mistake. I +am not the man you think, so why should I come to you? Permit me to go +on my way." + +He made as if to move on, and I couldn't detain him forcibly and insist +on his accompanying me, for that would have drawn attention to us. +Fortunately there were few people hereabouts, but those few were +already looking askance at us. + +An inspiration came to me. I thought of the red symbol that had dangled +from the key of Cassavetti's flat that night, and of the signal and +password Mishka had taught me in Petersburg. + +In two strides I caught up with him, touched his shoulder with the five +rapid little taps, thumb and fingers in succession, and said in his ear: +"You will come to Barzinsky's within the hour,--'For Freedom.' You +understand?" + +I guessed that would fetch him, for I felt him thrill--it was scarcely a +start--under the touch. + +"I will come, Excellency; I will not fail," he answered promptly. "But +go you now,--not hurriedly." + +I hadn't the least intention of hurrying, but passed on without further +parley, and reached the inn unhindered. Mishka had not yet returned, and +I told the landlord a pedler was coming to see me, and he was to be +brought up to my room at once. + +As I closed the shutters I wondered if he would come, or if he'd give me +the slip as he did in Westminster, but within half an hour Barzinsky +brought him up. The landlord looked quite scared, his ear-locks were +quivering with his agitation. + +"Yossof is here, Excellency," he announced, so he evidently knew my man. + +I nodded and motioned him out of the room, for he hovered around as if +he wanted to stay. + +Yossof stood at the end of the room, in an attitude of humility, his +gray head bowed, his dingy fur cap held in his skinny fingers; but his +piercing dark eyes were fixed earnestly on my face, and, when Barzinsky +was gone and the door was shut, he came forward and made his obeisance. + +"I know the Excellency now, although the beard has changed him," he said +quietly. His speech was much more intelligible than it had been that +time in Westminster. "I remember his goodness to me, a stranger in the +land. May the God of our fathers bless him! But I knew not then that he +also was one of us. Why have you not the new password, Excellency?" + +"I have but now come hither from England at the peril of my life, and as +yet I have met none whom I knew as one of us," I answered evasively. +"What is this new word? It is necessary that I should learn it," I +added, as he hesitated. + +"I will tell you its meaning only," he answered, watching me closely. +"It means 'in life and in death,'--but those are not the words." + +"Then I know them: _ŕ la vie et ŕ la mort_; is it not so?" I asked, +remembering the moment he spoke the names by which Anne was known to +others besides members of the League; for the police officer who had +superintended the searching of my rooms at Petersburg, and later, young +Mirakoff, had both mentioned one of them. + +I had hit on the right words first time, and Yossof, evidently relieved, +nodded, and repeated them after me, giving a queer inflection to the +French. + +"And where is she,--the gracious lady herself?" I asked. It was with an +effort that I forced myself to speak quietly; for my heart was thumping +against my ribs, and my throat felt dry as bone dust. What could--or +would--this weird creature tell me of Anne's present movements; and +could--or would--he tell me the secret of Cassavetti's murder? Through +all these weeks I had clung to the hope, the belief, that he himself +struck the blow, and now, as he stood before me, he appeared more +capable, physically, of such a deed than he had done then. But yet I +could scarcely believe it as I looked at him. + +He met my question with another, as Mishka so often did. + +"How is it you do not know?" + +"I have told you I have but now come to Russia." + +He spread his hands with a deprecatory gesture as if to soften his +reply, which, however, was spoken decisively enough. + +"Then I cannot tell you. Remember, Excellency, though you seem to be one +of us, I have little knowledge of you. In any matter touching myself I +would trust you; but in this I dare not." + +He was right in a way. Such knowledge as I had of the accursed League +was gained by trickery; and to question him further would arouse his +suspicion of that fact, and I should then learn nothing at all. + +"Listen," I said slowly and emphatically. "You may trust me to the death +in all matters that concern her whom you call your gracious lady. I was +beside her, with her father and one other, when the Five condemned +her,--would have murdered her if we had not defended her. She escaped, +God be thanked, but that I only learned of late. I was taken, thrown +into prison, taken thence back to England, to prison again, accused of +the murder of Vladimir Selinski,--of which I shall have somewhat more to +say to you soon! When I was freed, for I am innocent of that crime, as +you well know, I set out to seek her, to aid her if that might be; and, +if she was beyond my aid, at least to avenge her. I was about to start +alone when I heard that she was no longer threatened by the League; that +she was, indeed, once more at the head of it; but I failed to learn +where I might find her. Therefore I go to join one who is her good +friend, in the hope that I may through him be yet able to serve her. For +the League I care nothing,--all my care is for her. And therefore, as I +have said, you may trust me." + +He watched me fixedly as I spoke, but his gaunt face remained +expressionless; though his next words showed that he had understood me +well enough. + +"I can tell you nothing, Excellency. You say you care for her and not +for the League. That is impossible, for she is its life; her life is +bound up in it; she would wish your service for it,--never for herself! +This I will do. If she does not hear otherwise that you are at Zostrov, +as you will be to-morrow--though it is unlikely that she will not have +heard already--I will see that she has word. That is all I can do." + +"That must serve. You will not even say if she is near at hand?" + +"Who knows? She comes and goes. One day she is at Warsaw; the next at +Wilna; now at Grodno; again even here. Yes, she has been here no longer +than a week since, though she is not here now." + +So I had missed her by one week! + +"I do not know where she is to-day, nor where she will be to-morrow; in +this I verily speak the truth, Excellency," he continued. "Though I +shall perchance see her, when my present business is done. Be patient. +You will doubtless have news of her at Zostrov." + +"How do you know I am going there?" + +"Does not all the countryside know that a foreigner rides with Mishka +Pavloff? God be with you, Excellency." + +He made one of his quaint genuflexions and backed rapidly to the door. + +"Here, stop!" I commanded, striding after him. "There is more,--much +more to say. Why did you not keep your promise and return to me in +London? What do you know of Selinski's murder? Speak, man; you have +nothing to fear from me!" + +I had clutched his shoulder, and he made no attempt to free himself, but +drooped passively under my hand. But his quiet reply was inflexible. + +"Of all that I can tell you nothing, Excellency. It is best forgotten." + +There was a heavy footstep on the stair and next moment the door was +tried, and Mishka's voice exclaimed: "It is I. Open to me, Herr Gould." + +There was no help for it, so I drew back the bolt. The door had no +lock,--only bolts within and without. + +As Mishka entered, the Jew bowed low to him, and slipped through the +doorway. Mishka glanced sharply at me, muttered something about +returning soon, and followed Yossof, closing the door behind him and +shooting the outer bolt. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVI + +STILL ON THE ROAD + + +"Will you never learn wisdom?" demanded Mishka, when, after a few +minutes, he returned. "Why could you not rest here in safety?" + +"Because I wanted to walk some of my stiffness off," I replied coolly. +"I had quite a good time, and met an old acquaintance." + +"Who gave you much interesting news?" he asked, with a sardonic +inflection of his deep voice that made me guess Yossof had told him what +passed at our interview. + +"Why, no; I can't say that he did that," I confessed. Already I realized +that I had learned absolutely nothing from the Jew save the new +password, and the fact that he was, or soon would be, in direct +communication with Anne. + +Mishka gave an approving grunt. + +"There are some who might learn discretion from Yossof," he remarked +sententiously. + +"Just so. But who is he, anyhow? He might be 'the wandering Jew' +himself, from the mysterious way he seems to get around the world." + +"Who and what he is? That I cannot tell you, for I do not know, or seek +to know, since it is no business of mine. I go to bed; for we must start +betimes in the morning." + +Not another word did he speak, beyond a surly "good night;" but, though +I followed his example and got into bed, with my revolver laid handily +on the bolster as he had placed his, hours passed before sleep came to +me. I lay listening to Mishka's snores,--he was a noisy sleeper,--and +thinking of Anne; thinking of that one blissful month in London when I +saw her nearly every day. + +How vividly I remembered our first meeting, less than five months back, +though the events of a lifetime seemed to have occurred since then. It +was the evening of my return from South Africa; and I went, of course, +to dine at Chelsea, feeling only a mild curiosity to see this old +school-fellow of Mary's, whose praises she sang so enthusiastically. + +"She was always the prettiest and smartest girl in the school, but now +she's just the loveliest creature you ever saw," Mary had declared; and +though I wasn't rude enough to say so, I guessed I was not likely to +endorse that verdict. + +But when I saw Anne my scepticism vanished. I think I loved her from +that first moment, when she came sweeping into Mary's drawing-room in a +gown of some gauzy brown stuff, almost the color of her glorious hair, +with a bunch of white lilies at her bosom. She greeted me with a frank +friendliness that was much more like an American than an English girl; +indeed, even then, I never thought of her as English. She was, as her +father had told his friend Treherne he meant her to be, "cosmopolitan to +her finger-tips." She even spoke English with a curious precision and +deliberation, as one speaks a language one knows perfectly, but does not +use familiarly. She once confided to me that she always "thought" either +in French or German, preferably French. + +Strange that neither Mary nor I ever imagined there was any mystery in +her life; ever guessed how much lay behind her frank allusions to her +father, and the nomadic existence they had led. I wondered, for the +thousandth time, how it was that Jim first suspected her of concealing +something. How angry I was at him when he hinted his suspicions; and yet +he had hit on the exact truth! I knew now that her visit to Mary was not +what it had seemed,--but that she had seized upon the opportunity +presented by the invitation to snatch a brief interval of peace, and +comparative safety. If she had happened to encounter Cassavetti earlier, +doubtless her visit would have terminated then. Yes, that must be the +explanation; and how splendidly she had played her dangerous part! + +I hated to think of all the duplicity that part entailed; I would not +think of it. The part was thrust on her, from her birth, by her +upbringing, and if she played it gallantly, fearlessly, resourcefully, +the more honor to her. But it was a bitter thought that Fortune should +have thrust all this upon her! + +As I lay there in that frowzy room, staring at a shaft of moonlight that +came through a chink in the shutters, making a bar of light in the +darkness like a great, unsheathed sword, her face was ever before my +mind's eyes, vividly as if she were indeed present,--the lovely mobile +face, "growing and fading and growing before me without a sound," now +sparkling with mirth, now haughty as that of a petulant young queen +towards a disfavored courtier. Mary used to call her "dear Lady Disdain" +when she was in that mood. Again, it appeared pale and set as I had seen +it last, the wide brilliant eyes flashing indignant defiance at her +accusers; but more often with the strange, softened, wistful expression +it had worn when we stood together under the portico of the Cecil on +that fatal night; and when she waved me good-bye at Charing Cross. + +In those moments one phase of her complex nature had been uppermost; and +in those moments she loved me,--me, Maurice Wynn, not Loris Solovieff, +or any other! + +I would not have relinquished that belief to save my soul; although I +knew well that the mood was necessarily a transient one. She had devoted +her beauty, her talents, her splendid courage, her very life, to a +hopeless cause. She was as a queen, whose realm is beset with dangers +and difficulties, and who therefore can spare little or no thought for +aught save affairs of state; and I was as the page who loved her, and +whom she might have loved in return if she had been but a simple +gentlewoman. Once more I told myself that I would be content if I could +only play the page's part, and serve her in life and death, "_ŕ la vie +et ŕ la mort_" as the new password ran; but how was I even to begin +doing that? + +An unanswerable question! I must just go on blindly, as Fate led me; and +Fate at this moment was prosaically represented by Mishka. Great Scott, +how he snored! + +We were astir early; I seemed to have just fallen asleep when Mishka +roused me and announced that breakfast was waiting, and the horses +ready. + +We rode swiftly, and for the most part in silence, as my companion was +even less communicative than usual. I noticed, as we drew near to +Zostrov, a change for the better in the aspect of the country and the +people. The last twenty versts was over an excellent road, while the +streets of the village where we found our change of horses waiting, and +of two others beyond, were comparatively clean and well-kept, with +sidewalks laid with wooden blocks. The huts were more weather-tight and +comfortable,--outside at any rate. The land was better cultivated, too, +and the _moujiks_, though most of them scowled evilly at us, looked +better fed and better clothed than any we had seen before. They all wore +high boots,--a sure sign of prosperity. Yesterday boots were the +exception, and most of the people, both men and women, were shod with a +kind of moccasin made of plaited grass, and had their limbs swathed in +ragged strips of cloth kept clumsily in place with grass-string. + +"It is his doing," Mishka condescended to explain. "His and my father's. +He gives the word and the money, and my father and those under him do +the rest. They try to teach these lazy swine to work for their own +sakes,--to make the best of their land; it is to further that end that +all the new gear is coming. They will have the use of it--these +pigs--for nothing. They will not even give thanks; rather will they turn +and bite the hand that helps them; that tries to raise them out of the +mud in which they wallow!" + +He spat vigorously, as a kind of corollary to his remarks. + +As he spoke we were skirting a little pine wood just beyond the village, +and a few yards further the road wound clear of the trees and out across +an open plain, in the centre of which rose a huge, square building of +gray stone, crowned with a cupola that gleamed red in the rays of the +setting sun. + +"The castle!" Mishka grunted. + +"It looks more like a prison!" I exclaimed involuntarily. It was a grim, +sinister-looking pile, even with the sun upon it. + +Mishka did not answer immediately. There was a clatter and jingle behind +us, and out of the wood rode a company of horsemen, all in uniform. Two +rode ahead of the rest, one of them the Grand Duke himself. + +Mishka reined up at the roadside, and sat at the salute, and I followed +his example. + +The Duke did not even glance in our direction as he passed, though he +acknowledged our salute in soldierly fashion. + +We wheeled our horses and followed well in the rear of the imposing +escort,--a whole troop of cavalry. + +"You are right," Mishka said, in a husky growl, that with him +represented a whisper. "It is a prison, and yonder goes the prisoner. +You will do well to remember that in your dealings with him, Herr +Gould." + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVII + +THE PRISONER OF ZOSTROV + + +The castle stood within a great quadrangle, which we entered through a +massive stone gateway guarded by two sentries. Two more were stationed +at the top of a steep and wide marble stairway that led up to the +entrance hall, and the whole place seemed swarming with soldiers, and +servants in handsome liveries. A couple of grooms came to hold our +horses, and a third took possession of my valise, containing chiefly a +dress suit and some shirts. My other belongings were coming on in the +wagon. + +Mishka's manner underwent a decided change from the moment we entered +the castle precincts. The bluff and often grumpy air of familiarity was +gone, and in its place was the surly deference with which he had treated +me at first. As we neared the end of our journey, he had once more +warned me to be on my guard, and remember that I must appear as an utter +stranger to the Duke and all about him, except Mishka himself. + +"You have never been in Russia before," he repeated. "And you speak only +a few words of Russian, which I have taught you on our way. That will +matter little, since most here speak French and German." + +He parted from me with a deferential salute, after handing me over to +the care of a gorgeously attired functionary, whom I found to be a kind +of majordomo or house steward. This imposing person welcomed me very +courteously; and I gathered that I was supposed to be a new addition to +the Grand Duke's suite. I had rather wondered on what footing I should +be received here, especially since Mishka's remark, a while back, about +the "prisoner." But some one--Loris himself or Mishka, or both of +them--had planned things perfectly, and I am sure that no one beyond +ourselves and the elder Pavloff, who was also in the secret, had the +slightest suspicion that I was other than I appeared to be. + +My new acquaintance himself conducted me to the rooms prepared for +me,--a spacious bedroom and sitting-room, with plain, massive furniture, +including a big bookcase that occupied the whole of an alcove between +the great Russian stove and the outer wall. Facing this was a door +leading to a smaller dressing and bath room, where the lackey who had +carried up my valise was in waiting. + +"This Nicolai will be in attendance on you; he speaks German," my +courteous guide informed me in French. "He will bring you all you need; +you have only to give him orders. You will dine at the officers' mess, +and after dinner his Highness will give you audience." + +"Does Monsieur Pavloff--the land steward--live in the castle?" I asked, +thinking it wise to emphasize my assumed rôle. "I understand that I'll +have to work with him." + +"No; his house is some two versts distant. But he is often in attendance +here, naturally. Perhaps you will see him to-night; if not, without +doubt, you will meet him to-morrow. Nicolai awaits your orders, and your +keys." + +He bowed ceremoniously, and took himself off. + +That Nicolai was a smart fellow. He already had the bath prepared,--I +must have looked as if I wanted one,--and when I gave him the key of my +bag, he laid out my clothes with the quick deftness of a well-trained +valet. + +I told him I shouldn't want him any more at present, but when I had +bathed and changed, I found him still hovering around in the next room. +He had set a tea-table, on which the silver samovar was hissing +invitingly. He wanted to stay and wait on me, but I wouldn't have that. +Smart and attentive as he was, he got on my nerves, and I felt I'd +rather be alone. So I dismissed him, and, in obedience to some instinct +I didn't try to analyze, crossed the room softly, and locked the door +through which he had passed. + +I had scarcely seated myself, and poured out a glass of delicious +Russian tea,--which is as wine to water compared with the crude +beverage, diluted with cream, which Americans and western Europeans call +tea,--when I heard a queer little sound behind me. I glanced back, and +saw that one section of the big bookcase had moved forward slightly. +With my right hand gripping the revolver that I had transferred from my +travelling suit to the hip pocket of my evening clothes, I crossed +swiftly to the alcove, just as some three feet of the shelves swung +bodily inwards, revealing a doorway behind, in which stood none other +than Mishka. + +"The fool has gone; but is the outer door locked?" he asked in a +cautious undertone. + +"Yes," I answered, noticing as I spoke that he stood at the top of a +narrow spiral staircase. + +"That is well. Approach, Highness; all is safe," he whispered down the +darkness behind him, and flattened himself against the narrow wall +space, as a second figure came into sight,--the Grand Duke Loris +himself, who greeted me with outstretched hand. + +"I do not care for this sort of thing,--this elaborate secrecy, Mr. +Wynn," he said softly in English. "But unfortunately it is necessary. +Let us go through to your dressing-room. There it is less likely that we +can be overheard." + +I followed him in silence. He sat himself down on the wide marble edge +of the bath, and looked at me, as I stood before him, as though his +brilliant blue eyes would read my very soul. + +"So you have come; as I thought you would. And you are very welcome. But +why have you come?" + +"Because I hope to serve your Highness, and--she whom we both love," I +answered promptly. + +"Yes, I was sure of that, although we have met only twice or thrice. I +am seldom mistaken in a man whom I have once looked in the eyes; and I +know I can trust you, as I dare trust few others,--none within these +walls save the good Mishka. He has told you that I am virtually a +prisoner here?" + +I bowed assent. + +"I am closely guarded, my every word, my every gesture noted; though +when the time is ripe, or when she sends word that she needs me, I shall +slip away! There is a great game, a stern one, preparing; and there will +be a part for us both to play. I will give you the outline to-night, +when I shall come to you again. That staircase yonder leads down to my +apartments. I had it made years ago by foreign workmen, and none save +myself and the Pavloffs--and you now--know of its existence, so far. +In public we must be strangers; after the formal audience I give you +to-night I shall probably ignore you altogether. But as Gould, the +American farming expert, you will be able to come and go, riding the +estates with Pavloff--or without him--and yet rouse no suspicion. +To-night I shall return as I said; and now _au revoir_." + +He left just in time, for a minute or two after I had unlocked the +door, Nicolai reappeared, and conducted me to an ante-room where I found +quite a throng of officers, one of whom introduced himself as Colonel +Grodwitz, and presented me to several of the others. They all treated +me with the easy courtesy which well-bred Russians assume--and +discard--with such facility; but then, and later, I had to be constantly +on guard against innumerable questions, which, though asked in what +appeared to be a perfectly frank and spontaneous manner, were, I was +convinced, sprung on me for the purpose of ascertaining how much I knew +of Russia and its complicated affairs. + +But I was quite ready for them, and if they had any suspicions I hope +they abandoned them for the present. + +After dinner a resplendent footman brought a message to Grodwitz, who +thereupon told me that he was to conduct me to his Highness, who would +receive me now. + +"Say, what shall I have to do?" I asked confidentially as we passed +along a magnificent corridor. "I've been to a levee held by the King of +England, but I don't know anything of Russian Court etiquette." + +He laughed and shrugged his shoulders. + +"There is no need for you to observe etiquette, _mon ami_. Are you not +an American and a Republican? Therefore none will blame you if you are +unceremonious,--least of all our puissant Grand Duke! Have you not heard +that he himself is a kind of '_Jacques bonhomme_'?" + +"That means just a peasant, doesn't it?" I asked obtusely. "No, I hadn't +heard that." + +He laughed again. + +"Did the good Mishka tell you nothing?" + +"Why, no; he's the surliest and most silent fellow I've ever travelled +with." + +"He is discreet, that Mishka," said Grodwitz, and drew himself up +stiffly as the footman, who had preceded us, threw open a door, and +ushered us into the Duke's presence. + +He was standing before a great open fireplace in which a log fire +crackled cheerily, and beside him was the little fat officer I had +seen him with before; while there were several others present, all +ceremoniously standing, and looking more or less bored. + +Our interview was brief and formal; but I noted that the fat officer +and Grodwitz were keenly observant of all that passed. + +"Well, that's all right," I said with a sigh of relief, when Grodwitz +and I were back in the corridor again. "But there doesn't seem to be +much of the peasant about him!" + +"I was but jesting, _mon ami_," Grodwitz assured me. "But now your +ordeal is over. You will take a hand at bridge, _hein_?" + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVIII + +THE GAME BEGINS + + +That hand at bridge lasted till long past midnight, and I only got away +at last on the plea that I was dead tired after my two days' ride. + +"Tired or not, you play a good hand, _mon ami_!" Grodwitz declared. We +had been partners, and had won all before us. + +"They shall have their revenge in good time," I said, stifling a yawn. +"_Bonsoir, messieurs_." + +I sent Nicolai to bed, and wrapping myself in a dressing gown which I +found laid out for me, sat down in a deep divan chair to await the Duke, +and fell fast asleep. I woke with a start, as the great clock over the +castle gateway boomed four, and saw the Duke sitting quietly smoking in +a chair opposite. + +He cut short my stammered apologies in the frank unceremonious manner he +always used when we were alone together, and plunged at once into the +matter that was uppermost in his mind, as in mine. + +Now at last I learned something of the working of that League with which +I had become so mysteriously entangled, and of his and Anne's connection +with it. + +"For years its policy was sheerly destructive," he told me. "Its aims +were as vague as its organization was admirable. At least nine-tenths of +the so-called Nihilist murders and outrages, in Russia as elsewhere, +have been planned and carried out by its executive and members. To +'remove' all who came under their ban, including any among their own +ranks who were suspected of treachery, or even of delaying in carrying +out their orders, was practically its one principle. But the time for +this insensate indiscriminating violence is passing,--has passed. There +must be a policy that is constructive as well as destructive. The +younger generation sees that more clearly every day. She--Anna--was one +of the first to see and urge it; hence she fell under suspicion, +especially when she refused to carry out certain orders." + +He broke off for a moment, as if in slight embarrassment. + +"I think I understand," I said. "She was ordered to 'remove' you, sir, +and she refused?" + +"That is so; at least she protested, even then, knowing that I was +condemned merely as a member of the Romanoff family. Later, when we met, +and learned to know each other, she found that I was no enemy, but a +stanch friend to these poor peoples of Russia, striving so blindly, so +desperately, to fling off the yoke that crushes them! Then it was that, +with the noble courage that distinguishes her above all women I have +ever met, she refused to carry out the orders given her; more than that, +she has twice or thrice saved my life from other attempts on it. I have +long been a member of the League, though, save herself, none other +connected with it suspected the identity of a certain droshky driver, +who did good service at one time and another." + +His blue eyes twinkled merrily for an instant. In his way his character +was as complex as that of Anne herself,--cool, clever, courageous to a +degree, but leavened with a keen sense of humor, that made him +thoroughly enjoy playing the rôle of "Ivan," even though it had brought +him to his present position as a state prisoner. + +"That reminds me," I said. "How was it you got caught that time, when +she and her father escaped?" + +He shrugged his shoulders. + +"I had to choose, either to fly with them, and thereby endanger us all +still further, or allow myself to be taken. That last seemed best, and I +think--I am sure--I was right." + +"Did you know the soldiers were coming?" + +"No. That, by the way, was Selinski's doing,--Cassavetti, as you call +him." + +"Cassavetti!" I exclaimed. "Why, he was dead weeks before!" + +"True, but the raid was in consequence of information he had supplied +earlier. He was a double-dyed traitor. The papers she--the papers that +were found in his rooms in London proved that amply. He had sold +information to the Government, and had planned that the Countess Anna +should be captured with the others, after he had induced her to return, +by any means in his power." + +"But--but--he couldn't have brought her back!" I exclaimed. "For she +only left London the day after he was murdered, and she was at Ostend +with you next day." + +"Who told you that?" he asked sharply. + +"An Englishman I saw by chance in Berlin, who had met her in London, and +who knew you by sight." + +He sat silent, in frowning thought, for a minute or more, and then said +slowly: + +"Selinski had arranged everything beforehand, and his assistants carried +out his instructions, though he, himself, was dead. But all that belongs +to the past; we have to deal with the present and the future! You know +already that one section of the League at least is, as it were, +reconstructed. And that section has two definite aims: to aid the cause +of freedom, but also to minimize the evils that must ensue in the +struggle for freedom. We cannot hope to accomplish much,--there are so +few of us,--and we know that we shall perish, perhaps before we have +accomplished anything beyond paving the way for those that come after! +There is a terrible time in store for Russia, my friend! The masses are +ripe for revolt; even the bureaucracy know that now, and they try to +gain time by raising side issues. Therefore, here in the country +districts, they stir up the _moujiks_,--now against the tax-gatherers, +more often against the Jews. Murder and rapine follows; then the troops +are sent, who punish indiscriminately, in order to strike terror into +the people. They create a desolation and call it a peace; you have seen +an instance yourself on your way hither?" + +I nodded, remembering that devastated village we had passed. + +"The new League is striving to preserve peace and to save the innocent. +Here in the country its members are pledged first to endeavor to improve +the condition of the peasants, to teach them to be peaceable, +self-supporting, and self-respecting,--a hard, well-nigh hopeless task, +since in that, as in all other attempts at reform, one has to work in +defiance of the Government." + +"Well, from what I've heard--and seen--during the last part of my +journey, you've managed to do a good deal in that way, sir," I suggested +respectfully. + +"It is little enough. I have worked under sufferance, and, as it were, +with both hands tied," he said sadly. "If I had been any other, I should +have been sent to Siberia long ago. It is the mere accident of birth +that has saved me so far. But as to the League. The present plan of +campaign is, roughly speaking, to prevent riots and bloodshed. If news +is gained of an intended raid on an isolated country-house, or, what is +more frequent, on a Jews' quarter, a warning is sent to those +threatened, and if possible a defence arranged. Even from here I have +been able to assist a little in such matters." Again his eyes gleamed +with that swift flash of mirth, though he continued his grave speech. +"More than one catastrophe has been averted already, but the distances +are so great; often one hears only of the affairs after they are over. + +"That will be part of your work. To bring news as you gather it,--the +Pavloffs will help you there,--and to accompany me when I choose to elude +my jailers for a few hours; perhaps to go in my stead, if it should be +impossible for me to get away. I know what you can do when it comes to a +fight! Well, this is the 'sport' I offered you! Do you care to go in for +it? If not--" + +"You know I care!" I exclaimed, half indignantly; and on that we gripped +hands. + +We talked for a good while longer. He gave me much information that I +need not set down here, and we spoke often of Anne. He seemed much +interested in my cousin, Mary Cayley,--naturally, as she was Anne's +friend and hostess,--and seemed somehow relieved when I said Mary was +still in complete ignorance of all that had happened and was happening. + +"I should like to meet your charming cousin; but that will never be, I +fear; though perhaps--who knows?--she and her friend may yet be +reunited," he said, rousing himself with a sigh and a shiver. + +I slept late when I did get to bed, and was awakened at last by Nicolai, +who had breakfast ready, and informed me that Mishka was in readiness to +escort me to his father's house. + +For a time life went smoothly enough. I was out and about all day with +the Pavloffs, superintending the trial of the new farming machines and +the distribution of the implements. During the first day or two Grodwitz +or one of the other officers always accompanied me, ostensibly as an act +of courtesy towards a stranger,--really, as I well understood, to watch +me; and therefore I was fully on my guard. They relaxed their vigilance +all the sooner, I think, because, in my pretended ignorance of Russian, +I blandly endeavored to press them into service as interpreters, which +they found pretty extensively boring. + +They treated me quite _en bon camarade_; though even at dinner, and when +we were playing cards at night, one or other of them was continually +trying to "draw" me, and I had to be constantly on the alert. I had no +further public audience with the Duke, though he came to my room several +times by the secret stair. + +But one evening, as Mishka and I rode towards the castle, a pebble shot +from a clump of bushes near at hand, and struck his boot. With a grunt +he reined up, and, without glancing in the direction whence the missile +came, dismounted and pretended to examine one of the horse's feet. But +I saw a fur cap, and then a face peering from among the bushes for an +instant, and recognized Yossof the Jew. Another missile fell at Mishka's +feet,--a small packet in a dark wrapping. He picked it up, thrust it in +his pocket, swung into the saddle, and we were off on the instant. + +All he condescended to say was: + +"See that you are alone in the hour before dinner. There may be work to +do." + +I took the hint, and as usual dispensed with Nicolai's proffered +services. Within half an hour the bookcase swung back and the Duke +entered quickly; his face was sternly exultant, his blue eyes sparkling. + +"Dine well, my friend, but retire early; make what excuse you like, but +be here by ten at the latest. You will manage that well, if you do not +attend the reception," he exclaimed. "We ride from Zostrov to-night; +perhaps forever! The great game has begun at last,--the game of life and +death!" + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIX + +THE FLIGHT FROM ZOSTROV + + +At dinner I heard that the Grand Duke was indisposed, and was dining +alone, instead, as usual, with the Count Stravensky, Commandant of the +Castle--by courtesy the chief member of his suite, but in reality his +custodian--and two or three other officers of high birth, who, with +their wives, formed as it were, the inner circle of this small Court in +the wilderness. There were a good many ladies in residence,--the great +castle was like a world in little,--but I scarcely saw any of them, as I +preferred to keep to the safe seclusion of the officers' mess, when I +was not in my own room; and there was, of course, no lack of bachelors +much more attractive than myself. I gathered from Grodwitz and others +that they managed to enliven their exile with plenty of +flirtations,--and squabbles. + +On this evening the Countess Stravensky was holding a reception in her +apartments, with dancing and music; and all my usual after-dinner +companions were attending it. + +"Better come, _mon ami_," urged Grodwitz. "You are not invited? +Nonsense; I tell you it is an informal affair, and it is quite time +you were presented to the Countess." + +"I'd feel like a fish out of water," I protested. "I'm not used to smart +society." + +"Smart! _Ma foi_, there is not much smartness about us in this deadly +hole! But have it your own way. You are as austere as our Grand Duke +himself; though you have not his excuse!" he retorted, laughing. + +"What excuse?" + +"You have not heard?" he asked quizzically; and rattled out a version of +the gossip that was rife concerning Anne and Loris. + +"The charitable declare that there is a morganatic marriage," he +asserted. "They are probably right; for, I give you my word, he is a +sentimental fool, our good Loris. _Voilŕ_, a bit of treason for the ears +of your friend Mishka, _hein_?" + +"I don't quite understand you, Colonel Grodwitz," I said quietly, +looking at him very straight. "If you think I'm in the habit of +gossiping with Mishka Pavloff or any other servant here, you're very +much mistaken." + +"A thousand pardons, my dear fellow; I was merely joking," he assured +me; but I guessed he had made one more attempt to "draw" me,--the last. + +As I went up to my room I heard the haunting strains of a Hungarian +dance from the Stravensky suite, situated on the first floor in the left +wing leading from the great hall, while the Duke's apartments were in +the right wing. + +Mishka entered immediately after I had locked the door. + +"Get your money and anything else you value and can carry on you," he +grunted. "You will not return here. And get into this." + +"This" was the uniform of a cavalry officer; and I must say I looked +smart in it. + +Mishka gathered up my discarded clothes, and stowed them in the +wardrobe. + +"Unlock the door; Nicolai will come presently and will think you are +still below," he said. "And follow me; have a care, pull the door +to--so." + +I closed the secret opening and went down the narrow stairway, steep +almost as a ladder, By the dim light of the small lantern Mishka +carried, I saw the door leading to the Duke's rooms. We did not enter +there, as I expected, but kept on till I guessed we must about have got +down to the bowels of the earth. Then came a tremendously long and +narrow passage, damp and musty smelling; at the end of it a flight of +steep steps leading up to what looked like a solid stone wall. Mishka +motioned me to wait, extinguished the lantern, and I heard him feeling +about in the pitch darkness for a few seconds. Then, with scarcely a +sound, the masonry swung back, and I saw a patch of dark sky jewelled +with stars, and felt the keen night wind on my face. I passed out, +waited in silence while he closed the exit again, and kept beside him as +he walked rapidly away. I glanced back once, and saw beyond the great +wall, the castle itself, and the lights gleaming from many windows, +while from the further wing came still the sound of the music. + +We appeared to be making for the road that led to Pavloff's house, where +I guessed we might be going, but I asked no questions. Mishka would +speak when necessary,--not otherwise. We passed through a belt of pine +trees on to the rough road; and there, more heard than seen in the +darkness, we came on two horsemen, each with a led horse. + +"That you, Wynn?" said a low voice--the Duke's. "You are in good time. +This is your horse; mount and let us get on." + +We started at a steady pace, not by the road, but across country, and +for three versts or more we rode in absolute silence, the Duke and I in +advance, Mishka and his father close behind. + +"Well, I told you I could get away when I wished to," said Loris at +last. "And this time I shall not return. You are a good disciplinarian, +my friend! You have come without one question! For the present we are +bound for Zizcsky, where she probably awaits us. There may be trouble +there; we have word that a _pogrom_ is planned; and we may be in time to +save some. The Jews are so helpless. They have lived in fear, and under +sufferance for so long, that it is difficult to rouse them even to +defend themselves,--out here, anyhow. In Warsaw and Minsk, and the +larger towns within the pale, it is different, and, when the time comes, +some among them at least will make a good fight of it!" + +"We may find that the alarm was false, and things are quiet. If +so,--good; we ride on to Count Vassilitzi's house some versts further. +He is Anna's cousin and she will be there to-morrow if she is not in +Zizcsky; and there we shall decide on our movements. + +"I said that the game begins,--and this is it. Perhaps to-morrow,--or +maybe a week or a month hence, for the train is laid and a chance spark +might fire it prematurely,--a great strike will commence. All has been +carefully planned. When the moment comes, the revolutionists will issue +a manifesto demanding a Constitution, and that will be the signal for +all workers, in every city and town of importance, to go on strike; +including the post and telegraph operatives, and the railway men. It +will, in effect, be a declaration of civil war; and God alone knows what +the upshot will be! There will be much fighting, much violence; that is +inevitable. The people are sanguine of success, for many of the soldiers +and sailors are with them; but they do not realize--none of the lower +classes can realize--how strong a weapon the iron hand of the +bureaucracy wields, in the army and, yes, even in the remnant of the +navy. Supposing one-tenth of the forces mutiny, and fight on the side of +the people, or even stand neutral,--and I do not think we can count on a +tenth,--there will still be nine-tenths to reckon with. Our part will +be, in a way, that of guerillas. We go to Warsaw, the headquarters of +our branch of the League. We shall act partly as Anna's guards. She does +not know that; she herself is utterly reckless of danger, but I have +determined to protect her as far as possible, as you also are +determined, eh, _mon ami_? Also we shall give aid where we can, endeavor +to prevent unnecessary violence, and save those who are unable to defend +themselves. That, in outline, is the program; we must fill in the +details from one moment to the next, as occasion serves. I gather my +little band as I go," he continued, speaking, like a true son of the +saddle, in an even, deliberate voice that sounded distinct over the +monotonous thud of the horses' hoofs. "Yossof has carried word, and the +first recruits await us outside the village yonder. They are all picked +men, members of the League; some have served in the army, and--" + +From far in our rear came a dull, sinister roar, followed by a kind of +vibration of the ground under our feet, like a slight shock of +earthquake. + +[Illustration: "_My God, how they hate me!" I heard Loris say softly._ +Page 259] + +We pulled up, all four of us, and, turning in our saddles, looked back. +We were nearing the verge of the great undulating plain, and the village +from whence in daylight the first view of the castle, some eight versts +distant, was obtained. Even now the long range of lights from the left +wing could be seen distinctly, like a galaxy of stars near the horizon, +but from the right wing, where the Duke's apartments were, shone a faint +reddish glow, which, as we looked, increased rapidly, revealing clouds +of black smoke. + +"An explosion," grunted Mishka. "Some one has wrecked the state +apartments, and they are afire. There will be a big blaze. If you had +been there,--well, we are all well out of it!" + +He rode on with his father; but Loris and I remained as if spellbound +for a minute or more, staring at the grim light that waxed brighter +every instant, till we could actually see the flames darting through the +window spaces and up the outer walls. The place was already a raging +furnace. + +"My God, how they hate me!" I heard Loris say softly. "Yet, I have +escaped them once again; and it is well; it could not be better. I am +free at last!" + + + + +CHAPTER XL + +A STRICKEN TOWN + + +We rode on, avoiding the village, which remained dark and silent; the +sleeping peasants had either not heard or not heeded the sound and shock +of the explosion. + +When we regained the road on the further side, two mounted men awaited +us, who, after exchanging a few low-spoken words with the Pavloffs, fell +in behind us; and later another, and yet another, joined us in the same +way. + +It must have been about one in the morning when we reached the village +half-way between Zizcsky and Zostrov, where Mishka and I had got the +last change of horses on our journey to the castle. Here again all was +dark and quiet, and we rode round instead of through the place, Loris +and I, with the Pavloffs, halting at a little distance, near a small +farmhouse which I remembered as that of the _starosta_, while our four +recruits kept on. + +Mishka rode up and kicked at the outer gate. A light gleamed in the yard +and the _starosta_, yawning and blinking, appeared, holding a lantern +and leading a horse. + +"The horses are ready? That is well, little father," Mishka said +approvingly. + +"They have been ready since midnight, and the samovar also; you will +drink a glass of tea, Excellencies." + +As he led out the other three horses in turn, a lad brought us steaming +glasses of tea, and I was glad of mine, anyhow; for the night, though +still and clear, was piercingly cold. + +"The horses will come on, with four more recruits, after a couple of +hours' rest," said Loris, as we started again. + +We kept up an even pace of about ten miles an hour till we had traversed +about half the remaining distance, picking up more silent men on little +shaggy country horses till we rode a band of some fifteen strong. + +I think I must have fallen half asleep in my saddle when I was startled +by a quick exclamation from Loris. + +"Look! What is yonder?" + +I looked and saw a ruddy glow in the sky to northward,--a flickering +glow, now paling, now flashing up vividly and showing luminous clouds of +smoke,--the glow of a great fire. + +"That is over Zizscky; it was to-night then, and we are too late!" + +We checked instinctively, and the Pavloffs ranged alongside. We four, +being better mounted, were well ahead, and the others came straggling in +our rear. + +"They were to defend the synagogue; we may still be in time to help," +said Pavloff. + +"True, we four must push on; these others must follow as they are able, +and tell the rest as they meet them. Give Stepán the word, Mishka," +commanded the Duke. + +Mishka wheeled his horse and rode back, and we pressed forward, +increasing the pace to a gallop. Within an hour we had covered the +twenty versts and were on the outskirts of the town. Every instant that +awful glow grew brighter, and when we drew near we saw that half the +houses in the Jewish quarter were ablaze, while horrible sounds came to +us,--the noise of a devils' orgy, punctuated irregularly by the crackle +of rifle shots. + +"They are holding the synagogue," Loris said grimly. "Otherwise the +firing would be over by this time." + +The straggling street that formed this end of the town was quiet and +deserted, save for a few scared women and children, who were standing in +the roadway, and who scurried back to their houses at the first sound of +our horses' hoofs. + +"Dismount, and turn the horses loose!" Loris commanded. "We shall find +them later, perhaps; if not, well, we shall not!" + +We hurried along on foot, and a minute or two later we entered the +Jewish quarter and were in the midst of a hellish scene, lighted luridly +by the glare of the burning houses. The road was strewn with battered +corpses, some lying in heaps; and burly _moujiks_, shrieking unsexed +viragoes, and brutal soldiers, maddened with vodka, delirious with the +lust of blood and pillage, were sacking the houses that were not yet +ablaze, destroying, in insensate fury, what they were unable to carry +off, fighting like demons over their plunder. Here and there were groups +of soldiers, who, though they were not joining in the work of +destruction, made no effort to check it, but looked on with grim jests. +I saw one present his rifle, fire haphazard into the crowd, and yell +with devilish mirth as his victim fell, and the confusion increased. + +His laugh was cut short, for Loris knocked the rifle out of his hand, +and sternly ordered him back to the barracks, if that was all he could +do towards restoring order. + +The man and his comrades stared stupidly. They did not know who he was, +but his uniform and commanding presence had their effect. The ruffians +stood at attention, saluted and asked for orders! + +"Clear the streets," he commanded sternly. "Drive the people back to +their quarter and keep them there; and do it without violence." + +He stood frowning, revolver in hand, and watched them move off with +sheepish alacrity and begin their task, which would not have been an +easy one if the soldiers had been under discipline. But there was no +discipline; I did not see a single officer in the streets that night. + +"Are you wise?" Mishka growled unceremoniously, as we moved off. I saw +now that he and his father were also in uniform, and I surmise that +every one who saw us took the Grand Duke to be an officer in high +command, and us members of his staff. + +We had our revolvers ready, but no one molested us, and as we made our +way towards the synagogue, Loris more than once repeated his commands +to the idle soldiers, with the same success. + +Barzinsky's inn, where Mishka and I had slept less than a fortnight +back, was utterly wrecked, though the fire had not yet reached it, and +in a heap in the roadway was the corpse of a woman, clad in a dirty +bedgown. Her wig was gone and her skull battered in, but I knew it was +the placid, capable, good-tempered landlady herself. The stumps of her +hands lay palm down in a pool of blood,--all the fingers gone. She had +worn rings, poor soul. + +But that was by no means the most sickening sight I saw on that night +of horror! + +We reached the square where the synagogue stood, and found it packed +with a frenzied, howling mob, who were raging like wolves round the +gaunt weather-worn stone building. There was no more firing, either +from within or without. + +The glass of the two small windows above the doorway--whence, as I +learned later, the defenders had delivered the intermittent fusilade +that had hitherto kept the mob at bay--was smashed, and the space filled +in with hastily fixed barricades. The great door was also doubtless +strongly barricaded, since it still withstood an assault with axes and +hammers that was in progress. + +"They shoot no more; they have no more bullets," shrieked a virago in +the crowd. "Burn them out, the filthy _zhits_." + +Others took up the cry. + +"Burn them out; what folly to batter the door! Bring straw and wood; +burn them out!" + +"Keep away,--work round to the left; there will be space soon," growled +Mishka, clutching me back, as I began to force my way forward. "Do as I +say," he added authoritatively. + +I guessed he knew best, so I obeyed, and edged round on the outside of +the crowd. + +Something whizzed through the air, and fell bang among the crowd, +exploding with a deafening report. + +A babel of yells arose,--yells of terror now; and the mob surged back, +leaving a clear space in which several stricken figures were +writhing,--and one lay still. + +"Fly!" shouted a stentorian voice. "They are making bombs and throwing +them; fly for your lives. Why should we all perish?" + +I was carried back in the rush, and found myself breathless, back +against a wall. Three figures cleared themselves from the ruck, and I +fought my way to them. + +"Well done, Mishka,--for it was thou!" exclaimed Loris. "How was it +done?" + +"_Pouf_, it was but a toy," grunted Mishka. "I brought it in my +pocket,--on chance; such things are useful at times. If it had been +a real bomb, we should all have entered Heaven--or hell--together." + +"Get to the steps; they are coming back," cried Loris. + +He was right. A section of the crowd turned, and made an ugly rush, only +to halt in confusion as they found themselves confronted by levelled +revolvers, held by four men in uniform. + +"Be off," Loris shouted. There was no anger in his voice; he spoke as +sternly and dictatorially as one speaks to a fractious child. "You have +done enough mischief for one night,--and the punishment is still to +come. Back, I say! Go home, and see that you do no more evil." + +He strode towards them, and they gave back before him. + +"Jčsu! It is the archangel Michel! Ah, but we have sinned, indeed," a +woman wailed hysterically. The cry was caught up, echoed in awestruck +murmurs; and the whole lot of them quickened their flight, as we marched +on their heels. + +"A compliment to you, my Mishka,--you and your toy bomb; somewhat more +like Jove and his thunderbolts though, eh?" said Loris, and I saw his +eyes gleam for a moment with a flash of the quaint humor that cropped up +in him at the most unexpected moments. "It was a good thought, for it +achieved much, at very little cost. But these poor fools! When will they +learn wisdom?" + +We stood still, waiting for a brief space, to see if the mob would +return. But the noise receded,--the worst was over; though the baleful +glare of the burning houses waxed ever brighter, revealing all the +horrors of that stricken town. + +With a sigh Loris thrust his revolver back into his belt,--none of us +had fired a shot,--and strode back to the door of the synagogue. + +From within we could hear, now that the din had ceased, the wailing of +frightened children, the weeping of women. + +Loris drew his revolver again and beat on the door with the butt. + +"Open within there!" he cried. "All is safe, and we are friends." + +"Who are you? Give the name, or the word," came the answer, in a woman's +voice; a voice that I knew well. + +"Open, Anna; _ŕ la vie et ŕ la mort_!" he called. + +A queer dizziness seized me as I listened. She was within, then; in +another minute I should meet her. But how could I hope that she would +have a word, a glance, to spare for me, when _he_ was there. I could +not even feel jealous of him; he was so far above me in every way. For +me there must still be only "the page's part," while he was the king, +and she the queen. + +There were lumbering noises within, as of heavy goods being moved; but +at last the door swung back, and there on the threshold, with her hands +outstretched, stood Anne Pendennis. + + + + +CHAPTER XLI + +LOVE OR COMRADESHIP? + + +"I knew thou wouldst come," she said in French, as he caught those +outstretched hands in his. + +She looked pale and worn, as was natural,--but lovelier than ever, as +she stood, a shadowy figure in her dark gown against the gloom behind +her, for there was no light within the synagogue. The lurid glare from +without shed an unearthly radiance on her white face and shining hair. + +"I am not alone," he said. "Maurice Wynn is with me; and the good Mishka +and his father." + +She glanced at me doubtfully, and then held out her hand, flashing at me +the ghost of her old arch smile. + +"It is Maurice, indeed; how the beard has changed you,--and the uniform! +I did not know you," she said, still in French. "But come; there is +still much to do, and we must be gone before daylight. How did you drive +them off? Will they make another attack?" she asked, turning to Loris. + +"I think not; they have had enough for one time. You must thank Mishka +here for putting them to the rout," he answered. "Ah, Stepán, you are +here also, as I expected," he added to a young man of about my own age, +whom I guessed to be Anne's cousin, Count Vassilitzi, from the strong +likeness between them, though his hair was much darker than hers, and he +wore a small mustache. + +[Illustration: _"I knew thou wouldst come," she said._ Page 268] + +What passed in the synagogue both before and after we came, I only +learned later; for Mishka and I were posted on guard at the entrance of +the square, while Pavloff went off to seek our horses and intercept the +men who were following us. If he met them in time, they would make a +_détour_ round the town and wait for us to join them on the further +side. + +Our sentry-go business proved an unnecessary precaution, for no more +rioters appeared; the excitement in the town was evidently dying out, +the _pogrom_ was over,--for the time. + +Some of the bolder spirits among the Jews came from the synagogue, +exchanging pious ejaculations of thanks to God for their deliverance. +They slunk furtively by us; though one venerable-looking old man paused +and invoked what sounded like a blessing on us,--in Hebrew, I think. + +"You can keep all that for the gracious lady," growled Mishka. "It is to +her you owe your present deliverance." + +"It is, indeed," he answered in Russian. "The God of our fathers will +bless her,--yea, and she shall be blessed. And He will bless you, +Excellencies,--you and your seed even to the third and fourth +generation, inasmuch that you also have worked His will, and have +delivered His children out of the hands of evil-doers." + +Mishka scratched his head and looked sheepish. This blessing seemed to +embarrass him more than any amount of cursing would have done. + +"They are harmless folk, these Jews," he grunted. "And they are brave in +their way, although they are forever cringing. See--the old man goes +with the others to try and check the course of the fires. They are like +ants in a disturbed ants' nest. They begin to repair the damage while it +is yet being done. To-morrow, perchance even to-day, they will resume +their business, and will truckle to those who set out to outrage and +murder them this night! That is what makes the Jew unconquerable. But it +is difficult to teach him to fight, even in defence of his women; though +we are doing something in that way among the younger men. They must have +done well to hold out so long." + +"How did they get arms?" I asked. + +"They have not many so far, but there is one who comes and goes among +them,--one of themselves,--who brings, now a revolver or two, now a +handful of cartridges, now a rifle taken to pieces; always at the risk +of his life, but that to him is less than nothing." + +"Yossof!" I exclaimed. + +He nodded, but said no more, for Count Vassilitzi came across the square +to us. + +"All is quiet?" he asked. "Good. We can do no more, and it is time we +were off. You are Monsieur Wynn? I have heard of you from my cousin. We +must be friends, Monsieur!" + +He held out his hand and I gripped it. I'd have known him anywhere for +Anne's kinsman, he was so like her, more like her in manner even than in +looks; that is, like her when she was in a frivolous mood. + +There was quite a crowd now on the steps of the synagogue, a crowd of +weeping women--yes, and weeping men, too,--who pressed around Anne, +jostling each other in the attempt to kiss her hands, or even the hem of +her gown. + +She looked utterly exhausted, and I saw,--not without a queer pang at +heart,--that Loris had his arm round her, was indeed, rather carrying, +than merely supporting her. + +"Let us through, good people," I heard him say. "Remember that her peril +is as great as yours, even greater." + +As he spoke, her eyelids drooped, and she swayed back on to his +shoulder. He swung her into his arms as I had seen him do once before, +on that memorable summer night more than three months ago, when I +thought I had looked my last on her; and, as the women gave way before +him, he strode off, carrying his precious burden as easily as if she had +been a little child. + +We followed closely, revolvers in hand; but there was no need to use +them. The few streets we traversed on the route Loris took were +deserted; and though the houses on either side were smouldering ruins, +we passed but few corpses, and some of those were Russians. The worst of +the carnage had been in the streets further from the synagogue. + +"You came just in time," remarked Vassilitzi. "We were expecting the +door to be burst in or burnt every moment; so we packed the women and +children up into the women's gallery again--we'd been firing from there +till the ammunition was gone--and waited for the end. Most of the Jews +were praying hard; well, I suppose they think their prayers were +efficacious for once." + +"Without doubt," I answered. His cynical tone jarred on me, somehow. + +"They will need all their prayers," he rejoined, shrugging his +shoulders. "To-night is but a foretaste of what they have to expect. But +perhaps they will now take the hint, and learn to defend themselves; +also they will not have the soldiers to reckon with, if they can hold +out a little longer." + +"How's that?" I asked, because he seemed to expect the question; not +because I was particularly interested; my mind was concentrated on those +two in front. + +"Why, because the soldiers will be wanted elsewhere, as I think you know +very well, _mon ami_," he laughed. "Well, I for one am glad this little +affair is over. I could do with some breakfast, and you also, eh? Anna +is worn out; she will never spare herself. _Ma foi!_ she is a marvel; I +say that always; and he is another. Now if I tried to do that sort of +thing"--he waved his hand airily towards Loris, tramping steadily along. +"But I should not try; she is no light weight, I give you my word! Still +they make a pretty picture,--eh? What it is to be a giant!" + +I'd have liked to shake him, and stop his irresponsible chatter, which +seemed out of place at the moment. I knew he wouldn't have been able to +carry Anne half across the street; he was a little, thin fellow, +scarcely as tall as Anne herself. + +But I could have carried her, easily as Loris was doing, if I'd had the +chance and the right. + +Yet his was the right; I knew that well, for I had seen the look in her +eyes as she greeted him just now. How could I have been such a conceited +fool as to imagine she loved me, even for a moment! What I had dared to +hope--to think--was love, was nothing of the kind; merely frank +_camaraderie_. It was in that spirit she had welcomed me; calling me +"Maurice," as she had done during the last week or two of her stay at +Mary's; but somehow I felt that though we had met again at last, she was +immeasurably removed from me; and the thought was a bitter one! She +loved me in a way,--yes, as her friend, her good comrade. Well, hadn't I +told myself for months past that I must be content with that? + + + + +CHAPTER XLII + +THE DESERTED HUNTING LODGE + + +Our own horses were already at the appointed place, together with +Pavloff and the Duke's little band of "recruits;" sturdy young _moujiks_ +these, as I saw now by the gray light of dawn, cleaner and more +intelligent-looking than most of their class. + +They were freshly horsed, for they had taken advantage of the confusion +in the town to "commandeer" re-mounts,--as they say in South Africa. +There were horses for Anne, and her cousin, too. Pavloff, like his son, +was a man who forgot nothing. + +Anne had already revived from the faintness that overcame her on the +steps of the synagogue. I had heard her talking to Loris, as we came +along; more than once she declared she was quite able to walk, but he +only shook his head and strode on. + +He set her down now, and seemed to be demurring about her horse. I heard +her laugh,--how well I knew that laugh!--though I had already swung +myself into the saddle and edged a little away. + +"It is not the first time I have had to ride thus. Look you, Maurice, it +goes well enough, does it not?" she said, riding towards me. + +I had to look round at that. + +She was mounted astride, as I've seen girls ride in the Western States. +She had slipped off the skirt of her dark riding-habit, and flung it +over her right arm; and was sitting square in her saddle, her long coat +reaching to the tops of her high riding-boots. + +I felt a lump come to my throat as I looked at the gallant, graceful +figure, at the small proud head with its wealth of bright hair gleaming +under the little astrachan cap that she wore, at the white face with its +brave smile. + +I knew well that she was all but dead-beat, and that she only laughed +lest she might weep, or faint again. + +"It goes well indeed, _capitaine_," I answered, with a military salute. + +Pavloff, still on foot, came forward and stood beside her, speaking in a +low growl; he was an elder edition of his son Mishka. + +She listened, looking down at him gravely and kindly. I could not take +my eyes from her face, so dear and familiar, and yet in one way so +changed. I guessed wherein the change lay. When I had known her before +she had only been playing a part, posing as a lovely, light-hearted, +capriciously coquettish girl, without a real care in the world. But now +I saw her without the mask, knew her for what she was, the woman who was +devoting her youth, her beauty, her brilliant talents, to a great +cause,--a well-nigh hopeless one,--and I loved her more than ever, with +a passionate fervor that, I honestly declare, had no taint of +selfishness in it. From that moment I told myself that it was enough for +me merely to be near her, to serve her, shield her perhaps, and count, +as a rich reward, every chance word or thought or smile she might bestow +on me. + +"Yes, it is well; your duty lies there," I heard her say. "God be with +you, old friend; and farewell!" + +She slipped her right hand out of its loose leather glove, and held it +out to him. + +When I first saw her at Chelsea, I had decided that hers were the most +beautiful hands in the world, not small, but exquisitely shaped,--hands +that, in their graceful movements, somehow seemed to convey a subtle +idea of power and versatility. She never wore rings. I remembered how +Mary once remarked on this peculiarity, and Anne had answered that she +did not care for them. + +"But you've quite a lot in your jewel case, lovely old ones; you ought +to wear them, Anne," Mary protested, and Anne's eyes had darkened as +they always did in moments of emotion. + +"They were my mother's. Father gave them me years ago, and I always +carry them about with me; but I never wear them," she said quietly. + +The remembrance of this little episode flashed through my mind as I saw +her hold out her ringless hand,--begrimed now with dirt and smoke, with +a purple mark like a bruise between the thumb and first finger, that +showed me she had been one of the firing party. + +Pavloff bared his shaggy head, and bent over the hand as if it had been +that of an empress; then moved away and went plump on his knees before +Loris. + +"Where is he going?" I asked Anne, ranging my horse alongside. + +"Back to his work, like the good man he is," she said, her eyes fixed on +Loris, who had raised the old steward and was speaking to him rapidly +and affectionately. "He came thus far lest we should have need of him; +perhaps also because he would say farewell to me,--since we shall not +meet again. But now he will return and continue his duty at Zostrov as +long as he is permitted to do so. That may not be long,--but still his +post is there." + +"They will murder him, as some of them tried to murder the Duke last +night," I said. "You have heard of the explosion?" + +She nodded, but made no comment, and, as Pavloff mounted and rode off +alone, Loris also mounted and joined us with Vassilitzi, and the four of +us started at a hand-gallop, a little ahead of the others. Loris rode on +Anne's right hand, I on her left, and I noticed, as I glanced at her +from time to time, how weary and wistful her face was, when the +transient smile had vanished; how wide and sombre the eyes that, as I +knew of old, changed with every mood, so that one could never determine +their color; at one moment a sparkling hazel, at another--as now--dark +and mysterious as the sky on a starless night. + +The last part of our route lay through thick woods, where the cold light +of the dawn barely penetrated as yet, though the foliage was thin +overhead, and the autumn leaves made a soft carpet on which our horses' +hoofs fell almost without a sound. + +We seemed to move like a troop of shadows through that ghostly twilight. +One could imagine it an enchanted forest, like those of our nursery +tales, with evil things stirring in the brakes all about us, and +watching us unseen. Once there came a long-drawn wail from near at hand; +and a big wolf, homing to his lair at the dawning, trotted across the +track just ahead, and bared his fangs in a snarl before he vanished. A +few minutes later another sound rang weirdly above the stealthy +whispers of the forest,--the scream of some creature in mortal fear and +pain. + +"That is a horse that the wolves are after--or they've got him!" +exclaimed Vassilitzi. He and I were leading now, for the track was only +wide enough for two to ride abreast. We quickened our pace, though we +were going at a smart trot, and as a second scream reached our ears, +ending abruptly in a queer gurgle, we saw in front a shapeless heap, +from which two shadowy forms started up growling, but turned tail and +vanished, as the other wolf had done, as we galloped towards them. + +The fallen horse was a shaggy country nag, with a rope bridle and no +saddle. The wolves had fastened on his throat, but he was not yet dead, +and as I jumped down and stood over him he made a last convulsive effort +to rise, glaring at me piteously with his blood-flecked eyes. We saw +then that his fore-leg was broken, and I decided the best thing to do +was to put the beast out of his misery. So I did it right then with a +shot in his ear. + +"He has been ridden hard; he was just about spent when he stumbled on +that fallen trunk and fell, and that was some time since," said +Vassilitzi, looking critically at the quivering, sweat-drenched carcase. +"Now, what does it mean? If the wolves had chased him,--and they are not +so bold now as in the winter,--they would have had him down before, and +his rider too; but they had only just found him." + +He stared ahead and shrugged his shoulders with the air of a man who +dismisses an unimportant question to which he cannot find a ready +answer. + +The others caught up with us as I got into my saddle again, and we made +no delay, as the incident was not of sufficient moment. + +We passed one or two huts, that appeared to be uninhabited, and came at +last to the open, or rather to a space of a few hundred acres, ringed +round by the forest, and saw in the centre of the clearing a low, +rambling old house of stone, enclosed with a high wall, and near the +tall gateway a few scattered wooden huts. + +Some fowls and pigs were straying about, and a few dejected looking cows +and a couple of horses were grazing near at hand; but there was no sign +of human life. + +"_Diable!_ Where are they all?" exclaimed Vassilitzi, frowning and +biting his mustache. + +"What place is this?" I asked him. + +"Mine. It was a hunting lodge once; now it represents all +my--our--possessions. But where are the people?" + +He rode to the nearest hut, kicked open the crazy door, and shouted +imperatively; but there was no reply. The whole place was deserted. + +Thence to the gateway, with its solid oak doors. He jumped down and +tried them, petulantly muttering what certainly sounded like a string of +oaths. But they were locked and barred. + +The others rode up, Anne and Loris first, the men straggling after. + +Anne was swaying in her saddle; her face was ashy pale. I think she +would have fallen but that Loris steadied her with his arm. + +"What now?" she gasped. "There has been no fighting;" she glanced wildly +around, "and yet--where are they all? We left twenty to guard her, +within, besides these others." She stretched her hand towards the empty +huts. + +"Give the signal!" she continued, turning to Loris. "If there are any +within they will answer that!" + +He drew his revolver and fired five shots in the air; while we all sat, +staring at him, and wondering what would happen next; at least that was +what I was wondering. The silence was so uncanny! + + + + +CHAPTER XLIII + +THE WOMAN FROM SIBERIA + + +At last there was a movement within. Halting footsteps approached the +gates, and a man's voice, hoarse and weak, demanded: "Who is there?" + +"It is Yossof," Anne exclaimed. "How comes he here alone? Where is my +mother, Yossof?" + +I started as I heard that. Her mother was alive, then, though Anne had +said she could not remember her, and Treherne had told me she died soon +after her arrest, more than twenty years back. + +"She is within and safe; Natalya is with her," came Yossof's quavering +voice, as he labored to unbar the gates. We heard him gasping and +groaning as if the task was beyond his strength, but he managed it at +last. The great doors swung open, and he stood leaning against one of +them. In the chill morning light his face looked gray and drawn like +that of a corpse, just as it had looked that first time I saw him on the +staircase at Westminster. On the weed-grown path beside him lay a +revolver, as if he had dropped it out of his hand when he started to +unbar the gates. + +"What has happened, Yossof?" Anne asked urgently. + +"Nothing; all is well, Excellency," he answered. "I rode and gave the +word as the order was, and when I reached the town the madness had +begun, so I did not enter, but came on hither. My horse was spent, and +I found another, but he fell and I left him and came on foot. I found +none here save the Countess and Natalya; the others had fled, fearing an +attack. So I closed the gates and kept guard." + +"God reward thee, friend; thou hast done well, indeed," Anne said, and +moved on to the house. + +I felt a twitch on my sleeve, and Mishka muttered in my ear. + +"Count our men in and then see the gate barred. We shall be safer so. I +will look after Yossof, and find also what food is in the house for us +all. We need it sorely!" + +So I sat in my saddle beside the gateway, waiting till the last of our +laggards had come in. I saw Loris lift Anne from her horse and support +her up the short flight of wide stone steps that led up to the house. + +An elderly peasant woman hurried out to meet them, and behind her +appeared a weird unearthly figure; a tall woman, wearing a kind of loose +white dressing-gown. Her gray hair was flying dishevelled about her +shoulders; and her face, even seen from a distance as I saw it now, +appeared like some horrible travesty of humanity. The wide open eyes +were sightless, covered with a white film; the nose was flattened and +distorted, the lips contracted, while the other features, forehead and +cheeks and chin, were like a livid lined mask, grotesquely seamed and +scarred. + +The "Thing"--I could not think of it as a human being at that +moment--flung out its hands, and shrieked in French, and in a voice +that, though shrill with anguish, was piercingly sweet and powerful. + +"They have come,--but they shall never take me again; at least they +shall not take me alive. Anthony--Anthony! Where are you, my husband? +Save me! do not let them take me!" + +Anne hurried towards her, but with a scream she turned and sped back +into the house, and some one pushed the door to, so I saw no more; but +for some minutes those dreadful screams continued. They sounded almost +like the shrieks of Yossof's horse when the wolves were on him. + +The men had all ridden in and were muttering to each other, crossing +themselves in superstitious fear. They seemed scared to approach the +house; and I believe they'd have stampeded back into the forest if I +hadn't slammed the gates and barred them again. + +"It is not good to be here, Excellency," stammered one. "This place is +haunted with ghosts and devils." + +"Nonsense," I answered roughly. "Brave men you are indeed to be +frightened of a poor mad lady who has suffered so cruelly!" + +By judicious bullying I got them calmed down a bit; a Russian peasant is +a difficult person to manage when he's in a superstitious funk. Mishka +joined me presently, and we marched our men round to the back of the +house, and set them foraging for breakfast. Fortunately there was plenty +of food; the place seemed provisioned for a siege. I stood about, +watching and directing them. I didn't feel in the least hungry myself, +only rather dazed. + +A hand fell on my shoulder, and I found Loris beside me. + +"Come and eat and sleep, my friend; we have done well so far. Mishka +will take charge here." + +He looked almost as fresh and alert after that tremendous night we'd +had, as if he'd just come out of his bedroom at Zostrov, when we joined +him in a big dilapidated dining-room, where he'd planked some food and a +couple of bottles of wine on the great oaken table, though I was as big +a scarecrow as Vassilitzi, who was as used up as if he hadn't been to +bed for a week. + +He had dropped his flippant manner, and was as cross and irritable as an +over-tired woman. + +"Think of these _canaille_ that we feed and clothe, and risk our lives +for!" he exclaimed half hysterically. "We left twenty of them here, when +Anna and I started for Zizscky yesterday,--twenty armed men. And yet at +the first rumor of danger they sneak away to the woods, and leave their +charge, that they had sworn to defend, so that we trusted them. And it +is these swine, and others like them,--dastards all!--who clamor for +what they call freedom, and think if they get their vote and their Duma, +all will go well. Why should we throw our lives away for such as these? +We are all fools together, you and I and Anna. And you," he turned +towards me, "you are the biggest fool of us all, for you have not even +the excuse that is ours! You have no stake in this accursed country and +its people. _Nom du diable_, why do you act as if you had? You are--" + +"Calm yourself, Stepán," Loris interposed. "Go and sleep; we all need +that. And as for your cowardly servants, forget all about them. They are +worth no more. Go, as I bid you!" + +His level voice, his authoritative manner, had their affect, and +Vassilitzi lurched away. He wasn't really drunk; but when a man is +famished and dead-tired, two or three glasses of wine will have an +immense effect on him; though one glass will serve to pull him together, +as it did me, to a certain extent anyhow. I was able to ask Loris about +that horrible apparition I had seen. + +"Yes, she is the Countess Anna Pendennis, or all that remains of her," +he answered sternly and sadly. "You have only seen her at a distance, +but that was sufficient to show you what Siberia may mean to a +delicately nurtured woman. If she had only died--as was given out! But +she did not die. She worked as a slave,--in the prison in winter, in the +fields in summer. She had frost-bite; it destroyed her sight, her face; +it made her a horror to look upon. Yet still she did not die, perhaps +because her mind was gone, and strength lingers in mad creatures! + +"Yossof told all this. He was her fellow prisoner, and he made his +escape two--no, three years or more, since. He made his way here, and +Anna was good to him; as she is good to every creature in adversity. +Until then she had always believed that her mother died at her birth; +but when she learned the truth, she would have moved Heaven and earth to +deliver her. It was accomplished at last; the Tzar was induced to sign +an order for the release of this mad and maimed woman. Just when all +hope seemed lost the deliverance came; and the wreck that remains of the +Countess Anna Pendennis was brought here,--less than three months ago; +and--" + +He broke off as the woman servant Yossof had spoken of as Natalya +hurried into the room and unceremoniously beckoned him out. He rose at +once and followed her, but turned at the door. + +"Get some sleep while you can," he said, nodding towards a great couch +covered with a bear-skin rug. "None will disturb you here for a few +hours; and we shall have either to fight or to travel again ere long." + +I sat for a minute or two, trying to think over the long tragedy that he +had summed up in so few words, and wondering where Anthony Pendennis +was. Surely he should have been here with his wife and daughter; and yet +no one had mentioned him, and I had had no opportunity of asking about +him,--had, in fact, forgotten his very existence till these last few +minutes. + +But consecutive thought was impossible, and I gave up the attempt, as I +stumbled to the couch and fell fast asleep. + + + + +CHAPTER XLIV + +AT VASSILITZI'S + + +Into my dreams came voices that I knew, speaking in French, in low tones +which yet reached my ears distinctly. + +"I think we should tell him; it is not right, or just, to keep him in +ignorance." + +"No,--no,--we must not tell him; we must not!" Anne said softly, but +vehemently. "We shall need him so sorely,--there are so very few whom we +can really trust. Besides, why should we tell him? It would break his +heart! For remember, we do not know." + +They were not dream voices, but real ones, and as I found that out, I +felt I'd better let the speakers,--Anne and Loris,--know I was awake; +for I'd no wish to overhear what they were saying, especially as I had a +queer intuition that they were talking of me. So I sat up under the fur +rug some one had thrown over me, and began to stammer out an apology in +English. + +The room was almost dark, and through the window, with its heavy stone +frame, I saw the last glow of a stormy sunset. Anne and Loris stood +there, looking out, and as I moved and spoke she broke off her sentence +and came towards me. + +"You have slept long, Maurice; that is well," she said, also in English, +with the pretty, deliberate accent I had always thought so charming. +"There is no need for apologies; we should have roused you if necessary, +but all is quiet so far. Will you come to my boudoir presently? I will +give you tea there. We have scarcely had one word together as yet,--and +there is so much to say! I will send lights now; some of the servants +have returned and will get you all you need." + +Loris opened the door for her, and crossed back to his former post by +the window, while I scrambled up, as a scared-looking, shamefaced man +servant entered with a lamp, and slunk out again. + +"Those wretches! They deserve the knout!" Loris said grimly, when we +were alone. "They were all well armed, and yet, at the first hint of +danger, they took themselves into hiding, leaving those two women +defenceless here. Well, they will have to take care of themselves in +future, the curs! The countess is dead," he added abruptly. + +"Dead!" I exclaimed. + +"Yes. Always, even in her madness, she remembered all she had suffered, +and her terror of being arrested again killed her. It is God's mercy for +her that she is at peace,--and for us, too, for we could not have taken +her with us, nor have left her in charge of Natalya and these hounds, as +we had intended. We shall bury her out in the courtyard yonder. It is +the only way, and later, if nothing prevents, we start for the +railroad." + +"Where is Pendennis?" I asked. "Is he not here?" + +"No; he may join us later; I cannot say," he answered, staring out of +the window. I felt that he was embarrassed in some way; that there was +something he wished to say, but hesitated at saying it. That wasn't a +bit like him, for he had always been the personification of frankness. + +"I wonder if there's a bath to be had in the house," I said inanely, +looking at my grimy hands. + +"Yes, in Vassilitzi's dressing-room; the servant will take you up," he +answered abstractedly, and as I moved towards the wide old-fashioned +bell-pull by the stove, he turned and strode after me. + +"Wait one moment!" he said hurriedly. "Are you still determined to go +through with us? There is still time to turn back, or rather to go back +to England. It would not be easy perhaps, but it would be quite possible +for you to get through, via Warsaw and Alexandrovo, if you go at once." + +"Why do you ask me that?" I demanded, looking at him very straight. His +blue eyes were more troubled than I had ever seen them. "Do you doubt +me?" + +"No, before God I trust you as I trust none other in the world but +Mishka and his father! But you are a stranger, a foreigner; why should +you throw your life away for us?" + +"I have told you why, before. Because I only value my life so far as it +may be of service to--her. If I left her and you, now, as you suggest, +smuggled myself back into safety,--man, it's not to be thought of!" + +"Well, I will urge you no more," he said sadly. "But you are sacrificing +yourself for a chivalrous delusion, my friend." + +"Where's the delusion? I know she does not love me; and I am quite +content." + +Long after, I knew what he had wished to tell me then, and I can't even +now decide what I'd have done if he had spoken, whether I would have +gone or stayed; but I think I'd have stayed! + +When I had bathed and dressed in Vassilitzi's dressing-room,--he was +still in bed and asleep in the adjoining one,--a servant took me to +Anne's boudoir, a small bare room that yet had a cosey homelike look +about it. + +She was alone, sitting in a low chair, her hands lying listlessly on the +lap of her black gown. Her face was even whiter and more weary than it +had looked in the morning, and she had been weeping, I saw, for her long +lashes were still wet; but she summoned up a smile for me,--that brave +smile, that was, in a way, sadder and more moving than tears. + +"You have heard that my mother is dead?" she asked, in a low voice. "She +died in my arms half an hour after we got in; and I am so glad,--so +glad. I have been thanking God in my heart ever since. She never knew +me; she knew none of us, but Yossof; and that only because he had been +near her in that dreadful place. You saw her--just for a moment; you saw +something of what those long years had made of her,--and we--my God, we +had thought her dead all that time!" + +She shuddered, and sat staring with stern, sombre eyes at the fire, her +slender fingers convulsively interlaced. + +She was silent for a space, and so was I, for I could find never a word +to say. + +Suddenly she looked straight at me. + +"Maurice Wynn, if ever the time comes when you might blame me, condemn +me,--justifiably enough,--think of my mother's history. Remember that I +was brought up with one fixed purpose in life,--to avenge her, even when +I only thought her dead. How much more should that vengeance be, now +that I know all that she had to suffer! And she is only one among +thousands who have suffered,--who are suffering as much,--yes, and more! +There is but one way,--to crush, to destroy, the power that has +done,--that is doing these deeds. It will not be done in our time, but +we are at least preparing the way; within a few days we shall have gone +some distance along it--with a rush--towards our goal. I tell you that +to further this work I would--I will--do anything; sacrifice even those +who are dearer to me than my own soul! Therefore, as I said, remember +that, when you would condemn me for aught I have done, or shall do!" + +"I can never condemn you, Anne; you know that well! The queen can do no +wrong!" + +The fire that had flashed into her eyes faded, dimmed, I thought, by a +mist of tears. + +"You are indeed a true knight, Maurice Wynn," she said wistfully. "I do +not deserve such devotion; no, don't interrupt me, I know well what I am +saying, and perhaps you also will know some day. I have deceived you in +many ways; you know that well enough--" + +"As I now know your purpose," I answered. "But why didn't you trust me +at first, Anne? When we were in London? Don't think I'm blaming you, I'm +not, really; but surely you must have known, even then, that you might +have trusted me,--yes, and Mary, too." + +She was not looking at me now, but at the fire, and she paused before +she answered slowly. + +"It was not because I did not trust you, and her; but I did not wish to +involve either of you in my fortunes. You have involved yourself in +them,--my poor, foolish friend! But she, have you told her anything?" + +"No. She does not even know that I am back in Russia; and before I +returned I told her nothing." + +"She thinks me dead?" + +"She did not know what to think; and she fretted terribly at your +silence." + +"Poor Mary!" she said, with a queer little pathetic smile. "Well, +perhaps her mind is at rest by this time." + +"You have written to her?" + +"No,--but she has news by this time." + +"And your father?" I asked. + +She shook her head. + +"You must ask me nothing of him; perhaps you will learn all there is to +know one day. How strangely your fate has been linked with mine! Think +of Yossof meeting _you_ that night. He had heard of my danger from the +League. Ah, that traitor, Selinski! How much his miserable soul had to +answer for! And he did not know whom to trust, so he set out himself, +though he speaks no word of any language but his own, and bribed and +begged his way to London. He found out some of the League there, at a +place in Soho, learned there where Selinski lived, stole the key to his +rooms, and--met you. He is a marvel, the poor good Yossof!" + +"Did you know it was he, when I described him that night?" I asked +impulsively. + +She looked up quickly. + +"I have told you, I did not wish to entangle you in my affairs, and--" + +The door opened and her cousin entered. + +"Ah, you are engaged," he exclaimed, glancing from one to the other of +us. + +"No, we have finished our chat," said Anne. "Come and sit down, +Stepán--for a few minutes only. We have much to do,--and far to go, +to-night." + +How weary and wistful her face looked as she spoke! + + + + +CHAPTER XLV + +THE CAMPAIGN AT WARSAW + + +A few hours later we were on the road once more,--Anne and Natalya in a +travelling carriage, the rest of us mounted. The old servant was sobbing +hysterically as she followed her mistress down the steps, but Anne's +white face was tearless, though she turned it for a moment with a +yearning farewell glance towards the fresh-made mound in the courtyard, +the grave where we had laid the corpse of her mother, in the coffin +which Mishka and some of the men had made during the day. + +That hurried funeral was as impressive as any I've ever been at, though +there was no service, for it would have been impossible to summon a +priest in time. Besides, I doubt if they'd have got an orthodox Russian +priest to come, for the Vassilitzis were Roman Catholics, as so many of +the old Polish nobility are. + +In dead silence the four of us, Loris and Stepán, Mishka and I, carried +the coffin down, wrapped in an old curtain of rich brocade, and stood by +with bowed heads, while, still in silence, it was lowered down, pall and +all. + +As we turned away, I saw a face at one of the windows and knew Anne had +watched us at our task. Her self-control, her powers of endurance, were +marvellous. I do not believe she had slept all that day, and yet when +the carriage was ready she came out with a steady step; and I heard her +speak soothingly to the weeping Natalya. + +That was the last I saw or heard of her for several days, for it had +been arranged that she should drive to Pruschan, escorted only by Loris +and her cousin and a couple of our men, and travel thence by train to +Warsaw, while Mishka and I with the others would ride the whole way. It +meant a couple of days' delay in reaching Warsaw, but it seemed the +safest plan; and it worked without a hitch. By twos and threes we rode +into Warsaw in the early morning of the day that saw the beginning of +the great strike,--and of the revolution which will end only when the +Russian Empire becomes a Free Republic; and God only knows when that +will come to pass! + +I have been through three regular campaigns in different parts of the +world during the last ten years, and had a good many thrilling +experiences, one way and another; but the weeks I spent in Warsaw in the +late fall of the year 1905 were the strangest and most eventful I've +ever gone through. + +As I look back now, the whole thing seems like a long and vivid +nightmare, of which some few incidents stand out with dreadful +distinctness, and the rest is a mere blur, a confusion of shifting +figures and scenes; of noise and dust and bloodshed. Strenuous days of +street rioting and fighting, in which one and all of us did our share; +and when the row was over for the time being, turned our hands to +ambulance work. Nights that were even more strenuous than the days, for +in the night the next day's plan had to be decided on, funds and food +given out, the circulars (reporting progress and urging the people to +stand fast) to be drawn up, printed, and issued. Such publications were +prohibited, of course; but Warsaw, like most of the other cities, was +strewn with them. People read them, flaunting them openly before the +eyes of the authorities; and though the police and the soldiers tried +the plan of bayoneting or shooting at sight every one whom they saw with +a revolutionary print, they soon had to reserve it for any defenceless +woman or even child whom they might encounter. For the great majority of +the strikers were armed, and they showed themselves even quicker with +their revolvers and "killers" than the soldiers were with their rifles; +while every soldier killed represented one more rifle seized. + +We reported ourselves on arrival, as arranged, at a spacious old house +in a narrow street near the University, which thenceforth became our +headquarters; and, within a few hours, a kind of hospital, also, for +there were soon many wounded to be cared for. + +Anne organized a band of women as amateur nurses, with Natalya at +the head of them, in our house, while others were on duty elsewhere. +This quarter, as I found, was a stronghold of the League; and many +houses were, like ours, turned into temporary hospitals. But I gathered +that comparatively few of Anne's most influential colleagues were in +sympathy with her efforts to mitigate the horrors that surrounded us. +In that way, we, her own chosen band, worked almost alone. Most +of the revolutionists were as callous, as brutal, as the Cossacks +themselves,--women as well as men. They would march in procession, +waving banners and singing patriotic songs, and, when the inevitable +collision with the soldiers came, they would fight like furies, and die +with a laugh of defiance on their lips. But those who came through, +unscathed, had neither care nor sympathy to bestow on the fallen. + +"I join your band of nurses?" a handsome vivacious little +woman--evidently one of her own rank--said to Anne one day, with a +scornful laugh. "I am no good at such work. Give me real work to do, a +bomb to throw, a revolver to fire; I have that at least"--she touched +her fur blouse significantly. "I want to fight--to kill--and if I am +killed instead, well, it is but the fortune of war! But nursing--bah--I +have not the patience! You are far too tender-hearted, Anna Petrovna; +you ought to have been a nun; but what would our handsome Loris have +done then? Oh, it is all right, _ma chčre_; I am quite discreet. But do +you suppose I have not recognized him?" + +Anne looked troubled. + +"And others,--do they recognize him?" she asked quietly. + +"Who knows? We are too busy these days to think or care who any one is +or is not. Besides, he is supposed to be dead; it was cleverly planned, +that bomb affair! Was it your doing, Anna? He is too stupidly honest to +have thought of it himself. There! Do not look so vexed, and have no +fear that I shall denounce him. He is far too good-looking! You have a +_penchant_ for good-looking men," she added, with an audacious glance in +my direction. + +It happened for once that Anne and I were alone together, until Madame +Levinska turned up, in the room that was used as an office, and where +between-whiles I did a good bit of secretarial work. That small untidy +room represented the bureau from which the whole of this section of the +League was controlled, practically by that slender, pale-faced girl in +the black gown, who sat gravely regarding her frivolous acquaintance. + +Her grasp of affairs was as marvellous as her personal courage in time +of need; she was at once the head and the heart of the whole +organization. + +I felt angry with the Levinska woman for her taunt. She, and such as +she, who were like so many undisciplined children, and whose ideas of +revolution were practically limited to acts of violence committed in +defiance or reprisal, could not even begin to understand the ideals not +merely held, but maintained, by Anne and Loris, and the few others who, +with them, knew that permanent good could never be accomplished by evil +means. Those two were dreamers, dreaming greatly; theirs was the vision +splendid, though they saw it only from far off, and strove courageously +but unavailingly to draw near to it. That vision will some day become a +reality; and then,--I wonder if any remembrance of those who saw it +first and paved the way to its realization, will linger, save in the +minds of the few who knew, and loved, and worked beside them, but who +were not permitted to share their fate? I doubt it, for the world at +large has a short memory! + +Anne made no comment on Madame Levinska's last remark, while I kept on +with my work. I wished the woman would go, for we had much to get +through this afternoon, and at any moment some serious interruption +might occur; or the news we were awaiting might come. + +The streets were unusually quiet to-day, hereabouts at any rate, and a +few timid folk who had kept within doors of late had again ventured out. +On the previous day several big meetings had been held, almost without +opposition, for, although martial law was proclaimed, and thousands of +soldiers had entered the city, "to repress disturbances" many of the +troops, including a whole regiment of hussars from Grodno, had refused +to fire on the people. Since then there was a decided abatement of +hostilities; though one dared not hope that it meant more than a mere +lull in the storm. + +The railway and telegraph strikes were maintained, but plenty of news +got through,--news that the revolution was general; that Kronstadt and +Riga were in flames; Petersburg and Moscow in a state of anarchy; that +many of the troops had mutinied and were fighting on the side of the +revolutionists, while the rest were disheartened and tired out. During +the last few hours persistent rumors had reached us that the Tzar was on +the point of issuing a manifesto granting civil and political liberty to +the people; a capitulation on all important points in fact. If the news +were true it was magnificent. Such of us as were optimists believed it +would be the beginning of a new and glorious era. Already we had +disseminated such information as had reached us, by issuing broadcast +small news-sheets damp from the secret printing-press in the cellar of +the old house. A week or two ago that press would have had to be shifted +to a fresh hiding-place every night; but in these days the police had no +time for making systematic inquisitions; it was all they could do to +hold their own openly against the mob. + +And now we were waiting for fresh and more definite tidings, and I know +Anne's heart beat high with hope, though we had not exchanged a dozen +words before Madame Levinska made her unwelcome appearance; and Anne, +who had but just returned to the room after going the round of our +amateur hospital, tackled her about the nursing. + +She stayed for a few minutes longer, continuing her irresponsible +chatter and then, to my relief, anyhow, took herself off, announcing +airily that she was going to see if there was any fun stirring. + +"Do not be reckless, Marie," Anne called after her. "You do no good by +that, and may do much harm." + +"Have no fear for me, little nun," she retorted gaily, over her +shoulder. "I can take care of myself." + +"She sees only,--cares only for the excitement, the poor Marie!" I heard +Anne murmur with a sigh, as she crossed to the window and watched her +friend's retreating figure; a jaunty audacious little figure it was! + +There was a clatter and jingle below, and three or four Cossacks +cantered along. One of them called out something to Madame Levinska, and +she turned and shrilled back an answer, her black eyes flashing. + +He reined up and slashed at her with his _nagaika_. + +Even before the jagged lead caught her face, ripping it from brow to +chin, she drew her revolver and fired pointblank at him, missed him, and +fell, as he spurred his horse on to her and struck again and again with +his terrible whip. + +In an instant the street was in an uproar. + + + + +CHAPTER XLVI + +THE BEGINNING OF THE END + + +The whole thing happened far more quickly than it can be told. I dragged +Anne back from the window, slammed the shutters to,--for one of the +Cossacks' favorite tricks was to fire at any one seen at a window in the +course of a street row,--and, curtly bidding Anne stay where she was for +the moment, rushed downstairs and out into the street, revolver in hand. + +Mishka and half a dozen of our men were before me; there were very few +of us in the house just now; most of the others were with Loris and +Vassilitzi, attending a big procession and meeting in Marchalkowskaia, +with their usual object,--to maintain order as far as possible, and +endeavor to prevent conflicts between the troops and the people. It was +astonishing how much Loris had achieved in this way, even during these +last terrible days of riot and bloodshed. He was ever on the alert; he +seemed to know by instinct how to seize the right moment to turn the +temper of the crowd or the soldiers, and avert disaster; and his +splendid personality never failed in its almost magnetic effect on every +one who came in contact with it. He was a born leader of men! + +And, although he was always to the fore in every affair, as utterly +reckless of his own safety as he was anxious to secure the safety of +others, he had hitherto come unscathed through everything, though a +couple of our men had been killed outright, several others badly +wounded, and the rest of us had got a few hard knocks one way or other. +I'd had a bullet through my left arm, the arm that was broken in the +scrimmage outside Petersburg in June, a flesh wound only, luckily, +though it hurt a bit when I had time to think of it,--which wasn't +often. + +By the time we got into the street, the affair was over. The Cossacks, +urging their ponies at the usual wild gallop, and firing wantonly up at +the houses, since the people who had been in the street had rushed for +cover, were almost out of sight; and on the road and sidewalk near at +hand were several killed and wounded,--mostly women,--besides Madame +Levinska, who had been the cause of it all, and had paid with her life. + +She was a hideous sight, she who five minutes before had been so gay, so +audacious, so full of vivacity. The brutes had riddled her prostrate +body with bullets, slashed at it with their whips, trampled it under +their horses' hoofs; and it lay huddled, shapeless, with scarce a +semblance to humanity left in it. + +I head a low, heartfelt cry, and saw Anne beside me, her fair face ashen +white, her eyes dilated with horror and compassion, as she stared at her +friend's corpse. + +"Go back!" I said roughly. "You can do nothing for her. And we will see +to the rest; go back, I say. There may be more trouble." + +"My duty is here," she said quietly, and passed on to bend over a woman +who was kneeling and screaming beside a small body,--that of a lad about +eight or nine years old,--which lay very still. + +It was, as I well knew, useless to argue with Anne; so I went on with +my ambulance work in grim silence, keeping near her, and letting the +others go to and fro, helping the wounded into shelter and carrying away +the dead. Natalya had run out also and joined her mistress. Yossof was +not at hand; it was he whom we expected to bring the news we were +awaiting so eagerly. He had come with us to Warsaw, and though he lived +in the Ghetto among his Jewish kindred, was constantly back and forth. +He was invaluable as a messenger,--a spy some might call him,--although +he knew no language but Yiddish and Polack, and the queer Russian lingo +that was a mingling of all three. But of course he learned a great deal +from his fellow Jews. Hunted, persecuted, wretched as they are, the +Polish and Russian Jews always have, or can command, money, and the way +they get hold of news is nothing short of marvellous,--in the Warsaw +Ghetto, anyhow! + +There was quite a crowd around us soon, as the people who had fled +before the Cossacks came back again,--weeping, gesticulating, shouting +imprecations on the Tzar, the Government, the soldiers,--as they always +did when they were excited; but, as usual, doing very little to help. + +All at once there was a bigger tumult near at hand, and a mob came +pouring along the street, a disorderly procession of men and women and +little children, flaunting banners, waving red handkerchiefs, laughing, +crying, shouting, and singing, as if they were more than half delirious +with joy and excitement. And what was more remarkable, there were +neither police nor soldiers in sight, nor any sign of Loris or his men. +Many such processions occurred in Warsaw that day, when the great news +came,--news that was soon to be so horribly discounted and annulled; +and that, for me, was rendered insignificant, even in that first hour, +by the great tragedy that followed hard upon its coming,--the tragedy +that will overshadow all my life. Even after the lapse of years I can +scarcely bring myself to write of it, though every incident is stamped +indelibly on my brain. Clear before my eyes now rises Anne's face, as, +with her arm about the poor mother--who was half fainting--she turned +and looked at the joyous rabble. + +"What is it?" she cried, and at the same instant Yossof hurried up, and +spoke breathlessly to her. + +She listened to his message with parted lips, her eyes starry with the +light of ecstatic joy. + +"What is it?" I asked in my turn, for I couldn't catch what Yossof said. + +"It's true,--it's true; oh, thank God for all His mercies! The end is in +sight, Maurice; the new era is beginning--has begun. The Tzar has +yielded; he has issued the manifesto, granting all demands--" + +I stood staring at her, stricken dumb, not by the news she told, but by +her unearthly beauty. The face that was so worn with all the toil and +conflict and anxiety of these strenuous days and weeks was transfigured; +and above it her red-gold hair shone like a crown of glory. + +I know what was in her mind at that moment,--the thought that all had +not been in vain, that the long struggle was almost ended, victory in +sight; with freedom for the oppressed, cessation of bloodshed, a gradual +return to law and order, the patient building up of a new civilization. +Had I not heard her and Loris speak in that strain many times, the last +only a few hours back, when the reassuring rumors began to strengthen? + +"They were dreamers, dreaming greatly!" + +For a few seconds only did I stand gazing at her, for the mob was upon +us. It jostled us apart, swept us along with it, and, as I fought my way +to rejoin her--she and Natalya still supported the woman whose little +son had just been killed--a quick revulsion of feeling came over me, and +with it a queer premonition of imminent evil. + +The mob was so horrible; made up for the most part of the scum of +Warsaw, reeking with vodka, drunk with liquor and excitement. + +Pah! They were not fit for the freedom they clamored for, and yet it was +for them and for others like them, that she toiled and plotted in peril +of her life! + +Before I could win to her side, a warning cry arose ahead, followed +instantly by the crackle of rifle fire, the _phut_ of revolver shots, +yells, shrieks, an infernal din. A squadron of Cossacks was charging the +crowd from the front, and as it surged back, the same hellish sounds +broke from the rear. More soldiers were following, the mob was between +two fires,--trapped. + +Gasping, bleeding, I struggled against the rush, striving to make my way +back to where I could see the gleam of Anne's golden hair, close against +the wall. I guessed that, with her usual resource, she had drawn her +companions aside when the turmoil began, and they had their backs to the +wall of one of the houses. + +The soldiers were right among the mob now, and it was breaking into +groups, each eddying round one or more of the horsemen, who had as much +as they could do to hold their own with whip and sabre. It was +impossible to reload the rifles, and anyhow they would not have been +much use at these close quarters. I saw more than one horse overborne, +his rider dragged from the saddle and hideously done to death. The +rabble were like mad wolves rather than human beings. + +A fresh volley from the front,--more troops were coming up there,--yells +of triumph from the rear, where the soldiers had been beaten back and a +way of retreat opened up. The furious eddies merged into a solid mass +once more, a terror stricken _sauve qui peut_ before the reinforcements. + +Impossible to make headway against this; and yet every instant I was +being swept along, further from Anne. All I could do was to set my teeth +and edge towards the sidewalk. I got to the wall at last, set my back to +it, and let the rout pour by, the Cossacks in full chase now, felling +every straggler they overtook, even slashing at the dead and wounded as +they rode over them. + +I started to run back, and the wild horsemen did not molest me. I still +wore the uniform in which I had left Zostrov; it was in tatters after +this frenzied half-hour, but it stood me in good stead once again, and +prevented my being shot down. + +There was Anne, still alive, thank God; she was kneeling beside the +woman; and Natalya, also unhurt, stood by her, trying to raise her, and +seemingly urging her to seek shelter. + +I tried to shout, but my mouth was too dry, so I ran on, stumbling over +the bodies that strewed the ground. + +Some of the Cossacks had turned and were riding back; a group passed me +as I neared Anne, and one of them swung his rifle up and fired. Natalya +fell with a scream, and Anne sprang up. + +"Shame, shame, you cowards, to shoot defenceless women!" she cried +indignantly. + +He spurred towards her, but I was first. I flung myself before her and +fired at him. He reeled, swerved, and galloped on, but his companions +were round us. I fired again, and yet again; something flashed above me; +I felt a stunning blow on my forehead, staggered back, and fell. + +The last thing I heard was a woman's shriek. + + + + +CHAPTER XLVII + +THE TRAGEDY IN THE SQUARE + + +It was the flat of the sabre that had got me on the forehead, otherwise +there'd have been an end of me at once. I was not unconscious for very +long, for when I sat up, wiped the blood out of my eyes, and stared +about me, sick and dazed, unable for the moment to recollect what had +happened, I could still hear a tumult raging in the distance. + +The street itself was quiet; the soldiers, the mob were gone; all the +houses were shut and silent, though scared faces were peeping from some +of the upper windows. Here and there a wounded man or woman was +staggering or crawling away; and close beside me a woman was sitting, +like a statue of despair, with her back against the wall, and something +lying prone across her knees--the little mangled body of the boy who had +been killed in the first scuffle, that Marie Levinska had provoked. + +I remembered all then, and looked round wildly for Anne. There was no +sign either of her or of Natalya. + +I scrambled up, impatiently binding my handkerchief tight round my +wounded head, which was bleeding profusely now, and stood over the +silent woman. + +"Where are they? Where is the lady who was with you?" I demanded +hoarsely. "Answer me, for God's sake!" + +"They took her away--those devils incarnate--and the other woman got up +and ran after," she answered dully. "There was an officer with them; he +cried out that they would teach her not to insult the army." + +I felt my blood run cold. Since I returned to this accursed country I +had seen many--and heard of more--deeds of such fiendish cruelty +perpetrated on weak women, on innocent little children, that I knew what +the Cossacks were capable of when their blood was up. They were, as the +women said, devils incarnate at such times. + +My strength came back to me, the strength of madness, and I rushed away, +down that stricken street, with but one clear idea in my mind,--to die +avenging Anne, for I knew no power on earth could save her. + +As I ran the tumult waxed louder, coming, as I guessed, from the great +square to which the street led at this end. + +Half-way along, a woman, huddled in the roadway, clutched at me, with a +moaning cry. I shook off her grasp, glanced at her, and saw she was +Natalya. The faithful soul had not been able to follow her mistress far. + +"Where have they taken her?" I cried. + +She could not speak, but she glared at me, a world of anguish and horror +in her dark eyes, and pointed in the direction I was going, and I +hurried on. I had a "killer" in my hand, the deadly little bludgeon of +lead, set on a spiral copper spring, that was the favorite weapon of the +mob, though I haven't the least notion as to when I picked it up. + +Now I was on the fringe of the crowd that overflowed from the square, +and was pushing my way forward towards the centre, a furious vortex of +noise and confusion. A desperate fight was in progress, surging round +something, some one. + +"It is Anna Petrovna!" a woman screamed above the din. "They tore her +clothes from her; they are beating her to death with their _nagaikas_! +Mother of Mercy! That such things should be!" + +"'_Ŕ la vie et ŕ la mort._' Save her; avenge her," some one shouted, I +myself I think, and the cry was taken up and echoed hoarsely on all +sides. So, there must be many of the League in the turmoil. + +Now I was in the thick of it, a swaying, struggling mass of men and +horses; many of the horses plunging riderless as the wild horsemen were +dragged from their saddles, and disappeared in that stormy sea of +outraged humanity. The Cossacks were getting the worst of it, for once, +not a doubt of that. + +"Back," roared a mighty voice. "We have her; back I say; make way +there,--let us pass!" + +Mishka's voice, and Mishka's burly figure, mounted on a horse, pressed +forward slowly, forcing a way through for another horseman who followed +close in his wake. + +"Make way, comrades," shouted Mishka again, and at the cry, at the sight +of the grim silent horseman in the rear, a curious lull fell on all +within sight and hearing; though elsewhere the strife raged furiously as +ever. + +Loris sat erect in his saddle, as if on parade; bareheaded, his face set +like a white mask, his brilliant blue eyes fixed, expressionless, no, +that's not the right word, but I can't say what the expression was; +neither horror nor anguish, nor despair, just a quiet steady gaze, +without a trace of human emotion in it. Save that he was breathing +heavily and slowly, he might have been a statue,--or a corpse. I am sure +he was quite unconscious of his surroundings. The reins lay loose on his +horse's neck, and, though its sides heaved, and its coat was a plaster +of sweat and foam and blood, the good beast took its own way quietly +through that densely packed, suddenly silent mob, as if it, like its +master, was oblivious of the mad world around them. + +But it was on the burden borne by the silent horseman that every eye was +fixed; a burden partly hidden by a soldier's great coat. I knew she was +dead,--we all knew it,--though the head with its bright dishevelled +hair, as it lay heavily on her lover's shoulder, seemed to have a +semblance of life, as it moved slightly with the rise and fall of his +breast. Her face was hidden, but from under the coat one long arm swayed +limp, its whiteness hideously marred with jagged purple weals, from +which the blood still oozed, trickling down and dripping from the tips +of the fingers,--those beautiful ringless fingers that I knew and loved +so well. + +I had no further thought of fighting now; my brain and heart were numb, +so I just dropped my weapon and fell in behind the horse, following +close on its heels. Others did the same, the whole section of the crowd +on this side the square moving after us, in what, compared with the +chaos of a few minutes back, was an orderly retreat. + +Well it was for some of them that they did so, for we had scarcely +gained the street when the rattling boom of artillery sounded in the +rear; followed by a renewed babel of shrieks and yells. The guns had +been brought up and the work of summarily clearing the square had +begun. But before the panic-stricken mob overtook us, flying +helter-skelter before the new terror, Loris had urged his horse forward, +or it quickened its pace of its own accord as the throng in front +thinned and gave way more easily. I think I tried instinctively to keep +up with it, but the crowd closed round me, the rush of fugitives from +the rear overtook, overwhelmed us, and I was carried along with it. + +I suppose I must have kept my footing, otherwise I should have been +trampled down, as were so many others on that awful day. But where I +went and what I did during the hours that followed I don't know, and I +never shall. I lost all sense of time and place; though I've a hazy +recollection of stumbling on alone, through dark streets, sodden with +the rain that was now falling in a persistent, icy drizzle. Some of the +streets were silent and deserted; in others I paused idly to watch +parties of sullen soldiers and police, grumbling and swearing over their +gruesome task of collecting the dead bodies, and tossing them into +carts; and again I stared into brilliantly lighted cafés and listened to +the boisterous merriment of those within. Were they celebrating an +imaginary victory, or acting on the principle, "Let us eat, drink, and +be merry, for to-morrow--perchance to-night--we die?" + +Death brooded over the city that night; I felt His presence +everywhere,--in the streets that were silent as the grave itself; in +those whence the dead were being removed; most of all where men and +women laughed and sang and defied Him! But I felt the dread Presence in +a curious detached fashion. Death was my enemy indeed, an enemy who +would not strike, who passed me by as one beneath contempt! And always, +clear before my eyes, in my ears, above all other sights and sounds, I +saw Anne's face, heard her voice. Now she stood before me as I had first +known her,--a radiant, queenly vision; a girl whose laughing eyes showed +never a care in the world, or a thought beyond the passing moment. Her +hands were full of flowers, red flowers, red as blood. Why, it was +blood; it was staining her fingers, dripping from them! Yet the man +didn't see it; that man with the dark eager face, who was standing +beside her, who took a spray of the flowers from her hand. What a fool +this Cassavetti is not to know that she is "_La Mort!_" + +Now she is changed; she wears a black gown, and the red flowers have +vanished; but she is lovelier, more queenly than ever, as she looks at +me with wide, pathetic eyes, and says, "I have deceived you!" + +Again she stands, with hands outstretched, and cries, "The end is in +sight; thank God for all His mercies;" and her face is as that of an +angel in Heaven. + +But always there is a barrier between her and me; a barrier impalpable +yet unpassable. I try to surmount it, but I am beaten back every time. +Now it is Cassavetti who confronts me; again, and yet again, it is +Loris, with his stern white face, his inscrutable blue eyes. He is on +horseback; he rides straight at me, and he bears something in his arms. + + * * * * * + +I struggled up and looked around me. I knew the place well enough, the +long narrow room that had once been the _salle ŕ manger_ in the +Vassilitzi's Warsaw house, but that, ever since I had known it, had been +the principal ward in the amateur hospital instituted by Anne. A squalid +ward enough, for the beds were made up on the floor, anyhow, and every +bit of space was filled, leaving just a narrow track for the attendants +to pass up and down. + +Along that track came a big figure that I recognized at once as Mishka, +walking with clumsy caution. + +"You are better? That is well," he said in a gruff undertone. + +"How did I get here?" I demanded. + +"Yossof brought you; he found you walking about the streets, raving mad. +It is a marvel that you were not shot down." + +Then I remembered something at least of what had passed. + +"How long since?" I stammered, putting my hand up to my bandaged head. + +"Two days." + +"And--?" + +"I will answer no questions," he growled in his surliest fashion. "I +will send you food and you are to sleep again. He will see you later." + +"He--Loris; he is safe, then?" + +He nodded, but would say no more, and presently I drifted back into +sleep or unconsciousness. + + + + +CHAPTER XLVIII + +THE GRAND DUCHESS PASSES + + +I've heard it said that sick or wounded people always die if they have +no wish to live, but that's not true. I wanted to die as badly as any +one ever did, but yet I lived. I suppose I must have a lot of +recuperative energy; anyhow, next time I woke up I felt pretty much as +usual, except for the dull throb of the wound across my forehead, which +some one had scientifically strapped up. My physical pain counted as +nothing compared with the agony of shame and grief I suffered in my +soul, as, bit by bit, I recollected all that had happened. I had failed +in my trust, failed utterly. I was left to guard her; I ought to have +forbidden--prevented--her going out into the street at all; and, when +the worst came, I ought to have died with her. + +I tried to say something of this to Loris when I was face to face with +him once more, in the room where Anne and I had been working when that +ill-omened woman, Marie Levinska, interrupted us; but he stopped me with +an imperative gesture. + +"Do not reproach yourself, my friend. All that one man could do, you +did. I know that well, and I thank you. One last service you shall do, +if you are fit for it. You shall ride with us to-night when we take her +away. Mishka has told you of the arrangements? That is well. If we get +through, you will not return here; that is why I have sent for you now." + +"Not return?" I repeated. + +"No," he answered quietly but decisively. "Once before I begged you to +leave us, now I command you to do so; not because I do not value you, +but because--she--would have wished it. Wait, hear me out! You have done +noble service in a cause that can mean nothing to you, except--" + +"Except that it is a cause that the lady I served lived,--and died--for, +sir," I interrupted. + +More than once before I had spoken of her to him as the woman we both +loved; but now the other words seemed fittest; for not half an hour back +I had learned the truth, that, I think, I had known all along,--that she +who lay in her coffin in the great drawing-room yonder was, if her +rights had been acknowledged, the Grand Duchess Loris of Russia. It was +Vassilitzi who told me. + +"They were married months ago, in Paris,--before she went to England," +he had said, and for a moment a bitter wave of memory swept over me, +though I fought against it. Hadn't I decided long since that the queen +could do no wrong, and therefore the deception she had practised counted +for nothing? All that really mattered was that I loved her in spite of +all; asked nothing more than to be allowed to serve her. + +"You served her under a delusion," he rejoined with stern sadness. "And +now it is no longer possible for you to serve her even so. I cannot +discuss the matter with you; I cannot explain it,--I would not if I +could. Only this I repeat. I request--command you, to make your way out +of this country as soon as possible, and rejoin your friends in England, +or America,--where you will. It may mean more to you than you dare hope +or imagine. You will have some difficulty probably, though some of the +trains are running again now. I think your safest plan will be to ride +to Kutno--or if necessary even to Alexandrovo. Here is a passport, +permitting you to leave Russia; it is made out in the name you assumed +when you returned as 'William Pennington Gould,' and is quite in order. +And I must ask you, for the sake of our friendship, to accept these"--he +took a roll of notes out of the drawer of the writing-table--"and, as a +memento,--this. It is the only decoration I am able to confer on a most +chivalrous gentleman." + +He held out a little case, open, and I took it with an unsteady hand. It +contained a miniature of Anne, set in a rim of diamonds. I looked at +it,--and at him,--but I could not speak; my heart was too full. + +"There is no need of words, my friend; we understand each other well, +you and I," he continued, rising and placing his hands on my shoulders. +"You will do as I wish,--as I entreat--insist--?" + +"I would rather remain with you!" I urged. "And fight on, for the +cause--" + +He shook his head. + +"It is a lost cause; or at least it will never be won by us. The +manifesto, the charter of peace! What is it? A dead letter. Nicholas +issued it indeed, but his Ministers ignore it, and therefore he is +helpless, his charter futile and the reign of terror continues,--will +continue. Therefore I bid you go, and you must obey. So this is our +parting, for though we shall meet, we shall be alone together no more. +Therefore, God be with you, my friend!" + +When next I saw him he stood with drawn sword, stern and stately, +foremost among the guard of honor round the catafalque in the great +drawing-room, where all that remained of the woman we both loved lay in +state, ere it fared forth on its last journey. + +The old house was full of subdued sounds, for as soon as darkness fell, +by ones and twos, men and women were silently admitted and passed as +silently up the staircase to pay their last homage to their martyr. + +Nearly all of them had flowers in their hands,--red flowers,--sometimes +only a single spray, but always those fatal geranium blossoms that were +the symbol of the League. They laid them on the white pall, or scattered +them on the folds that swept the ground, till the coffin seemed raised +above a sea of blood. + +Every detail of that scene is photographed on my memory. The great room, +hung with black draperies and brilliantly lighted by a multitude of tall +wax candles; the air heavy with incense and the musky odor of the +flowers; the two priests in gorgeous vestments who knelt on either side, +near the head of the coffin, softly intoning the prayers for the dead; +the black-robed nuns who knelt at the foot, silent save for the click of +their rosaries; and the ghostly procession of men and women, many of +them wounded, all haggard and wan, that passed by, and paused to gaze on +the face that lay framed, as it were, beneath a panel of glass in the +coffin-lid, from which the pall was drawn back. Many of them, men as +well as women, were weeping passionately; some pressed their lips to the +glass; others raised their clenched hands as if to register a vow of +vengeance; a few,--a very few,--knelt in prayer for a brief moment ere +they passed on. + +I stood at my post, as one of the guard, and watched it all in a queer, +impersonal sort of way, as if my soul was somehow outside my body. + +Although I stood some distance away, the quiet face under the glass +seemed ever before my eyes; for I had looked on it before this solemn +ceremonial began. How fair it was,--and yet how strange; though it was +unmarred, unless there was a wound hidden under the strip of white +ribbon bound across the forehead and almost concealed by the softly +waving chestnut hair. But even the peace of death had not been able to +banish the expression of anguish imprinted on the lovely features. Above +the closed eyelids, with their long, dark lashes, the brows were +contracted in a frown, and the mouth was altered, the white teeth +exposed, set firmly in the lower lip. Still she was beautiful, but with +the beauty of a Medusa. I could not think of that face as the one I had +known and loved; it filled me with pity and horror and indignation, +indeed; but--it was the face of a stranger. + +Why had I not been content to remember her as I had known her in life! +She seemed so immeasurably removed from me now; and that not merely +because I could no longer think of her as Anne Pendennis,--only as "The +Grand Duchess Anna Catharine Petrovna, daughter of the Countess Anna +Vassilitzi-Pendennis, and wife of Loris Nicolai Alexis, Grand Duke of +Russia," as the French inscription on the coffin-plate ran,--but also +because the mystery that had surrounded her in life seemed more +impenetrable than ever now that she was dead. + +Where was her father, to whom she had seemed so devotedly attached when +I first knew her? Even supposing he was dead, why was he ignored in that +inscription, save for the mere mention of his surname, the only +indication of her mixed parentage. She had never spoken of him since +that day at the hunting-lodge when she had said I must ask nothing +concerning him. I had obeyed her in that, as in all else, and had even +refrained from questioning Vassilitzi or any other who might have been +able to tell me anything about Anthony Pendennis. Besides, there had +been no time for queries or conjectures during all the feverish +excitement of these days in Warsaw. But now, in this brief and solemn +interlude, all the old problems recurred to my mind, as I stood on guard +in the death-chamber; and I knew that I could never hope to solve them. + +The ceremony was over at last. As in a dream I followed the others, and, +at a low-spoken word of command, filed past the catafalque, with a last +military salute, though I was no longer in uniform, for Mishka had +brought me a suit of civilian clothes. + +In the same dazed way I found myself later riding near the head of the +procession that passed through the dark silent streets, and out into the +open country. I didn't even feel any curiosity or astonishment that a +strong escort of regular cavalry--lancers--accompanied us, or when I +recognized the officer in command as young Mirakoff, whom I had last +seen on the morning when I was on my way to prison in Petersburg. He +didn't see me,--probably he wouldn't have known me if he had,--and to +this day I don't know how he and his men came to be there, or how the +whole thing was arranged. Anyhow, none molested us; and slowly, through +the sleeping city, and along the open road, the cortčge passed, +ghostlike, in the dead of night. The air was piercingly cold, but the +sky was clear, like a canopy of velvet spangled with great stars. + +Mishka rode beside me, and at last, when we seemed to have been riding +for an eternity, he laid his hand on my rein, and whispered hoarsely, +"Now." + +Almost without a sound we left the ranks, turned up a cross-road, and, +wheeling our horses at a few paces distant, waited for the others to go +by; more unreal, more dreamlike than ever. Save for the steady tramp of +the horses' feet, the subdued jingle of the harness and accoutrements, +they might have been a company of phantoms. I saw the gleam of the white +pall above the black bulk of the open hearse,--watched it disappear in +the darkness, and knew that the Grand Duchess had passed out of my life +forever. + +Still I sat, bareheaded, until the last faint sounds had died away, and +the silence about us was only broken by the night whisper of the bare +boughs above us. + +"Come; for we have yet far to go," Mishka said aloud, and started down +the cross-road at a quick trot. + + + + +CHAPTER XLIX + +THE END OF AN ACT + + +How far we rode I can't say; but it was still dark when we halted at a +small isolated farmhouse, where Mishka roused the farmer, who came out +grumbling at being disturbed before daybreak. After a muttered colloquy, +he led us in and called his wife to prepare tea and food for us, while +he took charge of the horses. + +"You must eat and sleep," Mishka announced in his gruff way. "You ought +to be still in the hospital; but we are fools, in these days, every one +of us! Ho--little father--shake down some hay in the barn; we will sleep +there." + +I must have been utterly exhausted, for I slept heavily, dreamlessly, +for many hours, and only woke under Mishka's hand, as he shook me. +Through the doorway of the barn, the level rays of the westering sun +showed that the short November day was drawing to a close. + +"You have slept long; that is well. But now we must be up and away if we +are to reach Kutno to-night." + +"You go with me?" + +"So far, yes. If there are no trains running yet, we go on to +Alexandrovo. I shall not leave you till I have set you safely on your +way. Those are my orders." + +"I don't know why I'm going," I muttered dejectedly, sitting up among +the hay. "I would rather have stayed." + +"You go because he ordered you to; and we all obey him, whether we like +it or not!" he retorted. "And he was right to send you. Why should you +throw your life away for nothing? Come, there is no time to waste in +words. I have brought you water; wash and dress. Remember you are no +longer a disreputable revolutionist, but a respectable American citizen, +and we must make you look a little more like one." + +There was something queer in his manner. Gruff as ever, he yet spoke to +me, treated me, almost as if I were a child who had to be heartened up, +as well as taken care of. But I didn't resent it. I knew it was his way +of showing affection; and it touched me keenly. We had learned to +understand each other well, and no man ever had a stancher comrade than +I had in Mishka Pavloff. + +During that last of our many rides together he was far less taciturn +then usual; I had never heard him say so much at one stretch as he did +while we pressed on through the dusk. + +"We have shown you something of the real Russia since you came back--how +many weeks since? And now, if you get safe across the frontier, you will +be wise to remain there, as any wise man--or woman either--who values +life." + +"I don't value my life," I interrupted bitterly. + +"You think you do not. That is because you are hasty and ignorant, +though the ignorance is not your fault. You think your heart is broken, +_hein_? Well, one of these days, not long hence, perhaps, you will think +differently; and find that life is a good thing after all,--when it has +not to be lived in Russia! If we ever meet again, you will know I have +spoken the truth." + +I knew that before many days had passed, and wondered then how much he +could have told me if he had been minded. + +"If we meet again!" I echoed sadly. "Is that likely, friend Mishka?" + +"God knows! Stranger things have happened. If I die with, or before my +master,--well, I die. If I do not, I, too, shall make for the frontier +when he no longer has need of me. Where is the good of staying? What +should I do here? I would like to see peace--yes, but there will be no +peace within this generation--" + +"But your father?" I asked, thinking of the stanch old man, who had gone +back to his duty at Zostrov. + +"My father is dead." + +"Dead!" I exclaimed, startled for the moment out of the inertness that +paralyzed my brain. + +"He was murdered a week after he returned to Zostrov. There was trouble +with the _moujiks_,--as I knew there would be. The garrison at the +castle was helpless, and there was trouble there also, first about my +little bomb that covered our retreat. You knew I planned that,--_hein_?" + +"No, but I suspected it." + +"And you said nothing; you are discreet enough in your way. _He_ never +suspected,--does not even now; he thinks it was a plot hatched by his +enemies--perhaps by Stravensky himself, the old fox! But we should never +have got through to Warsaw, if, for a time, at least, all had not +believed that he and I and you were finished off in that affair. Better +for him perhaps, if it had been so!" + +He fell silent, and I know he was thinking of the last tragedy, as I +was. The memory of it was hard enough for me to bear; what must it not +be for Loris? + +"Yes, there was much trouble," Mishka resumed. "Old Stravensky was +summoned to Petersburg, and he had scarcely set out before the +revolution began, and the troops were recalled. There was but a small +garrison left; I doubt if they would have moved a finger in any case; +and so the _moujiks_ took their own way, and my father--went to his +reward. He was a good man, and their best friend for many a year, but +that they did not understand, since the Almighty has made them beasts +without understanding!" + +The darkness had fallen, but I guessed he shrugged his shoulders in the +way I knew so well. A fatalist to the finger-tips was Mishka. + +"The news came three days since," he continued. "And such news will +come, in time, from every country district. I tell you all you have seen +and known is but the beginning, and God knows what the end will be! +Therefore, as I have said, this is no country for honest peaceable folk. +My mother died long since, God be thanked; and now but one tie holds me +here." + +"Look, yonder are the lights of Kutno." + +The town was comparatively quiet, though it was thronged with soldiers, +and there were plenty of signs that Kutno had passed through its own +days of terror, and was probably in for more in the near future. + +We left our horses at a _kabak_ and walked through the squalid streets +to the equally squalid railway depot where we parted, almost in silence. + +"God be with you," Mishka growled huskily. His face looked more grim +than ever under the poor light of a street-lamp near, and he held my +hands in a grip whose marks I bore for a week after. + +He strode heavily away, never once looking back, and I turned into the +depot, where I found the entrance, the ticket office, and the platform +guarded by surly, unkempt soldiers with fixed bayonets. I lost count of +the times I had to produce my passport; and turned a deaf ear to the +insults lavished upon me by most of my interlocutors. I thought I had +better resume my pretended ignorance of Russian and trust to German to +carry me through, as it did. I was allowed to board one of the cars at +last; they were filthy, lighted only by a candle here and there, and +crowded with refugees of all classes. I was lucky to get in at all, and, +though all the cars were soon crammed to their utmost capacity, it was +an hour or more before the train started. Then it crawled and jolted +through the darkness at a pace that I reckoned would land us at +Alexandrovo somewhere about noon next day,--if we ever got there at all. + +But the indescribable discomforts of that long night journey at least +prevented anything in the way of coherent thought. I look back on it now +as a blank interval; a curtain dropped at the end of a long and lurid +act in the drama of life. + +At Alexandrovo more soldiers, more hustling, more interrogations; then +the barrier, and beyond,--freedom! + +I've a hazy notion that I arrived at a big, well-lighted station, and +was taken possession of by some one who hustled me into a cab; but the +next thing I remember clearly was waking and finding myself in bed,--a +nice clean bed, with a huge down pillow affair on top,--in a big +well-furnished room. That down affair--I couldn't remember the name of +it for the moment--and the whole aspect of the room showed that I was in +a German hotel; though how I got there I really couldn't remember. I +rang the bell; my hand felt so heavy that I could scarcely lift it as +far, and it looked curiously thin, with blue marks, like faint bruises +on it, and the veins stood out. + +A plump, comfortable looking woman, in a nurse's uniform, bustled in; +and beamed at me quite affectionately. + +"Now, this is better! Yes, I said it would be so!" she exclaimed in +German. "You feel quite yourself again, but weak,--yes, that is only to +be expected--" + +"Will you be so good as to tell me where I am?" I asked, as politely as +I knew how; staring at her, and wondering if I'd ever seen her before. + +"Oh, you men! No sooner do you find your tongue and your senses than you +begin to ask questions! And yet you say it is women who are the +talkers!" she answered, with a kind of ponderous archness. "You are at +the Hotel Reichshof to be sure; and being well taken care of. The head?" +she touched my forehead with her firm, cool fingers. "It hurts no more? +Ah, it has healed beautifully; I did well to remove the strappings +yesterday. There will be a scar, yes, but that cannot be helped. And now +you are hungry? Ah, we will soon set that right! It is as I said, though +even the doctor would not believe me. The wounds are nothing,--so to +speak; the exhaustion was the mischief. You came through from Russia? +What times they are having there! You were fortunate to get through at +all. Yes, you are a very fortunate man, and an excellent patient; +therefore you shall have some breakfast!" + +She worried me, with her persistent cheerfulness, but it would have been +ungracious to tell her so. She was right in one way, though. I was +ravenously hungry; and when she returned, bringing a tray with delicious +coffee and rolls, I started on them, and let her babble away, as she +did,--nineteen to the dozen. + +I gathered that nearly a week had passed since I got to Berlin. The +hotel tout had captured me at the depot, and I collapsed as I got out of +the cab. + +"In the ordinary way, you would have been sent to a hospital, but when +they saw the portrait--" + +"What portrait?" I asked; but even as I spoke my memory was returning, +and I knew she must mean the miniature Loris had given me. + +"What portrait? Why, the Fraulein Pendennis, to be sure!" + + + + +CHAPTER L + +ENGLAND ONCE MORE + + +I started up at that. + +"Fraulein Pendennis!" I gasped. "You know her?" + +"I should do so, after nursing her through such an illness,--and so +short a time since!" + +"But,--when did you nurse her,--where?" + +"Why, here; not in this room, but in the hotel. It is three--no, nearer +four months since; she also was taken ill on her way from Russia. There +is a strange coincidence! But hers was a much more severe illness. We +did not think she could possibly recover; and for weeks we feared for +her brain. She had suffered some great shock; though the Herr, her +father, would not say what it was--" + +She looked at me interrogatively; but I had no mind to satisfy her +curiosity, though I guessed at once what the "shock" must have been, and +that Anne had broken down after the strain of that night in the forest +near Petersburg and all that had gone before it. She had never referred +to this illness; that was so like her. Anything that concerned herself, +personally, she always regarded as insignificant, but I thought now that +it had a good deal to do with her worn appearance. + +"And Herr Pendennis, where is he?" I demanded next. + +"I do not know; they left together, when the Fraulein was at last able +to travel. Ah, but they are devoted to each other, those two! It is +beautiful to see such affection in these days when young people so often +seem to despise their parents." + +It was strange, very strange. The more I tried to puzzle things out, the +more hopeless the tangle appeared. Why had Pendennis allowed her to +return alone to Russia, especially after she had come through such a +severe illness? Of course he might be attached to some other branch of +the League, but it seemed unlikely that he would allow himself to be +separated from her, when he must have known that she would be surrounded +by greater perils than ever. I decided that I could say nothing to this +garrulous woman--kindly though she was--or to any other stranger. I +dreaded the time when I would have to tell Mary something at least of +the truth; though even to her I would never reveal the whole of it. + +The manager came to my room presently, bringing my money and papers, and +the miniature, which he had taken charge of; lucky it was for me that I +had fallen into honest hands when I reached Berlin! + +He addressed me as "Herr Gould" of course, and was full of curiosity to +know how I got through, and if things were as bad in Warsaw as the +newspapers reported. Berlin was full of Russian refugees; but he had not +met one from Warsaw. + +"They say the Governor will issue no passports permitting Poles to leave +the city," he said. "But you are an American, which makes all the +difference." + +"I guess so," I responded, wondering how Loris had managed to obtain +that passport, and if it would have served to get me through if I had +started from the city instead of making that long _détour_ to Kutno. + +I assured my host that the state of affairs in the city of terror I had +left was indescribable, and I'd rather not discuss it. He seemed quite +disappointed, and with a queer flash of memory I recalled how the little +chattering woman--I forget her name--had been just as disappointed when +I didn't give details about Cassavetti's murder on that Sunday evening +in Mary's garden. There are a lot of people in this world who have an +insatiable appetite for horrors,--when they can get them at second-hand. + +"They say it's like the days of the terror in the 'sixties' over +again,--tortures and shootings and knoutings; and that the Cossacks +stripped a woman and knouted her to death one day last week; did you +hear of that?" + +"I tell you I don't mean to speak of anything that I've seen or heard!" +I said, feeling that I wanted to kick him. He apologized profusely, and +then made me wince again by referring to the miniature, with more +apologies for looking at it, when he thought it necessary to take +possession of it. + +"But we know the so-amiable Fraulein and Herr Pendennis so well; they +have often stayed here," he explained. "And it is such a marvellous +likeness; painted quite recently too, since the illness from which the +Fraulein has so happily recovered!" + +I muttered something vague, and managed to get rid of him on the plea +that I felt too bad to talk any more, which drew fresh apologies; but +when he had gone I examined the miniature more closely than I'd had an +opportunity of doing since Loris gave it me. + +It was not recently painted, I was quite sure of that, and yet it +certainly did show her as I had known her during these last few weeks, +before death printed that terrible change on her face,--and not as she +was in London. But that must be my imagination; the artist had caught +her expression at a moment when she was grave and sad; no, not exactly +sad, for the lips and eyes were smiling,--a faint, wistful, inscrutable +smile like the smile of the Sphinx, as it gazes across the +desert--across the world, into space, and eternity. + +As I gazed on the brave sweet face, the sordid misery that had enveloped +my soul ever since that awful moment when I saw her dead body borne +past, in the square, was lifted; and I knew that the last poignant agony +was the end of a long path of thorns that she had trodden unflinchingly, +with royal courage and endurance for weary months and years; that she +was at peace, purified by her love, by her suffering, from all taint of +earth. + +"Dumb lies the world; the wild-yelling world with all its madness is +behind thee!" + + * * * * * + +I started for England next evening, and travelled right through. I sent +one wire to Jim from Berlin and another from Flushing,--where I found a +reply from him waiting me. "All well, meeting you." + +That "all well" reassured me, for now that I had leisure to think, my +conscience told me how badly I'd treated him and Mary. It's true that +before I started from London with Mishka I wrote saying that I was off +on secret service and they must not expect to hear from me for a time, +but I should be all right. That was to smooth Mary down, for I knew what +she was,--dear little soul,--and I didn't want her to be fretting about +me. If she once got any notion of my real destination, she'd have +fretted herself into a fever. But if she hadn't guessed at the truth, I +might be able to evade telling her anything at all; perhaps I might +pitch a yarn about having been to Tibet, or Korea, for she would +certainly want to know something of the reason for my changed +appearance. I scarcely recognized myself when I looked at my reflection +in the bedroom mirror at Berlin. A haggard, unkempt ruffian, +gray-haired, and with hollow eyes staring out of a white face, +disfigured by a half-healed cut across the forehead. I certainly was a +miserable looking object, even when I'd had my hair cut and my beard +shaved, since I no longer needed it as a disguise. Mary had always +disliked that beard, but I doubted if she'd know me, even without it. + +I landed at Queensboro' on a typical English November afternoon; raw and +dark, with a drizzle falling that threatened every moment to thicken +into a regular fog. There were very few passengers, and I thought at +first I was going to have the compartment to myself; but, at the last +moment, a man got in whom I recognized at once as Lord Southbourne. I +hadn't seen him on the boat; doubtless he'd secured a private stateroom. +He just glanced at me casually,--I had my fur cap well pulled +down,--settled himself in his corner, and started reading a London +paper,--one of his own among them. He'd brought a sheaf of them in with +him; though I'd contented myself with _The Courier_. It was pleasant to +see the familiar rag once more. I hadn't set eyes on a copy since I left +England. + +I didn't speak to Southbourne, though; I don't quite know why, except +that I felt like a kind of Rip van Winkle, though I'd only been away a +little more than a couple of months. And somehow I dreaded that lazy but +penetrating stare of his, and the questions he would certainly fire off +at me. So I lay low and said nothing; keeping the paper well before my +face, till we stopped at Herne Hill for tickets to be taken. As the +train started again, he threw down his paper, and moved opposite me, and +held out his hand. + +"Hello, Wynn!" he drawled. "Is it you or your ghost? Didn't you know me? +Or do you mean to cut me? Why, man alive, what's wrong?" he added, with +a quick change of tone. I'd only heard him speak like that once +before,--in the magistrate's room at the police court, after the murder +charge was dismissed. + +"Nothing; except that we've had a beastly crossing," I answered, with a +poor attempt at jauntiness. + +"Where have you come from,--Russia?" he demanded. + +I nodded. + +"H'm! So you went back, after all. I thought as much! Who's had your +copy?" + +"I've sent none; I went on private business," I protested hotly. It +angered me that he should think me capable of going back on him. + +"I oughtn't to have said that; I apologize," he said stiffly, still +staring at me intently. "But--what on earth have you been up to? More +prison experiences? Well, keep your own counsel, of course. I've kept it +for you,--as far as I knew it. Mrs. Cayley believes I've sent you off to +the ends of the earth; and I've been mendaciously assuring her that +you're all right,--though Miss Pendennis has had her doubts, and nearly +bowled me out, once or twice." + +"Miss--_who_?" I shouted. + +"Miss Pendennis, of course. Didn't you know she was staying with your +cousin again? A queer coincidence about that portrait! Hello, here we +are at Victoria. And there's Cayley!" + + + + +CHAPTER LI + +THE REAL ANNE + + +"It's incredible!" I exclaimed. + +"Well, it's true, anyhow!" Jim asserted. "And I don't see myself where +the incredibility comes in." + +"You say that Mr. Pendennis wrote from Berlin not a week after I left +England, and that he and Anne--_Anne_--are at this moment staying with +you in Chelsea? When I've been constantly with her,--saw her murdered in +the streets of Warsaw!" + +"That must have been the other woman,--the woman of the portrait, +whoever she may be. No one seems to know, not even Pendennis. We've +discussed it several times,--not before Anne. We don't think it wise to +remind her of that Russian episode; it upsets her too much; for she's +not at all the thing even yet, poor girl." + +He seemed quite to have changed his mental attitude towards Anne, and +spoke of her as kindly as if she had been Mary's sister. + +"It's another case of mistaken identity based on an extraordinary +likeness," he continued. "There have been many such,--more in fact than +in fiction. Look at the Bancrofts and their 'doubles,' for instance, a +pair of them, husband and wife, who passed themselves off as Sir Squire +and Lady Bancroft innumerable times a few years back, and were never +discovered. And yet, though it mightn't be difficult for a clever +impersonator to make up like Bancroft, it seems incredible that he could +find a woman who could pose successfully as the incomparable Marie +Wilton. You should have seen her in her prime, my boy--the most +fascinating little creature imaginable, and the plainest, if you only +looked at her features! It must have been a jolly sight harder to +represent her, than if she'd been a merely beautiful woman, like Anne. +She's an uncommon type here in England, but not on the Continent. I +don't suppose it would be difficult to find half a dozen who would +answer to the same description,--if one only knew where to look for +'em." + +"It wasn't the resemblance of a type,--eyes and hair and that +sort of thing,"--I said slowly; "the voice, the manner, the soul; +why--_she_--knew me, recognized me even with my beard--spoke of +Mary--" + +"She must have been an astonishingly clever woman, poor soul! And one +who knew a lot more about Anne than Anne and her father know of her. +Well, you'd soon be able to exchange notes with Pendennis himself, and +perhaps you'll hit on a solution of the mystery between you. What's +that?" + +I had pulled out the miniature and now handed it to him. He examined it +intently under the bright light of the little acetylene lamp inside the +brougham. + +"This is another portrait of her? You're right,--there's a marvellous +likeness. I'd have sworn it was Anne, though the hair is different +now. It was cut short in her illness,--Anne's illness, I mean, of +course,--and now it's a regular touzle of curls. Here, put it up. I +wouldn't say anything about it to Anne, if I were you,--not at present." + +The carriage stopped, and as I stumbled out and along the flagged way, +the front door was flung open, and in a blaze of light I saw Mary, and, +a little behind her,--Anne herself. + +I'm afraid I was very rude to Mary in that first confused moment of +meetings and greetings. I think I gave her a perfunctory kiss in +passing, but it was Anne on whom my eyes were fixed,--Anne who--wonder +of wonders--was in my arms the next moment. What did it matter to us +that there were others standing around? She was alive, and she loved me +as I loved her; I read that in her eyes as they met mine; and nothing +else in the world was of any consequence. + +"You went back to Russia in search of me! I was quite sure of it in my +mind, though Mary declared you were off on another special correspondent +affair for Lord Southbourne, and he said the same; he's rather a nice +man, isn't he, and Lady Southbourne's a dear! But I knew somehow he +wasn't speaking the truth. And you've been in the wars, you poor boy! +Why, your hair is as gray as father's; and how _did_ you get that wound +on your forehead?" + +"I've had some lively times one way and another, dear; but never mind +about that now," I said. We were sitting together by the fire in the +drawing-room, after dinner, alone,--for Mary had effaced herself like +the considerate little woman she is; probably she had joined Jim and +Pendennis in the smoking-room, that was also Jim's sanctum. + +"Tell me about yourself. How did you get to Petersburg? It was you?" + +"Yes; but I can't remember even now how I got there," she answered, +frowning at the fire, and biting her underlip. A queer thrill ran +through me as I watched her; she was so like that other. + +"I got into the train at Calais, and I suppose I fell asleep; I was very +tired after the dinner at the Cecil and Mrs. Sutherland's party. There +were two other people in the same carriage,--a man and a woman. That's +the last thing I can recollect clearly until I found myself again in a +railway carriage. I've a confused notion of being on board ship in +between; but it was all like a dream, until I suddenly saw you, and +called out to you; I was in an open carriage then, driving through a +strange city that I know now was Petersburg. I was taken to a house +where several horrid men--quite superior sort of men in a way, but they +seemed as if they hated me, and I couldn't think why--asked me a lot of +questions. At first they spoke in a language I didn't understand at all, +but afterwards in French; and then I found they wanted to know about +that Mr. Cassavetti; they called him by another name, too--" + +"Selinski," I said. + +"Yes, that was it; though I haven't been able to remember it. They +wouldn't believe me when I said I'd only met him quite casually at +dinner, the night before I was kidnapped,--for I really was kidnapped, +Maurice--and that I knew nothing whatever about him. They kept me in a +dark cell for hours, till I was half-crazy with anger and terror; and +then they brought me out, and I saw you, and father; and the next thing +I knew I was in bed in an hotel we've often stayed at, in Berlin. Father +tries to persuade me that I imagined the whole thing; but I didn't; now +did I, Maurice? And what does it all mean?" + +"It was all a mistake. You were taken for some one else; some one whom +you resemble very closely." + +"That's just what I thought; though father won't believe it; or he +pretends he won't; but I am sure he knows something that he will not +tell me. But there's another thing,--that dreadful man Cassavetti. +Perhaps I oughtn't to call him that, as he's dead; I only heard about +the murder a little while ago, and then almost by accident. Maud Vereker +told me; do you know her?" + +"That frivolous little chatterbox; yes, I've met her, though I'd +forgotten her name." + +"She told me all about it one day. Mary and Jim had never said a word; +they seemed to be in a conspiracy of silence! But when I heard it I was +terribly upset. Think of any one suspecting you of murdering him, +Maurice,--just because he lived on the floor above you, and you happened +to find him. You poor boy, what dreadful troubles you have been +through!" + +There was an interlude here; we had a good many such interludes, but +even when my arm was round her, when my lips pressed hers, I could +scarcely realize that I was awake and sane. + +"It was just as well they did suspect me, darling," I said after a +while, "or I most certainly shouldn't have been here now." + +She nestled closer to me, with a little sob. + +"Oh, Maurice, Maurice! I can't believe that you're safe here again, +after all! And I feel that I was to blame for it all--" + +"You? Why, how's that, sweetheart?" + +"Because I flirted with that Cassavetti--at the dinner, don't you +remember? That seemed to be the beginning of everything! I was so cross +with you, and he--he puzzled and interested me, though I felt frightened +just at the last when I gave him that flower. Maurice, did he take me +for the other girl? And was there any meaning attached to the flower?" + +"Yes, the flower was a symbol; it meant a great deal,--among other +things the fact that you gave it to him made him quite sure you +were--the person he mistook you for. You are marvellously like her--" + +"Then you--you have met her also? Who is she? Where is she?" + +"She is dead; and I don't know for certain who she was; until Jim met me +to-night I believed that she was--you!" + +"Were we so like as that?" she breathed. "Why, she might have been my +sister, but I never had one; my mother died when I was born, you know! +Tell me about her, Maurice." + +"I can't, dear; except that she was as brave as she was beautiful; and +her life was one long tragedy. But I'll show you her portrait." + +She gave a little cry of astonishment as I handed her the miniature; the +diamond setting flashed under the softly shaded electric light. + +"Oh, how lovely! But--why, she's far more beautiful than I am, or ever +shall be! Did she give you this, Maurice?" + +There was a queer note in her voice as she put the question; it sounded +almost like a touch of jealousy. + +"No; her husband gave it to me,--after she died," I said sadly. + +"Her husband! She was married, then. Who was he?" + +"A man worthy of her; but I'd rather not talk about them,--not just at +present; it's too painful." + +"Oh, Maurice, I'm so sorry," she murmured in swift penitence; and to my +great relief she questioned me no more for that evening. + +But I told the whole story, so far as I knew it, to Pendennis and Jim, +after the rest of the household had gone to bed; and we sat till the +small hours, comparing notes and discussing the whole matter, which +still presented many perplexing points. + +I omitted nothing; I said how I had seen Anne--as I believed then and +until this day--in that boat on the Thames; how I had suspected,--felt +certain,--that she had been to Cassavetti's rooms that night, and was +cognizant of his murder; what I had learned from Mr. Treherne, down in +Cornwall, and everything of importance that had happened since. + +Jim punctuated the story with exclamations and comments, but Anthony +Pendennis listened almost in silence, though when I came to the part +about the mad woman from Siberia, who had died at the hunting-lodge, and +who was spoken of as the Countess Vassilitzi, he started, and made a +queer sound, like a groan, though he signed to me to continue. I was +glad afterwards that I hadn't described what she looked like. He was a +grave, stern man, wonderfully self-possessed. + +"It is a strange story," he said, when I had finished. "A mysterious +one." + +"Do you hold the key to the mystery?" I asked him pointblank. + +"No, though I can shed a little light on it; a very little, and I fear +even that will only make the rest more obscure. But it is only right +that I should give you confidence for confidence, Mr. Wynn; since you +have suffered so much through your love for my daughter,--and through +the machinations of this unhappy woman who certainly impersonated +her,--for her own purposes." + +I winced at that. Although I knew now that "the unhappy woman" was not +she whom I loved, it hurt me to hear her spoken of in that stern, +condemnatory way; but I let it pass. I wanted to hear his version. + + + + +CHAPTER LII + +THE WHOLE TRUTH + + +"She must have been one of the Vassilitzis, and therefore Anne's near +kinswoman," Pendennis said slowly. "You say she was often spoken of as +Anna Petrovna? That explains nothing, for Petrovna is of course a very +common family name in Russia. 'The daughter of Peter' it really means, +and it is often used as a familiar form of address, just as in Scotland +a married woman is often spoken of by her friends by her maiden name. My +wife was called Anna Petrovna. But you say this unhappy woman's name was +given as 'Vassilitzi Pendennis'? That I cannot understand! It is +impossible that she could be my daughter; that the mad lady from Siberia +could have been my wife,--and yet--my God--if that should be true, after +all! + +"They did send me word, and I believed it at the moment, though later I +thought it was a trick to get me--and Anne--into their power,--part of a +long-delayed scheme of revenge." + +His face was white as death, with little beads of sweat on the forehead, +and his hands shook slightly; though he showed no other signs of +emotion. + +"Treherne told you the truth about my marriage, Mr. Wynn," he continued, +raising his voice a little, and looking at me with stern, troubled eyes. +"Until you spoke of him I had almost forgotten his existence! But he +did not know quite everything. The one point on which I and my dear wife +were at variance was her connection with this fatal League. Yes, it was +in existence then; and I was--I suppose I still am, in a way--a member +of it; though I only became one in order that I might protect my wife as +far as possible. After she died and I was banished from Russia, I +severed myself from it for many years, until a few months ago, when I +received a communication to the effect that my wife was still alive; +that she had been released and restored to her relatives,--to her +brother Stepán, I supposed. He had always hated me, but he loved her +well, though he managed to make his escape at the time she was taken." + +"But Stepán Vassilitzi is a young man,--younger than I am," I +interrupted. + +"He is the son; the father died some years back, though I only learned +that after I returned to Russia. I started at once; that was how you +missed me when you came to Berlin. I sent first to the old château near +Warsaw, which had been the principal residence of the Vassilitzis. But I +found it in possession of strangers; it had been confiscated in '81, and +nothing was known of the old family beyond the name. I wasted several +days in futile inquiries and then went on to Petersburg, where I got in +communication with some of the League. I had to execute the utmost +caution, as you will understand, but I found out that a meeting was to +be held at a place I knew of old,--the ruined chapel,--and that Anna +Petrovna was to be there,--my wife, as I supposed. + +"The rest of that episode you know. The moment I saw Anne brought out I +realized, or thought I did, for I am not so sure now, that it was a +trap. That big, rough-looking man who carried Anne off--" + +"He was the Grand Duke Loris." + +"So I guessed when you spoke of him just now; and at the time I knew, of +course, that he was not what he appeared, for he didn't act up to his +disguise." + +"He did when it was necessary!" I said emphatically, remembering how he +had slanged the hotel servant that evening at Petersburg. + +"Well, he said enough to convince me that I was right, though why he +should trouble himself on our behalf I couldn't imagine. + +"We hadn't gone far when we heard firing, and halted to listen. We held +a hurried consultation, and I told him briefly who we were. He seemed +utterly astounded; and now I understand why,--he evidently had thought +Anne was that other. He decided that we should be safer if we remained +in the woods till all was quiet, and then make our way to Petersburg and +claim protection at the English Embassy. + +"We went on again; Anne was still insensible, and he insisted on +carrying her,--till we came to a charcoal burner's hut. He told us to +stay there till a messenger came who would guide us to the road, where a +carriage would be in waiting to take us to Petersburg. + +"He left us then, and I have never seen him since. But he kept his word, +though it was nearly a week before the messenger came,--a big, surly +man, very lame, as the result of a recent accident, I think." + +"Mishka!" I exclaimed. + +"He would not tell his name, and said very little one way or the other, +but he took us to the carriage, and we reached the city without +hindrance. Anne was in a dazed condition the whole time,--partly, no +doubt, as a result of the drugs which those scoundrels who kidnapped her +and brought her to Russia had administered. She knew me, but everything +else was almost a blank to her, as it still is. She has only a faint +recollection of the whole affair. + +"I secured a passport for her and we started at once, though she wasn't +fit to travel, and the journey nearly killed her. We ought to have +stopped as soon as we were over the frontier, but I wanted to get as far +away from Russia as possible. She just held out till we got to Berlin, +and then broke down altogether--my poor child! + +"I ought to have written to Mrs. Cayley, I know; but I never gave a +thought to it till Anne began to recover--" + +"That's all right; Mary understood, and she's forgiven the omission long +ago," Jim interposed. "But, I say, Pendennis, I was right, after all! I +always stuck out that it was a case of mistaken identity, though you +wouldn't believe me!" + +Pendennis nodded. + +"The woman from Siberia--what was she like?" he demanded, turning again +to me. + +"I can't say. I only saw her from a distance, and for a minute or so," I +answered evasively. "She was tall and white-haired." + +I was certain in my own mind that she was his wife, for I'd heard the +words she called out,--his name, "An-thony," not the French "Antoine," +but as a foreigner would pronounce the English word,--but I should only +add to his distress if I told him that. + +"Well, it remains a mystery; and one that I suppose we shall never +unravel," he said heavily, at last. + +But it was unravelled for us, and that before many weeks had passed. + +One dark afternoon just before Christmas I dropped in for a few minutes, +as I generally contrived to do before going down to the office; for I +was on the _Courier_ again temporarily. + +Anne and her father were still the Cayleys' guests; for Mary wouldn't +hear of their going to an hotel, and they had only just found a flat +near at hand to suit them. Having at last returned to England, Anthony +Pendennis had decided to remain. He'd had enough, at last, of wandering +around the Continent! + +Mary had other callers in the drawing-room, so I turned into Jim's +study, where Anne joined me in a minute or so,--Anne, who, in a few +short months, would be my wife. + +The front-door bell rang, and voices sounded in the lobby; but though I +heard, I didn't heed them, until Anne held up her hand. + +"Hush! Who is Marshall talking to?" + +The prim maid was speaking in an unusually loud voice; shouting, in +fact, as English folk always do when they're addressing a foreigner,--as +if that would make them more intelligible. + +A moment later she came in, looking flustered, and closed the door. + +"There's a foreign man outside, sir, and I think he's asking for you; +but I can't make out half he says,--not even his name, though it sounds +like Miskyploff!" + +"Mishka!" I shouted, making for the door. + +Mishka it was, grim, gaunt, and travel-stained; and as he gripped my +hands I knew, without a word spoken, that Loris was dead. + +I led him in, and he started slightly when he saw Anne, who stared at +him with a queer expression of half-recognition. She knew who he was, +for I had told her a good deal about him; though we had all agreed it +was quite unnecessary that she should know the whole story of my +experiences in Russia; there were a lot of details I'd never given even +to her father and Jim. + +She recovered herself almost instantly, and held out her hand to him +with a gracious smile, saying in German: + +"Welcome to England, Herr Pavloff! I have heard much of you, and have +much to thank you for." + +He bowed clumsily over the hand, with the deference due to a princess, +and watched her as she passed out of the room, his rugged face strangely +softened. + +"So, she is safe, after all," he said when the door was closed. "We all +hoped so, but we did not know; that is one reason why you were never +told. For if she were dead what need to tell you; and also--but I will +come to that later. There is a marvellous resemblance; but it is often +so with twins." + +"_Twins!_" I ejaculated; and yet I think I'd known it, at the back of +my mind, ever since the night of my return to England; only Pendennis +had spoken so decidedly about his only child. "Why, Herr Pendennis +himself doesn't know that!" + +"No, it was kept from him,--from the first. It is all old history now, +though I learned it within these last few months, chiefly from Natalya. +It was her doing,--hers, and the old Count's, Stepán's father. The old +Count had always resented the marriage; he hated Herr Pendennis, his +brother-in-law, as much as he loved his sister. Herr Pendennis was away +in England when the children were born; and that increased the Count's +bitterness against him. He thought he should have hastened back,--as +without doubt he should have done! It was but a few days later that the +young mother was arrested, and, ill as she was, they took her away to +prison in a litter. The Count got timely warning, and made his escape. +It was impossible for his sister to accompany him; also he did not +believe they would arrest her, in her condition, and as she was the wife +of an Englishman. He should have known that Russians are without pity or +mercy!" + +"But the child! He could not take a week-old baby with him, if he had to +fly for his life." + +"No, Natalya did that. She escaped to the Ghetto and took the baby with +her,--and young Stepán, who was then a lad of six years. There was great +confusion at the château, and the few who knew that two children were +born doubtless believed one had died. + +"For the rest, Natalya remained in the Ghetto for some three years, and +then rejoined the Count at the old house near Ziscky,--the hunting +lodge. It was all he had left; though he had patched up a peace with the +Government. He had friends at Court in those days. + +"You know what the child became. He trained her deliberately to that end +as long as he lived; taught her also that her father deserted her and +her mother in the hour of need,--left them to their fate. It was a cruel +revenge to take." + +"It was!" I said emphatically. "But when did she learn she had a +sister?" + +"That I do not know. I think it was not long before she came to England +last; she had often been here before, for brief visits only. She came on +the yacht then, with my master; it was their honeymoon, and we had been +cruising for some weeks,--the only peaceful time she had ever had in her +life. He wished her never to return to Russia; to go with him to South +America, or live in England. But she would not; she loved him, yes, but +she loved the Cause more; it was her very life, her soul! + +"The yacht lay off Greenwich for the night; she meant to land next day, +and come up to see Selinski. She had never happened to meet him, though +he was one of the Five." + +"Selinski! Cassavetti! Mishka, it was not she who murdered him!" + +"No, it was Stepán Vassilitzi who killed him, and he deserved it, the +hound! I had somewhat to do with it also; for I had come to London in +advance, and was to rejoin the yacht that night. Near the bridge at +Westminster whom should I meet but Yossof, whom I thought to be in +Russia; and he told me that which made me bundle him into a cab and +drive straight to Greenwich. + +"The Countess Anna--she was Grand Duchess then, though we never +addressed her so--made her plan speedily, as she ever did. She slipped +away, with only her cousin Stepán and I. My master did not know. He +thought she was in her cabin after dinner. + +"We rowed swiftly up the river,--the tide was near flood,--and I waited +in the boat while they went to Selinski's; Yossof had given them the +key. They found his paper, with all the evidences of his treachery to +the League and to her. Selinski came in at the moment when their task +was finished, and Stepán stabbed him to the heart. It was not her wish; +she would have spared him, vile though he was! Well, it is all one now. +They are all gone; she and Stepán,--and my master--" + +"He is dead, then?" + +"Should I be here if he were living? No, they did not kill him. I think +he really died when she did,--that his soul passed, as it were, with +hers; though he made no sign, as you know. I found him,--it is more than +a week since,--in the early morning, sitting at the table where she used +to write, his head on his arms,--so. He was dead and cold,--and I +thanked God for it. There was a smile on his face--" + +His deep voice broke for the first time, and he sat silent for a +space,--and I did. + +"And so,--I came away," he resumed presently. "I have come to you, +because he loved you. It was not his wish, but hers, that you should be +deceived, made use of. I think she felt it as a kind of justice that +she should press you into the service of the Cause,--as she meant to do +from the moment she heard of you. And it was quite easy, since you never +suspected that she was not the Fraulein you knew, and loved--_hein_? She +herself, too, had borne the burden so long, had toiled, and schemed, and +suffered for the Cause; while this sister had always been shielded; knew +nothing, cared nothing for the Cause,--though, indirectly, she had +suffered somewhat through that mistake on the part of Selinski's +accomplices. Therefore this sister should give her lover to the Cause; +that was the thought in her mind, I am sure. She was wrong; but we must +not judge her too harshly, my friend!" + +"God forbid!" I said huskily. + + * * * * * + +All that was over a year ago, and now, my task done, I sit at my +writing-table by a western window and watch the sun, a clear red ball, +sink into the Atlantic. We are at Pencarrow, for Anthony Pendennis has +at last returned to his own house. He is my father-in-law now, for Anne +and I were married in the spring, and returned after a long honeymoon to +Pencarrow. We found Mishka settled on a farm near, as much at home there +as if he had lived in England all his life. He speaks English quite +creditably,--with a Cornish accent,--and I hear that it won't be long +before the farm has a mistress, a plump, bright-eyed widow who is going +to change her present name of Stiddyford for that of Pavloff. + +We are quite a family party just now, for Jim and Mary Cayley and the +baby,--a smart little chap; I'm his godfather,--have come down to spend +Easter; and Mr. and Mrs. Treherne will drive over from Morwen vicarage, +for Mary's matchmaking in that direction panned out exactly as she +wished. + +All is well with us,--pleasant and peaceful, and homelike,--and yet-- + +I look at a miniature that lies on the table before me, and my mind +drifts back to the unforgettable past. I am far away from Pencarrow, +when--some one comes behind my chair; a pair of soft hands are laid over +my eyes. + +"Dreaming or working,--which?" laughs Anne. + +I take the hands in mine, and draw her down till she has her chin on my +shoulder, her soft cheek against my face. + +The dusk is falling, but through it she sees the glint of the diamonds +on the table,--and pulls her hands away. + +"You have been thinking of those dreadful days in Russia again!" she +says reproachfully, with a queer little catch in her voice. "Why don't +you forget them altogether, Maurice? Let me put this in the drawer. I +hate to look at it,--to see you looking at it!" + +She picks up the miniature, gently enough, slips it into a drawer, and +turns the key. + +"I--I know it's horrid of me, darling, but I can't help it," she +whispers, kneeling beside me, her fair face upturned,--a face crowned +once more with a wealth of bright hair, which she dresses in a different +way now, and I'm glad of that. It makes her look less like her dead +sister. + +[Illustration: _Some one comes behind my chair._ Page 354] + +"I know how--she--suffered, and--and I'm not bitter against her, +really," she continues rapidly. "But when I think of all we had to +suffer because of her, I--I can't quite forgive her, or--or forget that +you loved her once; though you thought you were loving me all the time!" + +"I did love you all the time, sweetheart," I assure her, and that is +true; but it is true also that I still love that dead woman as I loved +her in life; not as I love Anne, my wife, but as the page loved the +queen. + +I shall never tell that to Anne, though. She would not understand. + + THE END + + + + +_Mr. Oppenheim's Latest Novel_ + + THE ILLUSTRIOUS + PRINCE + +_By_ E. PHILLIPS OPPENHEIM + +Illustrated by Will Foster. Cloth. $1.50 + +Mr. Oppenheim's new story is a narrative of mystery and international +intrigue that carries the reader breathless from page to page. It is the +tale of the secret and world-startling methods employed by the Emperor +of Japan through Prince Maiyo, his close kinsman, to ascertain the real +reasons for the around-the-world cruise of the American fleet. The +American Ambassador in London and the Duke of Denvenham, an influential +Englishman, work hand in hand to circumvent the Oriental plot, which +proceeds mysteriously to the last page. From the time when Mr. Hamilton +Fynes steps from the _Lusitania_ into a special tug, in his mad rush +towards London, to the very end, the reader is carried from deep mystery +to tense situations, until finally the explanation is reached in a most +unexpected and unusual climax. + +No man of this generation has so much facility of expression, so many +technical resources, or so fine a power of narration as Mr. E. Phillips +Oppenheim.--_Philadelphia Inquirer._ + +Mr. Oppenheim is a past master of the art of constructing ingenious +plots and weaving them around attractive characters.--_London Morning +Post._ + +LITTLE, BROWN, & CO., PUBLISHERS + +34 BEACON STREET, BOSTON + + + + +PASSERS-BY + +_By_ ANTHONY PARTRIDGE + +Author of + + "The Kingdom of Earth," "The Distributors," etc. + Illustrated. Cloth, $1.50 + +Has the merit of engaging the reader's attention at once and holding it +to the end.--_New York Sun_. + +It is exciting, is plausibly and cleverly written, and is not devoid of +a love motive.--_Chicago Examiner_. + +It can be heartily recommended to those who enjoy a novel with a good +plot, entertaining characters, and one which is carefully +written.--_Chicago Tribune_. + +One of the most fascinating mystery stories of recent years, a tale that +catches the attention at the beginning and tightens the grip of its hold +with the turn of its pages.--_Boston Globe_. + +A mysterious story in which nearly all the personages are as much +puzzled as the reader and a detective encounters a unique surprise. +Originality is the most striking characteristic of the personages.--_New +York Times_. + +The first chapter compels the absorbed interest of the reader +and lays the groundwork for a thrilling tale in which mystery +follows upon mystery through a series of dramatic situations and +surprises.--_Philadelphia Press_. + +LITTLE, BROWN, & CO., PUBLISHERS + +34 BEACON STREET, BOSTON + + + + +_By the Author of "Aunt Jane of Kentucky"_ + + THE + LAND OF LONG AGO + +_By_ ELIZA CALVERT HALL + + Illustrated by G. Patrick Nelson and Beulah Strong + 12mo. Cloth. $1.50 + +The book is an inspiration.--_Boston Globe._ + +Without qualification one of the worthiest publications of the +year.--_Pittsburg Post._ + +Aunt Jane has become a real personage in American literature.--_Hartford +Courant._ + +A philosophy sweet and wholesome flows from the lips of "Aunt +Jane."--_Chicago Evening Post._ + +The sweetness and sincerity of Aunt Jane's recollections have the same +unfailing charm found in "Cranford."--_Philadelphia Press._ + +To a greater degree than her previous work it touches the heart by its +wholesome, quaint human appeal.--_Boston Transcript._ + +The stories are prose idyls; the illuminations of a lovely spirit + shine upon them, and their literary quality is as rare as +beautiful.--_Baltimore Sun._ + +MARGARET E. SANGSTER says: "It is not often that an author competes +with herself, but Eliza Calvert Hall has done so successfully, for her +second volume centred about Aunt Jane is more fascinating than her +first." + +LITTLE, BROWN, & CO., PUBLISHERS + +34 BEACON STREET, BOSTON + + + + +"_A howling success_" + + AN AMERICAN BABY + ABROAD + +_By_ MRS. CHARLES N. CREWDSON + + Illustrations by R. F. Outcault and Modest Stein + 12mo. Cloth. $1.50 + +When the American baby's mother hurries off from London to Egypt, where +her husband is ill with fever, the baby, in company with its colored +nurse and a friend of its mother's, follows more leisurely. The trio +stop at Oberammergau to see the Passion Play, in Rome to witness a +special mass conducted by Pope Leo,--in a word, do more or less +sightseeing, until they finally reach Cairo, where much more exciting +events befall them. The description of the places they visit is enhanced +by a pleasant vein of humor, and an attractive love episode sustains the +interest. It is an extremely entertaining story, light and vivacious, +with brisk dialogue and diverting situations--just the book for summer +reading. + +A series of characteristic pictures, by the well-known artist, Mr. R. F. +Outcault, and Modest Stein gives additional charm to the volume. + +LITTLE, BROWN, & CO., PUBLISHERS + +34 BEACON STREET, BOSTON + + + + +TRANSCRIBER'S NOTE: + +Minor changes have been made to correct typesetters' errors; otherwise, +every effort has been made to remain true to the author's words and +intent. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Red Symbol, by John Ironside + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE RED SYMBOL *** + +***** This file should be named 31860-8.txt or 31860-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/3/1/8/6/31860/ + +Produced by D Alexander and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was +produced from images generously made available by The +Internet Archive) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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