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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of By Right of Sword, by Arthur W. Marchmont
+
+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: By Right of Sword
+
+Author: Arthur W. Marchmont
+
+Release Date: December 20, 2011 [EBook #38357]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BY RIGHT OF SWORD ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Al Haines
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: Cover art]
+
+
+
+
+
+
+[Frontispiece: I raised my sword and struck him with the flat side of
+it across the face.--_Frontispiece, Page 42_.]
+
+
+
+
+
+By Right of Sword
+
+
+BY
+
+ARTHUR W. MARCHMONT
+
+
+AUTHOR OF
+
+"Sir Jaffray's Wife," "Parson Thring's Secret," Etc., Etc.
+
+
+
+
+NEW AMSTERDAM BOOK COMPANY
+
+156 : FIFTH : AVENUE : NEW : YORK
+
+HUTCHINSON & COMPANY, LONDON
+
+
+
+
+Copyright 1897
+
+BY
+
+ARTHUR W. MARCHMONT
+
+
+
+
+LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
+
+
+I Raised My Sword and Struck Him with the Flat
+  Side of it across the Face . . . . . . . . . . . . . . _Frontispiece_
+
+"I Know that You are My Brother, Alexis"
+
+A Swinging Cut Made Another Drop His Knife with a Great Cry of Pain
+
+"Here, Strike," I Cried
+
+"Alexis, Did You Bring That Proposal to Me Deliberately?"
+
+"Take Another Two Grains, Mouse"
+
+I Darted Forward into the Doorway
+
+I Tore It from Him
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+
+CHAPTER
+
+      I. THE MEETING
+     II. I AM A NIHILIST
+    III. MY SECONDS
+     IV. THE DUEL
+      V. GETTING DEEPER
+     VI. A LEGACY OF LOVE
+    VII. A LESSON IN NIHILISM
+   VIII. THE RIVERSIDE MEETING
+     IX. DEVINSKY AGAIN
+      X. "THAT BUTCHER, DURESCQ"
+     XI. DANGER FROM A FRESH SOURCE
+    XII. CHRISTIAN TUESKI
+   XIII. OLGA IN A NEW LIGHT
+    XIV. THE DEED WHICH RANG THROUGH RUSSIA
+     XV. A SHE DEVIL
+    XVI. THE NEXT NIHILIST PLOT
+   XVII. AN EXTRAORDINARY ADVENTURE
+  XVIII. THE REASON OF THE INTRIGUE
+    XIX. OLGA'S ABDUCTION
+     XX. THE RESCUE
+    XXI. THREE TO ONE
+   XXII. THE BEGINNING OF THE END
+  XXIII. CHECKMATE!
+   XXIV. CRISIS
+    XXV. COILS THAT NO MAN COULD BREAK
+   XXVI. MY DECISION
+  XXVII. THE FOUR ALDER TREES
+ XXVIII. THE ATTACK ON THE CZAR
+   XXIX. THE TRUTH OUT AT LAST
+    XXX. AFTERWARDS
+
+
+
+
+BY RIGHT OF SWORD.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+THE MEETING.
+
+
+Moscow.
+
+"MY DEAR RUPERT.
+
+"Don't worry your head about me.  I shall be all right.  I did not see
+you before leaving because of the scene with your sister and Cargill,
+which they may perhaps tell you about.  I have done with England: and
+as the auspices are all for war, I mean to have a shy in.  I went to
+Vienna, thinking to offer myself to the Turks: but my sixteen years in
+Russia have made too much of a Russ of me to let me tolerate those lazy
+cruel beggars.  So I turned this way.  I'm going on to St Petersburg
+to-day, for I find all the people I knew here as a lad have gone north.
+I have made such a mess of things that I shall never set foot in
+England again.  If Russia will have me, I shall volunteer, and I hope
+with all my soul that a Turkish bullet will find its billet in my body.
+It shan't be my fault if it doesn't.  If I hadn't been afraid of being
+thought afraid, I'd have taken a shorter way half a score of times.  My
+life is an inexpressible burden, and I only wish to God someone would
+think it worth while to take it.  I don't want to be hard on your
+sister, but whatever was left in my heart or life, she has emptied, and
+I only wish she'd ended it at the same time.  You'll know I'm pretty
+bad when not even the thought of our old friendship gives me a moment's
+pleasure.  Good-bye.  Don't come out after me.  You won't find me if
+you do.
+
+Your friend,
+  HAMYLTON TREGETHNER."
+
+
+The letter was wretchedly inconsequential.  When I sat down to write I
+hadn't meant to tell Rupert Balestier that his sister's treatment had
+made such a mess of things for me; but my pen ran away with me as it
+always does, and I wasn't inclined to write the letter all over again.
+I hate letter writing.  I was to leave Moscow, moreover, in an hour or
+two, and when I had had my things sent to the railway station and
+followed them, I dropped the letter into the box without altering a
+word.
+
+It had made me thoughtful, however; and I stood on the platform looking
+moodily about me, wondering whether I should find the end I wished most
+speedily by joining the army or the Nihilists; and which course would
+bring me the most exciting and quickest death.
+
+I had three or four hours to wait before my train left, and I walked up
+and down the platform trying to force myself to feel an interest in
+what was going on about me.
+
+Presently I noticed that I was the object of the close vigilance of a
+small group of soldiers such as will generally be seen hanging about
+the big stations in Russia.  They looked at me very intently; I noticed
+them whisper one to another evidently about me; and as I passed they
+drew themselves up to attention and saluted me.  I returned the salute,
+amused at their mistake, and entered one of the large waiting saloons.
+
+It was empty save for one occupant, who was standing by the big stove
+looking out of a window near.  This was a girl, and a glimpse I caught
+of her face shewed me she was pretty, while her attitude seemed to
+suggest grief.
+
+As I entered and went to another part of the room, she started and
+glanced at me and then looked away.  A few seconds later, however, she
+looked round furtively, and then to my abundant surprise, came across
+and said in a low, confidential tone:
+
+"It is not enough, Alexis.  I knew you in a minute.  But you acted the
+stranger to perfection."
+
+She was not only pretty, but very pretty, I thought, as she stood with
+her face raised toward mine, a light of some kind of emotion shining in
+her eyes where I saw traces of tears.  But my recent experiences of
+Edith Balestier had toughened me a lot, and I was suspicious of this
+young woman.
+
+"Pardon me, Madam, you have made a mistake."
+
+Then she smiled, rather sadly; and her teeth shone salt white between
+her full curved lips.
+
+"Your voice would betray you, even if your dear handsome eyes did not.
+Do you think the mere shaving of your beard and moustache can hide your
+eyes.  Just look into mine and see if the shade is not exact?"
+
+I did look into them: and very beautiful eyes hers were.  Little
+shining blue heavens all radiant with the light of infinite capacity to
+feel.  Fascinating eyes, very.  But I had not lived the first sixteen
+years of my life in Russia without getting to know that in that big
+land all is not snow that looks white; and that a very awkward intrigue
+may lurk beneath a very fair seeming surface.
+
+"Madam, I am charmed, but I have not the honour of knowing you."
+
+A passing cloud of irritation shewed and a little gesture of
+impatience, sufficient to remind me that the gloved hands were very
+small.
+
+"Ah, why keep this up now?  There is no need, and no time.  Is not the
+train starting in less than an hour--and by the way, what madness is it
+that makes you loiter about here in this public way, out of uniform and
+as if there were no danger and you were merely taking a week's holiday,
+instead of flying for...."
+
+"Madam," I broke in again.  "I must repeat, I am a stranger.  You must
+not tell me these things.  My name is Hamylton Tregethner, an
+Englishman, and...."
+
+"Yes, yes, I know you are: or at least I know you are going to call
+yourself English, though you haven't told me what your name is to be.
+But I know that you are my brother Alexis, going to leave me perhaps
+for ever, and that when I want to scold you for running this risk--for
+you know there are police, and soldiers, and spies in plenty to
+identify you--you...." here she made as if to throw herself into my
+arms.  But suspecting some trick, I stepped back.
+
+[Illustration: "I know that you are my brother, Alexis."]
+
+"Madam, I must ask you to be good enough not to play this comedy any
+farther."  I spoke rather sternly.
+
+"If your disguise were only as good as your acting, Alexis, not a soul
+in Russia would suspect you.  Oh, I see what you mean," she cried, a
+look of intelligence breaking over her features.  "I forgot.  Of
+course, I am compromising your disguise by thus speaking to you.  I am
+sorry.  It was my love for you made me thoughtless, when I should have
+been thoughtful.  I will go away."  She turned on me such a look of
+genuine grief that it melted my scepticism.
+
+"There is really some strange mistake," I said, speaking much more
+gently.  "At first I thought you were intentionally mistaking me for
+someone else; for what object I knew not.  But I see now the error was
+involuntary.  I give you my honour, Madam, that you are under a
+complete mistake if you take me for any relative of your own.  I am an
+Englishman, as I say, and I arrived in Moscow only last night, and am
+leaving for St Petersburg by the next express train.  I am afraid, if
+you persist in your mistake, it may have unpleasant consequences for
+you.  Hence my plain speech.  But I am what I say."
+
+As I finished, I raised my hat and stood that she might convince
+herself of her blunder.
+
+She looked at me with the most careful scrutiny, even walking round to
+get a view of my figure.  Then she came back and looked into my face
+again; and I could see that she was still unconvinced.
+
+"It is impossible," she said, under her breath.  "If I allow for the
+difference your beard and moustache would make, you are my brother."
+
+"I am Hamylton Tregethner," I said, and I took out my pocket-book and
+shewed her my passport to Paris, Vienna, Moscow, "and travelling on the
+Continent."
+
+"These things can be bought--or made," she said.  Then she seemed to
+understand how she had committed herself with me, if I were really a
+stranger, and I saw her look at me with fear, doubt, and speculation on
+her pretty expressive face.
+
+She sighed and lifted her hands as if in half despair.
+
+"Madam, you have my word as an Englishman that not a syllable of what
+you have said shall pass my lips."  The bright glance of gratitude she
+threw me inspired me to add:--"If I can be of any help in this matter,
+you may command me absolutely."
+
+She gave me a little stiff look, and I thought I had offended her: but
+the next moment a light of eagerness took its place.
+
+"When are you leaving?" she asked with an indifference I could see was
+assumed.
+
+"By the St Petersburg express at 6 o'clock."
+
+"That is two hours after the Smolensk train."  She paused to think and
+glanced at me once, as if weighing whether she dare ask me something.
+Then she said quickly:--"Will you give me a couple of hours of your
+company on this platform and in the station this afternoon?"
+
+It was a strange sort of request and when I saw how anxiously she
+awaited my reply I could perceive she had a strong motive: and one that
+had certainly nothing to do with any desire for my company.
+
+Then suddenly I guessed her motive.  The cunning little woman!  Her
+brother was obviously going to fly from Moscow.  She saw that inasmuch
+as she herself had mistaken me for him, others would certainly do so;
+and thus, if she and I were together, the brother would get away
+unsuspected and would be flying from Moscow while he would be thought
+to be still walking about the station with his sister.  I liked the
+idea, and the girl's pluck on behalf of her brother.
+
+"I will give you not only two hours," I said, "but two days, or two
+weeks, if you like--if you will tell me candidly what your reason is."
+
+She started at this and saw by my expression that I had guessed her
+very open secret.
+
+"If you will walk with me outside, I will do that," she said.  "I am a
+very poor diplomatist."  With that we went out on to the platform and
+commenced a conversation that had momentous results for us all.
+
+She told me quite frankly that she wished me to act as a cover for her
+brother's flight.
+
+"No harm can come to you.  You will only have to prove your
+identity--otherwise I should not have asked this," she said,
+apologetically.  And then to excuse herself, she added, "And I should
+have told you, even if you had not asked me."
+
+I believed in her sincerity now, and I told her so in a roundabout way.
+Then I said:--"I am in earnest in saying that I will stay on in Moscow
+for a day or two if you wish.  I have nothing whatever to do, and if
+the affair should bring me in conflict with anyone, I should like it.
+I can't tell you all my reasons, as that would mean telling you a
+biggish slice of my life; but feel assured that if there's likely to be
+any adventure in it from which some men might shrink, it would rather
+attract me than otherwise.  But if you care to tell me the reasons of
+your brother's flight, I will breathe no word of them to a soul, and I
+may be of help."  I began to scent an adventure in it, and the perfume
+pleased me.
+
+My words set her thinking deeply, and we took two or three turns up and
+down before she answered.
+
+"No, you mustn't stop over to-day," she said, slowly.  Then she added
+thoughtfully:--"I don't know what Alexis would say to my confiding in
+you; but I should dearly like to."  She turned her face to me and
+looked long and searchingly into my eyes.  Then smiled slightly--a
+smile of confidence.  "I feel I can trust you.  I will risk it and tell
+you.  My brother is flying because a man in his regiment"--here her
+eyes shone and her cheeks coloured to a deep red--"has fastened a
+quarrel on him.  He has--has tried to--well, he has worried me and I
+don't like him"--the blush was of indignation now--"and because of this
+he has picked a quarrel with Alexis; and to-morrow--means to kill him
+in that form of barbarous assassination you men call duelling.  He
+knows he is infinitely more skilful than poor Alexis, and that my dear
+brother is no match for him with either sword or pistol; and he will
+drag him out to-morrow, and either shoot or stab him."
+
+The tears overflowed here, and made the eyes look more bright and
+beautiful than ever.
+
+"Why didn't your brother refuse to fight?"
+
+"How could he?" she asked despairingly.  "He would have been a marked
+man--a coward.  And this wretch would have triumphed over him.  And he
+knows this, because he offered to let Alexis off, if I--if I--Oh, would
+that I were a man!" she cried, changing the note of indignant grief for
+anger.
+
+"Do you mean he has made such an offer as this since the challenge
+passed?"
+
+"Yes, my brother came and told me.  But I could not do it.  And now
+this has come."
+
+I didn't think very highly of the brother, but he had evidently talked
+his sister round.  What I thought of most was the chance of a real
+adventure which the thing promised.
+
+The man must be a bully and a scoundrel, and it would serve him right
+to give him a lesson.  If this girl had not recognised me, perhaps he
+would not.  I felt that I should like to try.  There was no reason why
+I should not.  I could easily spare a couple of days for the little
+drama, and go on to St Petersburg afterwards.
+
+"You are very anxious for your brother's safety?" I asked.
+
+"He is my only protector in the world.  If he gets away now to Berlin
+or Paris, I shall follow and go to him."
+
+"But is he likely to get away when he will be missed in a few hours.  A
+single telegram from Moscow will close every frontier barrier in Russia
+upon him."
+
+"We know that;" and she wrung her hands.
+
+"If he could have two clear days he could reach the frontier and pass
+unquestioned," I said, significantly.
+
+She was a quick-witted little thing and saw my point with all a woman's
+sharpness.
+
+"Your life is not ours to give away.  This man is noted for his great
+skill."
+
+"Would everyone be likely to make the same mistake about me that you
+have made this afternoon?" I asked in reply.
+
+She looked at me again.  She was trembling a little in her earnestness.
+
+"Now that I know, I can see differences--especially in your expression;
+but in all Moscow there is not a man or woman who would not take you
+for my brother."
+
+"Then I decide for the two days here.  And if it will make you more
+comfortable, I can assure you I am quite as able to take care of myself
+with either sword or pistol as this bully you speak of.  But it is for
+you to decide."
+
+There came a pause, at the end of which she said, her face wearing a
+more frightened look:--
+
+"No, it must not be.  There are other reasons.  My brother is mixed up
+with..."
+
+"Excuse me, can you tell me which is the train for Smolensk?" asked a
+man who came up and interrupted us, speaking in a mixture of Russian,
+English and German.
+
+The girl started violently, and I guessed the man was her brother.  A
+glance at his eyes confirmed this.  They were a weak rendering of the
+glorious blue eyes that had been inspiring me to all sorts of impulses
+for the last hour.
+
+"That disguise is too palpable," I said, quietly.  He had shaved and
+was wearing false hair that could deceive no one.  In a few minutes the
+whole situation was explained to him by his quick sister.
+
+"I've only consented to go in order that Olga here may not be robbed of
+her only protector," he said, thinking apparently to explain away his
+cowardice.  "She has no one in the world to look after her but me, you
+know.  If you'll help her in this matter, she will be very much
+obliged; and so shall I.  You needn't go out to-morrow and fight
+Devinsky--that's the major's name: Loris Devinsky.  My regiment's the
+Moscow Infantry Regiment, you know.  If you'll go to my rooms and sham
+ill, no one will know you, and as soon as I'm over the frontier I'll
+wire Olga, and you can get away."  He was cunning enough as well as a
+coward, evidently.
+
+"Very well," said I.  "But you'll get over no frontier if you wear a
+beard which everyone with eyes can see is false, and talk in a language
+that no one ever spoke on this earth.  Pull off the beard: the little
+black moustache may stay.  Speak English, or your own tongue, and play
+my part to the frontier; and here take my passport; but post it back to
+your sister to be given to me as soon as you're safe over.  And for
+Heaven's sake don't walk as if you were a thief looking out for arrest.
+No one suspects; so carry yourself as if no one had cause to."
+
+It was a good thing for him I had seen his sister first.  He would
+never have got me to personate him even for a couple of hours.
+
+But we got him off all right, and his sister was so pleased that I
+could not help feeling pleased also.  First in his assumed character he
+made such arrangements for my luggage as I wished, and then we hurried
+up to the train just before it started.  As we reached the barrier
+where the papers had to be examined, he turned and bade his sister
+good-bye, and then said to me aloud in Russian, hiding his voice a
+little:--
+
+"Well, good-bye, Alexis;" and he shook hands with me.
+
+"Good-bye," I answered with a laugh: and he waved an adieu to us from
+the other side of the barrier.
+
+As we turned away together, Olga was a little pale.
+
+Three soldiers saluted me, and I acknowledged the salute gravely,
+glancing at them as I passed.
+
+Then I noticed a couple of men who had been standing together and
+watching the girl and myself for some time, leave their places and
+follow us.  I told my companion and presently I saw her turn and look
+at them, and then start and shiver.
+
+"Do you know them?" I asked.
+
+"Alas, yes.  They are Nihilist spies, watching us."
+
+"Ah, then there is a little more in this than I have understood so
+far," I said.
+
+"You shall know everything," she replied as we left the station
+together.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+I AM A NIHILIST.
+
+"I think if you don't mind we will go back to the station," said my
+companion, stopping after we had gone a little way without speaking.
+"It is very convenient for talking.  Besides, you have to decide
+whether this thing shall be carried any farther."
+
+"I have already decided," I replied, quietly.  "I am going through with
+it, if it is at all possible.  But I have thought of many difficulties."
+
+"You must know all that I can tell you, please, before you decide, or I
+shall be very uncomfortable."  She said this very firmly.
+
+"Certainly you must tell me everything that will help me to know what
+manner of man I am now."  I smiled as I said this to reassure her; but
+she was very earnest and a little pale.
+
+She waited a while until there was no one near us, and then said in a
+low tone:--
+
+"My brother is mixed up with the Nihilists in some way.  I don't know
+how, quite: but I believe they suspect him of having played them false,
+and I think his life is threatened.  Those two men you saw at the
+station were spies, sent either to stop him, or, if he got away, to
+follow him."
+
+"But they didn't attempt to stop him."
+
+"No, they mistook you for him, thinking they could see through the
+disguise of a clean shaven face.  Had you entered the train, they would
+very likely have told you openly not to go, or have warned you of the
+consequences."
+
+"And what would be the consequences?"
+
+"Surely you know what it means for a Nihilist to disobey orders?  It is
+death."  She was white now and agitated.  "I am so ashamed at not
+having told you before you took the first step."
+
+"It would have made no difference in my decision," I replied promptly.
+I thought more of clearing her clouded face than of any possible
+consequences to me.  "But tell me, are you also mixed up with them in
+any way?"
+
+"I am putting my liberty and perhaps my life into your hands," she
+said, in the same very earnest tone and manner.  "My brother has drawn
+me in with him to a certain extent.  You know they like to have many
+women in the ranks."
+
+"I am sorry for you.  I have rarely known a Nihilist who was capable of
+getting much pleasure out of life."  A cold touch of fear seemed to
+contract her features, as she glanced at me and shrank a little from me.
+
+"You!  What--how come you to know anything of this?  You said you
+were--an Englishman?"
+
+"I am an Englishman: but I lived the first sixteen years of my life in
+Russia: the last six of them in Moscow here; and I know much of Russian
+life.  I have made only one visit to Russia since I left; and this time
+I arrived only last night, and intended to go on to St Petersburg as I
+told you to-day.  It will save time in this matter if you can make up
+your mind to believe absolutely in my good faith."
+
+I looked into her face as I said this, and I held out my hand.  She
+laid hers in it, and we clasped hands in a strong firm grip as a token
+of mutual faith and friendship.  I believed in the little soul, and
+meant to stand by her.
+
+"I will trust you now," she said, simply, after a pause.
+
+"As for what you have told me, it can make no difference to me," I
+declared.  "If I go out and meet this fellow Devinsky to-morrow, and he
+beats me, it will be all the same to me whether I am a Nihilist or an
+Englishman.  There is only one soul in all the world who will care; and
+I shall give you a letter to be posted to him--if things go wrong."
+
+I stopped to give her an opportunity of promising to do this; but she
+remained silent, and walked with her head bent low.  I felt rather a
+clumsy fool.  She was such a sensitive little body, that the thought of
+my being killed, as the result of her having got me to help her brother
+away, naturally upset her.  She couldn't know how gladly I should
+welcome the other man's sword-point between my ribs.
+
+After a pause of considerable constraint she said:--
+
+"There is no need whatever for you to go out and meet Major Devinsky.
+You can do as Alexis said; be ill in bed until the passport comes back,
+and then leave."
+
+"Oh, I'm not one to play the coward in that way," said I, lightly, when
+a look of reproach from those most expressive eyes of hers made me
+curse myself for a clumsy fool for this reflection on her brother's
+want of pluck.  "I mean this.  If I take up a part in anything I must
+play it my own way; but there's more than that behind.  I don't want to
+look like bragging before you; but I have come out here to Russia to
+volunteer for the war which everyone says must come with Turkey.  I've
+done it because--well, you may guess that a man has a pretty strong
+reason when he wants to volunteer to fight another country's battles.
+It's the sort of thing in which he can expect plenty of the kicks,
+while others get all the ha'pence.  I've not been a success in England
+and I've had a stroke lately that's made me sick of things.  I can't
+explain all this in detail: but the long and short of it is that if
+anything were to happen to me to-morrow morning, it would be the most
+welcome thing imaginable for me.  Now, you'll understand what I mean
+when I tell you that nothing you can say as to the danger of the
+business can do anything but attract me.  If I could only feel my blood
+tingling again in a rush of excitement, I'd give anything."
+
+My companion listened carefully to this, and her tell-tale face was all
+sympathy when I finished.  Obviously she was deeply interested.
+
+"Have you no mother or sister?" she asked.
+
+"No--fortunately for them."
+
+"Have you never had anyone to lean on you and trust to you for guidance
+and protection?  That helps a good man."
+
+"No.  But I've had those who've taken good care to break my trust in
+them--and everything else."  This with a bitter little reminiscent
+sneer and a shrug of the shoulders.  "Still, it has its advantages.
+Any new part I might wish to play could not be more barren than the
+old."
+
+My companion shot a glance up in my face as I said this, but made no
+answer.  It was I who broke the silence.
+
+"Time is flying," I said, in a lighter tone: "and I have much to learn
+if I am to be your brother for the next two or three days.  I want to
+know where I live, where you live, all that you can tell me about my
+brother officers and my duties--everything.  Indeed that is necessary
+to prevent my being at once discovered."
+
+After some further expostulation she told me that she and her brother
+were orphans; that they had come about a year or so before to Moscow on
+her brother being transferred to this regiment; and that the brother
+had private quarters in the Square of St. Mark, while she lived with an
+aunt, their only relative, in a suite of rooms close to the Cathedral.
+They were of a very old family, neither rich nor poor, but having
+enough to live comfortably and mix in some amount of society.
+
+I gathered, however, that Alexis had been the source of much trouble.
+He had embarrassed his money affairs; lived a fast life, become
+involved with the Nihilists; dragged in his sister; and had ended by
+compromising himself in many quarters.  She told me the story, so much
+as she knew of it, very deftly, intending no doubt to screen her
+brother; but I could read enough between the lines to understand that
+his life had been anything but saintly.  Moreover, I was very much
+mistaken if he were not as arrant a coward as ever crowed on a
+dung-hill and ran away when the time came for fighting.
+
+All this gave me plenty of food for thought--some of it disagreeable
+enough.  It was no pleasant thing to take up the part of a coward and a
+scape-grace.  Scapegrace I had been all my life in a way: but no man
+ever thought me a coward.
+
+I take no credit to myself for not being a coward; and I am quite ready
+to believe that there are sound physiological reasons for it.  Nature
+may have forgotten to give me those nerves by which men feel fear; but
+it is the case that never in my life have I experienced even a passing
+sensation of fear.  I would just as soon die as go to sleep.  I have
+seen men--much better men than I, and quite as truly brave--shudder at
+the idea of death and shrink with dread from the thought of pain.  But
+at no time in my life have I cared for either; and I have come to
+regard this as due to Nature's considerate omissions in my creation.
+Certain other omissions of hers have not been so considerate.
+
+This will explain, however, why the thought of the danger which
+troubled my new "sister" so much did not cause me even a passing
+uneasiness, especially at such a time.  What I was anxious to do was to
+get hold of as much detail as possible of my new character; and I was
+sufficiently interested by it to wish to play it successfully.
+
+To this end I questioned my companion very closely indeed about the
+names and appearance of the brother's friends and fellow officers,
+about the habits of military life, and in short about everything I
+deemed likely to help me not to stumble.
+
+At the close of the examination I said:----
+
+"At any rate we two must begin to rehearse.  You must call me Alexis
+and must allow me to call you Olga; and we must do it always to avoid
+slips."
+
+She saw the need but blushed a bit when I added:---"And now, Olga,
+we'll make our first practical experiment.  We'll go together to my
+rooms and you must shew me what sailors call my bearings."
+
+"Shall we walk--Alexis?" she asked, her eyes bright and her cheeks
+ruddy with pretty confusion.
+
+"By all means--Olga," I answered, returning her smile, and imitating
+her emphasis on the Christian name.  "Do you know that my sister's name
+has a very quaint sound in my ears, and comes very trippingly to a
+brother's tongue?"
+
+"But you don't like it and you think it common," she returned.
+
+"I?"
+
+"Yes, you have often said so, Alexis.  Surely you remember.  Why, only
+this morning you said how silly you had always thought it," she
+replied, demurely.
+
+"Oh, I see," I laughed.  "Ah, I've changed that opinion.  A good many
+other things have changed too, since this morning," I added drily; and
+we both laughed then, and, considering the circumstances, were in
+extremely good spirits.
+
+"Alexis," she cried, with a sudden warning, as we turned a corner into
+the Square of St. Gregory.  "Don't you see who is coming toward us?
+Major Devinsky and Lieutenants Trackso and Weisswich.  The major will
+pass next you.  What will you do?"  She asked this in a quick hurried
+voice.
+
+"Cut him as dead as a door nail," said I, instantly, drawing myself up.
+"And the other fellows too; are they friends of mine, by the way?"
+
+"No, they are his toadies," she whispered.
+
+Olga bent her face down and would not see them; but I squared my
+shoulders and held my head aloft, fixing my eyes steadily on the three
+men as they approached.  At first they did not recognise me.  Then I
+saw one of them start, and making a rapid motion of his hand across his
+chin, he whispered to his companion, both of whom started in their turn
+and laughed.
+
+As we passed the major made an effusive bow to my "sister" which the
+other two copied, while all three sneered with an air of insolent
+braggadocio and simultaneously put their hands to their chins as their
+eyes fell on me.
+
+My blood seethed with anger at the insult.  Nothing could have fired my
+eagerness more effectively to begin the drama of my new life.  If I
+didn't punish each of those three for that insult, it should be because
+death stepped in to stop me.
+
+"I am glad we met them," said I, smiling.  "I shall know now which is
+my adversary to-morrow, and shan't pink the wrong man by mistake.  But
+you look a bit scared, Olga."--I saw she was very pale.
+
+"I am afraid of that man," she answered.  "He is a man of good family
+and great wealth, and has a lot of influence in certain circles.  He is
+an ugly enemy."
+
+"Ugly, he certainly is," said I, lightly, speaking of his face.
+
+"I mean dangerous," replied the girl seriously.
+
+"I know you do, child," I answered, as naturally as if she were really
+my sister.  "But we'll wait till we talk this over after to-morrow
+morning.  I tell you what I'll promise you as a treat.  You shall
+breakfast with me, or rather I'll breakfast with you to-morrow, and
+tell you at first hand all about the meeting.  You have been a little
+too anxious about me."
+
+"I am afraid that might occasion remark," she replied with the demure
+look I had noticed once or twice before.  "You know that you have not
+always been an attentive brother, Alexis: and it is not good acting to
+overdo the part:" and she threw me a little smile and a glance.
+
+I laughed and answered:--"That may be: but I've changed since the
+morning, as I told you before."
+
+"Very well, then.  You remember of course that aunt never gets up early
+enough to have breakfast with me--but you shall come if"--and here the
+light died right out of her face and her underlip trembled so that she
+had to bite it to keep it steady--"if all goes well, as I pray it may."
+
+"You are a good sister, and need have no fear.  I am not made of the
+stuff to go down before that bully's sword.  So get ready my favourite
+dish--whatever that may be--and I'll promise to do justice to it."
+
+"Here are your rooms," she said, a moment later, as she stopped before
+a large wide house.  "They are on the ground floor with those windows.
+But before we go in, remember your manservant's name is Vosk, and he is
+a very sharp fellow.  And please let me give you a word of warning.
+Alexis has not only not been attentive to me, but his manner has often
+been very brusque and--oh, if you had had sisters you would know how
+brothers behave.  They don't mind turning their backs on one; they
+contradict, and interrupt and laugh at one; treat one as a convenience,
+and are rude.  They don't in the least mind hiding their affection
+under the garb of indifference and contempt, and all that."
+
+"Am I to treat you with contempt, then?" I asked with a grin.
+
+"I think you should be a little more brusque," she replied, laughing
+and blushing.  She was really a very jolly little sister.
+
+"I shall get into it all in a day or two, perhaps."
+
+"You had better try.  Vosk is very sharp indeed."
+
+"All right, I'll find means somehow to dull his wits."
+
+We went in and I then tried to put a little more bluntness into my
+manner and to play the brother.
+
+The man was in his room when I entered and started when he saw the
+change in my appearance.  I caught his vigilant eye glance sharply at
+the pattern and cut of my clothes.
+
+"Does your face hurt you now, Alexis?" asked Olga.
+
+I understood her and answered in a somewhat surly tone, putting my hand
+to my left cheek.  "No, not so much now; but it was an infernally silly
+joke to play.  It's cost me my beard and a suit of clothes.  A good
+thing it wasn't a uniform.  Put out something for me to wear, Vosk," I
+said sharply to the man.
+
+He looked at me again very keenly, but went at once to do what I
+ordered.  Olga and I went into the chief sitting room--there were two
+leading one out of the other--and sat down.  The man's manner had
+reminded me of several things.  Very soon I made an excuse and sent him
+out.
+
+"You must tell me all about the clothes I have to wear at different
+functions," I said.  "Vosk saw that these were not out of my wardrobe
+proper, and while he's out, I'll hurry and change them, and we'll see
+how the uniforms fit me.  A mistake may spoil everything at the last
+moment."
+
+I ran into the bedroom and slipped into the undress uniform the man had
+laid ready.  To my supreme satisfaction I found that they fitted me
+fairly well; and though they required some touches here and there, they
+would pass muster as my own.  I tried on also some of the other
+uniforms I saw in the room; and wearing one of them, I went back to my
+"sister."
+
+She cried out in her astonishment:--"My brother Alexis to the life."
+
+"Your brother Alexis to the death," I answered so earnestly that she
+coloured as I took her hand and kissed it.  Then in a lighter tone I
+added, "Uniforms make all men of anything like the same figure look
+alike.  It's fortunate that your brother's an army man."  Then we
+chatted for some minutes until I thought it prudent to change back
+again into the undress uniform that Vosk had put out.
+
+Then I took a lesson in uniforms and questioned Olga until she had told
+me all that she herself knew about them.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+MY SECONDS.
+
+I walked with my sister to her home, and then returned to my rooms and
+sat down to think out seriously and in detail the extraordinary
+position into which I had fallen.
+
+The more I considered it the more I liked it, and I am bound to add the
+more dangerous it seemed.  Obviously it was one thing to be mistaken
+for a man and to pass for him for a few minutes or hours: but it was
+quite another to take up his life where he had dropped it and play the
+part day by day and week after week.  There must be a thousand threads
+of the existence of which no one but himself could know, yet each would
+have to be laid correctly in continuation of the due pattern of his
+life; or discovery would follow.
+
+Here lay my difficulty, and for a time I did not see a way round it or
+through it or under it.  So far as I could judge by all that my sister
+had told me, the resemblance between the real Alexis and myself was
+strictly limited to physical qualities.  A freak of nature had made us
+counterparts of one another in size, look, complexion, voice, and
+certain gestures.  But it stopped there.  My other self was a subtle,
+cunning, intriguing, traitorous conspirator, and very much of a coward:
+while I--well, I was not that.
+
+I come of a very old Cornish family with many of the Celtic
+characteristics most strongly developed.  I believe that I have a
+certain amount of mother wit or shrewdness, but no process that was
+ever known or tried with me was sufficient to drive into me even
+sufficient learning to enable me to scrape through a career.  I was the
+despair first of the Russian schoolmasters for over ten years, and next
+of all the English tutors who took me in hand during the next ten.  I
+went to a large English school, and was expelled, after a hundred
+scrapes, because I learnt nothing.  I tried to cram for Oxford, but
+never could get through Smalls; and the good old Master, who loved a
+strong man, almost cried when, after two years of ploughs, he had to
+send me down, when I was the best oar in the eight, the smartest field
+and hardest hitter in the eleven, the fastest mile and half-mile in the
+Varsity, and one of the three strongest men in all Oxford.
+
+But I had to go, and I went to an army crammer to try and be stuffed
+for the service.  I never had a chance with the books; but I carried
+all before me in every possible form of sport.  It was there I picked
+up my fencing and revolver shooting.  It became a sort of passion with
+me.  I could use the revolver like a trickster and shoot to a hair's
+breadth; while with either broadsword or rapier I could beat the
+fencing master all over the school.  However, I was beaten by the
+examiners and my couple of years' work succeeded only in giving my
+muscles the hardness of steel and flexibility of whipcord.  I am not a
+big man, nearly two inches under 6ft, but at that time I had never met
+anyone who could beat me in any trial where strength, endurance, or
+agility was needed.  But these would not satisfy the examiners, so I
+gave up all thought of getting into the army that way.
+
+I tried the ranks, therefore, and joined a regiment in which a couple
+of brainless family men had enlisted, as a step toward a commission.
+But I was only in for six months: and my surprise is that I stopped so
+long.  There was a beast of a sergeant--a strong fellow in his way who
+had been cock of the dunghill until I came--and after I'd thrashed him
+first with the single-sticks, and then with the gloves, and in a
+wrestling bout had given him a taste of our Cornish methods, he marked
+me out for special petty illtreatment.  It came to a climax one day
+when a couple of dozen of us were sent off on a train journey.  I left
+on the platform some bit of the gear.  He noticed it and bringing it to
+the carriage window, flung it in at me and, with a sneer and a big
+coarse oath, cried:--"D'ye think I'm here to wet-nurse you, you
+damnation great baby?"  And he waited a moment with the sneer still on
+his face: and he didn't wait in vain, either.  Forgetting all about
+discipline and thinking only of his insult, I flung out my left and hit
+him fair on the mouth, sending him down like a ninepin.  Then I picked
+up my things and went straight away to report myself to the officer in
+charge of us.  There was a big row, with the result that the sergeant
+was reduced to the ranks, and I was allowed to buy myself out, being
+given plainly to understand that if I stayed in, my chance of a
+commission was as good as lost.  This closed my army career.
+
+For a few years I was at a loose end altogether--a man of action
+without a sphere.  Then the natural result followed.  I fell madly in
+love with my best friend's sister, Edith Balestier.  I cursed my folly
+in having wasted my life, and filled the air with vows that I would set
+to work to increase my income of £250 a year to an amount such as would
+let me give her a home worthy of her.  She loved me.  I know that.  But
+her mother didn't; and in the end, the mother won.  Edith tossed me
+over ruthlessly, while I was away for a couple of months; and all in a
+hurry she married another man for his title and money.
+
+It was only the old tale.  I knew that well enough; but it seemed to
+break my last hope.  Everything I'd ever really wanted, I'd always
+failed to get.  I was like a lunatic; and vowed I'd kill myself after
+I'd punished the woman who'd done worse than kill me.
+
+I thought out a scheme and played it shrewdly enough.  I shut the
+resolve out of sight, and laughed and jibed as though I felt no wound.
+And I waited.  The chance came surely enough.  I went down to a dance
+at a place a bit out of town and took my revolver with me.  After a
+waltz I led my Lady Cargill out into the shrubbery and when she least
+suspected what I was about, whipped out the weapon and told her what I
+was going to do.  She knew me well enough to feel I was in deadly
+earnest; but she made no scene, such as another woman might.  Her white
+beauty held my hand an instant, and in that time her husband, Sir
+Philip, came up.  Then I had a flash of genius.  I knew he was as
+jealous as a man could be and as he had known nothing of my relations
+with Edith, like many another self-sufficient idiot, he imagined she
+had loved him and no one else.  I opened his eyes that night.  Keeping
+him in control with the pistol, I made him hear the whole passionful
+story of her love for me from her own lips; and I shall never forget
+how the white of his craven fear changed to the dull grey of a sickened
+heart as he heard.  At a stroke it killed my desire to kill.  I had had
+a revenge a thousand times more powerful.  I had made the wife see the
+husband's craven poltroonery, and the husband the wife's heart
+infidelity; and I let them live for their mutual distrust and
+punishment.
+
+A month later I stood on the Moscow platform, my back turned on England
+for ever, my face turned war-wards, and my heart ready for any
+devilment that might offer, when my fate was tossed topsy-turvy into a
+cauldron of welcome dangers, promising death and certainly calculated
+to give me that distraction from my own troubles which I desired so
+keenly.
+
+I was thus ready enough to take up my new character in earnest and play
+it to the end.  If I were discovered, it could not mean more than
+death; while there were possibilities in it which might have very
+different results.  War with Turkey was a certainty, and at such a time
+I should be able to find my sphere, and might be able to carve for
+myself a position.
+
+It was clear that Alexis had so far been known as a very different man
+from the kind that produces good soldiers: but men sometimes reform
+suddenly, and the new Alexis would be cast in a quite different mould.
+The difficulty was to invent a pretext for the sudden change; and in
+regard to this a good idea occurred to me.
+
+I resolved to say that I had had an ugly accident and a great fright,
+and to connect this with the shaving of my beard and moustache.  To
+pretend that the mishap had effected as complete a change in my nature
+as in my appearance: as if my brain had been in some way affected.  I
+mapped out a very boldly defined course of eccentric conduct which
+would be not altogether inconsistent with some such mental disturbance.
+I would be moody, silent, reserved, and yet subject to gusts and fits
+of uncontrollable passion and anger: desperate in all matters touching
+courage, and contemptuously intolerant of any kind of interference.  I
+knew that my skill with the sword and pistol would soon win me respect
+and a reputation, while any mistakes I made would be set down to
+eccentricity.  I was drawing from life--a French officer whom I had
+known stationed at Rouen: evidently a man with a past which no one even
+dared to question.  I calculated that in this way I should make time to
+choose my permanent course.
+
+I soon had an opportunity of setting to work.
+
+The officer who, as Olga had told me, was to be my chief second in the
+morning, Lieutenant Essaieff, came to see me.  He was immensely
+surprised at the change in my appearance, scanned me very curiously and
+indeed suspiciously, and asked the cause.
+
+"Drink or madness?" he put it laconically, in that tone of contempt
+with which one speaks to a distrusted servant or a disliked
+acquaintance.
+
+Even my friends held me cheap, it seemed.
+
+"Neither drink nor madness, if you please," said I, very sternly,
+eyeing him closely.  "But a miracle."
+
+"And which of the devils is it this time, Petrovitch?" he asked,
+laughing lightly.  "Gad, he must have been hard put to it.  Or is it
+one of the she-devils, eh?  You know plenty of those.  Let's have the
+tale."  He laughed again; but the mirth was not so genuine that time,
+and I could see that the effect of the fixed stare with which I
+regarded him began to tell.
+
+"I'm in no mood for this folly," said I, very curtly.  "Save for a
+miracle, I should now be a dead man.  That's all.  And I'll thank you
+not to jest about it."
+
+He was serious now and asked:--"How did it happen?"
+
+I made no answer, but sat staring moodily out in front of me, and yet
+contriving to watch him as he eyed me furtively now and again, in
+surprise at the change in me.
+
+"Are you ill, Petrovitch?" he asked at length.
+
+"Hell!" I burst out with the utmost violence, springing to my feet.
+"What is it to you?"  And then with complete inconsequence I added:--"I
+was praying, and in answer a light flashed on me and would have
+consumed me wholly, but for a miracle.  Half my clothes and my
+face-hair were consumed--and I was changed."
+
+"Ah, prayer's a dangerous thing when you've a lot of arrears to make
+up," he said with a sneer.
+
+I turned and looked at him coldly and threateningly.
+
+"Lieutenant Essaieff, you have been good enough to lend me your
+services for this business to-morrow morning, but that gives you no
+title to insult me.  After to-morrow you will be good enough to give me
+an explanation of your words."
+
+He had risen and stood looking at me so earnestly that I half thought
+he suspected the change.  But he did not.
+
+"You will not be alive to demand it," he said, at length,
+contemptuously, clipping the words short in a manner that shewed me how
+angry he was and how much he despised me.  "I'm only sorry I was fool
+enough to be persuaded to act for you," he added as he swung out of the
+room.
+
+I laughed to myself when he had gone, for I saw that I had imposed on
+him.  He thought I was half beside myself with fear.  Evidently I had
+an evil-smelling reputation.  But I would soon change all that, I
+thought, as I set to work to examine all the papers and possessions in
+the rooms.  I was engaged in this work when my other second arrived.
+He was named Ugo Gradinsk, and was a very different kind of man, and
+had been a much more intimate friend.  He had heard of my accident and
+had come for news.
+
+A glance at him filled me with instinctive disgust.
+
+"What's up, Alexis?" was his greeting.  "That prig Essaieff, has just
+told me you're in a devil of a funny mood, and thinks you're about out
+of your mind with fear.  What the devil have you done to yourself?"  He
+touched his chin as he spoke.
+
+"Can't I be shaved without setting you all cackling with curiosity?  I
+had half my hair burnt off and shaved the other half."  He started at
+my surly tone and I saw in his eyes a reflection of the other man's
+thoughts.
+
+"D'ye think you'll be a smaller mark for Devinsky's sword?  It's made a
+devil of a difference in your looks, I must say.  And in your manners
+too."  I heard him mutter this last sentence into his moustache.
+
+"Do you think I mean for an instant to allow that bully's sword to
+touch me?" I asked scowling angrily.
+
+"Well, you thought so last night when I was giving you that wrinkle
+with the foils--and that was certainly why you got this infernal duel
+put off for a day."
+
+"Ah, well, I've been fooling you, that's all," said I, shortly.  "I've
+played the fool long enough too, and I mean business.  I've taken out a
+patent."  I laughed grimly.
+
+"What the devil d'ye mean?  What patent?"
+
+"A new sword stroke.  The sabre stroke, I call it.  Every first-rank
+swordsman has one," I cried boastfully.
+
+"First-rank swordsman be hanged.  Why, you can't hold a candle to me.
+And I would not stand before Devinsky's weapon for the promise of a
+colonelcy.  Don't be an ass."
+
+"My cut's with the flat of the sword across the face directly I've
+disarmed my man."
+
+"And a devilish effective cut too no doubt--when you have disarmed him.
+But you'd better be making your will and putting your things in order,
+instead of talking this sort of swaggering rubbish to keep your courage
+up.  You know jolly well that Devinsky means mischief; and what always
+happens when he does.  I don't want to frighten you, but hang it all,
+you know what he is."
+
+"I'm going to pass the night in prayer," said I: and my visitor laughed
+boisterously at this.
+
+"If you confess all we've done together, old man, you'll want a full
+night," he said.
+
+"The prayers are for him, not for me," and at that he laughed more
+boisterously than before: and he began to talk of a hundred dissipated
+experiences we had had together.  I let him talk freely as it was part
+of my education, and he rattled on about such a number of shameful
+things that I was disgusted alike with him and with the beast I was
+supposed to be.  At length to my relief he stopped and asked me to go
+across to the club for the last night.
+
+I resolved to go, thinking that if I were in his company it would seem
+appropriate, and I wished to paint in more of the garish colours of my
+new character among my fellow-officers.  I made myself very offensive
+the moment I was inside the place.  I swaggered about the rooms with an
+assumption of insufferable insolence.  Whenever I found a man looking
+askance at me--and this was frequent enough--I picked him out for some
+special insult.  I spoke freely of the "miracle" that had happened to
+me, and the change that had been effected.  I repeated my coarse silly
+jest about praying all night for my antagonist: and I so behaved that
+before I had been in the place an hour, I had laid the foundations of
+enough quarrels to last me a month if I wished to have a meeting every
+morning.
+
+"Ah, he knows well enough he's going to die to-morrow morning," said
+one man in my hearing.  "It's no good challenging a man under sentence
+of death," said another; while a number of others held to Essaieff's
+view--that I was beside myself with fear, or drink, or both combined.
+I placed myself at the disposal of every man who had a word to say; but
+the main answer I received was an expression of thanks that after that
+night I should trouble them no more.
+
+I left the place, hugely pleased with the result of the night's work.
+I had created at a stroke a new part for Alexis Petrovitch: and
+prepared everyone to expect and think nothing of any fresh
+eccentricities or further change they might observe in me in the future.
+
+I reached my rooms in high spirits, and sat down to overhaul the place
+for papers, and to learn something more of myself than I at present
+knew.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+THE DUEL.
+
+The discoveries I made were more varied and interesting than agreeable:
+and I found plenty of evidence to more than justify my first ill
+impressions of Olga's real brother.
+
+It was time indeed that there should be a change.
+
+The man must have gone off without even waiting to sort his papers.
+
+Rummaging in some locked drawers, the keys of which I found in a little
+cabinet that I broke open, I came across a diary with a number of
+entries with long gaps between them, which seemed to throw a good deal
+of light on my past.
+
+There were indications of three separate intrigues which I was
+apparently carrying on at that very time; the initials of the women
+being "P.T.," "A.P.," and "B.G."  The last-named, I may say at once, I
+never heard of or discovered: though in some correspondence I read
+afterwards, I came across some undated letters signed with the
+initials, making and accepting and declining certain appointments.  But
+both "P.T." and "A.P." were the cause of trouble afterwards.
+
+I found that a number of appointments of all kinds were fixed for the
+following afternoon.  The initials of the persons only were given, but
+enough particulars were added to shew the nature of the business.  Thus
+someone was coming for a bet of 1,000 roubles; a money lender was due
+who had seemingly declared that he would wait no longer; and quite a
+number of tradesmen for their bills.
+
+I soon saw the reason for all this.  I was evidently a fellow with a
+turn for a certain kind of humour; and I had obviously made the
+appointments in the full assurance either that Devinsky's sword would
+have squared all earthly accounts in full for me, or that I should be
+safe across the frontier and out of my creditors' way.
+
+I recalled with a chuckle my words to Olga--that if I were to play the
+part I must play it thoroughly.  This meant that not only must I fight
+the beggar's duel for him, but if I were not killed, fence with his
+creditors also or pay their claims.
+
+I swept everything at length into one of the biggest and strongest
+drawers, locked them up, and sat down to think for a few minutes before
+going to bed.
+
+If I fell in the morning I wished Rupert Balestier to hear of it; and
+the only means by which that could be done would be for me to write a
+note and get Olga to post it.  Half a dozen words would be enough:
+
+
+"MY DEAR RUPERT,
+
+"The end has come much sooner than I hoped when writing you this
+afternoon.  A queer adventure has landed me in a duel for to-morrow
+morning with a man who is known as a good swordsman.  He may prove too
+much for me.  If so, good-bye old friend, and so much the better.  It
+will save an awful lot of trouble; and the world and I are quite ready
+to be quit of one another.  The receipt of this letter posted by a
+friendly hand will be a sign to you that I have fallen.  Again,
+good-bye, old fellow.  H.T."
+
+
+I did not put my name in full, to lessen the chance of complication
+should the letter go astray.  I addressed it, and then put it under a
+separate cover.  Next I wrote a short note to my sister; and this had
+to be ambiguously worded, lest it also should get into the wrong hands.
+
+
+"MY DEAR SISTER,
+
+"You know of my duel with Major Devinsky and that it is in honour
+unavoidable.  Should I fall, I have one or two last words.  I have many
+debts; but had arranged to pay them to-morrow; and I have more than
+enough money in English bank notes for the purpose.  Pay everything and
+keep for yourself the balance, or do with it what you think best.  My
+money could be used in no better way than to clear up entirely this
+part of my life.  I ask you to post the enclosed letter to England; and
+please do so, without even reading the address.  This is my one request.
+
+"God bless you, Olga, and find you a better protector than I have been
+able to be.
+
+Your brother,
+  "ALEXIS."
+
+
+This I sealed up and then enclosed the whole in an envelope together
+with about £2,000 in bank notes which I had brought with me from
+England.  The envelope I addressed to my "sister" and determined to ask
+my chief second, Lieutenant Essaieff, to give it to Olga, should I fall.
+
+One other little task I had.  I went through my clothes and my own few
+papers and carefully destroyed every trace of connection with Hamylton
+Tregethner, so that there should be nothing to complicate the matter of
+identity in the event of my death.
+
+So far so good--if Devinsky killed me.  But what if I could beat him?
+
+The quarrel was none of mine.  I had no right to go out and even fight
+a man in an assumed character, to say nothing of killing him.  Look at
+the thing as I would I could make nothing else than murder of it; and
+very treacherous murder, to boot.
+
+The man was doubtless a bully, and he seemed willing to use his
+superior skill to fix a quarrel on Olga's brother and kill him, in
+order to leave the girl without protection.  But his blackguardism was
+no excuse for my killing him.  I had no right to interfere.  I had
+never seen her or him until the last few hours; and however much Major
+Devinsky deserved punishment, I had no authority to administer it.
+
+Probably if the man knew how I could use the sword he would never have
+dreamt of challenging me; and I could not substitute my exceptional
+skill for Olga's brother's lack of it and so kill the man, without
+being in fact, whatever I might seem in appearance, an assassin.
+
+If I were to warn him before the duel that a great mistake had been
+made as to my skill, I shouldn't be believed.  He and others would only
+think I was keeping up the braggart conduct of that evening at the
+club.  At the same time I liked the idea of the warning.  It would at
+any rate be original, especially if I succeeded in beating the major.
+But it was clear that I could not kill him.
+
+All roads led round to that decision: and as I had come to the end of
+my cigar and there was plenty of reason why I should have as much sleep
+as possible, I went to bed and slept like a top till my man, Vosk,
+called me early in the morning and told me that Lieutenant Gradinsk was
+already waiting for me.
+
+"That beggar, Essaieff, has gone on to the Common"--this was where we
+were to fight--"Told me to tell you.  Suppose he doesn't care to be
+seen in our company.  I hate the snob," he said when I joined him.
+
+"So long as he's there when I want him, it's enough for me," said I, so
+curtly, that my companion looked at me in some astonishment.
+
+"Umph, don't seem over cheerful this morning, Alexis.  Must perk up a
+bit and shew a bold front.  It's an ugly business this, but you won't
+help yourself now by...."
+
+"Silence," I cried sternly.  "When I'm afraid, you may find courage to
+tell me so openly.  At present it's dangerous."
+
+Then I completed my few preparations in absolute silence, both Gradinsk
+and the servant watching me in astonishment.  When I was ready, I
+turned to Vosk.
+
+"What wages are due to you?" I asked sharply.  He told me, and I paid
+him, adding the amount for three months' further.  "You leave my
+service at once.  I have no further need of you."  I was in truth
+anxious to get rid of him.
+
+"My things are here.  I...." he began, obviously making excuses.
+
+"I give you five minutes to take what is absolutely necessary.  The
+rest you can have another time.  You will not return here."
+
+"Do you suspect..."  he began again.
+
+"I only discharge you," I returned curtly.  "Half of one of your
+minutes is gone."  He looked at me a moment, fear mingled with his
+utter astonishment, and then went out of the room.
+
+Five minutes later I locked the doors behind us and put the keys in my
+pocket.
+
+"What has he done, Alexis?  Isn't it rather risky?  You've been so
+intimate...." said Gradinsk, as soon as we were in the droschky.
+
+"It is I who have done this, not he," I answered, sharply.  "It is my
+private affair if you please."
+
+"D---- your private affairs," he cried in a burst of temper.  "Even if
+you are going to die, you needn't behave like a sullen hog."
+
+I stared round at him coldly.
+
+"After the meeting I shall ask you to withdraw that, Lieutenant
+Gradinsk," and we did not exchange another word till the place of
+meeting was reached.
+
+We were the last to arrive: and there appeared to have been some doubt
+as to whether I should dare to turn up, I think; for I caught a
+significant gesture pass between my opponent's seconds.
+
+How I looked I know not; but I felt very dangerous, and I tried to be
+perfectly calm and self-possessed and natural in my manner.
+
+"Lieutenant Essaieff," I said, drawing my chief second on one side
+after I had saluted the others.  "There are two matters to be
+mentioned.  If I should fall, will you give this letter with your own
+hands immediately to my sister?"
+
+"You have my word on that," he said, bowing gravely.
+
+"One thing more.  I have an explanation to make to my opponent, Major
+Devinsky, which I think should be made in the hearing of all."
+
+"An apology?" he asked, with a slight curl of the lip.
+
+"No, but an explanation without which this duel cannot take place.
+Will you arrange it?"
+
+He went to Devinsky's seconds, and then returning fetched me and
+Gradinsk, who was very nervous.  I went up to the other group and spoke
+very quietly but firmly.
+
+"Before the duel takes place, Major Devinsky, I must make such an
+explanation as will prevent its being fought under a mistake.  I am a
+much more expert swordsman than is currently known.  I have purposely
+concealed my skill during the months I have been in Moscow; but I
+cannot engage with you now, without making the fact known.  I have
+indeed rather drawn you into this affair and I now desire you to join
+with me in declining to carry the dispute further.  After this
+explanation, and at any future time I shall of course be at your
+disposal."
+
+The effect of this short speech was pretty much what might have been
+expected.  All the men thought I was trying to get out of the fight by
+impudent bragging, and Devinsky's seconds laughed sneeringly.
+
+I turned away as I finished speaking, but a minute later, Essaieff
+brought me a message--and the contempt rang in his tone as he delivered
+it.
+
+"Major Devinsky's reply to your extraordinary request is this: The only
+terms on which he will let you off the fight are an unconditional
+compliance with the condition he has already named to you.  What is
+your answer?"
+
+"We will fight," I replied shortly: and forthwith threw off my coat and
+vest and made ready.
+
+I eyed my antagonist with the keenest vigilance during the minute or
+two the seconds took in placing us, and I saw a certain boastful
+confidence in his looks and a swagger in his manner, which were
+eloquent of the cheap contempt in which he held me--a sentiment that
+was shared by all present.
+
+My second, Essaieff, manifestly did not like his task; but he did
+everything in a workmanlike way which shewed me he knew well what he
+was about, and in a very short time our swords were crossed and we had
+the word to engage.
+
+An ugly glint in the major's eyes told me he had come out to kill if he
+could; and the manner in which he pressed the fight from the outset
+shewed me that he thought he could finish it off straight away.
+
+He was a good swordsman: I could tell that the instant our blades
+touched: and he had one or two pretty tricks which wanted watching and
+would be sure to have very ugly consequences for anyone whose eye and
+wrist were less quick than his own.  As he fought I could readily see
+how he had gained his big reputation and had so often left the field
+victorious after only a few minutes' fighting.
+
+But he was not to be compared with me.  In two minutes I knew precisely
+his tactics and at every point I could outfight him.  I had no need
+even to exert myself.  After a few passes, all my old love of the art
+came back to me and all my old skill; and when he made his deadliest
+and trickiest lunges I parried them without an effort, and could have
+countered with fatal effect.
+
+I wished to get the fullest measure of his skill, however, and for this
+reason did not attempt to touch him for some minutes.  Then an idea
+occurred to me.  I would prove to the men with us that I had no real
+wish to avoid the fight.  Intentionally I let my adversary touch my
+left arm, drawing a little blood.
+
+They stopped us instantly; and then came the question whether enough
+had been done to satisfy the demands of honour.  Had I chosen, I could
+without actual cowardice have declared the thing finished: but I
+intended them all to understand that I had to the full as keen an
+appetite as my opponent for the business.  I was peremptory therefore
+in my demand to go on.
+
+In the pause I made my plan.  I would cover my adversary with ridicule
+by outfencing him at all points: play with him, in fact; and give him a
+hundred little skin wounds to shew him and the rest how completely he
+had been at my mercy.
+
+I did it with consummate ease.  My sword point played round him as an
+electric spark will dart about a magnet, and he was like a child in his
+feeble efforts to follow its dazzling swiftness.  Scarcely had we
+engaged before I had flicked a piece of skin from his cheek.  The next
+time it was from his sword arm.  Then from his neck, and after that
+from his other cheek; until there was no part of his flesh in view
+which had not a drop of blood to mark that my sword point had been
+there.  The man was mad with baffled and impotent rage.
+
+Then I put an end to it.  After the last rest I put the whole of my
+energy and skill into my play, and pressed him so hard that any one of
+the onlookers could see I could have run him through the heart half a
+dozen times: and at the end of it I disarmed him with a wrench that was
+like to break his wrist.
+
+To do the man justice, he had pluck.  He made sure I meant to kill him,
+but he faced me resolutely enough when I raised my sword and put the
+point right at his heart.
+
+"One word," said I, sternly.  "I have put this indignity on you because
+of the insolent message you sent to me by Lieutenant Essaieff.  But for
+that I would simply have disarmed you at once and made an end of the
+thing.  Now, remember me by this...."  I raised my sword and struck him
+with the flat side of it across the face, leaving an ugly red trail.
+
+Then I turned on my heel and went to where my seconds stood, lost in
+staring amazement at what I had done.  I put on my clothes in silence;
+and as I glanced about me I saw that the scene had created a powerful
+impression upon everybody present.
+
+All men are irresistibly influenced by skill such as I had shewn under
+circumstances of the kind; and the utter humbling of a bully who had
+ridden rough-shod over the whole regiment was agreeable enough now that
+it had been accomplished.  My own evil character was forgotten in the
+fact that I had beaten the man who had beaten everybody else and traded
+on his deadly reputation.
+
+Lieutenant Essaieff came to me as I was turning to leave the place
+alone.  He gave me back the letter I had entrusted to him, and after a
+momentary hesitation, said:--
+
+"Petrovitch, I did you an injustice, and I am sorry for it.  I thought
+you were afraid, and I had no idea that you had anything like such
+pluck and skill.  I believed you were blustering; and I apologise to
+you for the way in which I brought Devinsky's message.  But for what
+happened last night in your rooms"--and he drew himself up as he
+spoke--"I am at your service if you desire it."
+
+"I'd much rather breakfast than fight with you to-morrow morning,
+Essaieff, if you won't think me a coward for crying off the encounter."
+
+"After this morning no one will ever call you a coward;" said he; and I
+think he was a good deal relieved at not having to stand in front of a
+sword which could do what mine had just done.  "Shall we drive back
+together?"
+
+We saluted the others ceremoniously, my late antagonist scowling very
+angrily as he made an abrupt and formal gesture.  Then I snubbed
+Gradinsk, who looked very white, remembering what I had said to him
+when driving to the ground; and Lieutenant Essaieff and I left together.
+
+"How is it we have all been so mistaken in you, Petrovitch?" asked my
+companion when we had lighted our cigarettes.
+
+"How is it that I have been so mistaken in you?" I retorted.  "I chose
+to take my own way, that's all.  I wished to know the relish of the
+reputation for cowardice, if you like.  I have never been out before in
+Moscow, as you know; and have never had to shew what I could do with
+either sword or pistol.  Nor did I seek this quarrel.  But because I
+have never fought till I was compelled, that does not mean that I can't
+fight when I am compelled.  But the truth's out now, and it may as well
+all be known.  Come to my rooms for five minutes before breakfast--I am
+going to my sister's to breakfast--and I'll shew you what I can do with
+the pistols.  It may prevent anyone making the mistake of choosing
+those should there be any more of this morning's work to do."
+
+"I hope you can keep your head," he said, after a pause.  "You'll be
+about the most popular man in the whole regiment after to-day's
+business.  I don't believe there's a more hated man in the whole city
+than Devinsky; and everyone's sure to love you for making him bite the
+dust.  I suppose you're coming to the ball at the Zemliczka Palace
+to-night.  You'll be the lion."
+
+There was a touch of envy in his voice, I think, and he smiled when I
+answered indifferently that I had not decided.  As a fact I didn't know
+whether I had any invitation or not, so that my indifference was by no
+means feigned.
+
+When we reached my rooms I took him in and as I wished to noise abroad
+so far as possible the fact of my skill with weapons, I shewed him some
+of the trick shots I had learnt.  Pistol shooting had been with me, as
+I have said, quite a passion at one time and I had practised until I
+could hit anything within range, either stationary or moving.  More
+than that, I was an expert in the reflection shot--shooting over my
+shoulder at a mark I could see reflected in a mirror held in front of
+me.  Indeed there was scarcely a trick with the pistol which I did not
+know and had not practised.
+
+The lieutenant had not words enough to express his amazement and
+admiration; and when I sent him away after about a quarter of an hour's
+shooting such as he had never seen, he was reduced to a condition of
+speechless wonder.
+
+Then I dressed carefully, having bathed and attended to the light wound
+on my arm, and set out to relieve my "sister's" suspense and keep my
+appointment for breakfast.  I found myself thinking pleasantly of the
+pretty, kindly little face of the girl, and when I saw a light of
+infinite relief and gladness sparkle in her eyes at sight of me safe
+and sound and punctual, I experienced a much more gratifying sensation
+than I had expected.
+
+Her face was somewhat white and drawn and her eyes hollow, telling of a
+sleepless, anxious night; and she grasped my hand so warmly and was so
+moved, that I could not fail to see that she had been worrying lest
+trouble had come to me through her action of the previous day.
+
+"You haven't had so much sleep as I have, Olga," I said, lightly.
+
+"Are you really safe, quite safe, and unhurt?  And have you really been
+mad enough to go out and fight that man?  Oh, I could not sleep a wink
+all night for thinking of you and of the cruel gleam I have seen in his
+eyes."  And she covered her face with her hands and shivered.
+
+"Getting up early in the morning always gives me an unconscionable
+appetite, Olga.  I thought you knew that," said I lightly and with a
+laugh.  "But I see no breakfast; and that's hardly sisterly, you know."
+
+"It's all in the next room ready," she answered, leading the way.  "But
+tell me the news:" and her face was all aglow with eager inquiry.
+
+"I had no difficulty with Major Devinsky.  As I anticipated he was no
+sort of a match for me at that business.  I'm not bragging, but I've
+been trained in a totally different school, and--well, the beggar never
+had a chance."
+
+She smiled then, and her eyes danced in gladness, but as suddenly grew
+grave again.  Wonderfully tell-tale eyes they were!
+
+"What about--I mean--is he hurt?"
+
+"No, not much.  Nothing serious.  His quarrel wasn't with me, you see,
+so I couldn't kill him or wound him seriously.  But you'll hear
+probably from others what happened."
+
+"I want to hear from you, please.  You promised the news at first hand
+remember."
+
+"Well, I played rather a melodrama, I fear.  I managed to snick him in
+a number of places till he's pitted a good deal.  I gave him a lesson
+for having treated you in that way and also for his insolence to me.
+Besides I wished to make a bit of an impression on the other men there.
+He won't trouble us again, I fancy."
+
+"He's dangerous, Alexis: mind that.  Very dangerous.  But oh, I'm so
+glad it's all over and you're safe and sound--And here's your favourite
+dish--though you don't know what it is."
+
+"I don't care what it is.  I'll take whatever you give me on trust."
+At that she glanced at me and coloured, and hung her head.
+
+She was very pretty indeed when the colour glowed in her cheeks, and as
+a rather long silence followed I had plenty of time to observe her.
+She made a most captivating little hostess, too; and I began to feel
+that if I had had a sister of my own like her, I should have been
+remarkably fond of her, and perhaps--who can tell?--a very different
+man myself.
+
+"By the way, there's one thing you must be careful to say," I said,
+breaking a long pause that was getting embarrassing.  "You will
+probably be asked whether you knew that I was an expert with the sword
+and pistol and was purposely concealing my skill from the men here in
+Moscow.  That's what I've said, and it may be as well that you should
+seem to have known it.  A brother and sister should have no secrets
+from each other, you know."
+
+She shook her head at me and, with a smile and in a tone of mock
+reproach, said:
+
+"You haven't always thought that, Alexis."
+
+"It's never too late to mend," returned I.  "And I'll promise for the
+future, if you like--so long as the relationship lasts, that is."
+
+To that she made no answer, and when she spoke again she had changed
+the subject.
+
+We chatted very pleasantly during breakfast, and I asked her presently
+about the dance at the Zemliczka Palace.  She was going to it, she
+said, and told me that I had also accepted.
+
+"Can a brother and sister dance together, Olga," I asked.
+
+"I don't know," she replied, playing with the point as though it were
+some grave matter of diplomacy.  "I have never had to consider the
+question practically because you have never asked me, Alexis.  But I
+think they might sit out together," and with the laugh that accompanied
+that sentence ringing in my ears, like the refrain of a sweet song, we
+parted to meet again at the ball.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V.
+
+GETTING DEEPER.
+
+The news that I had beaten Devinsky, had played with him like a cat
+with a bird, spread like a forest fire.  Essaieff was right enough in
+his forecast that everyone would be delighted at the major's overthrow.
+But the notoriety which the achievement brought me was not at all
+unlikely to prove a source of embarrassment.
+
+I should be a marked man, and everything I did would be sure to be
+closely observed.  Any gross blunder made in my new character would be
+the more certainly seen, and would thus be all the more likely to lead
+to my discovery.
+
+There were of course a thousand things I ought to know; hundreds of
+acts that I had no doubt been in the habit of doing regularly--and thus
+any number of pitfalls lay gaping right under my feet.
+
+My difficulties began at once with my regimental duties.  I did not
+know even my brother officers by sight, to say nothing of the men.  The
+fact that the real Alexis had not been very long with the regiment
+would of course help me somewhat in regard to this; as it was quite
+conceivable that having been very indifferent to my duties and anything
+but a zealous officer, I might not have got to know the men.  But I was
+just as ignorant of the regimental routine which ought to be a matter
+of course.  I had questioned Olga on every detail and drawn from her
+all that she knew--and she was surprisingly quickwitted and well
+informed on the subject--and I had of course my own limited military
+experience to back me; but I lacked completely that familiarity which
+only actual practice could give.  This difficulty gave me much thought
+and I am bound to say amused me immensely.  The way out that I chose
+was a mixture of impudence and eccentricity; and I relied on the
+reputation I had suddenly made for myself as a swordsman being
+sufficient to silence criticism.
+
+I went back to my rooms, and while there a manservant whom Essaieff had
+promised to send to me, arrived.  I would not have one from the ranks,
+but chose a civilian that had been a soldier; and under the guise of
+questioning his present knowledge of military matters, dress, etc., I
+drew out of him particulars of the uniforms I ought to wear on
+different occasions, the places and times of all regimental duties,
+and--what was of even more importance--a rough idea of the actual
+duties which fell to the share of Lieutenant Alexis Petrovitch.
+
+That was enough for me.  I dressed and went to head-quarters, resolved
+to see the Colonel, and on the plea of indisposition ask to be excused
+from duty on that and the following day.  To my surprise--for I had
+heard from Olga that I stood very low down in Colonel Kapriste's
+estimation--I was received with especial cordiality and favour.  His
+greeting was indeed effusive.  He granted my request at once, said I
+could take a week if I liked, after my hard work, and declared that I
+must take great care of myself for the sake of the regiment.  Then he
+pressed me to wait until he had finished his regimental work as he
+wished to talk to me.
+
+What he wanted was an account of the duel, and a very few minutes
+shewed me that if he was no friend of mine, he was a strong enemy of
+the man I had fought.  He questioned me also as to the change in my
+appearance, why I had shaved my beard and moustache, what excuse I had
+to give for having been out without my uniform on the previous day; and
+my blunt reply that I had had an accident and hoped I was master of my
+own features, and that if my uniform was burnt it was more becoming for
+an officer to be in mufti than naked, drew from him nothing more than
+the significant retort that he hoped I had changed as much in other
+respects.  Then he turned curious to know where I had learnt to use the
+sword, and who was the fencing master that had taught me; and I turned
+the point with a laugh--that Major Devinsky's evil genie conferred the
+gift on me, as they were not ready yet below to take charge of the
+major's soul.
+
+He was so delighted with my success over the man whom he evidently
+hated, that he let my impertinence pass; but I could see that the two
+aides who were present, were as much astonished at my conduct as at the
+Colonel's reception of it.
+
+But it was of great service to me.  It emphasized the complete change
+in me; and I left with a feeling of intense satisfaction that the
+difficulties of the position were proving much less formidable when
+faced than they had seemed in anticipation.
+
+I went next to the exercise ground and watched with the closest
+scrutiny everything that took place.  Now and again one or other of the
+officers came up to me; and to all alike I adopted an attitude of cold
+and stolid impassiveness.  This was my safe course.  I knew that Alexis
+had hitherto been unpopular with the whole regiment, except perhaps one
+or two of the worst and wildest fellows; and I judged that any
+approaches made now were rather out of deference to the dangerous skill
+I had suddenly developed than to any old familiarity.  In most cases I
+could therefore quite safely appear to resent old neglect and so
+repulse any present advances.
+
+"You're not at drill, this morning, Petrovitch," said one.
+
+I gave him a stony, stolid stare.
+
+"On the contrary, I am here," I answered, turning away.
+
+"I mean, you're not drilling," he said, with a feeble laugh.
+
+"I have already been out this morning," I returned giving him another
+most unpleasant look.  "Do you mean that you want to drill with me?"  I
+stared him out of countenance until the feeble laugh which he repeated
+had passed from his face, and with a muttered excuse he went back to
+his men.
+
+This sort of thing with variations in my hard unpleasantness happened
+several times while I remained on the ground; and before I left I had
+managed to stamp the impression pretty clearly on my fellow-officers
+generally, that it would be best not to interfere with me.  This was
+just what I wished.
+
+At the club, where I went after leaving the exercise ground, there were
+several of the men whom I had so insulted on the previous night.  I was
+in truth rather sorry that I had made such a cad of myself; since that
+was not the sort of character I saw now I could construct out of the
+composite materials of the two very different careers and persons that
+were now to be blended.
+
+My reputation was made already and I found everywhere some evidences of
+the advantages it carried.  More than one of those who on the night
+before had been most profuse in their expressions of contempt for me
+were now obviously very ill at ease; and some of them were
+unquestionably expecting me to take a strong course.  But I spoke to no
+one; and merely returned a curt and formal acknowledgment of any
+greetings made to me.
+
+After a time Lieutenant Essaieff came in, and I noticed not without
+satisfaction that as soon as he saw I was in the place he came across
+to me.
+
+"I hear you have made a remarkable conversion, Petrovitch."
+
+"Yes?"
+
+"Old Saltpetre, I mean.  Cruladoff told me and said he could scarcely
+believe his own eyes and ears when you and that old martinet were
+chumming together like a couple of young subs.  He swears that a man
+has been cashiered before now for saying a good deal less than you
+said."  I saw he was referring to the Chief, so I made a shot.
+
+"It's not much of a secret what he thinks of Devinsky."
+
+"Do you really know the story, then?  Why, you told me last week that
+you didn't."
+
+"I didn't know a good deal then that I know now," I returned drily.
+
+"Neither did we," he answered significantly.  "Any way the old boy
+swears by you now; and after you'd left this morning went on in a fine
+strain to the two aides, praising you sky high.  By Gad, if the war
+really comes you'll be in luck, and get every bit of daredevil work the
+old Salamander can thrust your way.  Hullo, Cruladoff!" he broke off as
+one of the men I had seen that morning with the Chief came up.  "I was
+just telling Petrovitch what you told me."
+
+Some others joined us then, and though I held myself in the strongest
+reserve, I exchanged a few words with one or two.  What was of great
+importance, moreover, I learnt to know a number of my comrades by sight
+and name.
+
+My actions were all carefully studied.  I spoke very little indeed;
+never dropped a word that had even a suggestion of boastfulness in it,
+and only answered when any man chose to address me.  I knew from what
+Olga had told me that I was with some of the best men in the
+regiment--those who hitherto had held me in the poorest esteem--and I
+was scrupulously careful that in my outward demeanour there should now
+be nothing whatever to cause offence.  I would allow no man to
+interfere with or even criticise me--but on my side I would interfere
+with none.  The eccentricity that was to cover my ignorance should be
+defensive armour only.
+
+In this manner I carried myself through the difficulties of that day;
+and it was indeed easy enough.  I found most of my comrades only too
+ready to be civil rather than suspicious; and the extraordinary success
+of the morning set them on the look out for further eccentricities and
+peculiarities.  A man who could successfully conceal the possession of
+such extraordinary skill with sword and pistol, might be expected to
+have any number of surprises in store; and no one was in any hurry to
+ask the reason for the concealment.
+
+The fame of my achievement affected even the men who came to have their
+debts paid that afternoon and evening; and the money lender--a scurvy
+wretch of the lowest type--was so frightened and trembled so violently
+when I asked him how he dared to send me threatening letters, that he
+could scarcely sign his receipt.  The whole of them were certainly
+profoundly astonished at getting their money; and probably I should not
+have paid a kopeck, but for a change in my intentions that had begun to
+affect me.
+
+I liked the promise of the new life for which I had exchanged my old
+and empty career; and I had begun to consider whether, instead of
+leaving when my passport came, I should not remain where I was and
+continue to be Lieutenant Alexis Petrovitch of the Moscow Infantry
+Regiment.
+
+I had already done much to earn a title to the position.  I had saved
+the real man's body by helping him over the frontier; I had saved his
+honour by fighting his duel for him; I had made his sister pretty safe
+from further molestation at Devinsky's hands; I had created quite a new
+Alexis Petrovitch in the regiment; and now I had paid the beggar's
+debts.
+
+Obviously I could play the part a good deal better than he could, and
+therefore--why not continue to play it?  There was plenty of danger in
+it.  Siberia at least, if it was discovered that I had been personating
+a Russian officer and fighting duels in his name.  But I cared nothing
+for that.  If it threatened me, it had its compensations; since it made
+it quite impossible for the real Alexis ever to return and claim his
+position, even if he wished.
+
+I had intended to fight for Russia in any event, supposing the war
+came; and if I fell in some battle it would not matter in the least how
+my grave was ticketed.  It might save me no end of trouble, moreover,
+if I took the good the gods gave me without bothering any more about
+volunteering.
+
+The more I thought of it as I sat and smoked by myself, the firmer
+became my resolve just to float with the stream and remain what I was,
+till chance discovered me, if ever it did.
+
+I had probably got over the worst danger by my impudence, my knack of
+fighting, and the extraordinary resemblance to my other self; and
+already I could see my way through many of the difficulties, so far as
+the regiment was concerned.
+
+Moreover, I am bound to admit I liked the part.  I had never had such a
+chance before; and if all the truth must be told, my vanity was not
+altogether proof against the sensation I was creating.  I had had such
+a run of bad luck for the past few years, that a change was welcome.
+
+By the time my reverie was finished, therefore, I had more than half
+resolved to be Hamylton Tregethner no more.  Then it was time to dress
+for the ball at the Zemliczka Palace; and I was snob enough--I can call
+it nothing but sheer snobbery--so to time my entrance into the rooms as
+to cause as much sensation as possible.  Though outwardly calm and
+quite impassive, I am positively ashamed to say I enjoyed the ripple of
+comment which I saw pass from lip to lip, and the evident interest
+which I awakened.
+
+At the same time matters were within an ace of being very awkward.  Any
+number of people came forward to speak to me, all of whom manifestly
+expected I should know them both by name and by sight.  I had one
+greeting for all: cold, impassive, uninterested, though there were a
+number of very handsome women with whom I should have been glad to
+chat, if I could have done so safely.  But I dared not.
+
+Indeed the women worried me more than enough.  The men I could stave
+off and keep at a distance easily; for in truth they all seemed shy of
+forcing themselves on me;--but the women wanted to compel me to take
+notice of them and were not to be put off by any excuse or shift.  How
+many I ought to have known; with how many I had had flirtations, I of
+course had not the remotest idea.  I was thus very glad when a chance
+of escape came with the entrance of Olga, who arrived with her aunt.
+The latter was rather a good looking woman, I thought; and I got away
+from the other people on the plea of having to go and speak to the two.
+
+"Well, aunt, what do you think...."
+
+"Aunt?" exclaimed Olga's companion, looking at me with unmistakable
+anger.
+
+My sister flashed a quick danger signal at me.  I had blundered badly.
+
+"Alexis, your joke is very ill-timed," she said, severely.  "You should
+know the Countess Krapotine better than to suppose that your
+barrack-yard jibes would be welcome."
+
+"I hope the Countess Krapotine knows there is no one in all Moscow
+whose good will I prize more highly and would lose more unwillingly
+than hers.  It was a silly jest: and was prompted only by a desire to
+claim even a passing relationship with one whom Moscow delights to
+honour.  Her kindness to you, Olga, makes her kin to me."
+
+"You are always a little hard on your brother, Olga," said the
+Countess, whom I had mistaken for an aunt many years older and
+infinitely ugly.  But the matter passed, and as I did not care to stop
+and talk with them for too long, I left them after arranging which
+dances I was to sit out with my sister.
+
+I did not dance with anyone: but contented myself with lounging about
+observing what was going on.  I had more than one little adventure: but
+one in particular impressed me.  I was leaning against the wall near an
+archway between two of the ball rooms when I noticed an exceedingly
+handsome woman making eyes and signs secretly to some one near me.  She
+was a remarkably striking woman, tall, dark, handsome, and passionate
+looking; and after a minute I glanced round about me to see who the
+fortunate man might be.  Just then there was no man at all near me: and
+looking furtively at her, I noticed that the signs ceased when I was
+apparently not observing her.
+
+I looked at her openly and they recommenced immediately.  It seemed
+therefore that they were meant for me.  I tested this, until there was
+no room for doubt: and I looked at her with a little more interest,
+speculating who she might be, and what she was to me.  But I made no
+sign that I knew her; as of course I did not; and after a minute or two
+I moved away, as it was time for me to go to Olga.
+
+There was just then a little difficulty in getting through the rooms
+owing to the crush of people, and presently to my intense surprise a
+very angry voice whispered close in my ear:--
+
+"Beware!"
+
+I turned at once and found it was the handsome woman who had been
+signalling to me.  The crowd had brought us close together, and she was
+staring hard at me, her face expressive of both agitation and ill
+temper.  I was amused and without relaxing my features bowed as I
+muttered:
+
+"I will."
+
+This answer seemed to increase her anger, but at that instant another
+movement of the throng separated us, and I went away to find Olga.
+
+We sat and chatted and laughed together--especially at my mistake with
+the countess--and presently glancing up I saw opposite to us the woman
+who had acted the little bit of melodrama with me.  She was eyeing us
+both now angrily.
+
+"Who's that?" I asked, pointing her out to my sister.  The girl shook
+her head gravely.
+
+"I wish you didn't know, Alexis."
+
+"Oh, do I know?  I've put my foot in it then, I expect;" and I told her
+what had happened.  She smiled, and then shook her head again, more
+gravely than before.
+
+"All Moscow knows that you and Madame Paula Tueski are thick friends;
+and you ought to know that you have set many scandalous tongues
+wagging."
+
+"Well, she's a very handsome woman," said I, glancing across at her.
+
+"Your favourite style of beauty was always somewhat masculine and
+fleshly," said Olga in a very sisterly and very severe tone.
+
+"Yes, I'm afraid I've not always admired those things I ought to have
+admired."
+
+"Say, rather, you have often admired those things which you ought not.
+_Com_mission, not _o_mission."
+
+"Well, I've a new commission now, and you gave it me," said I, playing
+on her word and looking closely at her.  I took rather a pleasure in
+watching the colour ebb and flow in her bright expressive face.
+
+She looked up now, very steadily, right into my eyes, as if to read my
+thoughts; and then looked down again and was silent.  And in some way
+the look made me sorry I had jested.  After a pause she said in her
+usual direct way:--
+
+"We are wasting time.  There is so much I must yet tell you, and some
+of it is very disagreeable.  You and I have quarrelled more than once
+about that woman, Paula Tueski.  You wished me to know her, and I would
+not; I wished you to give her up, and you would not."
+
+"I'll do it at once," I said, readily.  "I shall not feel the pang----"
+
+"Do, please, be serious," she interrupted in her turn, with a little
+foot tap of impatience, while a frown struggled with a smile for the
+mastery in her expression.  The smile had the best of it at first, but
+the frown won in the end.  "Paula Tueski, you have often told me, is a
+dangerous woman.  As wife of the Chief of the Secret Police she has
+considerable power and influence; though to be candid I never could
+tell whether you said this as an excuse for continuing your friendship
+with her, or because you were really afraid of her.  You are not very
+brave, Alexis, you know."
+
+"No, I'm afraid I'm not," I admitted.  "But at any rate I won't try to
+force her on you for the future.  I think I can promise that."
+
+"She's an exceedingly ambitious woman, and means you no good, Alexis,"
+said Olga, very energetically.  "If you can give her up safely I hope
+you will."  She was very earnest about this, and I was going to
+question her more closely when someone came up to claim her for a dance.
+
+Very soon after this I left, taking care to keep out of the way of the
+woman who seemed so anxious that I should speak to her.  I remembered
+the "P.T." of the diary and of the correspondence; and I saw that there
+might easily be some ugly complications unless I was very careful.
+
+I walked home to my rooms and was very thoughtful on the way.  This
+legacy of old sweethearts was the most unpleasant feature of my new
+inheritance as well as possibly the most dangerous.  It was just the
+kind of knot, too, that a sword could not cut; and before the night
+closed, I had a very jarring reminder of this.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+
+A LEGACY OF LOVE.
+
+As I approached the broad deep doorway of my house I saw a tall man
+muffled up, standing half concealed in the shadow of one of the pillars.
+
+"Who are you, and what are you doing there?" I asked peremptorily,
+stopping and looking at him.
+
+"What should I be doing, but waiting for Lieutenant Petrovitch?"
+answered the fellow, stepping forward.
+
+"Well, I am Lieutenant Petrovitch.  What do you want?"
+
+"You are not the lieutenant."
+
+"Then you are not looking for Lieutenant Petrovitch," I returned, as I
+opened my door.  "Be off with you."  I spoke firmly, but his reply had
+rather disconcerted me.
+
+Instead of going he advanced toward me when he saw me open the door,
+and shot a glance of surprise at me.
+
+"I beg you honour's pardon.  I didn't recognise you; and when you
+pretended not to know me, I thought it was someone else.  You've
+disguised yourself by that change in your face, sir."
+
+There was a mixture of servility and impudence in the man's manner
+which galled me.  He spoke like a fawning sponger: and yet with just
+such a suggestion of threat and familiarity in his manner as might come
+from a low associate in some dirty work which he thought gave him a
+hold over me.
+
+"What is it you want?" I spoke as sternly as before; and the fellow
+cringed and bowed as he answered with the same suggestion of familiar
+insolence.
+
+"What have I waited here five hours for but to speak to your lordship
+privately--waited, as I always do, patiently.  It's safer inside,
+lieutenant."
+
+"Come in, then."  It was clearly best for me to know all he had to say.
+
+As soon as we were inside and I had turned up the lights I placed him
+close to the biggest of them; and a more villainous, hangdog looking
+rascal I never wish to see.  A redhaired, dirty, cunning, drinking Jew
+of the lowest class; with lies and treachery and deceit written on
+every feature and gesture.  The only thing truthful about him was the
+evidence of character stamped on his self-convicting appearance.
+
+"I wonder what you are to me," I thought as I scanned him closely, his
+flinty shifting eyes darting everywhere to escape my gaze.
+
+"Well, what do you want?  I'm about sick of you."  A quick lifting of
+the head and eyebrows let a questioning glance of mingled malice, hate,
+and menace dart up into my face.
+
+"Lieutenant, your child is starving and his mother also; and I, her
+father, am tired of working my fingers to the bone to maintain them
+both."
+
+"What are you working at now?" I asked with a sneer.  I spoke in this
+way to hide my unpleasant surprise at the unsavoury news that lay
+behind his words.  The more I looked at him the more was I impressed
+with a conviction of his rascality: but the fact that he was a
+scoundrel did not at all exclude the possibility that some ugly episode
+concerning me lay behind.  On the contrary it increased the probability.
+
+"I've not come to talk about my work, but to get money," said my
+visitor in a surly tone.  "And money I must have."
+
+"Blackmail," was my instant conclusion: and my line of conduct was as
+promptly taken.  There is but one way to take with blackmailers--crush
+them.
+
+"Did you understand what I said just now?  I am sick of you and your
+ways, and I have done with you."
+
+The man shifted about uneasily and nervously without replying at once,
+and then in a sly, muttering tone, and with an indescribable suggestion
+of menace said:--
+
+"There are some ugly stories afloat, Lieutenant."
+
+"Yes: and in Russia, those who tell them smell the atmosphere of a gaol
+as often as those against whom they are told.  A word from me and you
+know where you will be within half a dozen hours."  This was a safe
+shot with such a rascal.
+
+"But you'll never speak that word," he said sullenly.  "We've talked
+all this over before.  You can't shake me off.  I know too much."
+
+Obviously my former self had handled this man badly: probably through
+weakness: and had allowed him to get an ugly hold.  He was presuming on
+this now.
+
+I took two rapid turns up and down the room in thought.  Then I made a
+decision.  Taking ink and paper I sat down to the table and wrote,
+repeating the words aloud:--
+
+"To the Chief of Police.--The Bearer of this----"
+
+"How do you spell your rascally name?" I cried, interrupting the
+writing and looking across at him.
+
+"You know.  You've written it often enough to Anna."
+
+Good.  I had got the daughter's name at any rate.
+
+"Yes, but this is for the police, and must be accurate."  The start he
+gave was an unmistakable start of fear.
+
+"Everyone knows how to spell Peter, I suppose.  And you ought to know
+how to spell Prashil, seeing your own child has to bear the name."
+
+"The Bearer of this, Peter Prashil, declares that he has some
+information to give to you which incriminates me.  Take his statement
+in writing and have it investigated.  Hold him prisoner, meanwhile, for
+he has been attempting to blackmail me.  You, or your agents will know
+him well.
+
+Signed, ALEXIS PETROVITCH.
+  Lieutenant, Moscow Infantry Regiment."
+
+"Now," I cried, rising, giving him the paper, and throwing open the
+door.  "Take that paper and go straight to the Police.  Tell them all
+you know.  Or if you like it better stand to-morrow at midday in the
+Square of the Cathedral and shout it out with all your lungs for the
+whole of Moscow to hear.  Or get it inserted in every newspaper in the
+city.  Go!" and I pointed the way and stared at him sternly and angrily.
+
+"I don't want to harm you."
+
+"Go!" I said.  "Or I'll wake my servant and have the police brought
+here."
+
+For a minute he tried to return my look, and fumbled with the paper
+irresolutely.
+
+"Go!" I repeated, staring at him as intently as before.
+
+He stood another minute scowling at me from under his ragged red brows
+and then seemed to concentrate the fury of a hundred curses into one
+tremendous oath, which he snarled out with baffled rage, as he tore the
+paper into pieces and threw them down on the table.
+
+"You know I can't go to the police, damn you," he cried.
+
+I had beaten him.  I had convinced him of my earnestness.  I shut the
+door then and sitting down again, said calmly:--
+
+"Now you understand me a little better than ever before; and we will
+have the last conversation that will ever pass between us.  Tell me
+plainly and clearly what you want.  Quick."
+
+"Justice for my daughter."
+
+"What else?"
+
+"The money you've always promised me for my services," with a pause
+before the last word.
+
+"What services?"
+
+"You know."
+
+"Answer.  Don't dare to speak like that," I cried sternly.
+
+"For holding my tongue--about Anna--and--the child.  I want my share,
+don't I?" he answered sullenly, scowling at me.  "Is a father to be
+robbed of a child and then cheated?"  He asked this with a burst of
+anger as if, vile as he was, he was compelled to stifle his sense of
+shame with a rush of rage.
+
+"Hush-money, eh?  And payment for your daughter's shame.  Well, what
+else?"  I threw into my manner all the contempt I could.
+
+"My help in other things--with others."  He uttered the sentence with a
+leer of suggestion that sent my blood to boiling point; and he followed
+it up with a recital of mean and despicable tricks of vice and foul
+dissipation until in sheer disgust I was compelled to stop him.
+
+What more the man might have had to say I knew not; but I had heard
+enough.  It was clear that I was indeed a bitter blackguard, and that
+for my purposes I had made use of this scoundrel, who had apparently
+begun by selling me his own daughter.  It was clear also that all this
+must end and some sort of arrangement be made.
+
+At the same time I knew enough of Russian society to be perfectly well
+aware that not one of the acts which this man had suggested would count
+for either crime or wrong against me.  One was expected to keep the
+seamy side of one's life decorously out of sight; but if that were
+done, a few "slips" of the kind were taken as a matter of course.
+
+Personally, I hold old-fashioned notions on these things, and it was
+infinitely painful to me that I should be held guilty of such
+blackguardism.  I would at least do what justice I could.
+
+"I have been thinking much about these things lately," I said, after a
+pause.  "And I have come to a decision.  I shall make provision for
+you..."
+
+"Your honour was always generosity itself," said the fellow squirming
+instantly.
+
+"On condition that you leave Moscow.  You will go to Kursk; and there
+ten roubles will be paid to you weekly for a year; by which time if you
+haven't drunk yourself to death, you will have found the means to earn
+your living."
+
+"And Anna?"
+
+"Your daughter will call to-morrow afternoon on my sister----"
+
+"Your sister?" cried the man in the deepest astonishment.
+
+"My sister," I repeated, "at this address"--I wrote it down--"and the
+course to be taken will depend on what is then decided.  You understand
+that the whole story will be sifted, so she must be careful to tell the
+truth.
+
+"The discreet truth, your honour?" he asked with another leer.
+
+"No, the whole truth, without a single lie of yours.  Mind, one lie by
+either of you, and not a kopeck shall you have."
+
+With that I sent him about his business.  I resolved to have the whole
+story investigated; and it occurred to me that it would be a good test
+of my sister's womanliness to let her deal with the case.  I reflected
+too that it would do her no harm to know a little of the undercurrent
+of her brother's life.
+
+That done, I turned into bed after as full a day as I had ever lived,
+and slept well.
+
+Reflection led me to approve the plan of sending the old Jew's daughter
+to Olga; and after breakfast the next morning I wrote a little note to
+prepare her for the visit.
+
+"This afternoon," I wrote, "you will have a visit from a girl whose
+name is Anna Prashil, and she will tell you something about your
+brother's history which I think your woman's wit will let you deal with
+better than I can.  We will have the story sifted, but you can do two
+things in the matter better than I--judge whether the girl is an
+impostor; and if not, what is the best thing to do for her.  I will see
+you afterwards."
+
+I sat smoking and thinking over this business when my servant, Borlas,
+announced that a lady wished to see me; and ushered in a tall woman
+closely veiled.
+
+I was prepared now for anything that could happen.
+
+I rose and bowed to her; but she stood without a word until Borlas had
+gone out.
+
+"Don't pretend that you don't know me," she said, in a voice naturally
+sweet and full and musical, but now resonant with agitation and anger.
+
+It was a very awkward position.  Obviously I ought to know her, so I
+thought it best to speak as if I did.
+
+"I make no attempt at pretence with you," I said, equivocally.  "But
+aren't you going to sit down?"
+
+"No attempt at pretence?  What was your conduct last night if not
+pretence--maddening, infamous, insulting pretence?"
+
+I knew her now.  It was the handsome angry woman whose signals at the
+ball I had ignored--Paula Tueski.  She had probably come to upbraid me
+for my coldness and neglect.  "Hell holds no fury like a woman
+scorned," thought I; and this was a woman with a very generous capacity
+for rage.  If she recognised me....
+
+"Won't you take off that thick veil, which prevents my seeing your very
+angry eyes.  You know I always admire you in a passion, Paula."  I did
+not know how I ought to address her so I made the plunge with her
+Christian name.
+
+"Why dared you insult me by not speaking to me at the ball last night?
+Why dared you break your word?  You pledged me your honour"--this with
+quite glorious scorn--"that you would introduce your impudent chit of a
+sister to me at the ball.  And instead, my God, that I am alive to say
+it!--you dared to sit with her laughing, and jibing and flouting at me.
+Pretending--you, you of all men on this earth--that you did not know
+me!  Do you think I will endure that?  Do you think----"  Here rage
+choked her speech, and she ended in incoherency, half laugh, half sob,
+and all hysterical.
+
+I was sorry she stopped at that point.  The more she told me the easier
+would be my choice of policy.  From what she said I gathered this was
+another of the pledges made under the fear of Devinsky's sword.
+
+"You know perfectly well that Olga is exceedingly difficult to coerce--
+
+"Bah!  Don't talk to me of difficulties.  You would be frightened by a
+fool's bladder and call it difficulties.  I suppose you shaved your
+beard and moustache because they were difficulties, eh?  Difficulties,
+perhaps, in the way of getting out of Moscow unrecognised on the eve of
+a fight?  You know what I mean, eh?"
+
+For a moment I half thought she, or the police agents of her husband
+might have guessed the truth, and this made me hesitate in my reply.
+
+"Did you think I was afraid to kill Major Devinsky, or ashamed to let
+it be known that I am the best swordsman in the regiment?"
+
+"Why have you never told me that?" she cried with feminine
+inconsequence.  "I don't understand you, Alexis.  You want me one day
+to get this man assassinated because you say you know he can run you
+through the body just as he pleases, and you promise me the friendship
+of your sister if I will do it; and yet the very next, you go out and
+meet him and he has not a chance with you.  But why did you do it?  I
+have heard of it all.  Did you want to try me?"
+
+I thanked her mentally for that cue.
+
+"At all events two things are clear now," I said.  "I did not want to
+get out of Moscow for fear of Devinsky, and you would not do that which
+I told you could alone save my life.  You did not think my life worth
+saving."  I spoke very coldly and deliberately.
+
+"So that is it?" she cried, with a quick return of her rage.  "You
+insult me before all Moscow because I will not be a murderess--your
+hired assassin."
+
+It was an excellent situation.  If I had devised it myself, I could not
+have arranged it more deftly, I thought.
+
+I shrugged my shoulders and said nothing; but the silence and the
+gesture were more expressive than many words.
+
+My visitor tore off the veil she had worn till now, and throwing
+herself into a chair looked at me as though trying to read my innermost
+thoughts: while I was trying to read hers and was more than half
+suspicious that she might see enough to let her jump at the truth.
+
+But a rapid reflection shewed me I should be wise to use the means she
+herself had supplied, as an excuse for the change in me toward her.  It
+was dangerous, of course, to set at defiance a woman of her manifest
+force of character and in her position; but in attempting to continue
+even an innocent intrigue with her there was equal danger.
+
+She remained silent a long time, considering as it seemed to me, how
+she should prevent my breaking away from her.  She was a clever woman,
+and now that the first outburst of emotion was over, she abandoned all
+hysterical display and resolved, as her words soon proved, to appeal to
+my fears rather than to any old love.
+
+She laughed very softly and musically when she spoke next.
+
+"So you think you can do as you will with me, Alexis?"
+
+"On the contrary," I replied, quite as gently and with an answering
+smile.  "I have no wish to have anything at all to do with you."
+
+"Yet you loved me once," she murmured, the involuntary closing of her
+eyelids being the only sign of the pain my brutal words caused.
+
+"The sweetest things in life are the memories of the past, Paula.  If
+you really loved me as you said, it will be something for you to
+remember that while you prized my life, you held my love."
+
+"A man would starve on the memory of yesterday's dinner."
+
+"True; or hope that somebody else will give him even a more satisfying
+meal."
+
+"You could always turn a woman's phrases, Alexis."
+
+"And you a man's head, Paula."
+
+"Bah!  I have not come here to cap phrases."
+
+"Yet there can be little else than phrases between us for the future.
+You have shewn me what store you set on my life."
+
+"Did you think I could love you if you were such a coward that you
+dared not fight a duel?"
+
+"You thought I dared not when you refused to help me."
+
+"You said you dared not.  But do you think I believed you?  Could I
+believe so meanly of the man I loved?"
+
+"You discussed the matter as if you believed it," said I; making a leap
+in the dark and blundering badly.
+
+"Discussed it?  What do you mean?  With whom?  Do you think I am mad?
+I sat down at once and answered your mad letter in the only way it
+could be answered."
+
+Great Heavens!  I had apparently been fool enough in my desperate
+cowardice to actually write the proposal.  The letter itself, if she
+dared to use it, spelt certain ruin.
+
+"Well, you answered the test your own way, and...."  I shrugged my
+shoulders as a suggestive end to the sentence.
+
+She paused a moment looking thoughtfully at me.  Then knitting her
+brows, she asked:
+
+"What is the real meaning of this change, Alexis?  Do try for once to
+be frank.  You have always half a dozen secret meanings.  You have
+boasted of this in regard to others--perhaps because you were afraid to
+do anything else."
+
+"Are you a judge of my fears?  I think I have already shewn you that
+that which I led you to believe frightened me most had in reality no
+terrors at all for me."
+
+"One thing I know you are afraid of--to break with me."  This came with
+a flash of impetuous anger, bursting out in spite of her efforts at
+self-restraint.
+
+I smiled.
+
+"We shall see.  I have not broken with you.  It is you who have broken
+with me.  How often have you not sworn to me," I cried passionately,
+making another shot--"that there was nothing upon this earth that you
+would not do if I only asked you?  What value should I now set on a
+broken love-vow?"
+
+"Had I thought you were even in danger, I would have dared even that,
+Alexis, dangerous and desperate as you know such a hazard must be."
+She spoke now with a depth of tone that was eloquent of feeling.  "What
+I told you is true--and you know it.  There is nothing I will not do
+for you.  Bid me do it now to shew you my earnestness.  Shall I leave
+my husband?--I will do it.  Shall I tell the world of Moscow the tale
+of my love?--I will do it.  Nay, bid me strip myself and walk naked
+through the streets of the city, calling on your name and proclaiming
+my love--and I will do it with a smile, glorying in my shame because it
+brings you to me and me to you--never to part again."
+
+This flood of passion spoken with such earnestness as I had never heard
+from the lips of woman before was almost more than I could endure to
+hear without telling the truth to her.  It abashed me, and the story of
+the deception I was practising on her rose to my lips: but before I
+could speak she had resumed, and her wonderful voice had a power such
+as I cannot describe.  It seemed to compel sympathy; and as it became
+the vehicle for every varying phase of feeling it almost raised an echo
+of feeling in me.
+
+"You don't know the fire you have kindled; you don't dream of its
+volcanic fierceness.  I do not think I myself knew it until last night
+when you turned from me in silence and coldness, as though, my God! as
+though your lips had never rested on mine, or mine on yours, in pledge
+of delirious passion.  Ah me!  You cannot act like this, Alexis.  It
+was you who warmed into life the love that burns in me, and it is not
+yours to quench.  You must not, cannot, aye--and dare not do it.  You
+know this.  Come, say that all this is just your pique, your temper,
+your whim, your test, your anything; and that all is still between us
+as it must always be--always, Alexis, always."
+
+If I had been the man she thought I was, I cannot but believe she would
+have prevailed with me.  The seductiveness of her manner, her absolute
+self abandonment, and the plain and unmistakable proof of her love,
+were enough to touch any man placed as he would have been.
+
+But I had nothing to prompt my kinder impulses.  She was only a
+stranger: infinitely beautiful, passionate, and melting: but yet
+nothing more than a stranger.  And I had no answering passion to be
+fired by her glances, her pleas, and her love.  She was a hindrance to
+me; and I was only conscious that I was in a way compelled to act the
+part of a cad in listening to her and cheating her.  And I could only
+remain silent.
+
+She read my silence for obstinacy, and then began to shew the nature of
+the power she held over me.  I was glad of this; as it seemed to give
+me a sort of justification for my action.  It was an attack; and I had
+to defend myself.
+
+"You do not answer me.  You are cold, moody, silent--and yet not
+unmoved.  I wonder of what you are thinking.  Yet there can be but one
+burden of your thoughts.  You are mine, Alexis, mine; always, till
+death--as you have sworn often enough.  And after your bravery I love
+you more than ever.  I love a brave man, Alexis.  Every brave man.  I
+would give them the kiss of honour.  And that you are the bravest of
+them all is to me the sweetest of knowledge.  Yesterday, when I heard
+how you had humbled that bully, I could do naught but thrill with pride
+every time I thought of it.  It was my Alexis who had done it.  Won't
+you kiss me once as I kissed you a thousand times in thought yesterday?
+No?  Well, you will before I go.  And then I began to think how glad I
+was that I had made it impossible for you ever to think of giving me
+up.  I know you are brave;--but even the bravest men shudder at the
+whisper of Siberia."
+
+She paused to give this time to work its effect.
+
+"I wonder how other women love; whether, like me, they think it fair to
+weave a net round the man they love, strong enough to hold the
+strongest, wide enough to reach to the Poles, and yet fine enough to be
+unseen?"  She laughed.  "I have done this with you, sweetheart.  You
+know how often you have asked me for information and I have got it for
+you--you have wanted it for the Nihilists.  Knowing this I have given
+it and--you have used it.  Once or twice you have told them what was
+not true, and now you are suspected and in some danger of your life.
+But you are guarded also and watched.  Two days ago you were at the
+railway station in private clothes and with your dear face shaven; you
+were trying to leave Moscow.  But you probably saw the uselessness of
+the attempt and gave it up.  Had you really tried, you would have been
+stopped.  Do you think you can hope to escape from me?  Do you think
+you can break through the net-work of the most wonderful police system
+the world ever knew?  Psh!  Do not dream of it.  Moscow is a fine,
+large, splendid city.  But Moscow is also a prison; and the man who
+would seek to break out of it, but dashes his breast against the drawn
+sword of implacable authority."
+
+"You have a pleasant humour, and a light touch in your methods of
+wooing," said I, bitterly.  She had made a great impression on me.
+
+"The wooing is complete, Alexis.  It was your work.  I do but guard
+against being deceived.  Escape from Moscow being hopeless for you, you
+have only to remember that a word from me in my husband's ear will open
+for you the dumb horrid mouth of a Russian dungeon which will either
+close on you for ever, or let you out branded, disgraced, and manacled
+to start on the long hopeless march to Siberia."
+
+I had rather admired the woman before; now I began to hate her.  I
+could not fail to see the truth behind her words; and a flash of
+inspiration shewed me now that the safest course I could take was to
+shake off the character I had so lightly assumed.  But her next words
+bared the impossibility of that.
+
+"Do you think now it is safe to break away from me?  But that is not
+all.  There is another consideration.  You have drawn your sister into
+these Nihilist snares.  You know how she is compromised.  I know it
+too.  There are more dungeons than one in Russia.  If you were in one,
+I would see to it that she, who has scorned and flouted and insulted
+me, was in another; with her chance also of a jaunt across the plains."
+The flippancy of this last phrase was a measure of her hate.
+
+The thought of the poor girl's danger beat me.  What this woman said
+was all true--damnably, horribly, sickeningly true.
+
+"Have you planned all this?" I asked, when I could bring myself to
+speak calmly.
+
+"No, no, Heaven forbid.  I had not a thought of it in all my heart; not
+a thought, save of love and a desire to shield you from any real danger
+that threatened you, till,"--and her voice changed
+suddenly--"yesterday, when you loosed all the torrents that can flow
+from a jealous woman's heart.  I am a woman; but I am a Russian."
+
+She was lying now, for she was contradicting what she had said just
+before.
+
+"My sister's fate is nothing to me," I said, callously.  "She has made
+her bed, let her lie on it.  But as for myself"--I had but one possible
+to seem to yield--"I care nothing.  I am not the coward you once
+thought me, and my meeting with Devinsky shews you that clearly enough.
+But I doubted your love when I found you did not answer to the test I
+made."
+
+"You do not doubt it now.  I am here at the risk of my life; at the
+risk of both our lives," she said, her eyes aflame with feeling as she
+hung on my deliberately spoken words.
+
+"This morning has been a further test, and I should not be a sane man
+if I doubted you now, or ever again."
+
+"Then kiss me, Alexis."
+
+She sprang from her chair and threw herself into my arms, loading me
+with wild tempestuous caresses, like a woman distraught with passion.
+
+I hated myself even while I endured it; and nothing would have made me
+play so loathesome and repugnant a part but the thought that Olga's
+safety demanded it.
+
+She was still clinging about me, calling me by my name, caressing me,
+upbraiding me for my coldness, and chiding me for having put her to
+such a test, when a loud knock at the door of the room disturbed us
+both.
+
+It was my discreet servant Borlas; the loudness of his knock being the
+measure of his discretion.
+
+He said that my sister was waiting to see me.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII.
+
+A LESSON IN NIHILISM.
+
+I was not a little annoyed that so soon after Olga had warned me
+against the wiles of Paula Tueski, she should come just when my most
+unwelcome lover was in my rooms--and at such a moment.  But I thrust
+aside my irritation--which was not against Olga--and went to her,
+curious to learn what had brought her to visit me.
+
+She told me in a few sentences.  A friend had been to warn her that I
+was in danger from the Nihilists and that unless I took the greatest
+care, I should be assassinated.  The poor girl was all pale and
+agitated with alarm on my account, and had rushed off to hand the
+warning on to me.  She was half hysterical.  She wanted me to fly at
+once, to claim the protection of the British Consulate; to proclaim my
+identity and get away even before my passport came from her brother.
+
+"There is not the danger you fear, Olga," I said, reassuringly.  "I
+shall find means to avoid it.  But I want to speak to you about another
+matter.  Paula Tueski is here"--my sister shrank back and looked at me
+with a hard expression on her face such as I had not seen there in all
+our talks.  Evidently she hated the woman cordially.  "You are right in
+your estimate of her in one respect, and for the moment she has beaten
+me.  Much as I dislike the business, we must manage to blind her eyes
+and tie her hands for the moment--or I for one see none but bad
+business ahead."
+
+"How comes she to be here?" asked Olga, in a voice of suppressed anger.
+
+"I will tell you all that another time," I answered, speaking hurriedly
+and in a very low tone.  "Another point has occurred to me.  She is
+very bitter against you and has been urging your brother to get you to
+receive her.  This was to have been done last night.  My apparent
+refusal to speak to her at all came as a crowning insult, and she was
+mad.  There is one way in which I think we might the more easily
+deceive her, if you can bring yourself to do it.  Come in now and let
+me present her to you: or let me go and tell her that you will call on
+her."
+
+"Will it make things safer for you?" she asked, always thinking of the
+trouble into which she would persist in saying she had brought me.
+
+"It would make them safer for you, I think."
+
+"I care nothing for myself.  She can't harm me.  Do you wish it?  Do
+you think it desirable?  I will do it if you say yes."  She spoke so
+earnestly that I smiled...  Then she added:--"Ah, it is so good to have
+someone that I can trust.  That's why I leave it to you."
+
+"I don't wish it," I answered, gravely, "because she is the reverse of
+a good woman, but I do think it would be prudent."
+
+"Let's go to her at once," cried the girl, getting up from her chair
+readily.  "We can talk afterwards.  That's the one privilege...." she
+checked herself and then coloured slightly.  I pretended not to notice
+it; but this absolute confidence pleased me not a little.
+
+"Bear in mind, we are only playing a part with this woman," I whispered.
+
+"I know.  She is too dangerous for me ever to forget that, or to play
+badly."  She dashed a glance of quick understanding at me and then
+seemed to change suddenly into a Russian grande dame.  An indescribable
+air of distinction manifested itself in a hundred little signs, and she
+carried herself like a stately duchess, as we entered the room where
+Paula Tueski sat waiting impatiently.
+
+A great glad light of triumph leapt into the latter's eyes as she saw
+Olga was with me, and she, too, drew herself up as I made the two
+formally known to each other.  It was a delightful bit of comedy.  Olga
+was full of quite stately regrets that she had not had the pleasure of
+knowing the other long before: said that her brother's friends were, of
+course, her friends; and that she hoped to call that week on Madame
+Tueski and that Madame would find an opportunity of returning the visit
+speedily.  She made such an appearance of unbending to the other, that
+the difference between them was all the more pronounced.
+
+Madame Tueski on her side was too full of the seeming triumph over us
+to be able to be natural with my sister; and she alternately gushed and
+froze as she first tried to captivate and then would remember that Olga
+was only consenting through compulsion to know her.  The result was as
+ridiculous as an episode could be beneath which lurked such
+possibilities of tragedy.
+
+It lasted only a few minutes when I suggested, and I had a purpose,
+that the two should leave the house together.  I wished to get rid of
+Paula Tueski without further love-making: and desired in addition that
+if there were any spies about the house they should see the two
+together, so that if any tales were carried to the Chief of the Police
+they should be innocent ones.
+
+"I will call later in the day if possible," I promised Olga, as she
+left.
+
+"Ugh, how I hate her;" was the whispered reply, inconsequential but
+very feminine.  And I shut the door on the two and went back to my room
+to think out this new set of most complicated problems.
+
+Paula Tueski's visit had changed everything; and I saw it would be
+foolish not to look that fact straight in the face.  I could not see
+how things would end; but certainly flight, for the time, was simply
+impossible.  For myself, I did not much care.  I had had a few hours of
+excitement which had completely drawn me out of the morbid mood in
+which I had arrived in Moscow; and nothing had happened to make me much
+more anxious to live than I had been then.
+
+Life might have been endurable enough, if I could have gone on with my
+army career as Lieutenant Petrovitch; but not if the abominable and
+disgraceful intrigue were to be added as a necessary condition.  That
+would be unendurable: and had I been a free agent, I would have ended
+the whole thing there and then, by admitting the deception and putting
+up with the results.  Indeed, it occurred to me that in a country like
+Russia, where I knew that courage stood for much and military skill for
+more, the reputation I had managed to make would be likely enough to
+tell in my favour if I told the truth and asked leave to volunteer.
+
+But was I a free agent?
+
+Look at the thing as I would I could see no means by which I could get
+out of the mess, even taking my punishment, without leaving my sister
+in deep trouble.  If Paula Tueski found that I had humbugged her and
+that Olga was in the plot, it was as plain as a gallows that she would
+be simply mad and would wreak her spite on the girl.
+
+Could I leave Olga to this?  The words of confidence she had spoken
+were still echoing in my ears--and very pleasant music they made--and
+could I quietly save my own skin and leave her in the lurch?  It was
+not likely that I should do anything of the sort; and I didn't
+entertain it for a moment as a possibility.  The girl had trusted to
+me; and I must make her safety the first consideration of any plan I
+formed.
+
+But how?
+
+I could see only one way.  It was that she should get out of Moscow,
+and indeed out of Russia altogether.  It was not probable that the
+woman Tueski would place any obstacle in the way, provided I did not
+attempt to leave as well; and I came to the conclusion that the best
+possible course would be for Olga to take her departure at once.  She
+could go and join her brother in Paris, or wherever he had gone; and
+then I could carry on alone the play, farce, burlesque, comedy, or
+tragedy, as it might prove.
+
+It was early evening before I could get round to see Olga, and then I
+had to spend some time with her aunt, the Countess Palitzin, an ugly,
+garrulous and dyspeptic old lady, who wanted to hear all about the
+Devinsky business over again: and then went on to tell me of some
+famous duels that had happened in her young days.
+
+I observed that Olga was very thoughtful during the interview with the
+aunt, but as soon as we were alone she put her hand into mine and with
+a look that spoke deep feeling and pleasure, said:--
+
+"You could have done nothing that would have better pleased me--nothing
+could shew so clearly that you understand me better than anyone ever
+did before.  I have seen the girl and listened to her story and
+questioned her.  I think there is yet good in her and I am convinced
+she tells the truth.  She longs to be separated from her dreadful
+father...."
+
+"He leaves for Kursk to-morrow," I said.
+
+"Good.  Then I will make the care of the others my charge.  I don't do
+much that is useful; and if I can make that life happier and give the
+child the chance of growing up to be a good Russian, I shall have done
+something.  What say you?"
+
+She seemed more admirable than ever in my eyes for this; but I
+hesitated a moment what to say; and she, quick to read my looks, added,
+her own features taking a reflection of my doubts:--
+
+"But of course that is all subject to your opinion.  Is there anything
+else you think better?  But I should like this very much:" and a smile
+broke over her face.
+
+"The plan is excellent; but there is a difficulty, unless you can make
+your arrangements at once and permanently, or at any rate for a
+considerable time ahead.  Or you might perhaps better arrange for the
+mother and child to leave Russia."
+
+The girl looked perplexed; and fifty little notes of interrogation
+crinkled in her forehead and shot from her eyes.
+
+"There is something behind that, of course," she said.  "What is it?"
+
+"I think it would be the best plan if you yourself were to go away on a
+little tour.  You have had the idea of leaving Russia, you know, and
+going to your brother as soon as he has made a home in Paris, or
+wherever he stops."
+
+"Well?" when I paused.
+
+"Bluntly, I think you would be safer across the frontier;" and I told
+her at some length my reasons.
+
+"But what of you?  Do you think I do not wish to share the success
+which my brother is enjoying here?  Or are you thinking of leaving
+Russia also?"  By a swift turn of the head she prevented me from seeing
+her face as she asked this.
+
+I laughed as I answered lightly:--"No.  The state of my health,
+combined with regimental duties, social engagements, Nihilistic
+contracts, and other complications render it a little difficult to
+leave at present."
+
+The girl did not laugh, however, but kept her face turned from me; and
+I could not help admiring the poise of the head and the graceful
+outline it made against the grey evening light falling on her from the
+window.
+
+She seemed so much more womanly than the laughing girl I had met first
+on the Moscow platform, and it was difficult to think that so short a
+time had passed since then.  I filled up the long pause during which
+she appeared to be making up her mind what answer to give me, by
+thinking what a pleasant sister she was and how sorry I should be to
+lose her.
+
+"Well?" I asked, when the pause had lasted a very long time.
+
+"I am very much obliged to you for your advice," she said, turning
+round and looking coldly at me, and speaking in a formal precise tone;
+"but I find myself unable to take advantage of it.  I cannot
+conveniently leave Moscow just now."  Then just when I was at a loss to
+know how I had offended her, she changed suddenly.  She stamped her
+foot quite angrily, a flush of indignation reddened her cheeks and her
+eyes flashed as she looked at me and cried:--"And I thought you
+understood me!  Do you think we Petrovitch's are all cowards?  And that
+I am like Alexis, having got you into this fearful trouble would run
+away and leave you to get out of it alone?"  For an instant she
+struggled with her emotion.  Then she exclaimed: "It is an insult!" and
+bursting into tears she rushed out of the room.
+
+I stared in blank amazement at the door after it had closed behind her,
+and wondering what it was all about, left the house in a medley of
+confused thoughts, in which regret for having in some clumsy way
+worried her and the consciousness that she was really a plucky girl
+intermingled themselves with the memory of how pretty she had looked in
+her emotional indignation.  The thought of her tears, and that I had
+caused them, gave me the worst twinges, however; and this kept
+recurring and bothering me during the whole evening.
+
+At the club, where I went from Olga's house, I was careful to maintain
+the same part as on the previous day: the character of a stern,
+reserved, observant man, moody but very resolute and determined.  Not a
+sign of the bully nor a symptom of braggadocio: but just the kind of
+man who, while quite willing to let others take their own way in life,
+means to take his.  Unready to force a quarrel, but equally unready to
+pass over a slight; and relentless if involved.
+
+This was pretty much my own character, with some of the dash and life
+pressed out of it; and it was easy enough for me to maintain it.  That
+night I played a little.  I knew I had formerly been a pretty heavy
+gambler; but to-night I purposely stopped short in the full tide of
+winning.  I had lost at first, and the luck turned with a rush, as it
+will, and as soon as I had pulled back my losses I stopped, to the
+astonishment of all who had been accustomed to find in me a heavy
+plunger.
+
+"You'll be donning the cowl, next, Petrovitch, and preaching
+self-denial," said one, a handsome laughing youngster who had been
+bemoaning his own losses a minute before.
+
+"A good thing for the Turks, if he does it before the war," said
+another subaltern.
+
+Some others chimed in, and it was easy to see from the drift of the
+talk how genuine was the turn in the tide of opinion about me.
+
+I left the club and wanting fresh air while I thought over matters I
+went for a short walk.  I knew the City pretty well, of course, owing
+to my long residence there; and the changes since I had left were not
+very considerable.
+
+Walking thoughtfully down one of the broad streets I became conscious
+that I was being followed.  I had had a similar sensation before; but
+what Paula Tueski had told me about being watched and guarded, and the
+warning that Olga had given me now caused me to attach more importance
+to the matter.
+
+It is one of the most hateful sensations I know, to feel that one's
+footsteps are being dogged by a spy.  I turned round sharply several
+times, and each time noticed a man at some distance behind me trying to
+slip out of sight.  He was clever at his business, and several feints I
+made in the attempt to shake him off failed.  But I escaped him at
+length in the great Church of St Martin.  Everyone knows the many
+outlets of that enormous pile.  It has as many entrances as a rabbit
+warren, and most of them are nearly always open.  I went in by one door
+and left instantly by another, and running off at top speed, I was out
+of sight before the spy could well know I had left the building.  I
+seemed to breathe more freely as soon as I had shaken the fellow off.
+
+I stayed out some time, renewing my acquaintance with several parts of
+the city; and it was late when I reached home--so late that the streets
+were deserted.
+
+This fact nearly cost me my life.
+
+I was passing a narrow street when, without the slightest
+warning--though I cannot doubt that in some way my approach had been
+signalled--four men rushed out on me with drawn knives.  By mere chance
+their first rush did not prove fatal; for two of them who struck at me
+came so close, that the knives gashed my clothes.
+
+But when they missed their chance, I did not give them another.  I
+sprang aside, whipped out my sword, sent up a lusty cry for help that
+made the houses ring again, and set my back against the wall to sell my
+life as dearly as I could.  They closed round me and attacked
+instantly; a swift lunge sent my blade through one of them, a swinging
+cut made another drop his knife with a great cry of pain, and an
+unexpected, but tremendously violent back-handed blow with the hilt of
+my sword right in the face sent a third down reeling and half senseless.
+
+[Illustration: A swinging cut made another drop his knife with a great
+cry of pain.]
+
+This sort of reception was by no means what they had expected; and as a
+shout in answer to my cry for help came from a distance, the unwounded
+man and the two who could get away rushed off at top speed; while the
+fourth who had only been dazed, struggled to his feet and would have
+staggered off as well had I let him.  But I stopped him, made him give
+up his knife, and then I drove him before me to my rooms--only a very
+short distance off--without waiting for the man to come up who had
+replied to my shout for help.  I did not want any help now.  No one man
+was at all likely to do me any harm, and I might thus get to know the
+cause of the attack, without being troubled with any outside
+interference.
+
+"Now, why did you seek to kill me?" I asked sternly, as soon as the man
+was in my room.  "You're not a thief; your dress and style shew that.
+Why, then, do you turn assassin?"
+
+"There should be no need for me to tell you that," said he, speaking
+with vehemence.
+
+"Nevertheless, I ask it," I returned, with even more sternness.
+Evidently I was going to make another discovery; and when the man
+waited a long time before answering, I scanned him closely to see if I
+could guess his object.  Clearly he was no thief.  He was fairly well
+dressed in the style of an ordinary tradesman or a superior mechanic;
+his appearance betokened rather a sedentary life and his muscles had
+certainly not been hardened by any physical training.  As certainly he
+was no police spy.  He was the last man in the world to have been
+picked out for such a job as that of the attempt on my life.  There was
+no probability of there being any private feud against me; that seemed
+ridiculous.
+
+I could only conclude, therefore, that the attack was from the
+Nihilists.  The man looked much more like an emissary of that
+kind--able to give a sudden thrust with a sharp knife; but incapable of
+doing more.  The instant I had come to this conclusion, and I came to
+it much more quickly than I can write it, I resolved what to do.
+
+"I am glad this encounter has taken place--not omitting the result, of
+course," I added grimly.  "There is no cause whatever for this decree."
+
+The man's lip curled somewhat contemptuously, as I made this protest.
+He seemed to have formed the average low estimate of the value of my
+word.  Everywhere I turned I was met by the worthlessness of the scamp
+whose name I now bore.  The contempt silenced, even while it angered,
+me.
+
+"You did not attend," he said curtly.  "A man's absence is poor proof
+of either innocence or courage.  You are not only a traitor but a
+coward."
+
+"What!" I turned on him as if he had struck me.
+
+This puny, pale, insignificant weakling faced me as dauntlessly as if
+the positions were reversed and I was in his power, not he in mine.
+
+"You are brave enough here now, no doubt--you armed against me
+unarmed."  He threw this sneering taunt at me with deliberate insolence.
+
+I stared at him first in amazement, and then in admiration.
+
+I had but to raise my hand to kill him with a stroke.  He read my
+thoughts.
+
+"What do I care for my life, do you think?  Take it, if you like.  One
+murder more--even in cold blood--is a little matter to a soldier."
+
+A couple of turns up and down the room cooled me.
+
+"I don't want your life," said I, calmly.  "Though it's dangerous to
+call me a coward, and were you other than what you are, I'd ram the
+word down your throat.  With you, however, I'll deal differently.  You
+say I was afraid to attend your last meeting.  I'll do better than
+merely call that a lie, I'll prove it one.  Call another meeting in as
+big a place as you can, pack it with all the deadliest cut-throats you
+can find, resolve to shoot me down as I enter the door, and if I dare
+not attend it, then call me coward--but not till then."  My blood was
+up now, and I spoke as hotly as I felt.
+
+"Will you come?" asked the man.
+
+"Call the meeting and see.  Nay, more.  Between now and the time of the
+meeting think of the wildest and most dangerous scheme that you can to
+test what a desperate man can do for the cause, and give me the lead in
+it.  And when I've failed, write me down traitor, and not till then.
+And now, go, or by God I may forget myself and lay hands on you."
+
+My voice rang out in such sharp stern tones that the man's antagonism
+was beaten down by my earnestness.  My fierceness seemed to fire him,
+and when I threw open the door for him to go, he stood a moment and
+stared into my face, his own all eagerness, light and wildness.  Then
+he exclaimed in a tone of intense excitement:---
+
+"By God, I believe you're true after all."  And with that he went.
+
+It was not until the man had been gone some time and I was pacing up
+and down my room, still excited, and revolving the chances of this,
+perhaps the most desperate of all the complications which threatened
+me, that I saw a letter on tinted paper, lying on my table.  I took it
+up and found it was from Olga, and my thoughts went back with a rush to
+her and to the circumstances under which I had left her that evening.
+
+The letter was not very long.
+
+
+MY DEAR BROTHER,
+
+"I have not ceased to regret the hasty words I spoke to you this
+evening.  Forgive me.  Of course you do not think me a coward; and I
+can see now that you must have some other motive for wishing me to
+leave Moscow and Russia, while you remain here alone to face--what may
+have to be faced.  But whatever your reason is, I cannot do it.  Do you
+understand that?  I cannot.  That is stronger than I will not.  I think
+you know me.  If so, you know that I will not.  If I thought you
+believed me capable of leaving you in the lurch after having brought
+all this on you, I should wish I had never had--such a brother.  I will
+never even let you mention the matter to me again.
+
+Your sister,
+  OLGA."
+
+
+I read this letter through two or three times, each time with a higher
+opinion of the staunch-hearted little writer.  And at the end I
+surprised myself considerably by pressing the letter involuntarily to
+my lips.
+
+She was a girl worth a good tough fight.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+THE RIVERSIDE MEETING
+
+The Nihilists were not long in taking up my challenge; and on the
+following afternoon, the man whom I had interviewed in my rooms met me
+in the street and told me I was to meet him on the south side of the
+Cathedral Square at nine o'clock the next night.  There was a
+peremptory ring in the message which I didn't care for, but I promised
+to keep the appointment.
+
+I had thought out my plans and had come to see that the impulse under
+which I had spoken was as shrewd as the proposal itself was risky.  If
+I was not to be a perpetual mark for their attacks, I must make an
+impression on them; and I saw at once that the safest thing that could
+happen was at the same time the most daring--I must take the lead.  If
+some desperate scheme were placed in my hands for execution, I should
+certainly be allowed a free hand to carry it out, and as certainly have
+time in which to do it.  That was what I needed.
+
+I did not place the danger of attending the meeting very high.  If I
+were not murdered on my way to the place, wherever it might be--and
+that was highly improbable--I did not think they would venture to kill
+me at the meeting itself.  Moreover I reckoned somewhat on the effect I
+believed I had created on the man in my rooms.
+
+I took a revolver with me as a precaution; but I had little doubt about
+getting through the night safely.
+
+It turned out to be a very different affair from anything I had
+anticipated, however, and taken on the whole it was perhaps one of the
+most thrilling experiences I have ever passed through.  Whether I was
+really in danger of death at any time, or whether the whole business
+was merely intended to try and scare me, I don't know.  But I believe
+that if I had shewn any signs of fear, they would have murdered me
+there and then.  Certainly they had all the means at hand.
+
+I met the man by the Cathedral, and muttering to me to follow him at
+twenty paces distance, he walked on and presently plunged into a
+labyrinth of streets, leading from the Cathedral down to the river in
+the lowest quarter of the town.  The place was ill lit and worse
+drained, and the noisome atmosphere of some of the alleys which we
+passed and the mess through which we trudged, were horribly repulsive.
+
+In the lowest and darkest and dirtiest of the streets the man stopped
+and with a sign to me not to speak, pointed to a dark tumbling doorway.
+As I entered it, I saw it was about the aptest scene for a murder that
+could have been chosen.
+
+The place was almost pitch dark, and as we had stepped out of a very
+bright moonlight, I had to stand a moment to let my eyes accustom
+themselves to the change.  Then I made out a broken, rambling stairway
+just ahead of us.  Taking it for granted that I was to go up these,
+ignorant whether I was supposed to know the place, and quite unwilling
+even to appear to wish to hang back, I stumbled up the stairs as
+quickly as the gloom would let me.  When I reached the top I found
+myself in a long, low shed that ran on some distance in front of me to
+a point there I thought I could discern a faint light.
+
+I groped my way forward, the boards giving ominously under my feet,
+when suddenly a voice said in a loud whisper out of the gloom and as if
+at my very ear:--
+
+"Stand, if you value your life."
+
+I stopped readily enough, as may be imagined; and then the silence was
+broken by the swishing, rushing swirl of the swiftly flowing river,
+while currents of cold air caused by the moving water, were wafted up
+full in my face.  I strained my ears to listen and my eyes to see and
+craning forward, I could make out a huge gap in the floor wider than a
+man could have leapt, which opened right to my very feet.
+
+What happened I don't know; it was too dark to see.  But after a time
+there was a sound of a heavily moving body close at my feet, the noise
+of the water grew faint, and I was told to go forward.  I went on until
+I was again called to a halt; and after a minute the sound of the
+rushing water came again clear and distinct, this time from behind me.
+Then a flaring light was kindled all suddenly and thrown down into the
+wide gap until with a hiss it was extinguished in the river below.
+
+I knew what that meant.  It was a signal that all hope of retreat was
+cut off, and the signal was given in this dramatic fashion to frighten
+me if my nerves should be unsteady.  As a matter of fact it had rather
+the opposite effect.  I have generally found that when men are really
+dangerous they are least demonstrative.  These things--the darkness,
+the silence, the rushing water, the means of secret murder--were all
+calculated to frighten weak nerves no doubt, but they did not frighten
+me.
+
+At the same time I saw that if the men wished to murder me, they had
+ample means of doing it safely, and that the situation might easily
+become a very ugly one.
+
+Without wasting time I went forward again, and passing through a door
+which was opened at my approach, I found myself in the end room of a
+disused and tumbling riverside warehouse; the side next the river being
+quite open and over-hanging the waters.  The place was unlighted save
+for the bright moonlight which came slanting in from the open end, and
+down through some chinks and gaps in the roof.
+
+Scattered round the place were some thirty or forty men, their faces
+undistinguishable in the gloom, though care was taken to let me see
+that each man carried a knife: and when I entered, five or six of them
+closed round the door, as if to guard against the possibility of my
+retreat.
+
+I glanced about me to see whom to address, or who would speak to me.
+
+For a couple of minutes or more, not a soul moved and not a word was
+spoken.  The only sounds audible were these which came from the river
+without; the hushed burr of night life from the dim city beyond.
+
+"You plea has been considered," said a voice at length in a tone
+scarcely above a whisper; but I thought I could recognise it as that of
+the man who had been in my rooms.  "It has been resolved not to accept
+it.  You have been brought here to-night to die."
+
+"As you will; I am ready," I answered promptly.  "I am as ready to lose
+my life as you are to take it."
+
+"Kneel down," said the man.
+
+"Not I," I cried, resolutely.  "If I am to die, I prefer to stand.  But
+here, I'll make it easier for you.  Here's the only weapon I have.
+Take it, someone."  I laid my revolver on the floor in a little spot
+where a glint of moonlight fell on it.  Then I threw off my coat and
+waistcoat and turning back my shirt bared the heart side of my breast.
+If they could be dramatic, so could I, I thought.  "Here, strike," I
+cried.  "And all I ask is for a clean quick thrust right to the heart."
+I was growing excited.
+
+[Illustration: "Here, strike," I cried.]
+
+"No 13," said the man, after a long pause.
+
+A tall, broad, huge man loomed up out of a dark corner and stood
+between me and the light from the river.  As he laid his hands on me,
+the clasp was like a clamp of iron, and his enormous strength made me
+as a child in his clutch.
+
+With a trick that seemed to tell of much practice, he seized me
+suddenly by the right arm, holding it in a grip I thought no man on
+earth could possess, and bending me backwards held me so that either my
+throat or my heart were at the mercy of the long knife he held aloft.
+
+I let no sound escape me and did not move a muscle.  The next instant
+my left hand was seized and a finger pressed on my pulse.  In this
+position I stayed for a full minute.  I do not believe that my pulse
+quickened, save for the physical strain, by so much as one beat.
+
+"It is enough," said the man who had before spoken; and I was released.
+
+"You are no coward," he said, addressing me.  "I withdraw that.  You
+can have your life, on one condition."
+
+"And that?"
+
+"That you swear..."
+
+"I will swear nothing," I interposed.
+
+"You have taken the oath of fealty."
+
+"I will swear nothing.  Take my life if you like, but swear I will not.
+If I had meant treachery, I should have had the police round us
+to-night like a swarm of bees.  You have had a proof whether I'm true
+or not; and when I turn traitor, you can run a blade into my heart or
+lodge a bullet in my brain.  But oaths are nothing to a man who means
+either to keep or break his word.  What is the condition?  I told you
+mine before."
+
+"Yours is accepted.  Your task is"--here he sunk his voice and
+whispered right into my ear--"the death of Christian Tueski."
+
+"I accept," I answered readily.  I would have accepted, had they told
+me to kill the Czar himself.  "But it will take time.  I will have no
+other hand in it than mine.  It is a glorious commission.  Mine alone
+the honour of success, and mine alone the danger, or mine alone the
+disgrace of failure."  I looked on the whole thing now as more or less
+of a burlesque; but I played the part I had chosen as well as I could.
+And when the little puny rebel put out his hand in the darkness and
+clasped mine, I gripped his with a force that made his bones crack, as
+if to convey to him the intensity of my resolve and my enthusiastic
+pleasure at the grim work they had allotted me.
+
+Then I was told to leave; and in a few minutes I was once more in the
+open air, quite as undecided then as I have always remained, as to what
+had been the real intentions in regard to myself.  One of my chief
+regrets was not to be able to see the burly giant who had twisted me
+about on his knee as easily as I should a fowl whose neck I meant to
+wring.  He was a man indeed to admire; and I would have given much for
+a sight of him.
+
+But my guide hurried me back through the labyrinth of streets into
+respectable Moscow once more, and I was soon busy with my thoughts as
+to how long a shrift I should have before my new "comrades" would grow
+impatient for me to act.
+
+Certainly they would have plenty of time for their patience to grow
+very cold before I should turn murderer to further their schemes.  But
+I could not foresee the strange chain of events which was fated to
+fasten on me this new character that I had assumed so lightly and
+dramatically--the character of a desperate, bloodthirsty, and
+absolutely reckless Nihilist.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX.
+
+DEVINSKY AGAIN.
+
+It will be readily understood that I now found life exciting enough
+even to satisfy me.  The complications multiplied so fast, without any
+act of mine, that I had no time to think of the old troubles and
+disappointments which had so soured Hamylton Tregethner, and emptied
+life for him.  They had already faded into little more than memories,
+associated with a life that I had once lived but had now done with
+altogether.  I was getting rapidly absorbed by the dangers and
+incidents of the new life.
+
+How completely I had changed the current of opinion about Alexis
+Petrovitch I had abundant evidence during the next few days, in the
+form of invitations to houses which had hitherto been closed to me.
+People also began to remember Olga, and she shared in this way in the
+altered condition of things.
+
+I did not tell her any particulars of my night with the Nihilists, nor
+of the mission with which I was charged.  It would probably distress
+her, and could do no good; unless I might find it necessary to use it
+to compel her to leave Moscow.  I questioned her as to her own
+connections with the Nihilists, and from what she told me I saw that
+though they were slight in themselves, they were enough to put her in
+the power of a woman such as Paula Tueski; and decidedly much more than
+sufficient to make her arrest a certainty if I were to be arrested, or
+if anything should happen to throw increased suspicion on me.
+
+Our meeting after her letter to me was a very pleasant one.  She met me
+with a smile and begged me again to forgive her.  That was not
+difficult.
+
+"I can speak frankly to my brother, now.  I couldn't always, you know,
+Alexis"--she glanced with roguish severity into my face--"because a few
+days ago you used to get very bad tempered and even swear a little.
+But I'll admit you are improving--in that respect; though I am afraid
+you are as dogged as ever.  But I can be dogged, too: and if I speak
+frankly now, it is to tell you that nothing you can do will make me go
+out of Russia until you are safe.  You may form what opinion you like
+of me--though I don't want that to be very bad--but a coward you shall
+never find me."
+
+"I didn't think you a coward.  You know that; you said it in your
+letter; and I shall not forgive that rudeness of yours, if you persist
+in this attitude."
+
+"What is the use of a brother if one can't be rude to him, pray?  As
+for your forgiveness, you can't help that now.  You've given it.
+Besides, on reflection, I should not be frightened of you.  Will you
+make me a promise?"
+
+"Yes, if it has nothing to do with your going away."
+
+"It has."
+
+"Then I won't make it.  But I'll make a truce.  I will not press you to
+go away, unless I think it necessary for my own safety.  Will that do?"
+
+"Yes, I'll go then," she answered readily, holding out her hand to make
+a bargain of it, as she added:--"Mind, if it's necessary for your
+safety."
+
+"You're as precise as a lawyer," said I, laughing, as I pressed her
+hand and saw a flush of colour tinge her face a moment.
+
+"Now," she said, after a pause.  "I have a surprise for you.  I have a
+letter from an old friend of yours--a very old friend."
+
+"An old friend of mine.  Oh, I see.  And old friend of your brother's,
+you mean.  Well, who is it now?  Is there another complication?"
+
+"No, no.  An old friend of my new brother's.  From Mr. Hamylton
+Tregethner."  She laughed merrily as she stumbled over the old Cornish
+syllables.  "I don't like that Englishman," she said, gravely.  "Do you
+know why?"
+
+"Not for the life of me."
+
+"Well, I do not; but I can't say why."  Her manner was peculiar.  "See,
+here is the passport.  Mr. Tregethner has sent it and he seems to have
+crossed the Russian frontier without the least difficulty.  He has gone
+to Paris by way of Austria.  When shall you go?"  She did not look up
+as she asked this, but stood rummaging among the papers on the table.
+I took the passport, unfolded and read it mechanically; then without
+thinking, folded it up again and put it away in my pocket.
+
+Evidently she meant it as my dismissal; and it was very awkward for me
+to explain that I could not be dismissed in this way because of the
+difficulties in the road of my leaving.  I did not wish to appear to
+force myself upon her as a brother; but I could not go without first
+seeing her in safety.  And there was the crux.
+
+"I'll make my arrangements as soon as I can," I replied, after a
+longish pause; and I was conscious of being a little stiff in my
+manner.  "But of course I can't manage things quite as I please.  You
+see, I didn't come into this--I mean, I took up the part and--well, I'm
+hanged if I know what I do mean; except that of course I'm sorry to
+seem to force myself on you longer than you like, but I can't get away
+quite so easily as you seem to think.  I know it puts you in an awkward
+position, but for the moment I don't for the life of me see how it's to
+be helped."
+
+As I finished she lifted her head, and her expression was at first
+grave, until the light of a smile in her blue eyes began to spread over
+her face, and the corners of her mouth twitched.
+
+"Then you won't be able to go yet?  Of course, it's very awkward, as
+you say: but I must manage to put up with it as best I can.  In the
+meantime as we have to continue the parts, we had better play them so
+as to mystify people.  Don't you agree with this?
+
+"Yes, I think that, certainly," I answered, catching her drift, and
+smiling in my turn.
+
+"Then I am riding this afternoon at three o'clock; and as it might
+occasion remark if our afternoon rides were broken off quite suddenly,
+don't you think it would be very diplomatic if you were to come with
+me?"
+
+"Yes, very diplomatic," I assented, readily.  "But you never told me
+before," said I, rising to go and get ready, "that we were in the habit
+of riding out together every day."
+
+"It hasn't been exactly every afternoon," answered Olga, laughing.  "In
+fact, it's more than a year since the last ride, but the principle of
+the thing is the same.  We ought not to break the continuity."
+
+"No, we ought not to break the continuity," I assented, laughing.
+"I'll soon be back."  I was, and an exceedingly jolly ride we had.
+Olga was a splendid horsewoman--a seat like a circus rider--and as soon
+as we were free of the city we had two or three rattling spins.  As we
+rode back we discussed the question of the best course for us to take.
+We were both too much exhilarated by the ride to take any but a
+sanguine view; and so far as I am concerned, I think I talked about it
+rather as a sort of link between us two than in any serious sense.
+
+When I got to my rooms I was surprised to learn from my servant Borlas
+that my old opponent, Major Devinsky, had called to see me.  I did not
+know he was back in Moscow, though I knew he had been away.  I had been
+at drill that morning--I had quickly fallen into the routine of the
+work--and had heard nothing of his return.  Certainly there was no
+reason why he should come to me; though there were many why he should
+keep away.
+
+He may have watched me into my rooms; for almost before I had changed
+my riding things, he was announced.  He came in smiling, impudent, self
+assertive, and disposed to be friendly.
+
+"What can you want with me that can induce you to come here?" I asked
+coldly.
+
+"I want an understanding, Petrovitch...."
+
+"Lieutenant Petrovitch, if you please," I interposed.
+
+"Oh, I beg your pardon, Lieutenant Petrovitch, I'm sure," he answered
+lightly.  "But there's really no need for this kind of reception.  I
+want to be friends with you."
+
+I bowed as he paused.
+
+"You and I have not quite understood each other in the past."
+
+"Not until within the last few days," I returned, significantly.
+
+"I'm not referring to that," he said, flushing.  "Though as you've
+started it I'll pay you the compliment of saying you're devilish neat
+and clever in your workmanship.  I had no idea of it, either, nor
+anyone less...."
+
+"What do you want with me?" I interrupted, with a wave of the hand to
+stop his compliment.
+
+"I want to talk quietly over with you my suit for your sister's hand.
+I want to know where we stand, you and I."
+
+"My sister's hand is not mine to give."  This very curtly.
+
+"I don't ask you to give it, man; I only want to win it.  I am as good
+a match for her as any man in Moscow..."  and with that he launched out
+into a long account of his wealth, position, and prospects, and of the
+position his wife would occupy.  I let him talk as long as he would,
+quite understanding that this was only the preface to something
+else--the real purpose of his visit.  Gradually he drew nearer and
+nearer to the point, and I saw him eyeing me furtively to note the
+effect of his words, which he weighed very carefully.  He spoke of his
+family influence; how he could advance my interests; what an advantage
+it was to have command of wealth when making an army career: and much
+more, until he shewed me that what he really intended was to presume on
+my old evil reputation and bribe me with money down if necessary, and
+with promises of future help, if I would agree to let Olga marry him.
+
+"Your proposal put in plain terms means," I said, bluntly, when he had
+exhausted his circuitous suggestions, "that you want to buy my consent
+and assistance.  I told you at the start that my sister's hand was not
+mine to give; neither is it mine to sell, Major Devinsky."
+
+He bent a sharp, calculating look on me as if to judge whether I was in
+earnest, or merely raising my terms.
+
+"I am not a man easily baulked," he said.
+
+"Nor I one easily bribed," I retorted.
+
+"You will have a fortune, and more than a fortune behind you.  With
+skill like yours you can climb to any height you please."
+
+"Sink to any depth you please, you should say," I answered sternly.
+"But my sister declines absolutely to be your wife.  She dislikes you
+cordially--as cordially as I do: and no plea that you could offer would
+induce her to change her mind."
+
+"You weren't always very solicitous about her wishes," he muttered,
+with an angry sneer.  I didn't understand this allusion: but it made me
+very angry.
+
+"You are under my roof," I cried hotly.  "But even here you will be
+good enough to put some guard on your speech.  It may clear your
+thoughts to know what my present feelings are."  I now spoke with
+crisp, cutting emphasis.  "If my sister could by any art or persuasion
+be induced to be your wife, I would never consent to exchange another
+word with her in all my life.  As for the veiled bribe you have
+offered, I allowed you to make it, that I might see how low you would
+descend.  Sooner than accept it, I would break my sword across my knee
+and turn cabman for a living.  But your visit shall have one result--I
+will tell my sister all that has passed..."
+
+"By Heaven, if you dare."
+
+"All that has passed now, and if she would rather marry you than retain
+her relationship to me, I will retire in your favour.  But you will do
+well not to be hopeful."  I could not resist this rather petty little
+sneer.
+
+"You will live to repent this, Lieutenant Petrovitch."
+
+"At your service," I replied, quietly with a bow.  He was white to the
+lips with anger when he rose to go, and he seemed as if fighting to
+keep back the utterance of some hot insult that rose to his tongue.
+But his rage got no farther than ugly looks, and he was still wrestling
+with his agitation when he left the room.
+
+I could understand his chagrin.  He would have dearly liked to force me
+at the point of the sword to consent, and the knowledge that this was
+no longer possible, that in some way which of course he could not
+understand I had broken his influence and was no longer afraid of him,
+galled and maddened him almost beyond endurance.  He looked the baffled
+bully to the life.
+
+It was two days before I had an opportunity of speaking to Olga about
+it.  I had made a rule of seeing her daily if possible, lest anything
+should happen that needed explanation by her; but she was away the next
+day and our daily "business conference," did not take place.
+
+She took the matter very curiously when I did mention it, however.  She
+was a creature of changing moods, indeed.
+
+"I have a serious matter to speak to you about; something that may
+perhaps surprise you," I said, when we were riding.  "I am the bearer
+of a message to you."
+
+"To me?" her face wrinkling with curiosity.
+
+"Yes, to you.  I have to be very much the brother in this; in fact the
+head of the family," and then without much beating about the bush I
+told her of Devinsky's visit and of his desire to make her his wife.
+
+She listened to me very seriously, scanning my face the while; but did
+not interrupt me.  I had expected a contemptuous and passionate
+refusal.  But her attitude was simply a conundrum.  She heard me out to
+the end with gravity, and when I had finished, reined in her horse and
+for a full minute stared point-blank into my eyes.
+
+Then she laughed lightly, and asked as she sent her horse forward
+again:--
+
+"Do you think I ought to marry him--brother?"
+
+Frankly, I was a good deal disappointed at her conduct.  I did not see
+that there could be a moment's hesitation about her answer, especially
+after all she had said to me about the man.  And this feeling may
+perhaps have shewn in my manner.
+
+"I could do no less than tell you of the proposal, considering that
+Devinsky believes in the relationship between us," I said.  "But I
+don't see how you, knowing everything, can look to me for the judgment
+I should have had to give were that relationship real and I actually
+head of the family."
+
+This stilted reply seemed to please her, for she glanced curiously at
+me and then smiled, as I thought almost merrily, or even mischievously,
+as she replied:--
+
+"A proposal of marriage is a very serious thing, Alexis."
+
+"Yes, and so people often find it."
+
+"Major Devinsky is very rich, and very influential.  He is right when
+he says that his wife would have a very good position in one way in
+Moscow."
+
+"I wish her much happiness with him," I retorted, grimly.
+
+"He is very handsome, too."
+
+I said nothing.  She disappointed and vexed me.
+
+"Ah, you men never see other men's good looks.  You're very moody," she
+added, after a pause when she found me still silent.
+
+"I don't admire Major Devinsky," I said rather sullenly.
+
+She laughed so heartily at this and seemed evidently so pleased that I
+wished I had found the laugh less musical.  Next, she looked at me
+again thoughtfully before she spoke, as if to weigh the effect of her
+words.
+
+"It would be greatly to your advantage, too, Alexis, to have Major
+Devinsky...."
+
+"Thank you," I cut in shortly.  "I do not seek Major Devinsky's
+patronage.  When I cannot climb or stand without it, I'll fall, and
+quite contentedly, even if I break my neck.  Shall we get on?"  And I
+urged my horse to a quick trot.
+
+My evident irritation at her suggestion--for I could not hear the
+matter without shewing my resentment--seemed to please her as much as
+anything, for she smiled as her nag cantered easily at my side.  But I
+would not look at her.  If she meant to marry Devinsky I meant what I
+had said to him.  I would have no more to do with the business, and I
+would get out of Russia as soon as possible the best way I could.
+
+A sidelong glimpse that I caught of Olga's face after a while shewed me
+that the look of laughing pleasure had died away and had given place to
+a thoughtful and rather stern expression.  "Making up her mind," was my
+thought; and then having a stretch of road ahead, I quickened up my
+horse's speed to a hard gallop and we had a quick burst at a rattling
+pace.
+
+When we pulled up and stood to breathe our horses before turning their
+heads homewards, the girl's cheeks were all aglow with ruddy colour and
+her eyes dancing with the excitement of the gallop.  She made such a
+picture of beautiful womanhood that I was forced to gaze at her in
+sheer admiration.
+
+We had not spoken since I had closed the last bit of dialogue, and now
+she manoeuvred her horse quite close to me and said:--
+
+"Alexis, did you bring that proposal to me deliberately?"
+
+[Illustration: "Alexis, did you bring that proposal to me
+deliberately?"]
+
+"Yes.  It was scarcely a question I could answer for you."
+
+"Couldn't you?"  Her eyes rested on mine with an expression that at
+another time I should have read as reproach.  "Did you think there
+could be any but one answer?"
+
+"No, I didn't.  But one never knows," I said, remembering what she had
+said just before the gallop.
+
+"Don't you?  Well, you must think we Russian women are poor stuff!  One
+day, ready to sneak off in disgraceful cowardice: and the next, willing
+to marry an utterly despicable wretch because he has money and
+influence and position.  Do you mean to tell me that you, acting as my
+brother, actually let this man make this proposition in cold blood, and
+did not hurl him out of your rooms?  You!"
+
+I stared at her in sheer amazement at the change, and could find not a
+word to say.  Nor was there any need.  Now that her real feelings had
+forced themselves to words she had plenty: and for some minutes she did
+nothing but utter protestation after protestation of her hatred and
+contempt of Devinsky: while her hits at me for having been the
+mouthpiece of the man were many and hard.  What angered her was, she
+said, to feel that the smallest doubt of her intention had been left in
+Devinsky's mind; and it was not till I told her much more particularly
+and exactly all that had passed on this point that she was satisfied.
+
+We had ridden some way homewards when her mood changed again, and
+laughter once more prevailed.
+
+"So you told him I must choose between him and--my brother; or rather
+my present relationship to you?"
+
+"I told him I would never speak to you again if you married him."
+
+"Well, I have chosen," she replied at once.  "I shall not give up--my
+brother," and with that she pricked up her nag and we rattled along
+fast, her cheeks growing ruddier and ruddier than ever with the
+exercise.
+
+I couldn't follow her change of mood; but I was heartily glad she had
+decided to have nothing to do with Devinsky.  She was far too good a
+girl to be wasted on him.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X.
+
+"THAT BUTCHER, DURESCQ."
+
+We were not by any means done with Devinsky yet, however, and I was to
+have striking proof of this a couple of days later.  I met him in the
+interval as men in the same regiment are bound to meet; and I deemed it
+best to avoid all open rupture, seeing that he was my superior officer,
+and unpleasant consequences to others beside myself might result.
+
+I told him shortly that Olga declined his offer and that it must never
+be renewed.  He took it coolly enough, replying only that his feelings
+for her would never change, nor should he abandon the resolve to make
+her his wife.  Then he made overtures of peace and apologised for what
+he had said.  I thought it discreet to patch up a sort of treaty of
+mutual tolerance.
+
+I was speaking of this to Essaieff, to whom, in common with all the
+mess, Devinsky's infatuation for Olga was perfectly well known, and my
+former second seemed particularly impressed by it.  Since the duel I
+had seen more of him than of any other man, and I liked him.  I could
+be with him more safely than with others, moreover, because he had seen
+so little of the unregenerate Alexis.  Every man who had been at all
+intimate with my former self I now avoided altogether, because of the
+risk of detection--although this risk was of course diminishing with
+every day that passed.
+
+"I don't like what you say, Petrovitch," said Essaieff, after he had
+thought it over.  "I'm convinced Devinsky's a dangerous man; and if he
+attempts to make things up with you, depend upon it he's got some ugly
+reason behind."
+
+"A reason in petticoats," said I, lightly.  "A brother's a charming
+fellow to a man in love with the sister."
+
+"No doubt; but he thought he was going to kill the 'charming fellow' in
+that duel.  Why did he go away; and where did he go?"
+
+"He didn't tell me his private business, naturally."
+
+"Yet I'm much mistaken if it didn't in some way concern you."
+
+"I don't see how."
+
+"We don't see the sun at midnight, man; but that's only because there's
+something in the line of sight.  Other people can see it clearly
+enough."
+
+"Well, I don't see this sun, any way; and I'm not going to worry about
+it."
+
+"Have you ever heard of Durescq?  Alexandre Durescq?" he asked after a
+pause.
+
+"No, never," I answered promptly, making one of those slips which it
+was impossible for me to avoid in my private chats.  Essaieff's next
+words shewed me my blunder.
+
+"My dear fellow, you must have heard of him.  Durescq, the duellist.
+The man who has the reputation of being the best swordsman in the
+Russian army.  The French fellow who naturalised, and clapped a 'c'
+into his name and cut off the tail of it to make Duresque into Durescq.
+Why, he was here last year, and dined with us at the mess.  Devinsky
+brought him.  You had joined us then, surely and must have been
+introduced by Devinsky?  You must remember him."
+
+"Oh, that Durescq!" I exclaimed, as if recalling the incident.
+
+"'That Durescq!'  There's no other for the whole Russian army," said
+Essaieff drily.  "And if he heard you say it, he'd want an explanation
+quickly enough."
+
+"I was thinking for a minute of another Duresque, Essaieff, whom I knew
+much better.  Different sex, whose killing of men was done in a
+different way."  I smiled as I made the equivocation.
+
+"I met him this morning," said my companion, not noticing my remark and
+looking more thoughtful than before.  "I wonder if Devinsky's absence
+has anything to do with Durescq's presence; and whether..." he paused
+and looked at me.  "It would be a damnably ugly business; but
+Devinsky's not incapable of it; and so far as I know, the other man's
+worse than he is.  Moreover, I know that they have been together in
+more than one very dirty affair.  There are ugly items enough standing
+to both their debits.  But this would be murder--sheer, deliberate,
+damnable murder, and nothing else."
+
+I had rarely seen him so excited as he was now.
+
+"You think Devinsky has brought this man here to do what he couldn't do
+himself the other morning?"
+
+"I don't say I think it," replied Essaieff, cautiously.  "I shouldn't
+like to think it of any man: but if I were you I'd be a bit cautious
+about getting into a quarrel."
+
+"Caution be hanged," I cried.  "If that's their game I'll force the
+pace for them.  We'll have a real fight next time, Essaieff, and we'll
+make the thing such that one of us is bound to go under.  But I'll have
+one condition, and one only--that Devinsky meets me first.  And if I
+don't send him first to hell to wait for his friend or act as my _avant
+courier_, may I have the palsy."
+
+"What a fire-devil you've turned, Alexis," said Essaief,
+enthusiastically.  It was the first time he had used my Christian name,
+and it pleased me.  "Even the rankers have found you out now.  'That
+devil Alexis,' is what they call you one to the other, since you beat
+their best men in leaping, and running, and staff playing.  If the war
+comes, as like good Russians we pray it may, what a time you'll have.
+They'll follow you anywhere.  Yes, there's shrewdness enough in your
+last devilment.  If you insist on first killing Devinsky, Durescq will
+probably take back a bloodless sword to the capital."
+
+His pithy reference to the feeling in the regiment touched my vanity on
+its weak spot, and gave me quite disproportionate pleasure.  As we
+talked over this possible plan of Devinsky's I tried to get him to
+speak of the feeling again.  It is rather a paltry confession to make;
+but the nick-name, 'That devil Alexis,' was exactly what I would have
+wished to bear.
+
+Although Essaieff had suggested this action on the part of Devinsky, I
+scarcely thought it possible that he would do what we had discussed;
+but I had not been many minutes in the club that evening before the
+thing seemed not only probable, but certain; and I saw that I had a
+very ugly corner to turn.
+
+Alexandre Durescq was there and I eyed him curiously.  He was taller
+than I by an inch, but not so broad.  His figure was well knit and
+lithe, and he moved with the air which a man gets whose sinews are of
+steel and are kept in perfect condition by constant and severe
+training.  He was the type of a sinewy athlete.
+
+His face was a most unpleasant one.  The features were thin and all
+very long; and the thinness added to the apparent abnormal length from
+brow to chin.  His complexion was almost Mongolian in its sallowness;
+his hair coal black, and his eyes, set close to his large and very
+prominent aquiline nose, were small but brilliant in expression and
+seemingly coal black in colour.  Altogether a most remarkable looking
+man; and I was not astonished that Essaieff had been surprised when I
+said I had forgotten him.  He was not a man to be forgotten.  The
+expression of his face was sardonic and saturnine, and his manners and
+gestures were all saturated with intense self-assertiveness.  He moved,
+looked, and spoke as though he felt that everyone was at once beneath
+him and afraid of him.
+
+He was at the far end of the room when I entered, and I saw Devinsky
+stoop and whisper to him immediately he caught sight of me.  The man
+turned slightly and glanced in my direction, and my instincts warned me
+of danger.
+
+I would not baulk the pair; but I would not provoke the quarrel.  I
+moved quietly about the room, chatting with one man and another; but
+keeping a wary eye disengaged for the two at the other end.  Gradually
+I worked my way round to where they were, and both rose as I
+approached.  I saw too, that Devinsky's old seconds and toadies were
+near and were watching me and smirking.  They formed a group of three
+or four men who seemed to me to have intimation what was coming.  They
+were waiting to see me "jumped."
+
+I knew, however, that if I kept quiet, I should make the task more
+difficult for the pair, and thus compel Devinsky to shew his hand; and
+so give me the pretext I needed to force the first fight on him.
+
+"Good evening, Petrovitch, or Lieutenant Petrovitch, I suppose I should
+say," said Devinsky, and the instant he spoke I could tell he had been
+drinking.  "I think you've met my friend Captain Durescq?"
+
+"Not yet," I said, looking straight into Devinsky's eyes with a meaning
+he read and didn't like.
+
+"Is this the gentleman who is so particular in asserting his
+lieutenancy?  Good evening, Lieutenant Petrovitch."  He said this in a
+tone that was insufferably insolent; and as if to point the insult, the
+two toadies when they heard it, sniggered audibly.
+
+Nothing could have played better into my hands.  All four made an
+extraordinary blunder, since they shewed, before I had opened my lips,
+that the object was to force a quarrel; and thus the sympathies of
+every decent man in the place were on my side.  I kept cool.  I was too
+wary to take fire yet.
+
+"I thought you knew Captain Durescq when he was here last year," said
+Devinsky.  "But you may have forgotten."
+
+"Good evening, Captain Durescq," said I, ignoring Devinsky and
+returning the other man's greeting.  "What is the latest war news in St
+Petersburg?"
+
+"Bad for those who do not like fighting," he said, looking at me in a
+way that turned this to a personal insult.
+
+"But good perhaps, for those soldiers whose swords are to hire," I
+returned, with a smile which did not make my point less plain.
+
+The man's eyes flashed.
+
+"They will take the place of your friends who do not like the
+fighting," I added; and at this all about us grew suddenly silent.
+
+"My friends?  How do you mean?" asked Durescq stiffly.
+
+"Those you mentioned in your first sentence.  Whom else should I mean?"
+and I let my eye rest as if by accident on Devinsky.
+
+"You have a singular manner of expressing yourself, Lieutenant."
+
+"We provincials do not always copy the manners of the capital, you
+know," I returned in my pleasantest manner.  "I think the provinces are
+growing more and more independent every year.  We arrange our own
+affairs in our own way, have our own etiquette, form our own
+associations, and settle our own quarrels without aid from the capital."
+
+I heard Devinsky swear softly into his moustache at this; but there was
+nothing for them to take hold of, though every man in the room
+understood what I meant; and nearly all were now listening.
+
+"Yes, I have heard you have singular manners in the provinces.  My
+friend here, Devinsky, has told me several curious things.  I heard of
+one provincial for instance, who allowed himself to be insulted and
+browbeaten till his cowardice was almost a by-word, and it became
+really impossible for him to remain in the army unless he accepted the
+challenge he had so often refused.  And then he begged, almost with
+tears, to get terms made; and when this was not done, he deadened his
+fears with drink and came to the club here like a witless fool,
+behaving like a drunken clown; and then at last actually went out and
+fought in a condition of seeming delirium.  We do not have that in the
+capital.  In St Petersburg we should have such a scabby rascal whipped
+on a gun."
+
+A movement among the group of toadies shewed me how this burlesque of
+my conduct was appreciated there, while Devinsky was grinning
+boastfully.
+
+"Did Major Devinsky tell you that?" I asked; my voice down at least two
+tones in my excitement, while my pulses thrilled at the insult.  But
+outwardly I was calm.
+
+"Yes, I think that's a pretty fair description, isn't it, Devinsky?"
+replied Durescq, turning coolly to the latter for confirmation.  Then
+he turned again to me and asked:--"Why, do you recognise the
+description, Lieutenant Petrovitch?"
+
+"You have not heard the whole of the story," I answered, getting the
+words out with difficulty between teeth I had to clench hard to keep my
+passion under control.  "The man who was beaten in the duel left Moscow
+in a panic and went to St Petersburg for a purpose--that you may
+perhaps approve."  There was now dead silence in all the room and the
+eyes of every man in it were rivetted on me.  "The first object of the
+duel was that he might kill in it the man whose skill was thought to be
+inferior to his own, so that he might persecute with his disgusting
+attentions the sister of him on whom he had fixed the quarrel.
+Failing, he went to fetch a cleverer sword than his own to do his dirty
+work; and he fetched----"  I paused and then my rage burst out like a
+volcano--"He fetched a butcher named Durescq to do butcher's work; and
+I, by God! won't baulk him."
+
+With this I lost all control, and springing upon him I seized his nose
+and wrung it and twisted it, dragging his head from side to side in my
+ungovernable fury, until I nearly broke my teeth with the straining
+force with which I clenched them.  Then raising my hand I slapped his
+face with a force and loudness that resounded right through the room
+and made every man start and wonder what would come next.
+
+"That is from the man you say dare not fight.  One last word.  Before I
+meet the butcher, I insist on meeting the man who hired him.
+Lieutenant Essaieff will act for me."
+
+With that I left the room, feeling that although I was now all but
+certain to be killed by Durescq I should at least die as became "that
+devil Alexis."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI.
+
+DANGER FROM A FRESH SOURCE.
+
+I walked home with a feeling of rare exhilaration.  Whatever happened,
+this was my own quarrel, and I had so acted as to secure the sympathy
+of all who knew the facts.  The quarrel had been fixed on me in public
+in a manner peculiarly disgraceful to both my opponents, and if they
+killed me, it would be murder.
+
+If on the other hand I could kill either or both, the world would be
+the sweeter and purer for their riddance.  Moreover I had so arranged
+matters that I saw how I should have at least an equal chance of my
+life.  I should have the choice of weapons and I would fight Devinsky
+with swords and the "butcher" with pistols.
+
+I thought much about Durescq's skill.  He had a huge reputation both as
+a swordsman and a shot; but I was very confident in my own skill with
+the sword, and inclined to doubt whether he could beat me even with
+that.  In the end, however, I decided not to run that risk.  The issue
+should be left to chance.  The duel should be fought with pistols.  One
+should be loaded, and one unloaded; and a toss should settle which each
+should have.  We would then stand at arm's length, the barrel of one
+man's weapon touching the other's forehead.  The man to whom Fortune
+gave the loaded weapon would thus be bound to blow the other's brains
+out, whether he had any skill or not.  Both would stand equal before
+Fortune.
+
+About an hour later, Essaieff came to me and told me that the whole
+regiment was in a state of excitement about the fight and that feeling
+against Devinsky had reached a positively dangerous pitch, especially
+when it was known that he had practically refused to meet me.  That
+point was still unsettled, and Essaieff had come to get my final
+decision.
+
+"My advice is, stand firm," he said.  "You're in the right.  There
+isn't an unprejudiced man in the whole army who wouldn't say you were
+acting well within your rights; just as, I must say, my dear fellow,
+you've acted splendidly throughout."
+
+I told him what I had been thinking.
+
+"It seems a ghastly thing to put a life in the spin of a coin," he
+commented.
+
+"Better than to have it ended without a chance, by the thrust of a
+butcher's knife."
+
+"That name will stick to Durescq for always," he said, with a slow
+smile.  "It was splendid.  Do you know you made me hold my breath while
+you were at him.  Damn him, so he is a butcher!"
+
+"Do you say Devinsky won't meet me?" I asked.
+
+"No, not that he won't; but he raises the excuse that as Durescq's
+challenge was given first--as it was indeed--the order of the fight
+must follow the order of the challenges.  But they arranged the
+challenges purposely in that order."
+
+"I shan't hold to the point," I said, after a moment's consideration.
+"If they insist I shall give way and meet Durescq first.  But this will
+only make it the more easy for us to insist on our plan of fighting.
+Don't give way on that.  I am resolved that one of us shall fall: and
+chance shall settle which."
+
+Essaieff tried to persuade me to insist on meeting Devinsky first; but
+I would not.
+
+"No.  He shan't carry back to St Petersburg the tale that we in Moscow
+are ready to bluster in words, and then daren't make them good in our
+acts."
+
+"I hope he'll carry back no tale at all to St Petersburg," answered my
+friend, grimly: and then he left me.
+
+I completed what few preparations I had to make in view of the very
+probably fatal issue of the fight: wrote a letter to Olga and enclosed
+one to Balestier as I had done before; and was just getting off to bed,
+when Essaieff came back to report.
+
+My message had added to the already great excitement and there had been
+at first the most strenuous opposition to our plan of fighting.  But he
+had forced his way, and the meetings--with the "butcher" first and, if
+I did not fall, with Devinsky afterwards--were fixed for eight o'clock.
+He promised to come for me half an hour before that time: and he urged
+me to get to bed and to have as much sleep as possible to steady my
+nerves.
+
+They were steady enough already.  I gloated over the affair; and I
+meant so to use it as to set the seal to my reputation as "that devil
+Alexis," whether I lived or died.
+
+But after all I was baulked.
+
+I slept soundly enough till Borlas called me early in the morning and
+told me strange news.  A file of soldiers were in my room, and the
+sergeant had requested me to be called at once as he had an important
+message.
+
+I called the man into my bedroom and asked him what he wanted.
+
+"You are to consider yourself under arrest, Lieutenant," he said
+saluting, and drawing himself up stiffly.  "And in my charge."
+
+"What for?"
+
+"I don't know, Lieutenant.  I had my orders from the Colonel himself
+first thing; and, if you please, I am to prevent you leaving the house.
+You'll understand my position, sir.  Will you give me your word not to
+attempt to leave?"
+
+"Where are your written orders?"  I knew the man well and he liked me.
+
+"My orders are verbal, Lieutenant; but very strict and imperative."
+
+"Privately, do you know anything of the cause of this?"
+
+"You'll have a letter from the Colonel, I think, Lieutenant, within an
+hour, requiring you to go to him.  Major Devinsky is also confined to
+his quarters, sir; and also, I think, Captain Durescq.  We've heard in
+the regiment, sir, what happened at the officers' club last night."  A
+certain look on his lined bearded face and in his eyes as he saluted me
+when he said this, told me much.
+
+I chafed at the interference, and cursed the Colonel for having
+apparently taken a hand in the matter.  This butcher would now be able
+to go back to St Petersburg with a lying garbled tale that we in Moscow
+got out of quarrels by clinging to the coat tails of our commanding
+officer; and it made me mad.  I tried to persuade the sergeant to let
+me out to go to the place of meeting; promising to be back within an
+hour; but he was immovable.
+
+"I would, if I dared, Lieutenant; but I dare not.  I'm not the man to
+stop a fair fight, and I hate this work.  But duty's duty."
+
+When Essaieff came, he threw new light on the matter.  The affair had
+caused a huge commotion.  In the early hours of the morning he had been
+summoned to the Colonel, who had in some way got wind of the matter; a
+very ugly version having been told him.  My friend had had to tell the
+plain truth and there had been the devil to pay.  The wires to St
+Petersburg had been kept going through the night; the whole thing had
+been laid before Head-Quarters at the Ministry for War; and the arrest
+of the three principals had been ordered from the capital.
+
+Soon afterwards a peremptory summons came for me from the Colonel and
+when I got to him I found both Devinsky and Durescq there, together
+with two or three of the highest officers then stationed in Moscow.  A
+sort of informal examination took place, out of which I am bound to say
+both the other men came very badly; and in the end we were all three
+ordered off to stay in our quarters under arrest.  I found that not
+only were we not allowed to go out--sentries being posted in my rooms
+all the time--but no one was permitted to enter: nor could I
+communicate with a single individual for two days.
+
+At the end of that time the order came for me to resume duty; and as
+soon as the morning's drill was over, the Colonel sent for me and told
+me what had happened.  The military authorities at St Petersburg had
+taken the harshest view of the conduct of my two antagonists.  It was
+regarded as a deliberate plot to kill.  Devinsky had been cashiered;
+and only Durescq's great influence had prevented him from sharing the
+same fate.  As it was, he had had all his seniority struck off, been
+reduced to the rank of a subaltern, and sent off there and then under
+quasi arrest with heavy military escort, to a regiment stationed right
+away on the most southern Turkestan frontier.
+
+"As for Devinsky, the regiment's well rid of him," said the Colonel,
+with such emphasis and earnestness that I saw his own personal
+animosity had had quite as much to do with the man's overthrow as the
+latter's own conduct.  But it pleased the old man to put it all down to
+me, and when we were parting, he shook hands cordially and said:--"The
+Regiment owes you a vote of thanks, my boy; and I'll see that it's paid
+in full."
+
+"One question I should like to ask," said I.  "How did you get to hear
+of it all?"
+
+"The news was everybody's property, lad, and--don't ask questions," he
+replied with dry inconsequence.  And would say no more.
+
+But I was soon to learn, and the news surprised me as much as any part
+of the whole strange incident.
+
+The first use I made of my liberty was to go and see Olga and explain
+my absence and all that had happened.  She had heard a somewhat garbled
+account of it in which the part I played had been greatly exaggerated,
+and she received me with the greatest tenderness and sympathy; and
+tears of what seemed pleasure, but she explained as cold, glistened in
+her eyes.  We had a long and closely confidential chat; and she made me
+feel more by her trustful manner and gentle attitude than by her actual
+words, how much she had missed me during the days of our separation and
+how thankful she was to be free of Devinsky for good, and how much she
+felt she owed to me on that account.
+
+For myself I was sorry when I had to leave her.  She was the only
+person in Moscow to whom I could speak without restraint; a fact that
+made our interviews so welcome that I was loath to end this one.
+
+It was getting dusk when I left and as I walked home I was thoughtful
+and preoccupied.  The question of Olga's safety was pressing very
+hardly on me and made me extremely anxious.  The more I saw of her the
+more eager I was to get her out of harm's way; and the consciousness
+that she must share the consequences of any disaster that might happen
+to me, were I discovered, was pressing upon me with increasing
+severity.  I was beginning to anticipate more vividly, moreover, the
+coming of some such disaster.  The time was passing very quickly.  It
+was getting on for nearly three weeks since the Nihilist meeting, and I
+knew that my Nihilist "allies" would be growing anxious for a sign of
+my zeal.  They were probably well aware that I was doing nothing to
+redeem my pledge.
+
+There was also the undeniable danger inseparably connected with the
+distasteful intrigue with Paula Tueski.  I had so neglected her in my
+character of lover that I was hourly expecting some proof of her
+indignation.  I had only seen her twice in the three weeks; and each
+time in public; and though Olga and she had interchanged visits, I knew
+perfectly well that she was not the woman to take neglect passively.
+
+I blamed myself warmly, too, for my own inactivity.  My whole policy
+had been so to try and gain time, and yet I had made no use of it,
+except to get into broils which had increased the already bewildering
+complications.
+
+That this would be the effect of my quarrel with Devinsky and Durescq,
+I could not doubt when I came to think the matter over in cool blood.
+I had been the means of both of them being ruined; and naturally every
+friend they had in Russia would take part against me.  I knew that
+Durescq had friends among the most powerful circles in Russia, and I
+had nothing to oppose to their anger save the poor position of a
+lieutenant in a marching regiment and a past that was full of
+blackguardism and evil repute.  Personally this was all nothing to me;
+but when I thought of the indirect results it might have for Olga it
+troubled and worried me deeply.
+
+Everything pointed to one conclusion--that Olga should leave Russia
+while she could do so in safety.  I was meditating on these things when
+a girl stopped me suddenly, asking if I were Lieutenant Petrovitch.
+She then gave me a scrap of paper; and I glanced at and read it.
+
+"_The old rendezvous, at once.  Urgent.  P.T._"
+
+I questioned the girl as to who gave it to her, and where the person
+was; but getting no satisfactory account, dismissed her with a few
+kopecks.
+
+It beat me.  Obviously it was from Paula Tueski.  Equally obviously it
+was an appointment at which she had apparently something to say of
+importance.  But where the deuce the "old rendezvous" was I knew no
+more than the wind.
+
+I am not one to waste time over the impossible; and as I certainly
+could not go to a place I did not know of, I tore the letter into
+shreds and went on home.
+
+I let myself in and found that my servant was out--a most unusual thing
+at that time of the day; but I had begun to fear that the man was below
+rather than above the average of Russian servants and was already
+contemplating his dismissal.  I did not attach much importance to his
+present absence, however; and throwing myself into a chair sat and
+thought or tried to think of some scheme by which I could induce Olga
+to leave the country, and some means by which her departure could be
+safely arranged.  She must go at once.  She had promised me to go when
+I could tell her it was necessary for my safety; and I could truthfully
+say that now.  If she would go, I would have a dash for liberty myself.
+
+While I was thinking in this strain someone knocked at my outer door,
+and when I opened it, to my surprise, Paula Tueski rushed in quickly.
+
+A glance at her face shewed me she was in an exceedingly ill temper; as
+indeed it appeared to me she generally was.
+
+"Where is your servant?" was her first question hurriedly asked.
+
+"I really don't know.  Out somewhere; but----"
+
+"His absence means danger, Alexis.  Why didn't you come to me when I
+sent a message to you just now.  You read it, questioned the girl, and
+then tore it up and threw it in the gutter; and all this as
+unconcernedly as if you did not know full well that from our window you
+must be in full view of me.  Are you always going to scorn me?"
+
+I took care to shew no surprise; but it was clear I had blundered
+badly, and that the "rendezvous" was close to the spot where the paper
+had been given to me.
+
+"I could not come.  I had to hurry home.  I----"
+
+"Bah!  Don't trifle with me like that.  Haven't you had enough of your
+prison during the last two days?"
+
+"You know the news, then?" said I, following her gladly off the track.
+
+"It is you who do not know the news.  Ah, Alexis, you are giving me
+more trouble in this new character of yours than ever you did in the
+old one--much as you harassed me then.  But I do not mind if only...."
+She stopped and looked at me with beaming eyes.  "You have not kissed
+me; and here I am risking all again and even venturing right here into
+your rooms."
+
+"What do you mean about new character?" I asked.  Her phrase had
+startled me.
+
+"I like it better than the old.  Fifty thousand times better 'That
+devil Alexis,' than 'That roué Petrovitch.'  But whenever I think of
+the change, I can't understand it--I don't understand you.  I could
+almost swear, sometimes, you are not the same man"--she came close up
+to me and putting her hands on my shoulders, stared long and earnestly
+right into my eyes--"and then I wonder how I can have been so blind as
+not to have seen all that lay hidden in you: all that was noble and
+brave and daring.  But I love you, Alexis, twenty thousand times more
+than ever; and to have saved your life now is a thought of infinite
+sweetness to me.  Kiss me, sweetheart."
+
+I started back as if she had stung me.
+
+"Do you mean you had anything to do with..."  I stopped, but she knew
+what I meant.  She smiled and in a voice exquisitely sweet and tender,
+though hateful to me, she answered:
+
+"Your life is mine, Alexis?  Do you think I would let that butcher from
+St Petersburg take it?  Let him keep to his own shambles.  Yes, I set
+the wires in motion, and I did not stop until the one man was utterly
+ruined and the other degraded in the eyes of all Russia.  Your life is
+mine, Alexis"--she seemed to revel in this hateful phrase--"and those
+who would strike at you, must reckon with me as well.  We are destined
+for each other, you and I; and we live or die together."
+
+"You have done me a foul wrong, then," I cried hotly.  "You have
+disgraced me; made me out for a braggart that provokes a fight and then
+shirks it by screening myself behind the law.  Do you suppose I thank
+you for that?"  I spoke as sternly as I felt.  But she only smiled as
+she answered,
+
+"I did not think of your feelings.  This man would have killed you.
+His hands are bloody to the armpits.  Do you think I would let him find
+another victim in you when I could stop him and save you?  Did you not
+reproach me, too when I did not interfere before, and tell me my love
+was cold?  Would I suffer such a reproach again, think you?  No, no.
+Your life is mine, I repeat, and for the future I will protect it
+whether you will or no.  That is how I love; and so it shall be always.
+I have come now to warn you.  Hush!  What is that?"
+
+I listened and heard someone moving in the lobby of my rooms.
+
+"It is Borlas returned," I said, and opening the door called him.
+Getting no answer I called again loudly; and then my visitor whispered
+to me to come back into the room.  But I paid no heed to her, and went
+forward a few steps to go into my servant's room.  As I did so, a
+desperate rush was made and three men disguised, dashed at me
+violently.  They had gained an entrance somehow and were no doubt
+making their way to attack me in my room or were going to lay in wait
+for me, when my quick ears heard them and thus spoiled their plans.
+
+I was unarmed, and saw instantly the foolishness of attempting to fight
+three men, probably armed, while I had not so much as a stick.  Making
+a feint of an attack upon the nearest, therefore, I jumped aside and
+darted back into the room I had just left, closing the door instantly
+behind me, while my companion and I held it shut until I had secured it.
+
+Then I turned to her for an explanation.
+
+"They are my husband's agents," she whispered.  "He suspects us, as you
+know; and he arranged this attack, thinking that if you were killed,
+the act just at this juncture would be set down to Devinsky's revenge.
+I came on purpose to warn you.  If they catch me here now, we are both
+ruined beyond hope."
+
+"Then they shan't catch us," I replied.  "Or if they do, shan't live to
+carry the tale outside the door:" and I proceeded to put in execution a
+plan which had already occurred to me.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII.
+
+CHRISTIAN TUESKI.
+
+While the men were straining and fighting to get admission into the
+room, I loaded my revolver, seized a heavy stick that lay in a corner,
+and opening the window noiselessly and with some little trouble and
+agility, got into the street.  I let myself into the house and then I
+thundered at the outer door of my own rooms as if seeking immediate
+admission.
+
+Instantly there was a great scuffling within, and I knew that the men
+were making off by the back, in the probable belief that they had been
+disturbed by some unexpected caller.  Judging the time as best I could,
+so that I might perhaps catch one of them, I rushed in suddenly.  One
+had fled, the second was in the act of dropping from a window, while a
+third was just clambering out.
+
+I struck this one a blow on the head which laid him down senseless in a
+heap on the floor, and leaning out was in time to give the second a
+whack that must have nearly broken his arm.  Then without wasting a
+moment I bound the man I had knocked down and closely bandaged his eyes.
+
+Telling Paula Tueski that I had scared the rascals away, I dragged the
+fellow to the light, that she might recognise him.  She identified him
+directly, and without a word being spoken except by me, I thrust him
+into a dark closet and turned the key on him while I settled what to do
+next.
+
+"You knew him, I could see," I said, when I joined my visitor again.
+"Is he a police spy?"
+
+"No, not in the ordinary sense.  I have seen him with my husband: but
+exactly what he is, I don't know.  I believe he is one of a small band
+of really villainous men, used for especially ugly work."
+
+"But why am I marked out for a visit from them?"
+
+"I believe my husband has suspected you--on my account.  I know he
+hates you cordially.  You remember that affair in the Opera lobby, when
+you insulted him so grossly."  I nodded: but of course I had not the
+remotest idea what she meant.  "He never forgives.  Since then he has
+been accumulating every jot and tittle of fact against you--and you
+have given him plenty, Alexis--and if he can work your overthrow, he
+will."
+
+"Yes: but why try to get me assassinated.  I'll go at once and ask
+him," I said, readily and impulsively.
+
+"Are you mad?" exclaimed my companion.
+
+"On the contrary, I'll go and shew him the danger of interfering with
+me.  Where is he to be found now?"
+
+"At home.  He will not leave for an hour yet to make his evening visit
+to the Bureau.  But he will never consent to see you."
+
+"At any rate I'll try; and I'm much mistaken if I don't force him.  I
+have a plan," I added, after a minute's thought.  "I will clear us both
+at a stroke.  Go at once to my sister, and tell her from me that I wish
+her to come back here with you and wait for me.  Mind, too, should
+anyone come to fetch away that fellow I've locked up, let Olga say
+enough in his presence to make it clear that she was here with us when
+the attack was first made.  Be quick and careful: for much will depend
+on all this being well done."
+
+I drove rapidly to the place and sending in my card asked for an
+immediate interview with the Chief of the Police, on urgent business.
+The reply came back that M. Tueski could not see me; I was to call at
+his office.  I sent the messenger back with a peremptory reply that I
+must see him, as I had discovered an assassination plot.  I was still
+refused admittance; though a longer wait shewed me he had considered
+the matter carefully.
+
+This time I wrote a brief note:--"One of your hired assassins, has been
+identified, has confessed, and lies at this moment bound and in my
+power.  If you do not see me now I shall communicate direct with the
+Ministry of the Interior."
+
+That proved the 'Open Sesame,' and in a few moments, I was ushered into
+the presence of one of the most hated men in Russia,--the man I had
+been commissioned to kill.
+
+He was a small man with a face that would have been common looking but
+for its extraordinarily hard and cold expression.  It was lined and
+seamed in all directions: and each line might have been drawn by Nature
+with the express object of marking him out as an absolutely merciless,
+calculating, and emotionless man.
+
+His eyes were very bright as they fixed on me, and his voice, harsh,
+high pitched and tuneless.
+
+"Men don't belie your new character when they call you daring," was his
+greeting.
+
+He was standing by the side of a long table with his black clothed
+figure outlined against the colours of luxuriant tapestries with which
+the walls were hung.  He motioned me to a chair, near enough to be
+within the demands of courtesy to an officer bearing the Emperor's
+commission, and far enough removed from him to be safe should the
+visitor turn out to be dangerous.  I noticed, too, that an electric
+bell button was well within reach.  "What do you wish with me,
+Lieutenant?  This visit is unusual."
+
+"I am not accustomed to bother about what is usual where my life is
+concerned," I answered, firmly.  "I want an answer to a plain question.
+Why do you send your bravoes to assassinate me?"
+
+"I have sent no bravoes to assassinate you, Lieutenant.  I don't
+understand you.  We don't hire assassins."  As though the whole thing
+were ridiculous.
+
+"Yet your wife recognised this man instantly."
+
+"My wife!" he exclaimed, with a sufficient change to shew how this had
+touched him.
+
+"Yes.  Your wife.  She was in my rooms when these men came."
+
+He drew in a deep breath while he looked at me with eyes of hate.  I
+had got right between the joints of his armour of impassivity.  It was
+a cruel thrust; but I had an ugly game to play, and was forced to hit
+hard.
+
+He seemed to struggle to repress his private feelings and to remain the
+impassive official.  But human nature and his jealousy beat him, and
+his next question came with a jerk that shewed the effort behind it.
+
+"What was she doing there?"  His tone was the essence of harsh
+bitterness.
+
+"What was she doing there?" I echoed, as if in the greatest
+astonishment.  "Why, what should she be doing but calling with my
+sister?  They are there now, keeping guard over your--assistant."
+
+He turned away for a moment to prevent my seeing in his face the relief
+which I could hear in his voice as he answered:--
+
+"You are an even bolder man than I thought."
+
+"I don't understand you, of course; but I have need to be bold," I
+retorted, "with you against me ready to plan my private execution.
+They're heavy odds.  But now, perhaps, you'll answer my question--Why
+do you do this?"
+
+"There might be many reasons--if it were true," he answered in the same
+curt tone he had first used.
+
+"One's enough for me, if it's true," I replied, copying his sharp
+manner.
+
+He stood a minute looking at me in silence, and then sat down.
+
+"I think I've been doing you an injustice, Lieutenant," he said,
+presently.  "I thought when you forced your way into me you might be
+coming to assassinate me.  But I see now you're not such a fool as to
+try and do anything of that kind when you have left a broad trail
+behind you that would lead to your certain detection.  You are young;
+with all the weaknesses of youth strongly developed--rash, hotheaded,
+sometimes tipsy, a fool with women, and when, necessary, a knave too,
+loose in money matters and unscrupulous, a gambler, a dicer, and a
+bankrupt in morals, religion, and honour.  But you are shrewd--for
+you've deceived everyone about your sword-skill and your courage--and
+under the garb of a worthless fellow you have a cool, calculating, and
+yet dare-devil head that should make your fortune.  Others are more
+right about you than I."
+
+"Others?" I asked, interested and amused by this quiet enumeration of
+the results of the analysis of two very different, but united
+characters.  "Who are the others?"
+
+A faint ghost of what in another man would have been a smile relaxed
+the grim, hard, straight lips for an instant, in mockery of my attempt
+to draw him.
+
+"You are not unknown, Lieutenant, as you may find soon; but you are a
+fool to mix yourself up with the Nihilists."
+
+It was my turn now to be on the defensive.
+
+"That is a charge which a child can make and the wisest man can
+sometimes fail to rebut," I answered, sharply.  "I am not a Nihilist."
+
+He waved his hand as if my repudiation were not worth a serious thought.
+
+"I can make you a career, if you will.  If you will act under me...."
+
+"Thank you," I returned, coldly.  "I know what you can do.  You can put
+me first on the list for some task which will insure my being served as
+you meant me to be served to-day.  One commission is enough for me, and
+I prefer the Emperor's."
+
+"You don't know what you say, nor what you refuse."
+
+"All the more reason for not regretting my refusal," I retorted,
+lightly.  "But this does not answer my question--Why do you seek to
+have me assassinated?"
+
+"Siberia is getting overpopulated," he returned, manifestly angry at my
+refusal.
+
+"You mean it's cheaper to kill than to exile."
+
+"One must have some regard for its morals, too," he sneered, with a
+contempt at which my rage took fire.
+
+I looked at him with a light in my eyes which he could read plainly
+enough.
+
+"You are a coward, M. Tueski," said I, sternly: "because you presume
+upon the office you hold to say things which without the protection
+that guards you, you would not dare to let between your teeth."
+
+"It is useless to talk in that strain to me," he said, shortly.  "I
+know you."
+
+"No--by Heaven, you don't--yet.  But I'll let you know something of me
+now.  Men say you know no fear; that your loves, desires, emotions, are
+all dead--all, save ambition.  I'll test that.  This plot you have laid
+against my life is your own private revenge for some fancied wrong.
+You have sought to carry it out even at the very moment when you had
+had a hint to guard me.  It was cunningly laid, and nearly succeeded;
+and then you would have set the blame down at Devinsky's door."
+
+He listened without making a sign: quite impassively.  But the mere
+fact that he did listen shewed me I was striking the right note, and
+further that he wished to see what I meant to do.
+
+"Go on," he said, contemptuously, when I paused.
+
+"I can prove this: aye, and I will prove it, even if I go to the
+Emperor himself: and prove it--by your own wife."  He could not wholly
+conceal the effect of this.  He knew the strength of the threat.
+
+"More than that," I cried then, quickening my speech and shewing much
+more passion.  "You know what the world says about me and your wife.
+You shewed me you knew it, when I told you just now that she was in my
+rooms when your men came to try and take my life.  You have dared to
+smirch my honour in regard to women: and you have lied.  So far as your
+wife is concerned, there has never been a thought of mine toward her
+tainted with dishonour.  So far as I am concerned she is virgin pure.
+But, by God! beware how you taunt me.  It lies with you to say whether
+I shall change; and if you drive me to it, I'll...."
+
+I left the terrible sentence unfinished; and the change in the man's
+manner shewed me how he was inwardly shrinking and wincing at my
+desperate words.
+
+"Go on.  What do you want?"  He spoke after a great effort and strove
+to keep his voice at the dead level of official lifelessness.  But the
+man was an inward fire of rage and jealousy.
+
+"This duel is not my seeking, but yours, M. Tueski," I continued.  "And
+for my part I would as soon have a truce.  But if we are to fight on, I
+will use every weapon I can lay my hand on,--and use them desperately.
+You can prove the truth of what I say.  Send round someone to my rooms
+and fetch away the scoundrel who is there.  My sister will let him go.
+Your wife, her friend, is staying with her to help in case of need.
+And whatever else I may be, at least I should not give my mistress to
+my sister for a friend."
+
+"You are the devil!"  The words forced themselves through his teeth at
+this word.  I used it deliberately: and it was the shrewdest thing I
+could have done.  He left the room without another word, going through
+a door behind him; and, calling to someone, he whispered some
+instructions.
+
+"You have sent?  You are right," I said, when he returned.  "And now,
+call off these bloodhounds of yours; and so long as you play fair with
+me, my sister and your wife can be friends.  And no longer.  One other
+condition.  Give me two police permits to cross the frontier on special
+business--one for me and one for my sister.  You may not be sorry if I
+decide to take a holiday."
+
+"I cannot give them, and you cannot leave," he answered.
+
+"Write me the permits.  I'll see about using them."
+
+"No; I cannot write them.  If I did, they would be cancelled to-morrow
+by the Ministry of the Interior."
+
+"Why?"
+
+"The fact is what I say.  You cannot leave Russia."
+
+"I care nothing for that.  Write them--or we resume this duel, M.
+Tueski."
+
+He was a changed man.  He was so accustomed to exact implicit obedience
+to his will, and to ride roughshod over everyone about him, that now
+being beaten, his collapse was utter and complete.  He was absolutely
+overcome by the pressure I could threaten and he thought I was
+blackguard enough to apply.
+
+For once at least my old black character did me a good turn.  He acted
+like a weak child now, entirely subjected by my will.  He wrote the
+permits as I directed.
+
+As he was writing it occurred to me there must be some influence behind
+the scenes which told with him.  Else, why did he not forthwith write
+out the order for my imprisonment?  He had done it hundreds of times
+before in the case of men infinitely more influential than myself.  His
+signature would open the door of any prison in Russia.  It suggested
+itself that it was this reason which was at the bottom of the attempt
+to get me killed.  He dared not follow out his own desire.
+
+"One thing puzzles me," I said, coolly, as I took the permits.  "Why
+haven't you, instead of writing these, written an order packing me off
+to gaol?  What is this power behind you?"
+
+"I may live in hope, perhaps," he returned.  "Your sword and your
+shrewdness may carry you far: and some day as far as the gaol you speak
+of.  I shan't fail to write it when the time comes."
+
+I left him with that.
+
+As I left the house a man pressed close to me, and I turned to see what
+he wanted.  There was no one else about.
+
+"Is it done?" he whispered.
+
+I looked at him keenly; but I had never seen him before, I thought.
+
+"What do you mean?" I asked.
+
+"The night in the riverside wharf," he whispered back.
+
+He was a Nihilist; here right in the very eye of the police web.
+
+"The way is laid," I answered, equivocally, as I hurried away.
+
+I had actually forgotten in my eagerness all about my charge to kill
+the man with whom I had been closeted in conference.
+
+But I saw instantly that the Nihilist would probably hold it for an act
+of treachery that I had been in Tueski's house and yet had let him live.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII.
+
+OLGA IN A NEW LIGHT.
+
+I walked back to my rooms as I wished to cool my head and think.  The
+interview with Christian Tueski had excited me, and what was of more
+importance, had kindled a hope that after all I might be able to escape
+the tremendous difficulties that encompassed me.
+
+One thing in particular pleased me, for it was a double-edged knife
+loosening two sets of the complications.  It was the promise I had
+given to the man to respect his wife so long as he kept faith with me.
+This gave me power over him, and what was of infinitely greater value
+to me personally, it was a shrewd defence against the wife also.
+
+I smiled as I thought of the ingenuity of this; but I little thought
+what would be the actual result.  It seemed then the shrewdest and
+cleverest, as well as the most daring thing I had done; but in the end
+the consequences were such as might properly have followed an act of
+the grossest stupidity and villainy possible.  For the moment it
+pleased me, however, and I was in truth finding the keenest pleasure in
+this parrying of the thrusts which the fates were making at me.
+
+There was a problem I could not solve, however, in the question of the
+power which seemed to be behind the Chief of the Police; the power
+which made him apparently afraid to strike me openly though so willing
+to trip me secretly.  I could not imagine what it could be, nor whence
+it could come.
+
+When I reached my rooms my sister and Paula Tueski were waiting for me
+in the greatest anxiety; and both were overjoyed to see me safe and
+apparently in high spirits.  The police agents had been for the fellow
+I had left under lock and key; and Olga had taken care to carry out my
+instructions to the letter.  Her quick instincts had warned her, and
+she had made a parade of almost affectionate friendship for the other
+woman during the time the men had been present.
+
+After I arrived she could scarcely take her eyes off me, and I saw them
+glistening as with tears.
+
+"I will take you home, directly," I said, carelessly, as a brother
+might speak.  "But I have something to say first to Madame Tueski; so
+you must wait for a few minutes."
+
+A look of reproach nearly found expression in hasty words, but
+remembering herself she said hastily, acting the part to the life:--
+
+"Oh, you're always so mysterious, Alexis.  I've no patience with you."
+
+Then I led the other into my second sitting-room and told her much of
+what had passed: and when I came to that part of the interview that
+immediately concerned herself, she was very bitter and angry.
+
+"You think I am a pawn to be moved where you like in your game; of no
+account, and the meanest thing on the board.  You and he are both alike
+in that--but wait.  Your life is mine, Alexis.  I have told you."
+
+"But you must surely see that the first consideration must be all our
+lives--to say nothing of our safety," I answered, rather roughly, I
+fear, and very unsympathetically.  Her heroics rasped me.  "What the
+deuce is the good of your loving me if your husband shuts me up in a
+dungeon, or sends me dancing to Siberia, or causes a dagger to let out
+my life blood?"
+
+"You mean to keep the word you gave him?"
+
+"Certainly, so long as he keeps his."
+
+She fixed her large lustrous eyes on me and let them rest on me during
+a long pause of silence.
+
+"You and he together will drive me to some desperate deed," she said,
+at length, very slowly.  "Then perhaps you will learn what a love like
+mine will dare for your sake.  I cannot and will not bear this
+separation."
+
+She wearied me with these protests, but I said nothing and went on to
+question her as to whether there was any power behind her husband
+influencing him in regard to me.  She knew nothing, but admitted that
+she had her suspicions.
+
+I told her next that while he was trying to assassinate me, she might
+find the tables turned on him, as there was a Nihilist plot on foot to
+assassinate him.  She paid little heed to it at first, saying that
+there had been many such schemes formed, all of which had proved
+abortive, because he was most carefully and continuously guarded.  A
+moment later, however, her manner changed a little, and she questioned
+me somewhat closely concerning the matter.
+
+"They don't choose their agents shrewdly in these things," she said,
+"and we hear too soon of their designs.  They should choose a man like
+you, Alexis."  She seemed to speak with a hidden meaning, and I was
+doubtful whether she knew anything; but I kept my doubts to myself.
+
+"If they had done that, I had a rare chance to-night," I answered.
+
+"A bold man or a reckless woman makes the chance," she retorted in the
+same manner.  "I am going, Alexis:" she added, and then forced on me
+caresses which were vastly repulsive.  But I could not reveal my true
+feelings until I had at any rate placed Olga in safety.  My
+indifference and coldness were apparent to the woman, and she upbraided
+me with a burst of angry passion, till I had to patch up a sort of
+peace.
+
+We went back to Olga and soon afterwards drove away, Olga and I setting
+the other down at her door.
+
+So long as Madame Tueski was with us, Olga maintained the part of the
+impatient sister; but as soon as we were alone her manner changed
+altogether.
+
+"I had to send for you this evening," I said, "And you saved me from a
+situation of great difficulty and hazard by coming so promptly.  I
+thank you for having done so."
+
+No reply.  I glanced at her in the gloomy light in the cab and saw the
+profile set hard and immobile, with the lips pressed closely together.
+
+"Storm signals out," thought I.
+
+"I was saying I thanked you.  You acted with rare discretion and did me
+a great service."
+
+Not a word.
+
+"You were not so silent just now."  I hazarded.
+
+"I was acting--with discretion."  She repeated my word with that relish
+and enjoyment which a well regulated mind always feels about a telling
+sarcasm.
+
+"And what sort of discretion is this?" I retorted, laughing.
+
+She was silent again.
+
+"I have a good deal to tell you in explanation."
+
+"I have no wish to hear anything, thank you," she interposed.  "I can
+trust your discretion"--much emphasis again on the word--"as completely
+as you can mine.  I am glad to have been of _use_ to you and Madame
+Tueski."  She threw the word "use" at me as if it had been a bomb to be
+exploded in my face.
+
+"What have I done that's wrong?  I'm very sorry," I said.
+
+"I beg you not to apologise.  You never used to, and as you appear to
+be slipping back into your old habits it would be out of character to
+apologise--to me.  I am only to be used."
+
+"I don't a bit understand you."
+
+There was a moment's silence, and then she could contain her
+indignation no longer and burst out with the cause of it.
+
+"Why didn't you send me home immediately you returned?  You could
+surely have given me your servant as an escort.  Then you would have
+spared me the shame and humiliation of waiting during your private
+interchange of confidences with that woman."
+
+At that instant we stopped at her house.
+
+"Please not to come in to-night," she said.  "I have had to keep
+certain things waiting here while I was being of _use_ to you, and was
+sitting alone in your rooms; and I have now very much to do."
+
+"I am sorry to trouble you; but I am coming in.  This thing must be
+cleared up at once;" and I followed my very angry sister into the house.
+
+She led the way to a small drawing-room and turning to me said coldly:--
+
+"I am ready to hear what you wish to say."
+
+I had been thinking quickly during the interval, and now changed my
+point of attack.
+
+"I had a very serious thing to say.  You gave me your promise...."
+
+"I would rather you would not remind me of any promises," she
+interrupted.  This was said deliberately; but then she broke through
+her cold formality, and with a little stamp of her foot finished
+angrily:--"I won't keep them.  I won't be reminded of them.  Things are
+altered--altogether altered."
+
+"What I was going to say is..." I began, when she broke in again.
+
+"I won't hear it.  I don't want to hear any more.  I wish you'd go
+away."
+
+"You must hear me," I said quietly, but with some authority in my tone.
+
+"'Must!'  I don't understand you."
+
+"Must--for your own safety."
+
+"Thank you.  I can protect myself.  Your other cares and
+responsibilities have a prior claim on you.  Will you please leave me
+now?"
+
+"No, I can't go, until I've told you...."
+
+"I will not listen!  Didn't I tell you?"  She was vehemence itself.
+
+I shrugged my shoulders in despair.
+
+"This morning..." I began; but the moment I opened my lips she broke
+out again with her vehement interruptions.
+
+"Ah, things were different this morning.  I had not then been insulted.
+Do you forget I am a Russian; and think you can treat me as you
+will--keep me waiting while--bah! it is unbearable.  Will you go away?
+Is there no sense of manliness in you that will make you leave me?
+Must I call for assistance?  I will do that if you do not leave me.
+You can write what you have to say.  But, please, spare me the pain of
+seeing you again."
+
+Her words cut me to the quick; but they roused me also.
+
+"You had better call for assistance," I answered firmly.  Then I
+crossed to the door, locked it, and put the key in my pocket.  "I will
+spare you the pain of another interview; but now that I am here, I
+decline to go until I have explained."
+
+"You cannot explain," she burst in.  The word seemed to madden her.
+
+"Cannot explain what?"
+
+"That woman's kisses!"
+
+The words appeared to leap from her lips involuntarily; and she
+repented them as soon as uttered; and drawing herself up she tried to
+appear cold and stolid.  But this attempt failed completely; and in her
+anger at the thought behind the words and with herself for having given
+it utterance, she stood looking at me, her bosom heaving and tossing
+with agitation and her face and eyes aglow with an emotion, which with
+a strange delight, I saw was jealousy.
+
+There came a long pause, during which I recalled her manner and the way
+she had played with my words, during one of our rides when we had
+spoken of Devinsky's proposal to make her his wife.
+
+I have always been slow to read women's hearts and have generally read
+them wrong; but I began to study this with a sense of new and peculiar
+pleasure.
+
+She was getting very dear to me for a sister.
+
+If my guess was right, my conduct with that infernal women, Paula
+Tueski, must have been gall and wormwood to Olga.
+
+How should I have relished it had the position been reversed, and
+Devinsky been in Paula Tueski's place?
+
+These thoughts which flashed across me in rapid succession produced a
+peculiar frame of mind.  I had stood a minute in silence, not looking
+at her, and when I raised my eyes again I was conscious of sensations
+toward her, that were altogether different from anything I had felt
+before.  She had become more beautiful than ever in my eyes; I, more
+eagerly anxious to please and appease; while at bottom there was a
+dormant fear that I might be mistaken in my new reading of her actions,
+in which was mixed up another fear, not nearly so strong, that her
+anger on account of Paula Tueski might really end in our being
+separated.
+
+My first act shewed the change in me.
+
+I ceased to feel the freedom with which I had hitherto acted the part
+of brother, and I immediately threw open the door and stood aside that
+she might go out if she wished.  Then I said:--
+
+"Perhaps you are right.  My conduct may be inexcusable even to save
+your life."
+
+Whether there was anything in my manner that touched her--I was
+conscious of speaking with much less confidence than usual; or whether
+it was the act of unfastening the door: or whether, again, some subtle
+influence had set her thoughts moving in parallel columns to mine, I do
+not know.  But her own manner changed quite as suddenly as mine; and
+when she caught my eyes on her, she flushed and paled with effects that
+made her radiantly beautiful to me.
+
+She said not a word; and finding this, I continued:--
+
+"I am sorry a cloud has come between us at the last, and through
+something that was not less hateful to me because forced by the needs
+of the case.  We have been such friends; but...." here I handed her the
+permit--"you must use this at once."
+
+She took it and read it slowly in silence, and then asked:--
+
+"How did you get this?"
+
+"Myself, personally, from the Chief of the Police."
+
+"Why did you run the mad risk of going to him yourself?"
+
+"There was no risk--not so much in going to him as in keeping away from
+him.  He had tried to have me murdered, and I went to find out the
+reason."
+
+"I told you I would not leave."
+
+"Unless--and the condition now applies--it was necessary for my safety."
+
+"And you?"  The light of fear was in her eyes as she asked this.
+
+"As soon as you are across the frontier I shall make a dash for my
+liberty also.  I can't go before, because my absence would certainly
+bring you under suspicion."
+
+She looked at me again very intently, her head bent slightly forward
+and her lips parted with the strain of a new thought; while suspicion
+of my motive chased the fear for my safety from her face.
+
+"Is this to get me out of the way?  I won't go!"
+
+"Olga!"
+
+All my honour for myself and my love for her were in that note of
+reproach, and they appeared to waken an echo; for then this most
+strange girl threw herself down on to a couch and burying her face in
+her hands sobbed passionately.
+
+I turned away from the sight of her emotion--the more painful because
+of the strong self-reserve and force of character she had always
+shewn--and paced up and down the room.  I forced back my own feelings
+and the desire to tell her what those feelings were.  To do that would
+be worse than madness.  Till we were out of Russia, we were brother and
+sister and the bar between us was heavier than we could hope to move.
+
+When the storm of her sobs ceased, she remained for some minutes quite
+still: and I would not break the silence, knowing she was fighting her
+way back to self-possession.
+
+Presently, she got up and came to me, holding out her hand.
+
+"I will go, Alexis--we are still firm friends?"--with a little smile of
+wistful interrogation.  "Can you forgive my temper?  I was mad for the
+moment, I think.  But I trust you.  I do indeed, absolutely.  I know
+you had no thought of insulting me.  I know that.  I couldn't think so
+meanly of you.  It's hard to leave--Russia--and--and everything.  And
+you, too--at this time.  Must I really go?"  A half-beseeching glance
+into my eyes and a pause for the answer I could not give.  "Very well.
+I know what your silence means.  Come to-morrow morning--and say"--she
+stopped again and bit her trembling lips to steady them as she framed
+the word--"and say--goodbye to me.  And now, please, let me go--brother
+and truest friend."
+
+She wrung my hand, and then before I could prevent her or even guess
+her intention, she pressed her lips to it and, with the tears again in
+her eyes, she went quickly away, leaving me to stare after her like a
+helpless fool, longing to call her back and tell her everything, and
+yet afraid.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV.
+
+THE DEED WHICH RANG THROUGH RUSSIA.
+
+It was not destined that Olga should leave Russia yet.
+
+A terrible event happened within the next few hours, the report of
+which rang through Russia like a clap of thunder, convulsing the whole
+nation, and shaking for the moment the entire social fabric to its
+lowest foundations.  And one of its smaller consequences was to ruin my
+plans and expose me to infinite personal peril.
+
+Olga was to start at noon, and I proposed to see her an hour before
+then, for what I knew would be a very trying ordeal.  But I was at that
+hour in the midst of a very different kind of interview.
+
+Outside official circles I was one of the first men to learn the news.
+Just before ten o'clock a messenger came with a request for me to go at
+once to the chief Police Bureau.  I started in the full conviction that
+for some cause Tueski had changed his mind and meant to arrest me.  I
+was of course helpless: and could do no more than scribble a hasty line
+to Olga telling her of my appointment, asking her not to wait for me,
+and bidding her good-bye.  But I did not send it.  The police agent
+said with great politeness he would prefer my not doing anything then:
+I could send the note equally well from the Bureau.  I knew what that
+meant, and yielded.
+
+The moment I arrived at the office I could see that some event of
+altogether unusual importance and gravity had occurred.  The air was
+laden with the suggestion of excitement.  There was an absence of that
+orderly, business-like routine always characteristic of Russian public
+offices.  The police agents were present in exceptionally large
+numbers; hurrying through the corridors, thronging the rooms, and
+standing in groups engaged in animated discussion.
+
+I was kept waiting some time, perhaps half an hour, before a word was
+spoken to me by anyone in authority; and then I was ushered into the
+presence of a man I did not know.
+
+"I am sorry to trouble you, Lieutenant Petrovitch, but there are one or
+two questions you can answer--and I need not say that as a Russian
+officer, bearing the Emperor's commission, we shall look to you to
+reply very fully."
+
+I bowed.  It was a fit preface to a conversation which should end as
+such things generally did.  But at any rate I should learn what they
+intended to do with me.  Before he spoke again I asked that the letter
+I had written to Olga might be sent; but he put the question aside,
+with a curt reply that it could wait until the Emperor's business was
+finished; and again I bowed in acquiescence.  I could do nothing.
+
+"Please to tell me exactly what passed between you and M. Tueski
+yesterday," he said.  "And particularly how you obtained the permits
+for yourself and sister.  I invite you to be particularly frank."
+
+The question startled me.  I couldn't understand it.
+
+"Your question surprises me," I replied, to gain a little time to
+think.  "M. Tueski himself knows, and can surely tell you everything."
+
+"I ask my questions in the name of the Emperor, sir," returned my
+examiner, sternly.
+
+"M. Tueski had done me the honour of trying to have me murdered, and I
+went to see him to demand the reason.  He did not deny it.  I persuaded
+him in the end to abandon his private malice and prevailed upon him to
+give me the permits for myself and my sister to leave Russia for a
+while.  When he had given them to me I left him."
+
+"Where are they?"
+
+"Here is one.  The other is with my sister, who leaves Moscow at
+midday."
+
+"You may stop her attempting to leave.  It will be useless.  What else
+passed?"  And he then plunged into a close cross-examination of me, the
+real object of which I could not guess, unless it meant that Tueski had
+in some way got into a mess for letting me have the permits.  I
+answered all the questions as fully as possible, taking care only to
+avoid mentioning Paula Tueski's name in connection with the compact
+with her husband.
+
+To my surprise I seemed to satisfy the man for the time.  When he had
+about turned me inside out, he sat for some minutes looking over my
+answers and comparing them with some of his notes: after which he
+remained thinking closely.
+
+"What did you do after leaving M. Tueski?"
+
+"I went straight to my rooms to my sister and Madame Tueski; together
+we drove Madame Tueski to her house; I then went home with my sister,
+remained there about an hour, or perhaps less; and went home and to
+bed."
+
+"You have told me all you know, Lieutenant?"
+
+"You can ask M. Tueski," I returned.
+
+He fixed his eyes steadily on me while I could have counted twenty, and
+then said slowly and with deep emphasis:--
+
+"M. Tueski is dead."
+
+"Dead!" I repeated in the profoundest surprise.
+
+"Murdered.  Found this morning in the lower part of his own house with
+a dagger thrust through his heart."
+
+"Murdered?"  I could scarcely believe my ears.
+
+"Yes.  'For Freedom's sake'," said the man with a curl of the lip.  "At
+least, so a message on the dagger said.  Now you can understand the
+significance of my questions."
+
+I understood it all well enough: far better than the man himself even
+imagined; and I was completely beaten as to what the inner meaning of
+this most terrible event could be.
+
+One of my first reflections was that if any of the suspicions of my
+Nihilism, which the dead man entertained, were chronicled anywhere, my
+arrest and that of Olga would certainly follow; and we should both be
+doomed.
+
+"I can scarcely realise it," I said.  "It is horrible!"
+
+"So these wretches will find," returned my interlocutor.  "These
+carrion!  But now, in view of this--and I have told you because of the
+candid manner in which you have answered my questions--is there
+anything you noticed in your visit yesterday to help us."
+
+Clearly, he did not suspect me; and no records had been found yet.
+
+"No.  The place seemed alive with inmates--like a rabbit warren.
+Enough to have held it against a regiment.  Good God, what villains!" I
+cried in horror.  Mine was genuine feeling enough, for some of the
+terrible effects to myself were fast crowding into my thoughts.  I
+recalled my encounter with my Nihilist comrade on the very threshold of
+the house.
+
+"Of course, those permits will be withdrawn now, Lieutenant," said the
+official as he dismissed me.  But his manner was much less severe and
+curt than at the outset.  "As a matter of fact they ought never to have
+been granted, though I cannot explain why just now.  But under the
+circumstances you will probably feel personally unwilling to leave
+Russia at such a juncture."
+
+"I should feel myself a traitor," said I, grandiloquently; and in fact
+I did feel very much like one as I left him, rejoicing that I still
+breathed the fresh air of heaven instead of the foetid atmosphere of a
+gaol.
+
+One thing was certain now--neither Olga nor I could hope to escape yet.
+Any attempt would be fatal.  The murder of such a man would mean that
+the lurid search light of suspicion would fall in all directions, on
+the guilty and guiltless alike.  The liberty certainly, and probably
+the life, of every suspected Nihilist in Moscow at the moment were at
+stake: and the slightest trip or false step on our part would amount to
+a direct invitation to ruin.
+
+As I walked back sadly and thoughtfully to my rooms, I had abundant
+proofs of the terrible effects of the assassination.  The police agents
+were everywhere, watching, raiding, arresting; and in my short walk I
+met more than one gloomy party of them, each with its one or two
+prisoners in their midst, hurrying on foot or in hired carriages to the
+police stations.
+
+It is not my business, however, to describe here the scenes that
+followed the most daring, most secret, most thrilling, and save one,
+most terrible assassination that ever convulsed Russia.  The murder of
+the Czar stirred the surface of the world more, because it had more of
+the pageantry of crime about it; but the death of the Chief of the
+Secret Police caused a much deeper sense of insecurity, and spread a
+far greater dread of the secret power of Nihilism.
+
+Who had done it?  To me it was an inscrutable mystery; unless it had
+been the man I had seen near the house.  But what I had to consider was
+not whose hand had driven the dagger home, but rather what the effects
+would be to me and to her for whose safety I now felt more fears and
+concern than I had felt for myself in all my life.
+
+One incident in the interview I had just had impressed me greatly: the
+reference which the official had dropped as to the power behind Tueski
+in dealing with me.  My questioner had seemed to know about it that
+morning: and all this perplexed me.
+
+As soon as I reached my rooms I had to hurry off to the barracks in
+response to an urgent summons; and I joined readily in the excited
+conversation of my comrades about this latest Nihilist stroke.  The
+news was only beginning to leak out, and it assumed the wildest shapes;
+nor did I feel at liberty to reduce the rumours to facts.
+
+Before the morning's work was over orders came that the troops were to
+be paraded for duty in the streets: and we were told off for patrol
+work in different parts of the city to protect the railway stations,
+and other public buildings.  All that day we were kept on duty; and as
+other troops came pouring in from other centres the whole place seemed
+under arms like a beleaguered town.
+
+All day and all night the raids and surprise visits by the police were
+in progress, and hundreds, if not thousands of men and women must have
+been arrested, until the gaols were crowded to suffocation point, and
+every spot where prisoners could be packed was crammed and choked with
+suspects.
+
+The cries and curses of men and the shrieks of women made the air
+stifling.
+
+We were not relieved until late at night, having been all day without
+food; and even then we were kept in the barracks in readiness for any
+disturbance.
+
+The next day's programme was much the same; and I fretted at not being
+able to either see or send to Olga.  Knowing of her brother's Nihilism
+she would surely think I had been arrested; while I on my side was
+afraid for her.
+
+In the afternoon of the third day we got leave from duty and from
+barracks for a few hours; and I went straight off to Olga.  Meanwhile
+not a hint had been obtained as to the identity of the assassin.
+
+I found Olga white and wan and ill on my account; and when we met I was
+on my side almost too moved for speech.  At first I could do no more
+than glance into her eyes as we clasped each the other's hand.
+
+"You are looking frightfully ill, Olga," I said at length.
+
+She returned my look without a word and then her brow contracted, she
+breathed deeply as if in pain, and turning away wrung her hands with a
+gesture of despair.
+
+"What is the matter?  What has happened to you?  There must be
+something..."  I stopped, or rather the sight of the white face all
+drawn and quivering with pain stopped me.
+
+"Oh, it is too horrible, too awful!  God have mercy on us!  God have
+mercy on us!"
+
+Bad as things were so far as I knew them, this dejection seemed
+disproportionate and excessive.  She was like a mad woman distraught
+with fear or grief; and she waved her hands about as if wrestling with
+emotions she could not conquer.
+
+"Oh, it can't be true; it can't be," she moaned; and then came suddenly
+to me, turned my face to the light holding it between her white
+trembling hands, and gazed at me with a look of mingled anguish, fear,
+doubt, wildness, and--love; her lips parted and her bosom rising and
+falling as if with the strain of her passionate feelings.
+
+When her scrutiny was over, her hands seemed to slip down and she fell
+on her knees close to me and I heard her muttering prayers with
+vehement fervour.
+
+"What does this mean, Olga?" I asked gently, bending down and laying my
+hand on her shoulder.  She looked round and up at my touch, and tried
+to smile.  Then she rose and standing opposite to me, put her hands on
+my two shoulders so that her face was close beneath mine.  And all the
+time she was muttering prayers.  Then, in a voice all broken and
+tremulous, she said:--
+
+"Brother, swear as you believe there is a God in Heaven, you will
+answer truly what I ask."
+
+"I will.  I swear it," I answered, wishing to quiet her.
+
+"Did you really do this?"
+
+"Do what?" I asked, not understanding.
+
+"Kill Christian Tueski?"
+
+"Did I kill him?  No, child, certainly not."  I spoke in the greatest
+astonishment.
+
+"Oaths may bind you to secrecy, I know.  But for God's sake, tell me
+the truth--the truth.  You can tell me.  I am...."  I felt her shudder.
+
+"Is it this which has been driving you distracted?  There is no cause.
+I know no more by whose hand that man came by his death than a babe
+unborn."
+
+"Say that again, Alexis.  Say it again.  It is the sweetest music I
+have heard in all my life."
+
+I repeated the assurance, and a smile of genuine relief broke out over
+her face.  Next she cried and laughed and cried again, and then sat
+down as if completely overcome by the rush of relief from a too heavy
+strain.
+
+"What does all this mean?" I asked quietly, after a while.  "Try and
+tell me."
+
+"I have been like a mad thing for two days.  Let me wait awhile.  I
+will tell you presently.  Oh, thank God, thank God for what you have
+said.  It drove me mad to think you should have been driven to this by
+me; and that perhaps for my sake you might have been urged to do such a
+horrible thing.  Waking and sleeping alike I have thought of nothing
+but of your suffering torture and death.  And all through me--through
+me."  She covered her face in horror at the remembrance of her
+thoughts: but a moment later took away her hands to smile at me.
+
+"You have not told me yet what made you think anything of the sort."
+
+"I will tell you.  As soon as I heard the news, I knew of course that
+as I had been mixed up in some old Nihilist troubles, it would be
+hopeless for me to think of leaving Moscow; and when the police agent
+came I let him understand that I had given up all thought of travelling
+yet.  Then I was all anxiety for news of you, and in the afternoon I
+went to your rooms.  I found the door shut and could hear nothing.
+Then I began to fear for you.  I am only a woman."
+
+She stopped and smiled to me before resuming.  Then with a shudder she
+continued:--
+
+"Then a most strange thing happened, Borlas came to me just at dusk;
+and he looked so strange that at first I thought he had been drinking.
+Saying he had a message from you he waited until I had sent the servant
+away.
+
+"'What is it?' I asked.
+
+"For answer he gave me a sign that made my heart sink.  I knew it too
+well, and I looked at him with the keenest scrutiny.  Had the Nihilists
+put a spy on you even in your own servant?  Then I saw--that it was not
+Borlas, but a man so cleverly made up to resemble him that I had been
+at first deceived.
+
+"'What do you want here?' I asked, now with every nerve in my body at
+full tension.
+
+"'Do you know?' and the light in his eyes seemed to flash into mine.
+
+"'Do I know what?'  I could see there was something behind all this.
+
+"He bent close to me, though we were of course alone, and spoke his
+reply in a fierce whisper.
+
+"'Tell your brother that after this proof our hearts beat but for him;
+our plans shall all wait on him; every man of us will go to his death
+silently and cheerfully at his mere bidding.  He leads, we follow.  He
+has nobly kept his pledge for the cause of God and Freedom.'
+
+"As I heard this my heart seemed to stop in pain.  I had to hold to the
+table to save myself from falling."
+
+"'Do you mean,' I gasped, 'that Alexis has murdered....'
+
+"'Silence, sister,' replied the man sternly.  'That is no word for you
+to utter or for me to hear.  Your brother is as true a friend as
+Russian Liberty ever had; and I thank my God that I have ever been
+allowed to even touch the hand that has dealt this vigorous blow and
+done this noble and righteous act.'
+
+"'I will tell him,' I said.
+
+"'Tell him also, he need have no fear.  Not a man who was at the
+meeting is in the city now, save me; and not a single soul of the
+thousands these hell dogs of tyranny can seize knows anything--save
+only me.  And I would to the Almighty God they would take me and
+torture me and tear my flesh off bit by bit with their cursed red-hot
+pincers that I might use my last breath and my latest effort to taunt
+them that I know the hero who has done it, and die with my knowledge a
+secret.'
+
+"Then this terrible man, you may not know his name, but I know him,
+left me, telling me it was 'a glorious day for Russia, and that God
+would smile for ever upon you for this deed.'  And I--I was plunged
+into a maelstrom of agonising fears, racking doubts, and poisoned
+thoughts about you and what I had led you to do."
+
+What Olga said had also immense importance and significance for me.  It
+shewed me a startling view of my situation.  It was clear the Nihilists
+attributed the murder to me, and what effect that would have upon us I
+was at a loss even to conjecture.
+
+"The man's blood is not on my hands, Olga; but I cannot be surprised at
+the mistake.  I will tell you everything;" and I told her then all that
+had passed.
+
+"Who can have done it then?" she asked, when I finished.
+
+"It is as complete a mystery to me as to the police.  The man I saw
+near the house might have done it; but then I suppose it must have been
+the same man who came to you: and in that case he certainly wouldn't
+have set it down to me.  I am beaten.  But I am likely to find the
+wrongful inheritance embarrassing.  I must be more cautious than ever
+to draw down no word of suspicion upon either of us.  We must both be
+scrupulously careful.  And thus it will be impossible for you to think
+of getting away."
+
+"It's a leaden sky that has no silver streak," replied Olga.  "And that
+impossibility is my streak."
+
+I could not but understand this, and even while my judgment condemned
+her, my heart was warmed by her words.  But my judgment spoke.
+
+"If you were away my anxieties would be all but ended."
+
+"If I were away my anxieties would be all but unendurable," she
+retorted, following my words and smiling.  It was not possible to hear
+this with anything but delight; but I had my feelings too well under
+control now to let them be seen easily.
+
+"That may be," I said.  "But my first and chief effort will be to get
+you safe across the frontier."
+
+She made no answer: but her manner told me she would not consent to go
+until it had become a rank impossibility for her to stay.  Presently
+she said with much feeling:--
+
+"If I had been away and the news had come that you had done the thing
+these men assert, how do you think I could have borne it?  I should
+have either come rushing back here or have died of remorse and fear and
+anxiety on your account.  It was through me you commenced all this."
+
+"But of my own choice that I continued," I replied.  "And believe me,
+if all were to come over again I should act in just the same way.  I
+have never had such a glorious time before; and all I want now is to
+see you safe."
+
+Olga paused to look at me steadily.
+
+"You've never told me all the reason why you were so ready to take all
+these desperate risks.  Will you tell me now?"
+
+"I had made a mess of things generally, as I told you before," I
+answered, with a smile and a slight flush at the reminiscences thus
+disturbed by her question.
+
+"Was there a woman in it?" Her eyes were fixed on me as she put the
+question.
+
+"There's a woman in most things," I answered, equivocally.
+
+"Yes, I suppose so."  She turned away and looked down, and asked next:--
+
+"Were you very fond of her, Alexis?"
+
+"Judging by the little ripple that remains on the surface now that
+she's gone out of my life, no: judging by the splash the stone made at
+first, yes.  But she's gone."
+
+"Yet the waters of the pool may be left permanently clouded.  I am
+sorry for you, Alexis: and if you were really my brother, I would try
+and help you two together."
+
+"That's not altogether a very proper thing to say."  I spoke lightly,
+and she looked up to question me.  "Her husband might not thank you, I
+mean: though I'm not quite sure about that;" and then having told her
+so much, I told her the story of my last meeting with Sir Philip
+Cargill and Edith.  But she did not take it as I wished.
+
+"You must have loved her if you meant to kill her," she said.
+
+"And ceased then, if I left her to live a miserable life."
+
+"I should like to see the woman you have ceased to love," she said,
+woman-like in curiosity--and something else.
+
+"You may do that yet, if only Alexis Petrovitch can make a safe way for
+his sister out of Russia;" and then I added, pausing and looking at her
+with a meaning in my eyes which I wished her to understand though I
+dared not put it in plain words:--"But we shall not be brother and
+sister then."
+
+She glanced up hurriedly, her face aglow with a sudden rush of
+thought--pleasurable thought too--and then looked down again and smiled.
+
+"In that case how should we two be together?" she asked.
+
+"Do you mean that such a time as this will be likely to render us ready
+to part?"
+
+To that her only answer was another glance and a deeper blush.  Then I
+made an effort and recovered myself on the very verge.
+
+"But while we are here, we are brother and sister, Olga;" and feeling
+that if I wished to keep other things unsaid I had better go away, I
+left her.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV.
+
+A SHE DEVIL.
+
+The more I contemplated the position the less I liked it, and the more
+urgent appeared the reasons for hurrying Olga out of the country.
+
+All my care was for her.  Before this new feeling of mine for her had
+forced itself upon me, the situation had been really a game of wits
+with my life as the stake; but now Olga's life, or at least her
+liberty, was also at stake.  It was there the crisis pinched me till I
+winced and writhed under it.  Fear had got hold of me at last and I
+tugged restlessly at the chain.
+
+That night and the next day, the day of Christian Tueski's funeral,
+were occupied with heavy duties, because the authorities, both military
+and civil, persisted in believing there was danger of an émeute.  I
+could have counselled them differently if I had dared to open my lips.
+At least I thought I could; although I did not then hold the key to the
+mystery.
+
+I got it from Paula Tueski.
+
+In the afternoon of the day but one after the funeral, I had a brief
+note asking me to call on her.
+
+I went and found her surrounded by all the signs and trappings of the
+deepest mourning.  She received me very gravely, and while there was
+anyone in the room, she played the part of the sorrowing, disconsolate
+widow: but the instant we were alone she shewed a most indecent and
+revolting haste to let me know her mind.
+
+"We are alone, now, Alexis," she said.
+
+"I have called as you asked and because I wished to express my
+sympathy...."
+
+"Psh!  Don't let us be hypocrites, you and I," she exclaimed, half
+angrily, and with great energy.  "I do not pretend to you that I am
+sorry to be free, and don't you pretend to me either."
+
+I didn't answer, and my silence irritated her.
+
+"Would you have me weep, tear my hair, put ashes on my head and grovel
+in the dust because the biggest villain and coward and beast that ever
+lived in human shape is dead?  I hated him living; shall I love him
+dead?"
+
+"At least the dead are dead, and to revile them is mere empty
+brutality," said I, somewhat harshly.
+
+"Then I like empty brutality if it relieves my feelings.  God!  I have
+been a hypocrite long enough.  I should hate myself if I did not speak
+the truth to you."
+
+I shrugged my shoulders.  I had no answer.
+
+"Why didn't you send a wreath of pure white flowers as an emblem of
+your regard?  Why not a message to swell the millions of lies that men
+have uttered in their squalid fear of offending the Government by
+silence?  Ugh!  It makes me sick when I think of it all;" and she
+shuddered as if in disgust.  "He was a devil, and I won't call him by
+any softer name merely because his power to harm is gone.  Didn't he
+try to murder you?  And wasn't it jealousy?  Ah, we have much to be
+thankful to the Nihilists for, you and I."  There was an indescribable
+suggestion of a hidden meaning about this.
+
+I hated the woman.
+
+"You have no clue yet, I suppose?"
+
+"Yes, I have a clue," she replied, with a laugh that sounded like a
+threat.  "I can put my hand on the murderer when I will--and I will, if
+he proves a traitor."
+
+"You are in a dramatic mood," I answered.  "Who is the man?  Why not
+denounce him?  Surely this act is what you must call treachery."
+
+"There was a Nihilist plot to kill the man," she said, speaking with
+contemptuous flippancy of accent of the dead.
+
+"Yes, I told you that myself," I replied.
+
+"It was because of that he died."
+
+"So everybody thinks."
+
+"And how do you account for it?" she asked, looking at me keenly.
+
+"I have no more idea than yourself."
+
+She laughed; and a hard forced laugh it was.  Then she got up from her
+chair and walked twice up and down the room in dead silence.  She
+stopped in front of me and stared down into my eyes.
+
+"Alexis, do you really love me?"
+
+The question was an exceedingly unpleasant one and filled me with
+disgust.
+
+"Surely this is no time for us to speak of such things," I said.
+
+"Do you love me, Alexis," she repeated.
+
+"I will not answer now," I said, rising.
+
+"Why not?  Why should we not speak of love now--now, aye, and always?
+Or is your passion so poor and sickly a thing that a puff from the wind
+of propriety kills it?  Not speak of such things!  I would plight my
+love to you across the very body of the dead man!"  She spoke with
+passionate vehemence.  "Remember what I told you--your life is mine.
+You cannot escape me.  Now, tell me, do you love me?"
+
+"I have given my answer, and if you ask that question again to-day I
+will not stop in the room," I said angrily: the woman's persistency
+increasing my disgust.
+
+She laughed--a half hysterical laugh of anger.
+
+"So you will not stop in the room and will never, I suppose, return.
+Be careful," she cried, with one of her quick passionate changes.  "Or
+I will send you away and never let you come back except begging for
+mercy on your knees for yourself and your sister."  She turned away and
+stood by the window; and I could see by her movements that she was
+struggling with violent emotions.
+
+She came back at length, the face paler and the voice not so steady.
+
+"I will ask you if you love me," she said.  "And I dare you to go away
+from the room."
+
+I accepted the challenge without an instant's hesitation.
+
+"I am going.  I will see you when you are cooler," and I went to the
+door.
+
+With a quick rush she prevented my opening it, and putting her back to
+it stared at me in the most violent passion, which thickened her voice
+as she spoke.
+
+"You shall go directly--if you wish to.  You will make me hate you, one
+day, Alexis, and then--I will kill you."
+
+"It will be far better for me to come some other time," I said, anxious
+to leave.
+
+"You will have plenty of opportunities, never fear," she retorted, with
+a very angry sneering laugh.  "And what is more, you will not dare not
+to use them.  Listen--it is love for you drives me to this--a love that
+you can never escape now, Alexis, even if you had the will."
+
+She paused; but I said nothing.  I had nothing to say.  All I wished
+was to get away.
+
+"Do you think there is anything I would not do for your love, Alexis?
+I have told you there is nothing--told you so scores of times.  Now, I
+have proved it.  Do you hear--proved it.  I proved it a few nights ago
+when this hand plunged the dagger hilt deep into my husband's
+heart--for your sake."
+
+I started back and looked at the woman in horror.
+
+"Yes, this hand"--she held it out--"so white, smooth, deft, and
+shapely.  Don't start from it.  There is no blood shewing on it now.
+And never was.  I know how to thrust a dagger home too cleverly to
+leave a trace of either blood or guilt on me.  In all this Moscow of
+ours the one person who is deemed above all others guiltless--is
+myself.  Had it been in reality the Nihilist deadly secret stroke that
+men deem it, it could not have been more cunningly contrived, more
+secretly planned, more fatally executed.  Yet the motive was not hate
+of a Government, but love for a man.  For you, Alexis: you and you
+only.  Now do you wish to go?"
+
+She moved away from the door; but I made no attempt to go.  The horror
+of her story had fascinated me.
+
+"There was a tinge of hate in it, too, mark you, and more than a tinge.
+But I'll tell you all.  You ought to know, since you were in reality
+the cause of all.  You gave me the motive, suggested the occasion, and
+provoked that which led to it.  More than that, too, you can by a
+single word from me be made to bear the brunt.  Now, will you go?"
+
+Was the woman mad that she spoke in this way?  If so, there was a
+devilish method in her madness, as the story she told quickly shewed me.
+
+"I knew the day would come when either I should kill him or he would
+kill me; for he was a devil.  Well, you roused all that was most evil,
+vicious, and fiendish in him in that interview; and when I saw him he
+was like a man bereft of his wits.  Every form of reproach he could
+heap on me in cold, contemptuous, galling sneers he uttered with all
+the calculated aggravation that could make a taunt unbearable.  He
+threatened me in every tone of menace: and when I answered, turned
+suddenly furious and struck me violent blows and vowed to kill me.  It
+was then I recalled your words, that there was a Nihilist plot against
+his life; and I vowed I would be the means of carrying it out; for I
+knew I could easily put suspicion away from me.  I lured him cunningly
+to that part of the house where he was found, plunged the dagger into
+his breast, put into his pocket the forged warning of a Nihilist
+attack, opened the house at a point where a man could have entered,
+fastened to the dagger the Nihilist watchword, and then crept away to
+my own rooms."
+
+"It was a hellish plot," I exclaimed, hotly.
+
+"It was inspired by love for you, Alexis.  It was truly 'For Freedom's
+sake.'  Freedom that should unite us for ever."
+
+"Do you think I could ever be anything to a woman whose hand is red
+with murder?" I cried, in indignant horror.
+
+"It was done for you--for love of you, Alexis."
+
+"Love has no kin with murder," I exclaimed, bitterly.
+
+"Your life is mine, remember," she answered, firmly.  Her determination
+and strength were inexhaustible.  "This makes you ten thousand times
+more surely mine than ever.  I told you you were the cause--and also,
+that you could be made to bear the brunt.  Listen!  You know well
+enough what chance a Nihilist has on whom the fangs of suspicion have
+fastened.  You are a Nihilist.  Your sister is one also.  I know this.
+Well, what chance, think you, would that Nihilist have of his life
+whose dagger it was that found its way between my husband's ribs.  What
+then, if I had found the sheath of it and secreted it to save the man?
+Suppose too, that I had kept back the discovery because of my guilty
+love for him.  And further that he had come at the time to tempt my
+honour and that he was leaving the house when my husband, roused by the
+noise I made, met him; and that I saw the deed done?"  She paused and
+changed her tone to one of fierce directness, as she continued:--"The
+dagger that killed Christian Tueski is your own weapon, known by its
+sheath to a hundred people: and that sheath, with your name on it, is
+in my possession.  What chance of life would there be for you and yours
+if these things were made known.  Now, do you wish to go?"
+
+A hot and passionate reply rose to my lips, but was checked before
+uttered.  I thought of Olga, and I knew that every word this woman said
+was true--that no power in Russia could save my life or Olga's liberty
+if the tale were told now.
+
+Delay I must have at any cost.  Time in which to meet this woman's
+horrible cunning and daring plot.  If I had hated her before, she was
+now loathsome; while the fears she had stirred on Olga's account
+intensified and embittered a thousandfold my resentment.  Yet hateful
+as the task was, I was prepared to continue my part with her.
+
+"You think this love?" I said, after a pause in which she had been
+waiting breathlessly for me to speak.  "Do women love the men they hold
+to them by the tether rope of threats?"
+
+"Do women kill for the sake of men they do not love?"
+
+"Do you think to keep my love by threatening me with death?"
+
+"Have I not inflicted death to keep you?  Why do you wish to bandy
+phrases?  My deeds speak for themselves.  They shew you well enough
+what I will dare to keep you true to me.  You are mine, Alexis, and no
+power shall ever part us.  I have told you this often before.  It was
+you who sought me, who proffered me your love, who poured on me your
+caresses and roused the love in me, and roused it never to cease.  Do
+you think me a silly simple fool to be wooed and won and, when
+deserted, willing to do no more than wring my feeble hands and shed
+silly tears, and prate and maunder between my stupid sobs, that my
+heart is broken and that I fain would die--Bah!  I am not of that sort.
+I am a woman who can will and act, and fashion my own ends in my own
+way.  It is not the stream that carries me, but I who turn the stream
+even though it be mingled with blood.  No, no.  If you play me false,
+Alexis, it is you, and not I, who shall die because my heart is broken."
+
+She shewed this determination in every line of her beautiful face and
+movement of her magnificent figure, as she stood before me a lovely
+hateful type of a vengeful woman.  She changed her mood, however, with
+astonishing suddenness and turned all softness and tenderness.
+
+"But under all this lies my love," she said.  "It was love drove me to
+everything.  Your pledge, too, that made me feel, as nothing else could
+have done, the wall of separation between us while he lived; and my
+love could not endure it.  Ah, how I love you!" and then in words
+burning with the fever of passion, she spoke of her love for me,
+lingering over the terms as if the mere utterance of them were an
+ecstatic delight.  She laid all to the account of this love, and then
+went on to name her terms--that I must marry her.
+
+While she was speaking, I was thinking; trying to see some flaw in the
+devilish coil she had spread round me.  But I could see none.  Time
+might find a way: but even time she grudged, and did not mean to give.
+
+"But we can't be married now at the moment when your husband is
+scarcely lying cold in his grave," I said, aghast at her cold-blooded
+proposition.  "Every man and woman in Moscow would immediately think we
+had murdered him together in order to marry."
+
+"Every man and woman will not know," she answered calmly.  "Do you
+think there is no such thing as a secret marriage possible in this Holy
+Russia of ours, or that gold cannot buy silence here just as anywhere
+else in the world?"
+
+"I know that a secret marriage under these circumstances would put the
+lives of us both into the keeping of anyone who knew of it, however
+well you paid them.  The more you paid, indeed, the more certain the
+inference."
+
+"I care nothing for that; nor will you if you love me as you have often
+sworn you do."  She uttered this with the energy and passion which
+always were shewn when she was crossed.  But in this I was naturally as
+resolute as she.
+
+"I will not do it," I said very firmly.  "Understand me.  I will not do
+it.  It is nothing to do with love in any way at all: but simply
+self-protection.  It would be sheer suicide, and that I can do much
+more simply in other ways.  I refuse absolutely to put both our lives
+into the keeping of any man in Russia, however holy and however well
+bribed.  When we are married, it must be openly, in the light of day
+and before men's faces; and that most certainly cannot be until all
+this excitement about your husband's death has died down, and the
+marriage can take place without causing suspicion.  That must be at
+least six months hence--and probably a year or even two years."
+
+"I won't wait," she cried instantly and angrily.  "You want to break
+with me.  I am no fool."
+
+"As you will.  Then instead of marrying me you can denounce me and come
+and see me beheaded or strangled.  If you threaten me much longer," I
+said bitterly, "you will make me prefer one of the latter fates."
+
+She bent close to me, trying to read my thoughts.
+
+"And meanwhile?" she asked,
+
+"Are you such a mad woman that you would have us placard the walls of
+the city with our secrets?  Haven't we all Russia to hoodwink?  Do you
+suppose your police agents and secret agents are all fools, to see
+nothing, think nothing, infer nothing?  It may be hard for us to be
+apart, but what else is possible?  Even this visit is fool-hardiness
+itself and may set a thousand tongues clacking.  Heaven knows, if ever
+a pair of lovers had need of caution we have now!  Have you dared so
+much for our marriage only to toss it all away now just for the lack of
+a little self-control?  We must see very little of one another.  That
+is the only possible course."
+
+"I'll not consent," she cried again, vehemently, and broke out into a
+fresh storm of protests and reproaches.  But I held to my decision,
+confident that she would see she must give way.
+
+We parted without coming to any definite decision; and I was glad,
+because it spared me the infliction of those outward signs of affection
+in which she delighted to indulge and which now would have been more
+than ever repulsive.
+
+But the knowledge of the increased peril and embarrassment overwhelmed
+me with a feeling of anxious doubt and most painful and galling
+impotence.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI.
+
+THE NEXT NIHILIST PLOT.
+
+It seemed to me when I thought over my interview with Paula Tueski,
+that the complications which surrounded me could not possibly be
+increased.  It was of course hopeless to think of leaving Russia except
+by some stratagem, or in disguise; and this would be all the more
+difficult because Olga must leave first, and her flight would
+undoubtedly turn attention on me.
+
+A positively baffling set of conditions faced me therefore, whichever
+way I turned.  If I stayed on, Paula Tueski would insist on the
+marriage, and the crisis would come that way.  If I attempted to go,
+she herself would join with the police in following me, and the mere
+endeavour to fly would give just that colour to her story which would
+make all the world ready to believe it.
+
+Again, if I tried the remaining alternative of proclaiming my identity,
+I had so egregiously compromised myself that I could not hope to escape
+heavy punishment of some kind; while it would certainly implicate Olga
+and at the same time have no effect against the direct lies Paula
+Tueski was ready to swear.
+
+Above all, a great change had come over me.  I wished to live and keep
+my freedom.  The old indifference and apathy were gone.  My object now
+was to get both Olga and myself out of the country in safety; and thus
+I took diametrically opposite views of difficulties which a few days
+previously--before I had made the discovery of my love for Olga--would
+have caused me little more than a laugh of amused perplexity.
+
+Baffling as the puzzle was, however, it became infinitely more involved
+and perilous a few days later.  Two fresh complications came to kill
+even every forlorn hope.
+
+My Nihilist friends were responsible for the first.
+
+The belief that I had struck down the Chief of the Secret Police and
+had done it in a manner so secret, mysterious, and impenetrable that it
+staggered the most ingenious police spies and defied the efforts of the
+astutest detectives, surrounded me with a glamour of wholly undeserved
+and undesired reputation.
+
+The first intimation of this had reached me through Olga, and was
+followed by several others; and I received clear proof that I was now
+regarded as a sort of leader of the forlorn hopes of these wild and
+desperate men.  A man who could alone and unaided achieve what I was
+believed to have accomplished was held capable of the greatest deeds.
+So they appeared to argue; and I was accordingly picked out next for a
+task of infinite danger and hazard in a plot of even more tremendous
+consequences than that of the recent murder.
+
+It was nothing less than the assassination of the Czar.
+
+It was resolved, by whom and in what centre of the Empire I never knew,
+to follow up the murder of Christian Tueski by the greater blow, and to
+strike this with the utmost possible despatch: as a proof of the
+desperate courage and daring of the Nihilists.
+
+I was chosen to play one of the chief parts.  I had no option to
+refuse.  There was no choice given me.  The task was committed to me;
+just as a command might have been given me by my military superior
+officer.  When I attempted to decline, I was given to understand that
+refusal meant death.
+
+I was thus placed in a position of cruel difficulty and I pondered with
+close self-searching what I ought to do.  Looking back I think I made a
+blunder in not disclosing all I knew to the authorities, leaving them
+to take what steps they pleased; but in forming my decision at the time
+I was swayed by a number of considerations most difficult to weigh.
+
+One of my chief reasons for holding my tongue was that as the plot
+followed so soon after the Tueski murder--for the plans were all made
+within a week--the fact that I knew so much of Nihilist plots at such a
+time, would bring both Olga and myself under suspicion of having been
+privy to the former one.  In such a case everything I wished to win
+would be jeopardised.  A single breath of suspicion would have been
+enough to sweep us both into a gaol; and once there, no one could say
+when, if ever, we should come out; for the whole country was red-hot
+against the Nihilists, and men of the highest rank and wealth were
+rotting in gaol side by side with the most abject and destitute paupers.
+
+I was also much concerned as to my supposed past.  I knew that the old
+Alexis was gravely compromised; but what he had actually done, I did
+not know.  If any old offences were raked up I should be certain to be
+called to account for them now, while Olga would inevitably suffer with
+me.
+
+For those reasons I decided to hold my tongue and to seek my own means
+for causing the infernal scheme to miss its aim.  I reckoned that, as I
+was to have a principal part assigned to me, I could by my own effort,
+either through apparent stupidity or by wilful design, wreck the whole
+project; and with this object I thought carefully over every detail of
+it which was entrusted to me.
+
+The scheme was ingenious and, save in one respect, simple enough.  A
+fortnight later the Emperor was to pay a visit to Moscow, and already
+preparations had commenced for his reception.  At one time it was
+thought he would refuse to come because of the Tueski murder; but with
+that unerring accuracy that always made me marvel, till I ascertained
+the cause, the Nihilist leaders learnt the Imperial intentions before
+they were known in some of even the closest official circles.
+
+What the Czar decided to do was to have all the preparations continued
+as though the original arrangements for the visit were to be carried
+out; but at the last moment to make a change which would baffle any
+plots.  He meant to alter the arrangement of the train by which he
+would travel: and this at the very last moment.
+
+The object of this was, of course, to thwart any plot that might be
+laid to attack the train in which he travelled, so that thus the
+plotters might be discovered.
+
+But the double cunning of the Nihilists was quite equal to this change:
+and the plot was indeed exactly what the officials had anticipated--to
+wreck the train in which the Czar travelled--and I think it was chosen
+for the very reason of its apparent obviousness.  Given precise
+information of the Imperial movements and a little double cunning in
+the plans, it was likely enough that the authorities would be
+especially vulnerable in just that spot in which they believed they had
+most effectively guarded themselves.
+
+The official reasoning was that if the train in which the Czar was
+publicly but erroneously believed to be travelling could pass safely,
+then that in which His Majesty would actually be, would be sure to get
+by without mishap.  The Nihilist plans were laid in full knowledge of
+the official theory.
+
+A part of the line about ten miles from the city where the rails ran in
+a dead straight course over a comparatively flat country for some five
+or six miles was chosen for the attack; and it was chosen because it
+was that which the authorities would the least suspect, since it was
+most easy to watch and guard.  A man standing at either end of the
+long, flat, straight stretch could with a glass watch, not only the
+line itself, but also the land adjoining the line.  Of all the spots
+the train would pass this was by far the unlikeliest to be selected for
+any Nihilist attack.
+
+The most prominent and conspicuous spot of all was that, moreover,
+which was picked out for the actual attempt.  At that particular point
+a shallow dip in the fields caused the line to be embanked to a height
+of some ten or twelve feet; and the key of the plan was to fix levers
+to two of the rails so that they could be moved at the very last
+moment, just when the train was within a few yards of them.  In this
+way the train would be turned off the metals and sent over the
+embankment into the field.
+
+The levers, worked by electric motive power, were of course out of
+sight under the wooden sleepers: and the wires were trailed in tubes
+down inside the embankment and away through field-drains to a house
+more than half a mile distant from the line, where the operators were
+to remain until after the "accident."
+
+Personally, I did not dislike the scheme: because I thought I could see
+several ways in which I could prevent any fatal outcome; should I have
+to remain in the country long enough to compel me to take part in it.
+It would be easy enough for me to appear to lose my head at the last
+moment, for instance, and so bungle matters that the men who were to
+kill the Emperor would be in fact prevented from approaching him.
+
+But there was also in this a desperate personal risk to myself.  I knew
+that these men would be picked from among the most reckless and daring
+spirits in the Empire; men suffering under the grossest personal wrongs
+as well as motived by wild political fanaticism.  To them the blood of
+either friend or foe was as nothing if it stood in the way of what
+their unbalanced minds deemed justice and right.
+
+It was thus a perilous and slippery eminence to which I had been
+thrust, and it increased infinitely the hazard of my course.
+
+My thoughts returned to the idea of flight with redoubled incentive,
+therefore; and a circumstance occurred which seemed to promise me some
+help in this direction.
+
+A letter came to me from "Hamylton Tregethner."  Olga's brother had
+escaped, as we knew, and had made his way to Paris.  He was going on,
+he said, to America as soon as he had enjoyed himself: and when he
+found himself in New York, he purposed to change his name and
+nationality once more and be a Pole.
+
+"I have not had many adventures," he wrote; "nor do I seem to have met
+many men who know me.  But I had one encounter that was rather amusing.
+I was at breakfast and saw a man staring hard at me from the other side
+of the room.  I thought he might be a friend, and so I did not look at
+him.  But he would not let his eyes move from me, and when I left the
+table he followed and spoke to me.  'Hamylton, old man, I did not know
+you at first.  You're looking frightfully ill and altered.  You're not
+going to cut me.'  This gave me a cue, though I did not understand all
+he said, when he added something about 'on account of somebody's
+conduct.'  I did cut him, however; looked him hard in the face and
+curling my lip as if in profound contempt, I turned on my heel.  I had
+the curiosity to ask afterwards who he was, and they gave me his name
+as the Hon. Rupert Balestier.  I suppose I know him, but I thought the
+best way was not to speak.  I did not shake him off, however: for that
+night he saw me again just when I was speaking English to some other
+men.  I saw him listening as if he could not believe his ears; and as
+soon as I was alone he came up and asked me who I was and what right I
+had to masquerade as his old friend, Hamylton Tregethner.  For answer I
+gave him another stare and got away.  Then I changed my hotel and am
+going away from Paris for a few days.  I do not intend to be bothered
+by the man."
+
+My first impression of this incident was that it boded further danger.
+I knew Balestier.  He was a man of great resolution and if he imagined
+that anyone was masquerading in my name in Paris, he would think
+nothing of rousing both the English and Russian Embassies; or of coming
+on to Moscow himself to probe the thing to the bottom.  He loved
+mysteries; was most active, energetic, and enterprising; and nothing
+would suit him better than to have imported into his rather purposeless
+life some such task as a search for me half over Europe.  He was quite
+capable, too, of jumping to the conclusion that the man he had met had
+murdered and was personating me; and in a belief of the kind he was
+just the man to raise the hue and cry in every police office on the
+Continent.
+
+What the real Alexis called "speaking English" was of course bad enough
+to brand him anywhere as an impostor, should he try to pass himself off
+as an Englishman.  Balestier had no doubt listened in amazement to the
+strange jargon coming from lips that looked like mine; and the
+extraordinary likeness and "my" peculiar conduct would quite complete
+his perplexity.
+
+Probably I should hear more of the matter; and this set me considering
+whether I could not manage in some way to communicate with Balestier
+and get him to help in smuggling Olga across the frontier.  He would
+revel in the work if I could only find him.
+
+I turned to "Tregethner's" letter therefore to find the name of the
+hotel, and to my infinite annoyance the fool had not mentioned it;
+while his intention to run away from Paris and Balestier would cause
+more delay.  The fellow was not only a coward but an idiot as well; and
+I could have kicked him liberally, if my foot would only have reached
+from Moscow to Paris.
+
+As it was, Balestier, with the best will in the world, would probably
+be blundering about and plunging me still deeper into the mud, when he
+not only could, but would, have given me valuable help if I could have
+got at him to tell him what to do.
+
+I felt like Tantalus, when I thought of it.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII.
+
+AN EXTRAORDINARY ADVENTURE.
+
+The second complication was a much bigger matter; and it was of so
+strange a description and fraught with consequences of such critical
+importance to Olga and myself that of all my experiences of that time
+it deserves to be classed as the most remarkable.  Like all else at
+that time, it came quite unsought by me, and as the direct and
+unavoidable consequence of the first step in my new life--the duel with
+Devinsky and my subsequent repute as a swordsman.
+
+A day or two after Tueski's funeral, and while the city was still
+quivering and staggering under the effects of the supposed Nihilist
+blow, a great ball took place at the Valniski Palace.
+
+Count Valniski was among the richest men in Moscow, bidding hard for
+power and courting popularity right and left among all classes.  To
+this ball all the officers of my regiment were invited, together with
+many of their friends.  Amongst the latter Olga had a card; and
+although we were certainly in a poor mood for a function of the kind,
+we felt it expedient to do what all the world was doing, go to it; lest
+by remaining away we should attract attention to ourselves.
+
+It was a very brilliant affair, as these big Russian balls always are,
+and the crowd included many of the best and smartest people in Moscow.
+I moved about the rooms, not dancing much, but exchanging a word now
+and then with my brother officers and with other people who claimed
+acquaintance with me.
+
+Olga had plenty of partners among my comrades, and as she was dancing
+with one of them I stood watching her and thinking how completely I had
+dropped into the new social grooves of this Moscow life and how quickly
+my first feelings of strangeness had worn off, when my friend Essaieff
+came up to me.
+
+"Alexis, I have a commission that concerns you," he said.
+
+"Well?"
+
+"You're in luck.  Try and guess."
+
+"Can't," I replied, shaking my head.  "Unless the war's broken out and
+I'm to have a step.  What is it?"
+
+"There's a woman in it.  High up, too."  There were only two women in
+Moscow I ever thought about; and one of them I wished to see safe out
+of Russia, and the other at the devil, or anywhere out of my way.
+
+"Give it up," I said, with a smile.
+
+"It's that smile of yours fetches 'em, I believe," said Essaieff,
+smiling in his turn.  "It makes your face one of the pleasantest things
+in the world to look at."  He had ripened quickly into a very familiar
+friend and we were great chums now.
+
+"What is there you want me to do, old man?  You wouldn't waste that
+flower of speech for nothing."
+
+"Well, something's done it.  I have been asked to present you to one of
+the wealthiest, most beautiful, and most influential women in
+Moscow--the Princess Weletsky; and asked in terms which seemed to imply
+that the honour of the introduction would be conferred on her."
+
+"The Princess Weletsky, who is she?" I asked in absolute ignorance.
+
+"That's just like you, Alexis.  I'm getting to know that sweet
+innocence of yours.  Whenever I mention a name that all Russia knows,
+you make the same lame show and ask, Who's he? or, Who's she?  You've
+heard of her a thousand times.  You can't help hearing of her.  You
+couldn't if you tried."
+
+"All right," I laughed, to turn my mistake.  "Have you been talking
+about me?"  He laughed at the idea.
+
+"Why, man where are your wits?  Do you think the Princess and I are on
+gossiping terms?  I'm only the fly on the wheel in this.  She wishes to
+know you; I do know you; she once sent me a card for one of her
+assemblies and snubbed me in a high bred manner; now she can use me,
+and accordingly I am paraded for duty--to introduce you.  Come along or
+she'll be getting some Court executioner to cut my throat for
+loitering."
+
+I followed him, wondering what it could mean; and half a minute later
+was presented to one of the most lovely and stately women I have ever
+seen.  A queenly woman, indeed, and I should have been an icicle if I
+had not admired her.  She was radiantly fair in both hair and
+complexion, but her eyes were dark and languishing like a Spaniard's:
+while the faultless regularity of her features in no way marred the
+exquisite suggestion of womanly sympathy and mental power which spoke
+in her voice and manner and glances.
+
+I have seen many lovely women of all types, but in all my life none to
+compare with the exquisite magnificence of this Russian beauty.
+
+Her reception of me could not have been more cordial, moreover, had I
+been one of the greatest of Russia's nobles, or had she begun to
+entertain some strong favour for me.  I am not a coxcomb where women
+are concerned, I hope, and certainly nothing in their treatment of me
+in my life had led me to conceit myself that such a woman as this would
+fall in love with me; but her conduct to me that night might well have
+turned my head, had it not been full of other matters.
+
+I asked for the honour of a dance and she gave me her programme,
+telling me I might write my name where I would.  As it was empty, this
+seemed a generous invitation; but I scribbled my initials against two
+dances, and was then going to move off.
+
+She glanced at the programme and smiled.  I cannot describe the effect
+which a smile produced on her face.
+
+"I had purposely kept the next dance for you, Lieutenant," she said.
+"But I see your reputation has somewhat belied you."
+
+"My reputation?"
+
+"Yes.  But I have much I should like to say to you.  I have heard of
+you often; as a daring man even among Russia's most daring; and not
+always as modest as brave."
+
+"Rumour is often an unreliable witness," said I.
+
+"She has not always spoken kindly of you, Lieutenant.  But to see you
+is enough to test the truth of her tales."  She accompanied this with a
+glance of especially subtle flattery, as she made place for me to sit
+by her, and then drew me to talk by questioning me, always giving in
+her answer a suggestion of keen personal interest in me.
+
+We danced that next dance, and she declared that I waltzed better than
+any man in the room; and at the close of the dance she asked me to take
+her to one of the conservatories, under the pretext that she was
+heated.  We sat there during two dances, until the first that I had
+initialled came, and then we danced again.
+
+All the time she fascinated me with her manner and the infinite
+subtlety with which she implied the admiration she felt for my bravery,
+my skill as a soldier and a swordsman, my strength--everything in
+short: while she was loud in the expression of the interest with which
+she said she should take in my future.
+
+At the close of the dance she sent me to fetch my sister; and when I
+presented her she made Olga sit down at her side and presently sent me
+away, saying that women's friendship ripened much more quickly when
+they were alone--especially if they were interested in the same man.
+All of which would no doubt have been very sound philosophy--had Olga
+been my sister in reality.
+
+Essaieff had been watching me, and now chaffed me a good deal about my
+conquest, and grew enthusiastic about my future.
+
+"By Gad, man, she's as rich as a Grand Duke: and there is no limit to
+the height her husband may climb.  Play your cards well now: and you've
+got all the pluck, aye, and the brains too, if you like to use them:
+and you'll be War Minister before I apply for my Colonelcy."
+
+I laughed lightly; but I thought to myself that if he only knew the
+skeletons in my cupboard that were gibbering and rattling their bones
+in mockery of me, he wouldn't tell quite such an enthusiastic fortune
+for me.
+
+When I went back for my next dance with the princess, Olga was just
+being led away by a handsome young partner whom the Princess had found
+for her.
+
+"Olga is most delightful," she said, with one of her smiles.  "She is
+worthy of--anyone; and a most enthusiastic sister.  She is the most
+genuine soul I ever knew.  She will be my dear friend, when her reserve
+has worn off."  I thought I knew the cause of the "reserve," but I kept
+the thought to myself.
+
+After the dance she let me take her back to the same place, and
+glancing at her programme let it fall on her lap with half a sigh.
+
+"You were very moderate," she said, tapping the programme with her fan.
+
+"Do you know the fable of the hungry mouse?" I asked.
+
+"What do you mean?" This with a glance.
+
+"Only that a poor little starveling found himself in a full granary one
+day, when a fairy bade him eat.  He took a few grains and munched them
+and stopped.  'Why stop there, mouse?' asked the fairy.  The little
+thing glanced about him and looking at the crowd of fatted pets that
+were watching him suspiciously from a distance, replied:--'If I take
+more than these gentry think belong to me, they will fall on me; and
+though I might enjoy the meal at the time, it will prove a dear one and
+hard to digest.'"
+
+"A shrewd mouse, but too timorsome," said the Princess, laughing, and
+handing me her programme again.  "Take other two grains, mouse.  Though
+I'm not quite sure by the way, whether you intended me to be the good
+fairy or the bag of grain.  Fables are often tricksy things."
+
+[Illustration: "Take another two grains, mouse."]
+
+"And fairies also.  But at least mice are harmless."
+
+"Except to frighten silly women.  But I am not afraid of
+mice--especially when they are so moderate in permitted pilfering."
+
+"The touch of a fairy's wand can change even a mouse to a lion," said
+I; and when she met my gaze she dropped her eyes and coloured.  The
+dance came then and we danced it almost in silence.
+
+After it I went to look for Olga; but she had gone home; and then I
+waited impatiently for my next dance with my most fascinating partner.
+
+There is no flattery in the world half so telling on a man as a lovely
+woman's admiration, undisguised yet not flaunted; and expressed in the
+thousand subtle ways which her nimble wits can find when inspired by
+resolve to please.
+
+I did not think that at such a time any woman on earth could have
+exercised so strong an influence over me in the course of no more than
+an hour or two; and when we sat together after our last dance for a few
+minutes before she left, I felt I would have done almost anything on
+earth that she asked to serve her.  Something that she said drew from
+me a rather random protestation to this effect, and she reddened and
+started, and then after a rapid searching glance shot into my face, she
+sat silent, fingering her fan, restlessly.  While doing this her
+programme caught her attention.
+
+She looked at it and held it so that I could read it.
+
+"No name but yours," she said, almost in a whisper.  I saw this was so.
+Then she broke the silken cord by which it was fastened to her wrist,
+and with another glance at me put it away into her bosom.
+
+It was a little action: but from such a woman what did it not mean?  I
+was amazed.
+
+Another long pause followed.
+
+Then she laid her hand in mine and looked straight at me.
+
+"Are you really a brave man?" she asked.  I seemed to take fire under
+her touch and look.
+
+"That is not a question a man can answer for himself.  Test me."
+
+"If your sister were insulted, would you fight for her?"  She little
+knew the cord she had touched, or guessed how the reference cooled me.
+
+"I have already done so," I returned.
+
+"In days of old men fought for any woman who was wronged.  Would you?"
+
+"I have done it before now," I answered, still thinking of Olga, and my
+thoughts for some reason slipped back to the first meeting on the
+Moscow platform.
+
+She paused and looked away from me for a moment as if hesitating; and
+then leaning so close to me that I could feel her warm breath on my
+cheek as she spoke, while her grasp tightened on my arm, she said in a
+tone of deep feeling:--
+
+"I have been wronged.  You see me here as I am and what I am; but save
+for the happiness you have made me feel in being with you, I am the
+most wretched woman in all Russia.  Will you help me?  Dare you?"  And
+she seemed to hang on my words as she waited for my reply, her eyes
+searching mine as if to read my answer there.
+
+I was about to reply with a pledge inspired by the enthusiasm with
+which she had fired me, when my instinctive caution restrained me.  She
+was quick to see my moment's hesitation and not willing to risk a
+refusal, she added hastily:--
+
+"We cannot talk of this here.  I ought not to have spoken of it now:
+but you seem to have drawn my very soul from me.  Come to me to-morrow
+to my house.  I will be alone at three.  You will come--my friend?"  An
+indescribable solicitude spoke through her last two words, all
+suggestive of infinite trust in me.
+
+"Certainly," I cried.  "And certainly your friend, if I dare."
+
+She answered with a glance; and then seemed to cast aside her
+excitement.  Rising she let me lead her back to the ball-room.
+
+When I left her there were others round us, but as she bowed I caught a
+glance and the whispered words:--
+
+"I trust you."
+
+I turned away half bewildered, and went home at once, pondering what
+was to be the upshot of this new development.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII.
+
+THE REASON OF THE INTRIGUE.
+
+When I was alone and the strange charm of the Princess Weletsky's
+presence had given way to calm reflection, my doubts began to grow.  I
+was naturally a cautious man under ordinary circumstances; and now my
+suspicions were the keener because my caution had been momentarily
+lulled to sleep.
+
+I was all inclined to disbelieve the story which the Princess had told,
+or rather had suggested; and I began to look behind all she had said
+for some motive or intrigue.  I thought she might wish for the help of
+my sword for some altogether different purpose than she had suggested:
+but I could think of nothing.  Nor could Olga, with whom I spoke very
+freely on the subject.
+
+She said she could see no more than appeared on the surface; and what
+that was it was superfluous to ask; especially when she told me that
+the Princess could, or would talk of nothing else to her but my
+bravery, my good looks, my courtesy, my chivalry, and so on at great
+length.
+
+"It is agreeable to have my brother praised," said Olga once, laughing.
+"But there are limits."
+
+During the next four or five days Olga had ample opportunities of
+hearing these praises, moreover, as the Princess would scarcely let her
+out of her sight.  When I called on the day following the ball I found
+the two together, and the Princess in a few words we had together out
+of my sister's hearing would say nothing at all about the subject of
+her wrongs.  She enlarged on the suggestion of the previous night that
+she had been led by her impulses and her instinctive trust in me to
+speak too fully.
+
+For some days she maintained the same attitude of reserve, and then
+quite suddenly when we were alone, she changed again, and in words
+which I could not fail to understand she let me know indirectly that if
+I would avenge her wrongs, her hand would be my reward.
+
+I have never in my life had to face a more awkward crisis than that.
+What reply she expected I cannot tell: whether she looked for some
+eager passionate protestations of love, or some strong pledge of
+defence, or what.  Whether she really cared for me and the confusion
+she shewed was the sign of it, or whether the whole part was assumed
+and everything mere acting, I cannot say.  But I know that I on my part
+felt indescribably embarrassed and scarcely knew how to answer her.
+
+I knew, too, the danger to Olga and myself of offending a woman so
+highly placed, so influential, and powerful as the Princess.  We had
+enough troubles as it was: and if they were to be multiplied and
+aggravated in this way, we should be overwhelmed.  It was certain that
+I must find some way of temporising.
+
+"Princess, I am your devoted servant to do with as you will," I
+answered.  "And if my sword can be of service, tell me how."  She
+started and flushed with pleasure as I said this.
+
+"I knew I should not count on you in vain.
+
+"The Grand Duke Servanieff will now learn that a more stalwart arm than
+his protects me from his insults."  Her eyes seemed to glitter as she
+watched the effect of this name on me.
+
+"Do you mean that that is the man you wish me to fight?" I cried in the
+deepest astonishment.  He was all but on the very steps of the Throne,
+and if I had approached him he would have brushed me away into a gaol
+with no more concern or difficulty than he would have whisked a fly off
+his hand.
+
+The woman was mad.
+
+"He persists in forcing his attentions on me, and I will not have
+them," she said.
+
+All my suspicions had been stung into activity by the mention of the
+name of the Grand Duke; and as I looked at the Princess she appeared to
+be watching me with quite suspicious vigilance as she added:--"He
+cannot refuse to meet anyone to whom I give the right to protect me
+from him."
+
+It was an intrigue.  I was sure of it; and this lovely woman was making
+me her tool.
+
+I answered guardedly.
+
+"A lieutenant in a marching regiment who should presume to challenge
+that man would stand a better chance of being whipped at the cart's
+tail than of meeting him."
+
+"He is a great swordsman, I know," she said, as if to pour suspicion on
+my courage.  But I was not a fool to be tripped by a gibe.  If I had
+wished to marry the woman I would have consented readily enough there
+and then, and risked all; but my object was to get out of Russia and to
+get Olga out with me.
+
+"I should not fear him were he twice as skilful; but this is no mere
+matter of sword fence."
+
+"Easy words, Lieutenant."
+
+"I will make them good, Princess," replied I, quietly.  "But I must
+first see the course clearer for the meeting.  What say your friends?
+Can I depend on their influence?"
+
+"Won't you do this for me, then?  Am I mistaken in you?"  There was a
+sharp accent of irritation in her tone that I noticed now.
+
+"Princess, it does not best become a beautiful woman to doubt a man's
+courage until he is proved a craven.  Here is no matter of personal
+courage only; but I should be loosing upon me all the waters of
+bitterest political intrigue.  Alone I should be absolutely powerless
+to stem the torrents that would sweep me to certain ruin.  Alone,
+therefore I cannot do what you ask.  But understand me, give me the
+powerful support of your family, and I will meet the man, were he fifty
+times the Highness that he is--if we can arrange the meeting."
+
+She seemed disappointed at this; quite unreasonably so; and tried to
+move me.  But I stood firm, and then with evident reluctance, she told
+me her brother was with her in the matter, and that if I would see him
+all would be simple.
+
+"My brother, Prince Bilbassoff, is, as you know, Minister of the
+Interior, and is now in Moscow in connection with the visit of the
+Emperor."  I had not known who her brother was; but when she gave me
+the name and told me where I could see him, a rapid conclusion leapt
+into my thoughts.
+
+Prince Bilbassoff was the real power behind the Police, and I was
+probably going to find now why Christian Tueski had had to hold his
+hand against me.
+
+I went at once to see him.
+
+I found him the very opposite of the popular ideal of a bureaucrat--a
+short, grey, close-haired, spare man, with the air of a man of the
+world, and a pleasant cheery manner that suggested nothing formidable
+or even powerful.  Yet without doubt the man was in many respects the
+most powerful and the most feared in all Russia.
+
+He appeared to be expecting me; for the instant I was announced, he got
+up and welcomed me with a hearty shake of the hand and said:---
+
+"I thought my sister would have to make us acquainted, Lieutenant
+Petrovitch.  She said she wouldn't; but I expected you.  Women think
+beauty will do everything; and somehow are always calculating without
+the effects of self-interest.  Don't you think so?"  He spoke with a
+sort of easy club mannerism, and just let his eyes rest a moment on my
+face.
+
+"Of course you know the drift of what has passed then?"
+
+"Of course I do.  As well as I know that your coming to me means that
+my sister's method has failed.  I from the first disagreed with it.  I
+know a great deal about you, Lieutenant Petrovitch; and I think I could
+have saved time.  But my sister was attracted to you--women always like
+you handsome young fire-eaters, especially women like my sister--and as
+she is to take a rather large hand in the matter, she wanted to play it
+her own way.  She appealed to your feelings, Lieutenant.  I should have
+gone straight to your interest: and really it will be to your interest
+to do this."
+
+"Will you tell me plainly what is wanted?"
+
+"Certainly.  The death of the man whose name has no doubt been
+mentioned to you."
+
+"Why?"
+
+"Not because he has insulted my sister: though that is fortunately a
+plausible pretext: but because he is a menace to the Empire."
+
+His bluntness astounded me.
+
+"Do you take me for an assassin?"
+
+"No.  I take you for a very resolute young man, with a great skill of
+fence, a large desire to push your fortunes high, and not too much
+scruple to act like a sword scabbard between your legs and trip you up.
+If you weren't that, you'd be no use to me.  As you are, I open before
+you a career such as lies before no other man in the Emperor's wide
+dominions at the present moment.  Do this, and you win a woman as rich
+and beautiful and, as women go, as good as any in Russia for a wife;
+and you can ask and have almost what place you like, either in or out
+of the army."
+
+"And if I refuse?"
+
+He laughed and shrugged his shoulders.
+
+"You won't refuse," he said, shaking his head.  "If you do, you will be
+a young fool--too foolish to be trusted at large."
+
+I knew what he meant; and when I looked at him next, I understood why
+men feared him.  That laugh of his would usher a man to the knout or
+the gallows.
+
+I thought rapidly.
+
+"I like the project," I replied.  "But can you arrange the meeting?"
+
+He was as quick as the devil, and detected the false note in my voice.
+
+"Lieutenant, there are two courses open to you," he said in a tone so
+sharp, stern and ringing that the change surprised me.  "You can accept
+or refuse the offer--but don't try to fool me."
+
+"Well, then, I'm not a murderer," I rapped out, angered by his words.
+
+"That's better," he said, with a return to his light clubbish manner.
+"But this is no murder.  The man is a traitor: and no juster act could
+be compassed than his death."
+
+"Then why not do it openly?"
+
+He smiled and threw up his hands.
+
+"Is justice always done openly?  Of course we might do that: but he
+would laugh at our efforts.  We might get him assassinated; but he is
+too powerful and the noise of the act would defeat the very object we
+have.  He is a swordsman worthy of your skill.  He has insulted, and
+will again insult my sister, your betrothed--for what is not an insult
+when you wish to make it one?--and he would delight to meet you.  He
+will think he can kill you.  Perhaps he can: may be, probably; for he
+is a very devil with the weapon.  That is your risk.  Will you take it?
+It's no light one.  But you are a young fellow with all to gain in
+winning and nothing to lose but your life.  You will do it, I know.
+I'm only surprised you hesitate."
+
+I sat thinking: but not in the groove he guessed.
+
+"We'll make your sister's fortune as well," he said, raising the terms.
+"She shall make a marriage into one of the best families in Russia, and
+found a family of the highest distinction.  Think, Lieutenant."
+
+I was thinking about as hard as I could: but no opening offered itself.
+
+"I must have time to determine," I said.  "It seems to me that I run
+the chance of playing the cat's paw with all the flame for my share.
+What guarantee have I that if I do this and am successful I shall not
+then be deemed--too foolish to be trusted at large, as you say?"
+
+"First, my honour; secondly, your betrothal to my sister; and thirdly,
+her feeling for yourself."
+
+"And if I refuse, Siberia, I suppose?"
+
+"No, not so far as that," he replied, lightly.
+
+"But what if I feign to consent and carry the story to the man you
+threaten?"
+
+"There is that chance of course.  But in the first place he would not
+believe you, Lieutenant; and in the second, if he did, neither you nor
+he could do any harm; and in the third, you would have me for an enemy.
+And I am pleasanter and safer as a friend.  I have discounted that
+risk, and it is nothing."
+
+"How long will you give me to decide?"
+
+"A week.  We can then announce the betrothal just before the Emperor's
+visit here, and gain the Imperial blessing on so righteous a marriage
+between a brave man and a beautiful woman, each motived by the highest
+patriotic feelings for Russia."
+
+With this half sneer ringing in my ears, he sent me away.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX.
+
+OLGA'S ABDUCTION.
+
+I went home in a very unenviable frame of mind, and my temper was not
+improved by my meeting my old opponent, Devinsky, near my rooms.
+
+For the moment I was powerless to think of any possible means of
+relief.  My helplessness was so complete as to be almost ludicrous: and
+if it had not been for Olga, I would have just let myself be dragged
+along by the singular chain of events which had coiled themselves round
+me.
+
+I must rouse myself to some sort of effort for her sake.  I saw that,
+of course.  But the result of a couple of hours' thinking was only to
+increase my utter perplexity; and I went off to bed to try if sleep
+would clear my wits.
+
+I resolved to see Olga the next day as soon as possible after my
+regimental duties were over.  There was but one thing possible.  She
+must go at once and we must try to hit on some plan by which she could
+escape at any hazard.  But my regimental work was heavier than usual,
+and when it was over a meeting of the officers was called in reference
+to the impending visit of the Czar to Moscow.  It was thus late in the
+afternoon before I could get to Olga.
+
+At the house, astounding news awaited me.
+
+The Countess Palitzin met me with the question where Olga was.  I
+looked at her in astonishment; and then she told me a message had come
+from me early in the forenoon, asking Olga to go round at once to my
+rooms.  She had gone, promising to return soon or send word.  She had
+done neither; and a six hours' absence had made the old lady anxious.
+
+"She should have been back before this," I said, quietly, not wishing
+to add to her alarm.  "Who do you say came for her?"
+
+"Your servant, Borlas, Olga told me."
+
+I tried to reassure her that all was right, though I did not at all
+like the look of things, and I hurried back to my rooms to question
+Borlas.  He had not been there on my return from barracks, and he was
+not there now; and there was nothing to shew that he had not been
+absent for some hours.
+
+Did this mean treachery?  Or had Olga been arrested?  Could she be in
+the hands of the Nihilists?  Or what?  A thousand wild thoughts flashed
+through my mind as I stood for a minute thinking what I ought to do
+first, and where to look for her.
+
+Then I recalled my meeting with Devinsky near my rooms.
+
+I dashed out and ran to Essaieff's rooms to find out all he knew about
+Borlas, as he had recommended the man to me; and to learn whether he
+would be likely to be bribed to do such an act of treachery as now
+seemed possible.  But my friend was out.  Leaving word for him to come
+at once to me I went on to Madame Tueski and questioned her.  She
+equivocated, suggesting that I was feeling her power; and with the
+utmost difficulty I drew from her that despite all her hints she knew
+nothing.
+
+I ran then to the Prince Bilbassoff; but he was away.  I hurried next
+to the Princess; she knew nothing, but was full of sympathy and offers
+of help.
+
+I wanted news, however, not offers of help; and I rushed back to my
+rooms, on my way to the police, on the off-chance that Borlas had
+returned.
+
+He had not: but in his place there was something much more important.
+A rough, wild looking country-man was standing at my door, holding the
+bridle of a shaggy pony that bore signs of heavy travelling; and the
+man had been trying vainly to get into my house.  He addressed me,
+asking where he could find Lieutenant Petrovitch; and then gave me a
+slip of paper from Olga.
+
+"_Am suspicious and sending this back.  If anything wrong, follow me.
+O._"
+
+I then questioned the man closely and he said that his wife was called
+to the window of a carriage to a young lady who was ill.  When she had
+recovered, she gave his wife a handkerchief.  In it was the message and
+a sum of money and a request that it--the paper--should be brought to
+me at once.  This had occurred at Praxoff, about ten miles out on the
+north road.
+
+In less than a quarter of an hour I was armed and mounted; and a few
+minutes saw me free of the city and flying at full gallop in pursuit.
+I knew the road well enough, owing to my long residence as a boy in
+Moscow; and I now put my horse to its utmost speed and made straight
+for the house where Olga had seen the peasant woman.
+
+I found it without the least difficulty and got a description of the
+carriage, horses, and postilion; and I  questioned the woman as to
+every word Olga had said to her and who was in the carriage.
+
+From what she said, I judged it was Borlas, and that the two were alone.
+
+I stayed no longer than was necessary to hear all the woman had to say,
+and then I rode on still at full speed, asking right and left as I went
+for tidings of the carriage.  The trail was broad enough for anyone to
+follow for some miles and then I came upon information that gave me a
+complete clue to the whole matter.
+
+Reining up at a wayside inn, I put the usual questions; adding that the
+lady was my sister and that I was an officer in the Moscow Infantry
+Regiment.  The landlord came to me instantly.
+
+"You are Lieutenant Petrovitch?" he asked.
+
+"Yes," and I told him my errand.
+
+"Have you been engaged in a duel this morning?"
+
+I stared at the man and asked him what he meant.  His answer shewed
+what story had been concocted to trick Olga.
+
+"A gentleman engaged two rooms here this morning, saying they would be
+wanted in connection with a duel in the neighbourhood.  One of the
+combatants was Lieutenant Petrovitch; and the latter's sister was
+coming to be near at hand in case of her brother being hurt.  She was
+coming out with the brother's servant and when she arrived was to be
+shewn at once to the room engaged for her.  As a fact the duel had
+already been fought in the early hours: Lieutenant Petrovitch had been
+badly wounded and lay at a private house a few miles further on, too
+ill to be moved.  The sister was to be told this; the news being broken
+gradually; and she was not to be allowed to leave the inn, unless she
+insisted very much, in which case the servant would know where to take
+her; and fresh horses were to be supplied.  I told her gently,"
+continued the landlord; "and she insisted on going on at once without
+even stopping for food.  Fresh horses were put in accordingly, and the
+carriage proceeded with less than half an hour's halt here, all told."
+
+I saw the ruse in a moment.  It was to get fresh horses without Olga
+being suspicious; and to draw in the landlord so as to appear to give
+the story corroboration.
+
+"What was the man like who came to you?" I asked impatiently, ordering
+a horse to be saddled instantly.  In reply the landlord described
+Devinsky accurately.
+
+I saw it all now; and when the man had given me a valuable clue to the
+road which the carriage had taken--it had been met by some returning
+postboys--I set off again in pursuit in the now gathering dusk, as fast
+as I could make the new horse move.
+
+I rode on till the dark fell: and still on till the moon rose and
+flooded the land with her thin light; and it was not until ten at night
+that I reached the end of my journey.  Some peasants gave me the final
+clue.  They had met the carriage and a question had been asked of them
+as to the whereabouts of a certain house.  They told me now where this
+was, and a few minutes later I reached the place.
+
+It was an old ramshackle house, once the seat of a family of good
+position but now fallen upon evil days.  It made three sides of a
+square and the courtyard in the middle was all weed-grown, moss-covered
+and uneven, with one large yew tree standing dark and gloomy in the
+centre.  The main entrance was in the middle portion; and there were
+two small gothic arched doors in the wings.  But these seemed very
+stout as I examined them; and all the windows were latticed with stout
+ironwork.
+
+Just the spot for such a venture as this, I thought, as I stole about
+the place to reconnoitre, treading softly, and keeping as much as
+possible in the dark shadows which the walls made.
+
+There was not a sound to be heard, nor a light to be seen; while the
+look of the place made it certain that I should have a hard task to
+force my way inside.  The same unpromising look of things met me when I
+left the front and crept round to the back and when I had seen all
+round the house I could not make up my mind what was the best thing to
+do.
+
+There are times, however, when any kind of action is better than doing
+nothing.  There was everything to be gained and nothing to be lost by
+Devinsky learning that I had followed him and knew his hiding-place.  I
+resolved on a pretty bold course, therefore, and drawing my revolver I
+stepped out into the full moonlight and walked quickly to the main
+entrance.
+
+I had reached to within ten yards of the door when a voice called to
+me:--
+
+"Who goes there?  What do you want?  Stop, or I fire."
+
+Looking up I saw the gleam of a rifle barrel levelled dead at me.  I
+did not stop to answer but leaping aside, I darted forward into the
+doorway, where the man could not cover me with his weapon, because of a
+shallow porch which intervened to protect me.
+
+[Illustration: I darted forward into the doorway.]
+
+The incident shewed me the sort of welcome I was to expect.
+
+There was an old and heavy knocker on the door, and a huge bell-pull.
+I seized both these and set up first a knocking that might have roused
+the dead and then a clanging of the bell equally furious and dinning.
+Presently the bell ceased to sound and I gathered either that someone
+within had cut the wires or that I had broken them in my energy.  The
+great knocker suited me equally well, however--perhaps better, as the
+noise rang out on the still night air, making a fearful din--and if
+there did chance to be anyone within half a mile of the place they
+would hear it and might hasten to learn the cause.
+
+Those inside took the same view of the matter, apparently; for suddenly
+and without my knowing the cause, I found the big heavy door give way
+before one of my lusty attacks with the knocker; and as I pushed, it
+swung slowly open.
+
+Everything within was as dark as pitch; and the contrast between the
+row I had been making and the dead silence that followed was so
+profound as to make me stand a minute that my ears should get
+accustomed to the change.
+
+Then drawing my sword and holding my revolver in my left hand, I
+stepped in and tried to peer about me.
+
+The light of the moon gave a faint reflection within, but not enough
+for me to be able to make out anything distinctly; nor, when I strained
+my ears could I detect the slightest sound anywhere.
+
+My first thought was that as I stood in the doorway, I should be an
+excellent mark for anyone caring to shoot, and I slipped aside
+therefore, into the heavy shadow of the big door.  It was full five
+minutes before my eyes, keen as they are, could distinguish anything;
+and then I seemed to make out two doorways, one on each side of a large
+hall into which the big door opened, and beyond them in the middle a
+broad stairway.
+
+I groped my way warily a few steps, feeling along the wall, when I
+stopped and began to reflect that I was making a fool of myself in
+attempting single-handed and in pitch darkness to find my way about the
+place.  I must wait for a light of some sort.  I had no idea how many
+men there might be in the house.  I did not know a square foot of the
+plans.  While I was blundering about in the dark I should be an easy
+prey for men whom I could as easily fight in the daylight.  Moreover I
+argued that the knowledge that I had tracked him would keep Devinsky
+from attempting any devilment as yet.
+
+I was in the house; and I resolved therefore to wait patiently where I
+was in the hall until I had light enough to guide me in my search for
+Olga.
+
+But I could not keep to the resolution.
+
+Scarcely had I formed the plan when the stillness was broken by a
+woman's scream, shrill and piercing, and a cry for help that made my
+heart leap into my throat with wrath as I thought I could recognise
+Olga's voice.
+
+Without another moment's hesitation, and uttering a loud shout in
+reply, I dashed forward to where I could see the outline of the
+stairway, and rushed up in the direction of the cries for help.
+
+Idiot that I was!  Of course I rushed straight into the trap that had
+been laid for me.  As I reached the top and turned to dart along a
+corridor, my feet were tripped and I fell sprawling headlong with a
+clatter and a dozen oaths to the ground, my sword flying one way and my
+revolver another; and before I could help myself three or four fellows
+were upon me, and though I fought and struggled with them and nearly
+choked one on to whose throat I fastened my grip, I was overpowered and
+bound securely hand and foot.  Then I was blindfolded and gagged, and
+in this absolutely helpless state, carried down the stairs again,
+getting on the way two or three hearty kicks from the men I had
+pummelled.  They threw me down on the floor of an empty room and left
+me.
+
+I cursed my folly bitterly when I heard the fellows' footsteps as they
+left the room and locked the door behind them.  I had spoilt all for
+the lack of a little caution.  I was an idiot, a fool, a numskull, a
+jackass, to have been caught by a trick which a child might have
+anticipated; and I rolled about the floor, cursing myself and tearing
+and pulling at my bonds in my passion, till I had torn the flesh in a
+dozen places.  But I could not loosen a single strand of all the cords
+that bound me; and I gnashed my teeth and could almost have shed tears
+in my baffled rage and fury.
+
+I lay thus some hours till the light must have come, for even through
+the heavy bandages on my eyes, the darkness seemed tinged with grey.
+As I thought of the use I might have made of the light, my
+self-reproaches welled up again till I felt almost like a madman.
+
+Later on I heard the door unlocked and two or three men entered.  They
+came and turned me over and holding me firmly, cut the ropes that bound
+my arms, and then tied my hands behind me in iron handcuffs, drawing
+them so tightly that I could not move them without pain.  When I was so
+far secured they cut the ropes from my legs and bade me stand up.  I
+tried; but the rush of the released blood brought with it too much
+pain, and I was just as helpless as a baby for some minutes.  When at
+length I managed to scramble to my feet, they unfastened the bandage
+from my eyes and as soon as my dazed sight could focus itself, I saw
+that brute Devinsky looking at me with a sneering laugh.
+
+"So it's you, is it?" he cried, as if in surprise.  "Turned robber, eh,
+breaking into men's houses in the dead of night?  And what the devil
+are you doing here?  My men told me there was a thief here, but I
+didn't expect you."
+
+"Don't lie to me," I cried sternly.  "You know well enough why I'm
+here.  Where's my sister.  If you're not too damned a coward, get me my
+sword and let's settle this thing together and at once."
+
+He winced at the taunt, but he didn't mean to fight that way.
+
+"Thank you.  I don't fight with burglars.  I hand them over to the
+police--when it suits me.  I always thought there was something secret
+about you; now I know what it is.  You've been living by this sort of
+work I suppose.  Officer by day, and footpad by night.  I'm glad my men
+have caught you at last."  Then he sent them away; and as soon as we
+were alone he asked me:--"Do you value you life?"
+
+"Yes, for one reason.  To take yours."
+
+"Well, you can have it--if you like to be reasonable."
+
+"I make no terms with a villain like you."
+
+"More fool you," he laughed.  "You may as well face the position.  You
+are in my power.  This house is big enough and strong enough to hide a
+regiment, let alone one man.  You can't stop me now from carrying out
+my intention in regard to your sister, by fair means or otherwise; and
+you may as well make the best of a bad business, and own that I've got
+the whip hand of you, partly by my luck and partly by your own damned
+stupidity.  I'd rather have you on my side in this matter than against
+me; but with me or against me you can't stop me.  What do you say?"
+
+"This.  That the first use I'll make of my hands when they're free
+shall be to try and choke the life out of you.  And by God, I'll try
+and do it now."  In my rage I rushed upon him, but like the cowardly
+cur he was, he struck me, bound and defenceless as I was, with all his
+force in the face, and then with a cry brought in the other men.  These
+threw themselves upon me and bore me to the ground, and bound my legs
+again, so that I was once more absolutely helpless.
+
+"You saw that attack the villain made on me," said Devinsky to the men.
+"I was offering to release him.  You'll bear witness to that.  As for
+you," turning to me, "you can stay here for a few hours more to cool
+your murderous fever; and I will send back orders for your release,
+when I am at a safe distance.  And, remember, there are strong cellars
+below; and if there are any more attempts at violence, I'll have you
+put there."
+
+He went out then with the men and in a moment later returned alone and
+said in a voice full of rage and hate:--"I'm going through with this,
+Petrovitch, at any cost--if I have to shut you up here till the flesh
+rots off your bones.  Your sister and I are going further on shortly:
+and I'll see you once more before I start, and give you one more chance
+of listening to reason."  And with this he left me.
+
+My plight was worse than ever.  So far, Olga was safe.  That was the
+only glimpse of comfort in all the miserable situation.  It was clear,
+too, that she was in the house; and though she was still in the man's
+power, I might yet find some means of helping her.
+
+But how?  That was the question.  And when I thought of his words that
+he was going to carry her still further away, I turned sick with rage
+and loathing.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XX.
+
+THE RESCUE.
+
+I felt as though the heat of hell were burning in my veins as I lay on
+the floor with the remembrance of Devinsky's blow and his words turning
+my blood to fire.  If ever I were free again, I swore to myself over
+and over again, I would have his life for that blow.  My anguish and
+rage that he should have Olga in his power were infinite tortures, and
+all the less endurable because of my abject helplessness.
+
+The one chance I had of deliverance was that someone, perhaps Essaieff,
+should hear of the matter and follow me.  But the hope was so feeble as
+to be little more than tantalising; fool-like, I had rushed off without
+leaving any intimation of what had happened.  If he did follow me,
+indeed, it would be only after a long interval, and not until Devinsky
+would have had time either to get far away or to carry out his purpose.
+
+Then I began speculating as to what he meant to do.  He would scarcely
+dare to try and make Olga his wife against her will and consent; though
+he was evidently villain enough to go to great lengths.  In this way my
+thoughts ran over the ground trying to ferret out a means of escape as
+well as seeking a key to the man's motives; and thus another hour or
+two slipped away without my hearing a sound or getting a sign of anyone.
+
+The strain of suspense was enough to turn one's brain.
+
+But a wholly unexpected and most welcome interruption came to break in
+upon my reverie.  Outside I heard the tramp of horses being ridden at a
+sharp trot into the courtyard of the house, with a jingling of arms and
+accoutrements that told me the riders were either soldiers or mounted
+police.  A sharp word of command brought them to the halt; and as soon
+as that happened, I let out such a lusty yell for help as made the
+walls ring again and again.  Then my door was opened and two men rushed
+in and ordered me to be silent, under pain of instant death, and
+clapped revolvers to my head.  But I knew they dared not fire with such
+visitors at the door and I continued to yell with all my lung power
+until, throwing down their weapons, they first clapped their hands on
+my mouth and then thrust a gag into my jaws.
+
+Some five minutes passed and the tension of my impatience was
+unendurable.  Meanwhile the two men held me and cut the bonds from my
+legs and got ready to slip the gyves from my wrists.
+
+Presently the tramp of feet approached the door of my room and when it
+was opened an officer of the mounted police entered with a file of men
+at his heels.  Devinsky was shewing the way and speaking as they all
+came in.
+
+"As I have told you, he made an attack on the house in the night; my
+men secured him.  When I saw him, I recognised him, of course, and
+should have released him, but he tried to murder me--angry, I presume,
+at having been discovered and recognised at such work.  I then had him
+bound again and was going to send to-day into the city for the police,
+when you came.  If you'll take him away, that's all I want."
+
+The man in command of the police listened to this in silence and with a
+face that shewed no more expression than a stone gargoyle.
+
+"Release him," he said to his men, and in another moment I was at
+liberty.  As soon as I was free, I began to edge my way inch by inch
+toward where Devinsky stood.  I would have him down, police or no
+police, thought I, even if it were my last act before entering a gaol.
+I guessed of course that some Nihilist blabber had told the facts, and
+that I was bound for Siberia, or worse.
+
+"Lieutenant Petrovitch, you are to accompany me, if you please," said
+the leader; and a sign to his men set two of them at each side of me.
+
+"I have first one word to say to that--gentleman," I said, pointing to
+Devinsky.
+
+"Excuse me.  My instructions are peremptory.  I must ask you to go with
+me at once--without a minute's delay."
+
+I saw Devinsky's face brighten at the thought of thus getting rid of
+me: and my fingers itched and tingled to be at his throat.
+
+"Am I arrested?" I asked.  "For what?"
+
+"I can say nothing, Lieutenant," replied the man.
+
+"Do you know why I'm here?"
+
+"If you please, we must go, and at once," was the stolid reply.
+
+I saw Devinsky grin again at this.
+
+"This man has carried off my sister," I cried.  "She is in his power
+now, and it was when I came to find her that he tricked me and then had
+me bound as you see.  Send your men to find her.  She must return with
+us."
+
+"I have no instructions to that effect," replied the man curtly.
+
+"Damn your instructions," I burst out hotly.  "Are you a man--to leave
+a young girl in this plight?"  My reply stirred only anger.
+
+"I cannot do what I am not ordered to do," said the officer again
+curtly.
+
+"Then I won't go without her.  Go back and--or better, send one of your
+men for permission to do this and stay here and keep guard over me and
+my sister at the same time."
+
+"It is impossible.  My instructions are peremptory and nothing will let
+me swerve from them."
+
+I began to lose all self-command, and only by the most strenuous
+efforts did I prevent myself from heaping reproaches upon him for his
+cold-blooded officialism.
+
+"Will you leave a couple of men here then, to protect her?"
+
+"I can say no more, Lieutenant, and do no more than I have said.  And
+now, we must go."
+
+It maddened me beyond all telling to think that I was to be carried
+away in this ruthless, heartless, implacable fashion at the very moment
+when the rescue of the girl I loved more than my life was but a matter
+of walking into another room and bringing her out.  I was staggered by
+the blow.
+
+"Do you know that I would ten thousand times rather that you had left
+me here bound and helpless as I was than take me away in this fashion.
+I must see my sister.  I must save her--why man, are you lost to every
+sense of feeling?  Take her away first--make her safe; and then I swear
+to Heaven, you or this man can do with me what you please."
+
+The stolid stony impassiveness of the man's face crushed every hope out
+of me.  I could have struck him in my baffled rage.
+
+"I have twenty men in the troop here, Lieutenant My instructions are to
+take you at once to Moscow.  I prefer to use no force; but I have it
+here, if necessary."
+
+I wrung my hands in despair; and then with a wild dash I rushed to the
+door to try and find Olga for myself.  It was useless.  They closed on
+me in an instant, and I was helpless.  Then they marched me out to the
+horses, venting as I went bitter reproaches and unavailing protests,
+mingled with loud curses, laments, and revilings.
+
+"Will you give me your parole to go quietly, Lieutenant?" asked the
+leader.
+
+"On one condition.  That we ride at full speed all the way."
+
+"I can make no condition," replied this block of official stolidity;
+"but my instructions are to act with all haste.  One question--have you
+been illtreated here?"
+
+"Only as I told you."
+
+Then he went back into the house for a moment, saying he would speak to
+Devinsky about it.  I saw the latter change colour when he received the
+police report and he made a gesture of seeming repudiation, lifting his
+hands and shrugging his shoulders.  After that he threw me a malicious
+look from his angry evil face that almost made me clamber down from the
+saddle to try and have a reckoning with him there and then.
+
+"When I'm out of this, I'll hunt you out," I cried, between my teeth.
+
+"When!" he answered: and the sneer in which he shewed his teeth as he
+uttered the word, was in my eyes for half that long, wild ride.
+
+The police leader kept his word; and we rode at a hard gallop nearly
+all the way, the whole country side turning out as we thundered by.
+
+The man would not say a word to me on the journey, except that he had
+been ordered to hold no communication at all with me; and thus I did
+not know where they were taking me, or whether I was arrested or
+rescued, until we drew rein at the Police head-quarters in Moscow and I
+was ushered straight into the presence of Prince Bilbassoff, all dirty,
+dishevelled, bruised, and travel-stained as I was.
+
+He rose and met me, holding out his hand.
+
+"My dear Lieutenant, you are really giving me an unconscionable amount
+of trouble.  As much, indeed, as if you were already a member of my
+family."
+
+"What does all this mean?" I asked.  "Am I arrested?"
+
+"What an impatient fellow you are!  It will all come in time," he
+returned, with an indescribable blending of good nature and suggestive
+threat.  "Is this all the thanks one gets for rescuing you from what,
+judging by your appearance, has been a very ugly mess.  This
+harum-scarum business will really have to stop--when you marry."  He
+seemed almost to laugh behind his grizzled moustache in the pause that
+emphasised the last three words.
+
+"Will you tell me the real meaning of this?  I have already asked you."
+
+"Sit down;" and he sat down himself, and lounged back easily in his
+chair.  "By the way, have you lunched?"
+
+"For God's sake man, don't trifle in this way.  If you know the facts,
+as I suppose you do, you'll know I'm in no mood for bantering courtesy.
+Why am I torn away by your men by force at the very moment when my
+sister is in danger at the hands of the brute who has carried her off.
+I suppose you know all this.  What does it mean, I repeat."
+
+"You can understand, perhaps, Lieutenant, that as it is two days since
+my sister referred you to me, and you had left Moscow hastily, she was
+growing a little anxious.  You know something of women in love and
+their insistent moods."
+
+"To hell with all these plots and intrigues," I cried, furiously.  "If
+you mean that that devil Devinsky is to have my sister in his power and
+I am to sit down coolly and bear it while you talk to me about
+marriage, you don't know me.  I'll think of nothing, talk of nothing,
+do nothing, till I have either saved her and killed that villain, or am
+killed myself."
+
+"Do you mean that you will set me at defiance?" cried the Prince, in
+stern ringing tones, his eyes flashing at me.  "That you dare to flout
+the offers we have made you, and have the hardihood to set the needs of
+the country below your own little petty personal feelings and wishes?
+Do you know what that means, sir?"
+
+"I care not what it means," I answered, recklessly.  "I tell you this
+to your face.  If my sister be not saved at once, I'll never set eyes
+on you or your sister again, unless it be that you make me grin at you
+from behind the bars of some one of your cursed gaols.  That is my last
+word, if it costs me my life."
+
+He rose and looked at me so sternly that I could almost have flinched
+before him if my stake in the matter had not been so great.  I never
+met such a look of concentrated power before.
+
+"If you dare to repeat that, Lieutenant Petrovitch, I will send you
+straight to the Mallovitch," he said, with positively deadly intensity
+of tone, pointing his finger through the window to where the gloomy
+frowning tower of the great prison was visible.
+
+"I care not if you send me to hell," I cried.  "Save my sister, or my
+hand shall rot at the wrist before I lift it in your service."
+
+We stood staring intently dead into each other's eyes; and he stretched
+forward a hand to summon those who would carry out his threat.
+
+Then he breathed deeply, smiled, and offered me his hand instead.
+
+"By God, you're the man we want, in all truth.  Now, I'll tell you what
+you ask."
+
+He had only been testing me after all, and my wits were so blunt in my
+agitation that I had not seen through him.
+
+"Have no fear for your sister," he continued.  "She is quite safe.  My
+man gave that Devinsky a message when he was leaving that puts all
+doubt on that score aside.  She is part of our bargain, and the arm of
+the State is over her.  If you accept my offer at once, your sister
+herself shall decide that man's punishment.  My object in all this is
+twofold--to let you feel something of the substance of power that will
+be yours when you have consented; and secondly to test a little more
+thoroughly your staunchness.  I am satisfied, Lieutenant.  And I hope
+you are."
+
+"Where is my sister now?" I asked, after a moment's consideration.
+
+"Where you left her, of course.  Decide how you wish her to come to
+Moscow.  Shall my men fetch her?  Shall that man bring her back
+himself?  Or will you ride out.  It is a matter of the merest form--but
+as yet, of course, you are unaccustomed to your influence and power."
+
+He was the devil at tempting; and though he had told me his motive, and
+I knew the rank impossibility of doing what he wanted--I could not help
+a little thrill of pleasure at the consciousness that this power lay
+within my grasp.
+
+"I will ride out and bring her in myself," I said, with a flush of
+pleasant anticipation at the thought.
+
+"As you will.  This will do everything," he said, as he wrote me an
+order in the name of the Emperor.  I knew its power well enough.  "One
+condition, by the by.  You must not fight this Devinsky; nor do
+anything to provoke a fight."
+
+"I won't promise," I answered.
+
+"Then I give no order.  Your life is ours, not yours to play with.
+That is the essence of the matter."
+
+"I will promise," I said, changing suddenly as I thought of Olga and
+the delight of seeing her under the circumstances.  "My word on it.  I
+do nothing except in self-defence, or in defence of my sister."
+
+"Well, be off with you then," he said, rising and shaking hands, and
+speaking as lightly as if I were a schoolboy being sent off for a ride;
+and as though there were not between us a jot or tittle of a plan in
+which life and death, fortune and marriage were the stakes.
+
+I hurried back to make preparations for riding back at once; and half
+an hour later I had had my first meal for twenty-four hours and was
+again in the saddle, pricking at top speed along the northern road,
+followed by one of the Prince's confidential servants, sent as the
+former said to me, with especial instructions to look after the welfare
+of one who was soon to be a member of the family.
+
+There is no need to describe with what different emotions and thoughts
+I made that journey.  It is enough to say that I dashed along at top
+speed, haunted by half a fear that something might yet go wrong with
+the plans and that Olga might still be in some danger; while a desire
+more keen than words can express came upon me to have her once more
+under my own care.
+
+At the same time the sense of power to which the appeal had been so
+astutely made was roused, and I was conscious of an unusual glow of
+pride.
+
+When I reached the house where I had had the ugly experience of the
+previous night I looked out for any sign of hostility.  But there was
+none.  A man came immediately in answer to my summons, and Devinsky was
+waiting for me in the large hall, which I scanned curiously after my
+night's experience in it.
+
+The sight of Devinsky roused me, but I put the curb on my temper.
+
+I handed him the order in silence.  He read it and sneered.
+
+"It is a good and safe thing to shelter behind Government powers," he
+said.  "Your sister is upstairs.  This way."  He led and I followed, my
+heart beating fast.
+
+We passed up the stairs and then turned along a corridor to the right,
+and after turning again to the right, and entering, as I thought the
+right wing of the rambling old house, we went up another short and very
+narrow flight of stairs.  Then he opened the door of a room in
+silence--indeed we had not spoken a word all the time--and stood aside
+for me to pass.
+
+Olga was sitting at the far end of the room looking out of the window,
+which was on the side away from the courtyard, with a woman attendant
+near her; and she did not even turn round when the door opened.
+
+But when I uttered her name and she saw me, she sprang up, speaking
+mine in reply with such a glad cry, and ran to me with a look of such
+rare delight on her face that I think she was going to throw herself
+into my arms and I was certainly going to let her, oblivious of all but
+the rush of love that moved our hearts simultaneously.
+
+When she was close to me, she checked herself, however, and put her
+hands in mine, as a sister might.  But the glances from her eyes told
+me all I cared to know at that moment, while her gaze roamed over me as
+if in bewilderment.
+
+"How is it you are better--and out?  Where is your wound?  What is that
+mark on your face?  I don't understand.  They told me you were lying
+dangerously wounded and that you wished me to remain here until you
+could bear to see me."
+
+"There is a good deal you don't understand yet, Olga," I said.  "The
+story of the duel was a lie from start to finish."
+
+"Then you're not wounded?  Oh, I'm so glad, Alexis" and, moving her
+hands up my arm after a timid glance at the woman, she looked her
+thankfulness and solicitude into my eyes.
+
+The look made me speechless.  Had I tried to answer it in words, I must
+have told her my love.
+
+"You are to come with me, Olga," I said, presently, recovering myself.
+"The aunt is all impatience to have you back again."
+
+"Why?  I explained all to her in my messages."
+
+"Your messages got lost on the way," I answered, and she saw by my tone
+how things were.  She got ready to come with me without another word;
+and I could feel my heart thumping and lurching against my side as I
+watched her and caught her turn now and again to look at me and send me
+a little smile of trust and pleasure.
+
+There was no need for us to speak much; we were beginning to understand
+each other well enough without words.
+
+We went out of the room together, and I was surprised and glad to see
+on a chair close by the door the sword which I had dropped the previous
+night.  I took it up, and as I did so Olga cried out in great and
+sudden fear.
+
+I looked up and saw Devinsky at the narrow head of the short stairway.
+
+"I've complied with the order," he said, his voice vibrating with
+anger.  "And I've given your sister freely into your hands.  You are at
+liberty to pass--alone."  He said this to her and then turned to me:
+"But not you, till you and I have settled our old score."
+
+"As you will," replied I, readily.  "Nothing will please me more.  But
+stay," I cried, remembering my promise.  "I cannot now.  I have passed
+my word.  Stand aside, please, and let us pass."
+
+"Not if you were the Czar himself," he answered, hotly.  "And I'm not
+going to let you shield yourself either behind the Government--you
+spy!--or behind your sister's petticoats.  If she doesn't choose to go
+when she has the chance, let her stop and see the consequence."
+
+"Olga, you had better go on," I whispered.  "This may be an ugly
+business, and not fit for you to be here."
+
+"Where you are, I stop--come what may!" she answered, firmly.
+
+"I've not come here to fight now," I said to Devinsky.  "I'll meet you
+willingly enough another time, God knows.  But now, I've passed my
+word;" and with that I raised my voice and shouted with all my strength
+to Prince Bilbassoff's servant, who was below, to come to my assistance.
+
+For answer Devinsky called on a couple of men who until then had been
+hidden, and with drawn swords and a loud shout the three rushed forward
+to throw themselves upon me.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXI.
+
+THREE TO ONE.
+
+A glance round told me the attack had been shrewdly planned indeed.
+The spot in which we all were was a large square anteroom or landing
+place, lighted from above.  Four or five doors opened from it into the
+rooms on either side, and the narrow stairway was the only means of
+communication with the rest of the house.  I was caught like a rat in a
+trap, and unless I could beat off the men who were thus attacking me
+at such dangerous odds, I was as good as a dead man.
+
+I whipped out my sword and pushed Olga back into the room we had left,
+just in time to parry the first wild lunges Devinsky made at me; and at
+the first touch of the steel all my coolness came to me.
+
+Everything must turn on the first minute or two; and knowing my man I
+set all my skill to work to keep him so engaged as to hamper the
+attempts of the other two to get to close quarters with me.
+
+I worked back into a corner of the place, close to the door of the
+room, and then as I darted out lunge after lunge with the swiftest
+dexterity, my three opponents were compelled to get into each other's
+way in their hurried manoeuvres to avoid my strokes.  By this means I
+hampered their fighting strength and lessened it by at least one man,
+since all three could not possibly get to strike at me at the same
+time.  But even thus the odds were too heavy.
+
+Devinsky was nothing like my equal with the sword, and his rage and mad
+hate now rendered him less deadly than usual: but with two others to
+help him, I could hardly hope to win in the end.  For this reason as I
+fought I uttered shout after shout to the man below to come to my
+assistance.
+
+These cries had also the effect of disconcerting my opponents.
+
+Then a lucky chance happened.
+
+One of the men in jumping back out of the way of one of my thrusts
+stumbled over the second, and sent this one for a moment into
+Devinsky's way.  I saw my chance and seized it in an instant.  In a
+trice I rushed at the half prostrate man and disdaining to kill him
+when his guard was down, I kicked him with my heavy riding boot with
+all my force in the face, and sent him reeling back, groaning and half
+choked with the blood that came gushing out of his nose and mouth,
+while his sword, went rattling across the floor to where Olga stood,
+looking on aghast, breathless and open mouthed in her fear.
+
+But the chance nearly cost me dear, for the man's companion turned on
+me and thrust at me with such directness and rapidity as all but ended
+the fight; for his sword went through the fleshy part of my arm, just
+above the elbow.  An inch or so nearer the body would have sent it
+right through my heart.  It was the last thrust he ever made, however.
+The next instant my blade had found his heart, and with a groan he
+dropped.
+
+Before I could withdraw it, however, Devinsky uttered a cry of hate,
+and dashing at me thrust at my heart with all his strength.
+
+He must have killed me but for Olga.
+
+That splendid girl had picked up the fallen man's sword and now, seeing
+my plight, she sprang forward, at the hazard of her life, crying out
+"Coward!" and struck down Devinsky's sword with all her force.
+
+"Good," I cried; and the next instant, I had wrenched my weapon free
+and held the man.
+
+"Take care.  Back to the room, or behind me, child," I cried, when I
+heard my opponent curse in his foiled attempt to kill me and saw him
+turn as if to attack Olga.  "Now, you butcher, it's you and I alone;
+and you or I, to live."
+
+"As you will," he said, and I saw him clench his teeth and set his face
+in the way men do who know that they are face to face with a risk where
+failure means death.
+
+My blood was up now, and I meant death too.  He had given up all right
+to expect anything else, and I had no mind to let him off.  If ever a
+man had earned death he had.  He had heaped on me every indignity that
+one man could put on another, and to crown it all he had just tried to
+murder me.  I would kill him with less compunction than one kills a
+dog; and I set about the task with the coolest deliberation and purpose.
+
+The scene was a grim and ghastly one enough.  The floor was all
+slippery in places with the blood of the man I had killed, whose body
+lay huddled up against the wall, as well as of the other who sat on the
+ground still spitting and coughing and mumbling and cursing from the
+fearful effects of my kick.  In the middle we two stood fighting to the
+death, watching one another with the fire of hate and blood lust in our
+eyes and on our set faces: while Olga, all eagerness excitement and
+tension, stood in the doorway watching us with white drawn face and
+dilated eyes; the deeply drawn breath coming in spasms through her
+distended nostrils and slightly parted lips.
+
+I forced the fight with all my power, and my blade flashed about my
+antagonist until all his skill was useless even to defend himself
+against my point, while any offensive tactic was out of the question.
+I wounded him three times, once so close to the heart that Olga cried
+out: and at length recalling the knack with which I had disarmed him in
+our former encounter, I used it now; and after a few more swift and
+cunning passes I whipped his sword from his grasp and sent it rattling
+to the other end of the place.
+
+My eye flashed as I drew back my arm for the death thrust.
+
+"Ah, don't, Alexis," cried Olga, in a sort of whisper of horror.
+"Don't kill him!"
+
+It stopped me instantly, and my arm fell.
+
+"As you will," I answered readily; "but he doesn't deserve it.  You owe
+your life to the woman you've tried to wrong, not to me," I said to
+him, shortly.  "Stand out of the way and let us pass."
+
+He moved aside doggedly, eyeing us with surly sullen hate, as Olga,
+trembling violently now that the excitement was over, went on first,
+and I followed her through the stairway and down and out of the house.
+
+When we reached the courtyard, the postchaise which I had ordered to
+follow us from the inn had arrived, and Olga and I entered it at once.
+
+"Thank God, we are out of the house," was my companion's fervent
+exclamation, as the carriage turned into the road and we left the
+gloomy place behind us.
+
+"Would to God we were out of Russia!" said I, speaking from my heart.
+"Then..."  I paused and looked into her face.
+
+"All may yet come right," answered Olga, meeting my eyes and putting
+her hand in mine.  My clasp closed on it, and we sat thus for some
+moments, just hand in hand, each silently happy in the knowledge of the
+other's love.
+
+Then I bent toward her and gradually drew her to me, my eyes all the
+time lighted with the light from hers.
+
+"It is love, Olga; lovers' love?" I asked in a passionate whisper.
+
+For answer she smiled and whispered back:
+
+"It has always been, Alexis;" and she met my betrothal kisses with
+warmth equal to mine.  And after that we did not care to say a word,
+but leant back in the carriage as it flew through the country in the
+gathering gloom of the evening, bumping, jolting, rolling, and
+creaking.  What cared we for that?  Olga was fast in my arms her head
+on my breast and her face close to mine, so close that we were tempted
+ever and again to let the story of our love tell itself over and over
+again in our kisses; and neither Olga nor I had a thought of resisting
+the temptation.
+
+This would have gone on for hours, so far as I was concerned; I was in
+a veritable Palace of Delight with freshly avowed love as my one
+thought.  But Olga roused herself suddenly with a start and a little
+cry.
+
+"Oh, Alexis, what have you made me do?  Your wound."
+
+I had forgotten all about it, but now when she mentioned it my left arm
+felt a little stiff.
+
+"I am ashamed of myself," she cried.  "What a love must mine be, that I
+want to dream of it with selfish pleasure when you are wounded.  You
+make me drink oblivion with your kisses."
+
+"Love is a fine narcotic," replied I, laughing.  "I felt no wound while
+you looked at me.  But now that you bring me down to earth with a rush,
+I begin to remember it.  But it is nothing much, and will best wait
+till we are in Moscow."
+
+"Do you think I will let anyone see that wound before I do?  Why, it
+was gained for my sake.  And you love me?  And now"--"now" was a long
+loving kiss and a lingering look into my face as she held it between
+her hands, while her eyes were radiant with delight.  Then she
+sighed--"Now, I am all sister again."
+
+I was looking my doubts of this and meant to test them, shaking my head
+in strong disbelief, when the carriage stopped suddenly.  Looking out I
+saw that we were at the inn, and must therefore have been driving long
+over two hours.  It had seemed scarce a minute.
+
+"Will you get out while we change horses, sir?" asked the Prince's
+servant, who had come with the carriage on horseback.
+
+"My brother is wounded and must have attendance at once," said Olga, in
+so self-possessed a tone that I smiled.
+
+"Only a scratch," said I, as if impatiently.  "But my sister is always
+fidgety."
+
+We went into the house then, and Olga insisted upon examining the
+wound, and when she saw the blood I had lost, not much, but making
+brave shew on my white linen, she was all solicitude, and anxiety.  She
+sent the maids flying this way and that, one to fetch hot water,
+another bandages, a third lint, and altogether made such a commotion in
+the place that one would have thought I had been brought there to die.
+
+She bathed the little spot so tenderly and delicately too, asking every
+moment if her touch hurt me; and she washed it and then covered it, and
+bandaged it and bound it up, and did everything with such infinite care
+that I was almost glad I had been wounded.
+
+And the whole process she accompanied with a running fire of would-be
+scolding comment upon the trouble that brothers gave, the obstinate
+creatures they were, the rash and foolish things they did, how much
+more bother they were than sisters, and a great deal more to the same
+effect--till I thought the people would see through the acting as
+clearly as I did, assisted as I was by the thousand little glints and
+glances she threw to me when the others were not looking our way.
+
+Then she held a long consultation with the landlady--a large woman who
+seemed as kindly in heart as she was portly in body--whether it would
+be safe for me to go on to the city that night, or whether a doctor had
+not better be brought out to me there: and it took the persuasion and
+assurances of us all to win her consent to my going on.
+
+I tried to punish her for this when we were in the carriage again, by
+telling her I supposed she was unwilling to travel on with me.  But I
+wasted my breath and my effort, as she was all the way in the highest
+spirits.
+
+"I don't quite know which I like best," she said, laughing.  "Being
+sister with a knowledge of--of something else, as I was just now at the
+inn, or--or..."
+
+"Or what?"
+
+"Or riding with Hamylton Tregethner," she answered, laughing again,
+gleefully.  "Do you notice how easily I can say that dreadful name?"
+
+"I notice I like it better from your lips than from any others."
+
+"I've practised it--and it was so difficult.  But I might even get to
+like it in time, you know."
+
+"By the way, I remember you once told me you didn't like Hamylton
+Tregethner."
+
+"Ah, yes.  That was my brother's old friend.  A very disagreeable
+person.  He wanted to take my brother away from Moscow.  A person must
+be very unpleasant who wishes to divide brother and sister.  Don't you
+think so?"
+
+"That depends on the rate of exchange," said I.
+
+"Perhaps; but at that time there was no talk of exchange at all."
+
+"And no thought of it?"
+
+"Ah!"  And for answer she nestled to me again and merged the sister in
+the lover with a readiness and pleasure that shewed what she thought of
+that particular exchange.
+
+And with these little intervals of particularly sweet and pleasant
+light and shade we travelled the miles to Moscow, in what seemed to us
+both an incredibly short time.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXII.
+
+THE BEGINNING OF THE END.
+
+It was not until a night's rest had somewhat redressed the balance of
+my emotions and had rendered me again subject to the pressure of
+actualities that I fully realised how the avowal of my love had rather
+increased than diminished the difficulties of our position.
+
+Despite my fatigue and wound I was stirring in good time, and had had
+the doctor's report and seen the Colonel to get leave from regimental
+work, in time to get round to see Olga pretty early.  I wished to see
+her and discuss the whole position before going to report to Prince
+Bilbassoff the result of things with Devinsky.
+
+The manner in which Olga met me was one of the sweetest things
+imaginable and the presence of the good aunt, Countess Palitzin, added
+to its effect.  They were sitting together when I entered.
+
+"It is Alexis, aunt," said Olga rising.  She was a mixture of laughing
+love and sisterly indifference.
+
+"Alexis, you are a good lad, a dear lad," said the old lady, usually
+very stately and punctilious.  "Come here, boy, and kiss me and let me
+kiss you.  You have done splendidly and bravely in this matter of Olga.
+She has told me all about it."
+
+"All?" I echoed, looking at Olga, who tried to keep the smile that was
+dancing in her eyes from travelling to her lips.
+
+"All that a sister need tell," she said.
+
+"Olga, I have no patience with you," exclaimed the aunt.  "You have a
+brother in a thousand--in ten thousand, and yet you speak in that way.
+And I see you never kiss him now.  I should like to know why.  Are you
+ashamed of him?  Here he has saved you from all this trouble, and you
+give him the points of your finger nails to touch.  Yet you are not
+cold and feelingless in other things."
+
+"I am glad that you speak to her like this," I said, gravely.  "She
+seems to think that a sister should never kiss such a brother as I am."
+
+"Do you mean to say you think I have given you no reason to believe I
+am thankful for what you have done?" she retorted, fencing cleverly.
+
+"I don't echo our aunt's words, that you are cold and feelingless,
+Olga--she is not that, Aunt Palitzin.  But I do find that as a sister
+she places a strong reserve on her feelings."
+
+"To hear you speak," said Olga, laughing lightly, "one might think I
+had two characters: in one of which I was all warmth and affection; in
+the other all coldness and reserve."
+
+"And I believe that would be about right, child," said the Countess.
+"For when the boy is not here your tongue never tires of praising him;
+and yet the moment he comes, he might be a stranger instead of your own
+nearest and dearest."
+
+Olga blushed crimson at this.
+
+"Brothers have to be treated judiciously," she said.
+
+"'Judiciously,' Olga.  Why, what on earth do you mean?  How could you
+love a brave fellow like Alexis injudiciously?"
+
+"Love is often best when it is most injudicious," said I,
+sententiously, coming to Olga's rescue; but she betrayed me shamefully.
+Looking innocently at me she asked:--
+
+"Would you like us to be a pair of injudicious lovers, then, Alexis?"
+
+"If I never shew more lack of judgment than in my love for you, I shall
+get well through life, Olga," I retorted.
+
+"You are certainly a most unusual brother, I can tell you," she said,
+smiling slily.
+
+"If every brother had such a sister, the tie that binds us two would be
+a much more usual one," I answered.
+
+"You are incorrigible," she laughed and turned away.
+
+"I am glad you speak so seriously, Alexis," said my aunt.  "I'll be no
+party to any deception.  She does love you, boy, however much she may
+try to hide it when you are here;" and with this, which set us both
+laughing again, the old lady went away.
+
+"Does she?" I asked; and the question brought Olga with a happy look
+into my arms.
+
+But I had not come to make love, sweet though it was to have the girl's
+arms about me; and as soon as I could, I began in talk seriously about
+the position.
+
+In the first place I told her everything that had happened; and there
+was one thing that amused her, despite the tremendously critical state
+of our affairs.  It was about the great suitor the Prince had promised
+for her.
+
+"What, another?" she said, with a comical crinkling of her forehead.
+"Upon my word what with brothers and lovers, I am sorely plagued.  This
+makes the..." she stopped.
+
+"How many?"
+
+"I don't think I know.  Either two or three, according as we reckon
+you.  While you're my brother, two I suppose.  Otherwise three."
+
+"'Otherwise' is a good deal shaky, I'm afraid," said I, shaking my
+head.  "And I begin to question whether he'll ever count."
+
+"He may not; but in that case no other ever will," returned Olga
+earnestly.  "Did you say that on purpose to get another assurance from
+me?"
+
+"No, indeed.  I only spoke out of the reality of my doubts;" and then
+we went on threshing the thing out.
+
+"There is but one possible chance," said I, after I had told her all.
+"It's a remote one, perhaps, but such as it is, we must use it.  You
+must go...."
+
+"I won't leave Moscow unless you go," she broke in.  "I wouldn't have
+done it before when you wanted, but now...." she paused and blushed and
+her eyes brightened--"wild horses shan't tear me away."
+
+"There are stronger things than wild horses, child; and I shall appeal
+to one in your case.  You must go in order to try and get me out of the
+muddle here."
+
+"Yes, I'll go for that, if it's necessary," she declared as readily as
+a moment before she had declined.
+
+"It is necessary.  Shortly, my idea is this.  We can't get away
+together at the same time.  We are shut in here in the very centre of
+Russia; and if we left together we could not hope to reach the frontier
+for many hours after we had been missed from here; while if we were
+missed only ten minutes before we got to the barrier, it would be long
+enough for us to be stopped.  Besides, there are ten thousand things
+that come in the way.  But that doesn't apply to your travelling alone;
+and if I can get a passport or a permit for you, I believe you will be
+able to get across the frontier before anyone has an idea that you have
+even left the city.  In my case that would be impossible.  There are
+three separate sets of lynx eyes on me.  The Prince's police--the most
+vigilant of all; the Nihilists--the most dangerous; and Paula
+Tueski's--the most vengeful.  I shall have the most difficult task to
+evade them, and I believe it will be only possible, if at all, by a
+sort of double cunning.  But there is one way you can help."
+
+"What is that?" asked Olga, whose interest was breathless.
+
+"I have a friend, Balestier; you've heard of him--the Hon. Rupert
+Balestier.  He saw your brother in Paris and believes that some
+devilment is on foot.  If you can find him and tell him all that has
+happened and the mess that things are in, I believe, in fact I know,
+that he would exhaust every possible means of helping me.  It is
+possible that our Foreign Office might be moved by the influence he
+could bring to bear; and I know that in such a task he'd stir up every
+friend and relative he has in the world.  My plan is simply this.  You
+must go with all possible speed to Paris: find him, tell him all, and
+get him to do what he thinks best and use what efforts he can.  In the
+meantime if I can't escape I shall either have to feign consent with
+this wretched duel and marriage business and wait on events: or if I
+get a chance of leaving, slip off in an altogether different direction."
+
+"It is a terrible trouble I have brought you to, Alexis," said the girl
+sadly.
+
+"I would pay a far bigger price for this trouble," I answered, taking
+her hand and kissing it.  "And when we are once out of this too
+hospitable land of yours, we shall laugh at it all together."
+
+"Yes, when?" she said; and her tone suggested a hopelessness which
+responded only too well with that which I felt secretly.
+
+While we were together, however, it was impossible for us to feel
+downcast for long.  There was such infinite pleasure in mere
+companionship, that the grim troubles which surrounded us were shut out
+of our thoughts.  The present was so bright that it seemed impossible
+the gloom could soon close in on us.
+
+But when I had left her and was alone in my rooms, I was gloomy enough;
+and my spirits were certainly not raised when my new servant ushered in
+Paula Tueski.
+
+"You would not come to me, Alexis, so I have to come to you," was her
+greeting.  "You neglect me.  I suppose because of the great friends you
+have made."
+
+"Great friends?"  For the moment not understanding her.
+
+"Yes.  I hear that you are finding great pleasure in the society of a
+certain great lady."
+
+"Oh, you mean the Princess Weletsky?" I laughed as I spoke.
+
+"It does not make me laugh," she said, frowning.
+
+"You are in mourning, and laughter sounds ill with tears," I returned.
+I hated the woman worse every time I saw her.
+
+"If I am in mourning it is you who are the cause," she cried, stamping
+her foot, angrily.  "I want to know what this new--new friendship,
+shall I call it?--means."
+
+"You may call it what you like.  The Princess is nothing to me," said
+I, thinking more of my affections than of the facts.
+
+"And never will be?" said my companion abruptly.
+
+"And never will be, I hope," I agreed, with the accents of unmistakable
+sincerity.
+
+But my visitor was suspicious and did not believe me.  She got up and
+came close to me, and stared hard into my eyes as if searching there
+for the truth.
+
+"Then why are you so cold to me?  Not a kindly word, not a gesture, not
+a glance that you mightn't have thrown to the veriest beggar in the
+street have you given me.  You, who used always to brighten when I came
+near you.  I have seen your eyes light up a hundred times, Alexis, when
+you have let them rest on me, praising, pleasing, and loving me.  And
+now you are as cold as a tombstone.  Will you swear to me you have no
+love for this other woman--this Princess?"
+
+"Most certainly I will."
+
+"Ah, what is the use of an oath in which there is no fire, no life,
+nothing but dead cold ashes!  What has changed you?  Are you thinking
+of marrying this woman?"
+
+"If she waits till I wish to marry her, she'll die unmated," I returned.
+
+"Why can't you say yes or no to my questions?" she cried, stamping her
+foot again, irritated by the little evasion.  "Are you thinking of
+marrying her?"
+
+"No.  Is that answer blunt enough for you?"
+
+"It sounds like a forced lie more than anything else.  Do you know what
+I would do, Alexis, if I thought you meant to try and deceive me?"
+
+"I can pretty well guess," I answered, calmly.  "Probably go round and
+have afternoon tea with her and tell her that little fable which you
+told me the other day.  You weary me with these constant threats,
+Paula.  They get like a musket that's held so long at one's head that
+it rusts at the lock and the trigger can't be pulled.  It would be so
+much more interesting if you'd go and do something."
+
+With that I turned away and lighted a cigarette, almost wishing in my
+heart that I could offend her sufficiently to drive her away; and yet
+sick at the knowledge of her power over Olga and me.
+
+"I like that tone better," she said, with a laugh.  "At least it shews
+some kind of feeling.  I hate a log.  You will find I can 'do
+something,' as you say, when the time comes, if you drive me.  My
+muskets don't miss fire."
+
+"No, nor your daggers blunt their points.  I admit you can be deadly
+enough where you hate."
+
+"Don't make me hate you, then," she retorted, quickly.
+
+"Is that possible, Paula?" I replied, turning to her with a smile.
+
+The instant change in this most remarkable woman at this one slight
+touch of tenderness was wonderful.  She was hungering for the love I
+could no more give her than I could have given her the Crown of Russia,
+and at this little accent of kindness she turned all softness and
+smiling love.
+
+"Ah, God!  You can do as you like with me, Alexis," she cried,
+excitedly.  "Just then you were rousing all the devil there is in me;
+and now no more than a smile drives out of my heart every thought save
+of my love for you.  If it is so easy to make me happy why kill me with
+your coldness?  Kiss me, Alexis."  She came to throw her arms round me
+but wishing to avoid this caress, I remembered my wound and stepping
+back, kept her off.
+
+"Mind, I have a little hurt here;" and I pointed to the place.
+
+Little did I think of the consequences of that most simple action, or
+of the price I should have to pay for shirking a few distasteful
+kisses.  She was at once all anxiety.
+
+"A hurt?  A wound?  Tell me what it is.  Have you--was it in
+consequence of rescuing your sister?  Have you had some fight or other?"
+
+I told her in as few words as I could, glad to turn her thoughts from
+the wish to caress me.  When I had to admit that it was a slight sword
+thrust, however, she insisted upon seeing the wound as well as the
+places where I had torn my arm in the efforts to get rid of my bonds.
+
+No one could fail to see her care was prompted by deep feeling.
+
+I took off my coat and just turned up my sleeve to satisfy her
+curiosity, and held out my arm for her to see, laughing half
+shamefacedly as I did so, to assure her there was no cause for real
+anxiety, and that she was making much of nothing.
+
+But the effect it had on her was startling indeed.
+
+After glancing at the marks which were fast dying away, for my skin
+always heals very rapidly, she smoothed them gently and kissed them.
+
+"It is the left arm, Alexis, always the left arm," she said, glancing
+up with a smile, and speaking as if there were some special
+significance in the fact--though what that could be I could not even
+guess, of course.
+
+The chief mark was on the lower part of the upper arm, just above the
+elbow, and when she had kissed it and had turned it round so that the
+front part of the forearm, where the muscles are broadest was in full
+view, I felt her start violently, and heard her catch her breath
+quickly, as if with a gasp of surprise.
+
+She stared at it for fully a minute without raising her eyes, her only
+gesture being to pass her fingers across the muscles twice.
+
+When she raised her eyes and looked at me, there was an astounding
+change in her face.  She was as white as death, and trembled so
+violently that even her face quivered, while her eyes were fixed on me
+with an expression of wildness and mingled emotions such as I could not
+read or even guess at.
+
+"Are you ill?" I asked.
+
+She started again as I spoke; and her lips merely moved very slightly
+as she moistened them with her tongue.
+
+And all the time she kept the same staring, strained, frowning,
+questioning look fixed on me.
+
+"What's the matter?" I cried again.  "Are you ill?"  I thought she was
+in for a fit of some kind.
+
+But all she did was to continue to stare with the same indescribable
+intensity, the heavy brows closing together as the frown deepened on
+her forehead.
+
+"My God!"
+
+The exclamation seemed to be wrung from her in sheer pain of thought.
+
+She took hold of my arm again and examined the same place once more
+with briefer but no less fierce scrutiny.
+
+Then looking up again into my face she let the arm fall.  She seemed to
+shrink from me as she drew in one long deep shivering breath that
+sounded between her teeth.  Next she turned away and sat down, pressing
+both her hands to her face.
+
+Every vestige of feeling and passion had passed, leaving only the
+close, concentrated, strained tension.  The colour had left her cheeks:
+and the roundness and beauty of her face appeared to have been
+transformed in a moment into a veritable presentment of lean, haggard,
+vigilant doubt.
+
+Many minutes passed before either of us spoke.  Then she got up and
+again came quite close to me and staring right into my eyes, asked in a
+voice all changed and unmusical--a sort of keen piercing whisper, that
+seemed to send a chill through me--while she pointed to my arm:--
+
+"What does it mean?  Who are you?"
+
+I returned the look steadily, but bit my lip nearly through as I
+guessed well enough the discovery she had made.  I answered lightly:--
+
+"Excellently acted.  But what is it all about?"
+
+"Who are you?  That tells me who you are not."  She spoke in the same
+hard discordant whisper, and pointed to my arm again.
+
+"Are you mad?" I cried sternly.  "What do you mean by this pretence?"
+
+Her only answer was to stare with the same stony intensity right into
+my eyes.
+
+"Shall I send for my own sister to identify me?" I cried, with what I
+intended as sarcastic emphasis.  But the effect of my question quite
+disconcerted me.
+
+It broke her down and with a cry that was almost a scream, she threw
+herself into a chair and gave vent to emotions that were no longer
+controllable.
+
+For an hour she was in this semi-hysterical condition; and I could
+guess the leading thought of her frenzy.  If I was not the man she had
+believed, she would jump to the thought that Olga and I were lovers,
+and not brother and sister.  Her jealousy made her a madwoman.
+
+By the time she had recovered from her frenzy I had resolved on my
+course.  The only thing possible was to hold strenuously to the old
+deception.  What had shaken her belief in me, I could not, of course,
+even guess.  If by any means she could make her words good, it was
+clear she carried my life in her hands.  Strong as the story which she
+had concocted as to my supposed crime would have been against the real
+Alexis, it was a hundred times stronger as told against someone
+impersonating Alexis for what she would of course declare were Nihilist
+purposes.  The mere fact of the impersonation would be accepted as
+proof of guilt in everything: while Olga's share in the conspiracy
+would render her liable to a punishment only less in extent than mine.
+
+As I thought of all this, my rage against the woman passed almost
+beyond control; but I forced it back and listened when she
+spoke--telling me of all the things which had made me seem so
+different.  My conduct to her; my manner; my lack of love; the
+difference in looks, in gestures, and in what I said and the way I said
+it; the thousand things that had set her wondering at the change in me.
+
+Then she spoke of the change in my sister's conduct; how a word from me
+had made her friendly where a thousand words before had failed.  And
+when she spoke and thought of Olga, she seemed to lose again all
+self-control; declaring she had been made a tool and a dupe of for some
+purposes of our own.
+
+My protestations were of no avail.  She brushed them aside with abrupt
+contempt, and when I tried to find out indirectly what her proof was,
+she laughed angrily and would not tell me.
+
+"I will tell you when I bid you good-bye for Siberia, or see you for
+the last time in the condemned cell.  You shall not die in ignorance,"
+she said: and then she went on to dwell with horrible detail upon the
+punishments that were in store for both Olga and myself.
+
+But she overdid it all; and shewed me her weak point.  She thus gave me
+a clue to my best tactics.  Her feeling was not hate of me, but
+jealousy of Olga.  This strange and most impulsive woman had had her
+love tricked as well as her judgment; and the love which she had had
+for Olga's brother was now transferred to me.  Her chief fear was lest
+Olga was really to come between us.  When she stopped, I tested her.
+
+"You have found a ridiculous mare's nest," I said, with a short laugh.
+"And I have something more important to do than to listen to your
+fictions.  If you think there is any truth in the thing, by all means
+tell all you know.  But I warn you beforehand you will fail--fail
+ignominiously: and what is more, lose all you have said you wish to
+gain.  My great object now is to get Olga out of the country, so that I
+may be free to carry out my plans."
+
+She looked up as I spoke, and I saw the light of hope in her eyes.
+
+"That you may follow her, I suppose you mean?"
+
+"You can suppose what you please," I answered, shortly.  "If you wish
+to break off all between us by this ridiculous story, do so.  But bear
+in mind, it is your act, not mine; and when once done, done
+irrevocably."
+
+She wrung her hands in indecision.
+
+"Can I trust you?"
+
+"Can you get me a permit for Olga to leave the country?  That's more to
+the point."
+
+"Yes--alone."  There was a world of meaning in that single word.
+
+"Then get it; and as soon as a railway engine can drag her across the
+frontier, she will be out of Russia, and out of my way, much to my
+relief."
+
+She sat silent in perplexity.
+
+"You can't go!  You shan't go!" she cried.  "You have made me do these
+things, whoever you are, and you must stay--for me."
+
+I smiled.  I had won.  Then I changed as it were to a rather fanatical
+Nihilist, and cried warmly:--
+
+"The ties that keep me here, Paula, are ties of death and blood; and
+such as no woman's hand can either fashion or destroy."
+
+She looked at me long and intently and put her hands on my arms and her
+face close up to mine and said in a soft seductive tone:--
+
+"If I get that permit, all shall be as it was?"
+
+"All shall be as it was, Paula," I answered, adopting her equivocal
+phrase, and bent and kissed her on the forehead.  But I was playing for
+a big stake: Olga's life probably, and my own certainly: and I could
+not afford the luxury of absolute candour at that crisis of the game.
+
+But I did not win without conditions.
+
+"I will get it," she said; "but you remember what I told you before.  I
+repeat it now.  You are more surely mine than ever; more surely than
+ever in my power, Alexis."  She emphasized the word and a glance shewed
+me her meaning.  "And we must be married secretly within three days
+from now.  I will make the arrangements."
+
+"As you will," I replied; and I felt glad that in a measure her resort
+to this compulsion gave me a sort of justification for misleading her.
+
+In less than three days' the Czar's visit would be over and I should
+either be dead or out of Russia.
+
+But Olga would be saved; and that would be much.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIII.
+
+CHECKMATE!
+
+As soon as Paula Tueski left me I went round to Olga to endeavour to
+solve the riddle of the woman's discovery.  Olga was out and would not
+return for an hour.  Leaving word that I wished to see her particularly
+and that she was to wait for me, I went for a walk to try and order my
+thoughts.
+
+Finding myself near the Princess Weletsky's house, and knowing that I
+had to keep up the semblance of attentions there, I called.  She
+received me with marks of the most warm regard and welcome.
+
+"I have heard much of what happened at that wretched Devinsky's house.
+Old Fedor who went with you told me much and my brother much also; but
+I would rather hear all from you.  Where is Olga?  You were wounded, I
+hear.  What was it?  Tell me--tell me.  I have been dying with anxiety
+for you."
+
+I told her shortly what had happened; and then it occurred to me to try
+and get her help in regard to Olga.  I drew a fancy picture of Olga's
+shattered nerves; that Moscow had become a place of terror to her; and
+that even Russia itself was distasteful to her for a time on Devinsky's
+account.
+
+"Do you think that a man like Devinsky would dare to lay so much as a
+finger on one of our family?" she asked, checkmating me quietly with a
+single pronoun.
+
+"It's not what Devinsky dares, but what Olga fears."
+
+"She did not strike me as a girl of nervous fears."
+
+"No; she does not shew it even to me."
+
+"Then we can do better than drive the poor child away from home--punish
+Devinsky.  Tell her that he is already under arrest."
+
+"Is that so, indeed?" I asked, in some astonishment.
+
+"Certainly; his murderous attack on you when you were on the Emperor's
+special duty is a crime that will cost him dear.  Those who play us
+false, Lieutenant Petrovitch, must beware of us.  But our friends find
+the ways made easy for them.  Did not my brother tell you that Olga was
+to be protected as one of us, and therefore avenged, if wronged?"
+
+"She will be glad to feel safe," I replied quietly.  I knew what she
+meant; and with a look that seemed to imply much, I added:--"I am glad
+to be one of your friends."  I was getting such an adept in the
+suggestion of a lie, that much more practice would make it difficult
+for me to tell the plain truth.
+
+My companion flushed with pleasure.
+
+"I always felt I should not count on you in vain," she said.
+
+"No woman has ever done that, I trust," was my answer.  "No woman ever
+could for whom I felt as I feel for you."  And with that, and a little
+more to the same effect, I left her.
+
+I went round to Olga's at once.  It was a blessing that with her there
+need be no secret meanings and insinuations.
+
+She received me, of course, with a smile.
+
+"Is this a pretence to see me, or really something?" she asked with a
+laugh.
+
+"I think it is really something or I should not have dared to be back
+so quickly.  Even brothers may be bores."
+
+Her answer was a pretty one, such as might be expected from a lover,
+but I need not repeat it.
+
+"First, I will tell you the news," I said, after a pause; and I told
+her about the arrest of Devinsky.
+
+"These people strike swiftly and secretly, Alexis," she said,
+thoughtfully.  "They frighten me.  Their power is almost limitless.
+How hard they will hit and how far the blow will reach, if they ever
+find we are fooling them!"  She sighed.
+
+"The frontier is their limit: and we must pass it."
+
+"I have been out to-day to make the preparations for flight.  I suppose
+I must go?"--she smiled a sad little note of interrogation at me--"and
+if so, the sooner the better.  I have a disguise, and shall start
+to-night.  My difficulty will be of course at the frontier.  I am going
+to stop short of that by one station, and then as a peasant girl try to
+get over on foot.  It will take a little longer: but it is the only
+chance."
+
+"No, I have good news for you so far as that is concerned.  Madame
+Tueski will get you a permit in some name or other and then you can
+cross in the train.  Far better."
+
+"You have seen her then to-day?"  A shadow of her old feelings crossed
+Olga's face as she asked this.
+
+"Yes, I have seen her, and she is eager now that you shall get out of
+the country."
+
+She was very quickwitted and read my meaning instantly from my words
+and tone.
+
+"Tell me everything.  There is more bad news yet to be told.  Has she
+guessed? ... Ah, I always feared that woman."
+
+"Tell me, Olga, ought I to have any special mark on either of my arms.
+Any birth-mark, or anything of that sort?"
+
+She went white instantly.
+
+"I had forgotten.  That wretched woman's initials were tattooed in
+small letters just there"--she put her finger on the place--"I saw it
+once and Alexis was wild with me.  Has she seen your arm bare?"
+
+"My wound," I said, in explanation.
+
+"Oh dear, through me again; through me again," cried the girl in
+distress.  I took her in my arms to soothe her, and tried to make her
+understand that after all it was really a good thing that had happened
+and not a bad one, inasmuch as the woman's jealousy was urging her to
+help in getting Olga away.  I told her everything frankly.
+
+But this was not all a clear course, as may be imagined.  Olga loved me
+very dearly and trusted me, I believe, as implicitly as any woman could
+trust the man she loved.  But she was a woman and not a goddess: and
+she could not bring herself to like the necessity which took her out of
+the country and left me behind in the clutches of such a woman as Paula
+Tueski.  She was a very reasonable little soul, however, as well as a
+brave one; and before I left her I had talked her into a condition of
+compulsory resignation.
+
+I did not attempt to disguise from myself, though I did from Olga, the
+fact that her flight after my conversation with the Princess would
+certainly tend to bring suspicion upon me, if it should be discovered.
+Any secret step at such a juncture would do that.  I thought I had
+better see the Prince himself, therefore, lest my neglect to do so
+should rouse his suspicions prematurely.
+
+I went to him from Olga's house, and when I was admitted, after a
+little delay which I did not quite like, I found him as gracious as
+ever.
+
+"I am very busy," he said, shaking hands with me; "but have time to
+hear that you have resolved to join us, Lieutenant."
+
+"I have come now only to thank you...."
+
+"I haven't time to listen to that.  Your sister is again in Moscow; her
+persecutor is in the care of my men; you have only to say a word for
+her to be his judge.  Do you say it?"
+
+Seeing me hesitate, he paused only a moment.
+
+"When a man like you doesn't say Yes, directly, he means, No.  I
+understand.  But--time is beginning to press with much force.  Make up
+your mind; and don't come again till you have decided.  Understand what
+that means.  I can't see you again until you are ready to say Yes or
+No, finally--finally.  Then come, and if you decide no, make it
+convenient before you come, to arrange any little matters that can best
+be put right personally.  You may find obstacles afterwards.  You
+understand?" and the look which accompanied the words shewed me that he
+meant all this as a pretty strong turn of the screw.  "Oh, and by the
+by," he added, just as I was leaving the room--"of course you won't
+attempt to get away.  You may if you like, you know, but you'll be
+wiser not to; because I have certain information about you, and any
+attempt at flight at such a juncture as this would give me an excellent
+excuse for dealing very summarily.  Understand--I shall only see you
+again when you are ready to give me your decision."
+
+My anxiety for Olga was making me like a silly frightened boy; and I
+went away from the man now with a chilled feeling of fear that set me
+doubting and speculating and anticipating a thousand forms of trouble
+which he could inflict upon her.  I should not have a moment's peace of
+mind while Olga remained in Russia.  That was certain.
+
+I went back to my rooms and sat there thinking out moodily the
+particulars of the journey which the girl had to take alone, and my
+fears for her multiplied with almost every turn of my thoughts.  Every
+detail of the position seemed to teem with additional menace and cause
+for alarm.
+
+I had my own escape to think of too.  I resolved, let the risks be what
+they might, that the instant Olga's telegram came telling me she had
+crossed the frontier, I should bolt; and the manner and direction of my
+flight had cost me many an anxious hour.
+
+I had been looking forward to the possible necessity for a hurried
+flight ever since I had started the venture, and I had had time thus to
+make my plans fairly complete.  For this purpose I had used my Nihilist
+connection, though I had of course kept my whole plans to myself, since
+I had contemplated running away from the Nihilists as much as from
+anyone else.
+
+The chief difficulty was the geographical position of Moscow: the very
+kernel of Russia, and at tremendous distances from all the frontiers.
+My escape must be obviously a matter of the most careful planning,
+seeing that I should probably be many weeks, and perhaps months,
+carrying it out.  From the first I abandoned all thought of making a
+dash straight for the frontier by train.  Every outlet of the kind
+would be watched most jealously, alike by the police and the Nihilists:
+while the fact of Olga slipping through would increase a thousandfold
+the vigilance to prevent my following.
+
+If Paula Tueski managed to get the permit, Olga would make her escape
+quickly by train, going either north-west to St. Petersburg and away by
+steamer: or west across the German frontier: or south-west down into
+Austria.  Two days would do the business.
+
+My escape was to be a very different affair.
+
+I meant to leave Moscow on foot or pony back, disguised as a peasant
+woman, and as soon as I was well clear of the city, some 20 or 30 miles
+out, I intended to change that disguise and play the part of a
+horse-dealer, making for the two big horse fairs that were coming on
+soon at Rostov and Jaroslav--about 100 and 150 miles north
+respectively.  For this purpose I proposed to buy up enough horses and
+ponies on my way to divert suspicion and sustain my part.
+
+At Jaroslav I should sell these for what they would fetch and in the
+confusion of the fair time, change my character again.  There I should
+strike the Volga: and my plan was to escape by river; working my way on
+the boats down to Tsaritsin and thence across by train to the Don.  At
+the mouth of the Don, or at Taganrog, I calculated to be able to ship
+on a steamer across the Sea of Azov, and thence across the Black Sea,
+and out through the Bosphorus.
+
+This was the outline, subject of course to any changes which necessity
+or expediency should suggest; and I preferred it, because if I could
+cut the trail between Moscow and the river, that was about the very
+last place in which I should be looked for; while the time that must be
+occupied on the river would give me the necessary opportunity for
+obtaining such papers as I should require to get away.
+
+I had perfected the plan, thought out many of its details and
+discounted its risks, and had laid in many of the necessary disguises.
+But I was not destined to use them; for the direction of matters was
+wrested out of my hands by a stroke that checkmated me completely.
+
+In the afternoon a letter came to me from Olga, vaguely worded, to the
+effect that Paula Tueski had sent for her and had given her what had
+been promised, and that all matters were now complete.  She wished me
+to see her at seven o'clock.
+
+I scribbled a line saying I would be there at the time.
+
+The messenger, Olga's maid, went off with it: and almost before I
+thought she could have had time to get home and back again, she came
+hurrying in again breathless and excited, and all white with fear.
+
+I thought at first she had been molested in some way in the
+streets--Moscow is not Eden--and I asked her what was the matter.
+
+The reply, uttered in gasps and jerks of terror and with spasmodic sobs
+filled me in my turn with consternation.
+
+Olga had been arrested during the girl's absence, and my aunt, the
+Countess Palitzin was like a mad-woman in her fear.  She was all
+anxiety to see me.
+
+"Arrested!" I cried, scarcely believing my own ears.  "By whom?  For
+what?"
+
+"By the police; I don't know for what," wailed the girl.  "But the
+Countess----"
+
+"I'll go to her at once," I cried, interrupting her; and without
+another word I set off at once for Olga's house, with the greatest
+haste.
+
+What could it all mean?
+
+Whose blow was this?  Coming at such a moment, it shattered all my
+plans to fragments.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIV.
+
+CRISIS.
+
+I found matters just as Olga's maid had told me.  The Countess was in
+the deepest distress, and was wringing her hands and crying herself
+blind in agitation and alarm.
+
+Olga had been out in the afternoon, she told me, and had come back
+considerably excited.  She had stayed some time in her room, and the
+maid now said she had been turning over her clothes.  I knew what this
+meant.  Then she had written the letter to me and sent the girl with
+it; but the latter had scarcely left the house before the police had
+arrived, had asked for Olga, and had arrested her, refusing to say a
+single word as to the cause.
+
+Olga had of course gone with them, protesting to the Countess that
+there must be some mistake and that no doubt she would soon be again at
+liberty and return home.  When kissing her aunt the girl had whispered
+to her to tell me at once, with an assurance that she was not in the
+least frightened.
+
+Knowing what I knew about the system of imprisonment in Russia and how
+common a thing it was for a prisoner to be arrested on the flimsiest
+suspicion, to enter a gaol and be kept from all communication with
+friends and family, I did not by any means share the calmness she had
+professed.  The suddenness of the arrest combined with the complete
+overthrow of all my plans incensed me beyond measure.  I put to the two
+women all the questions that occurred to me, but got no further light.
+I could not hide my concern, but I did my best to make the Countess
+Palitzin believe that it would be in my power to help Olga.
+
+I hurried from the house to Paula Tueski.  I reckoned to get from her
+the best hints as to where my exertions could be most usefully exerted.
+But I did not find her and the news at her house was disconcerting
+somewhat.  She had been called for suddenly and had gone out, leaving
+no word where she was to be found nor when she would return.  All quite
+contrary to her usual custom.
+
+I went on then to the chief police office.  I was in uniform of course,
+and was received with the greatest politeness, but no information was
+given to me.  The man who gave me an interview was complacency itself.
+
+"I am grieved to be able to give you no information, Lieutenant," he
+said, politely.  "But you know how our hands are tied and how one's
+lips are sealed in this office.  In anything but that matter I am your
+most obedient servant: indeed, if in that very affair you can suggest
+how I can be of service, I pray you to command me."
+
+"My sister was arrested by your men?" I asked.
+
+"Most arrests are carried out by our men," was the reply.
+
+"What is the charge against her?"
+
+"I have not an idea."
+
+"By whose orders was the arrest made?"
+
+"By those of my superiors.  I have but to obey."
+
+"Where is she now?"
+
+For answer he shrugged his shoulders, smiled blandly, and shook his
+head slowly.
+
+"Can I see her?"
+
+"Yes, of course--with an order."
+
+"Whose order?"
+
+"Anyone who is my superior."
+
+"Can you give me an order?"  He repeated his gesture, murmuring an
+expression of regret.
+
+"You have not told me much," I said, and he smiled deprecatingly.  "But
+it is enough to tell me where I must look for information."
+
+His smile changed to one of congratulation, and, rising, he gave me his
+hand.
+
+"Lieutenant, a brave man like you shall always command my sympathies
+and services so far as my duty permits," and with that official
+reservation he bowed me out with the most profuse of polite gestures.
+
+I thought I saw from where the stroke came, and without any longer
+delay I hurried to the Prince Bilbassoff.
+
+He was at first said to be out; and for some half hour I cooled my
+heels and warmed my temper and impatience striding up and down in front
+of the building.  Then he was denied to me on the ground that he was
+very busily engaged; and only when I insisted that my business was
+exceptionally urgent and personal, was I admitted to an antechamber and
+left waiting there with some half dozen other.
+
+The servant took my message, but instead of returning instantly, as had
+been my previous experience, to lead me at once to the Prince's room, I
+was left to fume in my impatience for several minutes.
+
+I rang the bell angrily and when the servant came ordered him to shew
+me to the Prince instantly.  But he would not, saying he dared not
+without orders from his master, and that he had given my message and
+could do no more.
+
+I augured ill from this reception, but was in no mood to brook delay.
+I had nothing to lose now by boldness, and as soon as the fellow had
+turned his back I went to the door which I knew to be that of the
+Prince's room, and pushing aside the man who stood on guard outside,
+knocked, opened it, and marched in unceremoniously.
+
+The Prince was in close conference with a couple of men and when he saw
+me he jumped up and asked me how I dared to intrude in that way.
+
+"I have something urgent and private to say to you," said I, coolly.
+"If these gentlemen will give us five minutes it will be enough."
+
+A moment's reflection sufficed to change his anger to equanimity,
+forced or genuine, I didn't care which, and he dismissed the men.
+
+"There can be only one reason why you come here," he said, as soon as
+we were alone, speaking in a very sharp tone.
+
+"On the contrary there may be two," I replied, copying his sharpness.
+
+"The only condition on which I can receive you, Lieutenant, is the one
+I told you some hours since.  Have you come to comply with it?"
+
+"I have come to ask you why you have arrested my sister and where she
+is."
+
+"Arrested whom?" he asked, with a sharp look I didn't understand.
+
+"My sister."
+
+"Who is that?"  This with a smile of indescribable meaning.
+
+"You knew well enough when I was here this afternoon."
+
+"On the contrary, I knew no more than I know now.  I don't even know
+that you have a sister.  Have you?"
+
+Either the man was a lunatic, or he knew everything.  Here was
+obviously the reason of the altered reception.  But I would not betray
+myself by a single word or gesture.
+
+"I am speaking of my sister, Olga Petrovitch, whom you rescued from the
+hands of Major Devinsky.  Now, do you know what I mean?"
+
+"No," he answered stolidly.
+
+"Well, do you know whom I mean?"
+
+"I know of Olga Petrovitch."
+
+"Then what the devil do you mean?" I cried angrily.  "You have arrested
+her, haven't you?"
+
+"She has been arrested," he answered quietly.
+
+"What for?"
+
+"You seem very anxious on her account."
+
+"Would you have a man indifferent when his sister is whisked off to
+gaol by the police devils of yours?"
+
+"Indifferent?  No, indeed; certainly not.  Even I am not indifferent
+about it.  It has been of the utmost use to me, in fact."
+
+"How long are you going to keep up these riddles, Prince?  I don't
+pretend to be your equal at that kind of fence, and as it's perfectly
+evident to me you think you have a knotted whip for my back I'll wait
+till you're ready to lay it on."
+
+He laughed at that.
+
+"Are you going to accept my conditions?" he asked.
+
+"It will depend absolutely on the result of this interview."
+
+He paused half a minute and then taking a paper from his pocket tossed
+it to me with a laugh.
+
+"Here's the key.  How do you read it?" he asked, lightly.
+
+It was indeed the key, and the instant my eyes fell on it I saw
+everything.
+
+It was the permit found on Olga.
+
+The game was up; but I wouldn't play the craven.
+
+I tossed it back to him and laughed, a more natural and mirthful laugh
+than his, though I scented death in the air.
+
+"I understand it pretty well," I said, as lightly as he had spoken.
+"But if you don't mind I think I'll keep my own counsel."
+
+"You know what it means?" he asked.
+
+"To me?"  He nodded.  "I can guess," I said.
+
+"And to her?"
+
+"No, I don't know that.  But I know your law is damned hard on women."
+
+"And this Tueski woman--why did she get this permit for--your sister?"
+He paused on the word.
+
+"Wanted her out of the way, that's all."
+
+"Is what she says true--all true?"
+
+"That depends on what she says."
+
+"It's a strange tale.  That you're not what you call yourself; that
+you've taken the place of Lieutenant Alexis Petrovitch; that you're a
+Nihilist of the Nihilists; that you murdered her husband; and that she
+has the proofs of all this."
+
+"Why did you arrest her?" I asked, as an idea occurred to me.
+
+"That," he said, pointing to the permit.
+
+"Did she volunteer her statement?"
+
+A laugh of diabolical cunning spread over his face.
+
+"Yes--when she believed you had deceived her and had fled with--your
+sister.  Boy, no one can guard himself against a jealous Russian woman."
+
+"Now, I see a little more clearly.  But why did you arrest Olga
+Petrovitch?"
+
+"Your visit to my sister this afternoon.  You were too solicitous for
+the poor girl's nerves, and we thought it might be better for you to
+know that she was in safe guardianship until you had made your
+decision.  There would at any rate be no pressing need for you to think
+of her leaving the country; or feel it desirable to go with her to take
+care of her in her shattered condition.  And we were right.  But even I
+did not expect a tithe of all that has come from the step.  It is
+indeed seldom that I get so genuine a surprise."
+
+"And what are you going to do--now?"
+
+"How much of this woman's tale is true?"
+
+"One third of it.  I am not Alexis Petrovitch; but neither am I a
+Nihilist, nor a murderer."
+
+"Who are you!"
+
+"An Englishman--Hamylton Tregethner."
+
+"But your speech--your accent--your Russian?"
+
+"I was brought up in Moscow for the first sixteen years of my life."
+
+"Tregethner, Hamylton Tregethner," he murmured, repeating the name as
+if it were not wholly unfamiliar to him.  Then after a pause he asked
+me where the real Lieutenant Petrovitch was; and questioned me
+searchingly and very shrewdly as to the whole details of my change of
+identity.  I concealed nothing.
+
+"You English are devils," he said, when his questions were nearly
+exhausted.  "I hate the lot of you--except you.  And you're as big a
+devil as any of them.  But you have the pluck of a hundred."
+
+I shrugged my shoulders, laughed, lolled back in my chair and lighted a
+cigarette.
+
+"I've enjoyed it," I said, "and that's the plain truth.  I didn't like
+the lies I had to tell; but then I never had any training in the
+diplomatic service, and that makes the difference.  But all the same
+I've enjoyed it; and what's more, if it had been possible, I'd have
+fought for the Little Father as keenly as any born Russ in the ranks.
+But it's over, and so far as I'm concerned, you can do what you like
+with me.  I should like to save that girl.  She's one in ten thousand
+for pluck.  And you owe her something too, as she saved my life from a
+treacherous thrust of Devinsky's sword for you to take it.  You might
+let her have her liberty in its place.  It's infernally hard on the
+girl that her cowardly brute of a brother should let her in for all
+this mess; and then that I, with all the good will in the world, should
+thrust her deeper into the mud.  It's damned hard!"
+
+The Prince was watching me closely and thinking hard.
+
+"Why did you hesitate to accept my proposal?" he asked, sharply.
+
+"For a very plain reason.  While I appreciated the honour and advantage
+of an alliance with your sister, I loved Olga Petrovitch, and preferred
+to marry her."
+
+"I won't tell my sister that," he said, laughing sardonically.  After a
+pause he added:--"How much does--your sister know of our matter?"
+
+"Everything."
+
+"Names?" and he stared as if to penetrate right into my brain.
+
+"No--not of the man to be fought."
+
+"On your honour?"
+
+"On my honour."
+
+"If she is released, will you go on with it?"
+
+"If she is put across the frontier," I returned grimly.
+
+"Don't you trust me?"
+
+"You, yes; but your agents, no."  He smiled.
+
+"You should go far with the daring with which you push your fortunes."
+
+"Probably I shall go on till my head falls by the wayside," I answered.
+I was utterly reckless now.  But my tactics succeeded when nothing else
+could have won.
+
+He took a form and wrote.
+
+"Here is the permit for her to leave the country.  It is yours--on
+conditions."
+
+"What are they?  Never mind what they are," I added, quickly.  "I
+accept them in advance.  Save that girl, who is innocent, and do what
+you like with me."
+
+"Do you know what I ought to do with you?" he asked.
+
+"Yes; better than you do.  Write me a permit also and have me conducted
+to the frontier at the same time.  But I don't know what you think you
+should do."
+
+"I ought to write out a very different order and have you both sent
+straight to the Mallovitch yonder; and let things take their course."
+
+"Well, it's fortunate for me then," I replied, with a laugh, "that your
+interest and your judgment pull different ways.  You won't do that,
+Prince."
+
+"How do I know that you are not a Nihilist?"
+
+"Instinct, judgment, knowledge of men, knowledge of me--everything.
+Besides, if you want proof, no one knows better than yourself that a
+cipher telegram sent to London, and inquiries made in half a dozen
+places that I can mention, will put ample proofs in your hands to shew
+who I am.  So far as I know there's one man in Russia at the present
+moment and actually coming to Moscow, who'll stir up the British
+Legation and every British consulate in the country to the search for
+Hamylton Tregethner.  That's the Hon. Rupert Balestier."  Then I told
+him what had happened in Paris.  At first he smiled, but soon grew
+thoughtful again.
+
+"I warn you, too," I added, when he made no answer, "that if you chop
+my head off or stifle me in one of your infernal prisons, or send me
+packing to Siberia, Balestier is just the man to raise a devil of a
+clatter.  And you don't want a row with our Foreign Office just at the
+moment when things are so ticklish with the Sick Man."
+
+He waved his hand as if to put all such considerations away from him.
+
+"If the girl you call your sister had got away, did you mean to try to
+escape?"
+
+"Certainly I did," replied I, frankly, and I told him the scheme I had
+formed.
+
+"And now?"
+
+"If I give my word I shall keep it.  You Russians never seem to think a
+man will keep his parole to his own disadvantage.  We English think
+differently--and act as we think."
+
+"If we postpone this talk till to-morrow, have I your word that you'll
+make no attempt to escape?"
+
+"No, indeed, you haven't.  Let this girl go at once; then you can have
+it and welcome."
+
+"You seem to forget that I can keep you under guard?"
+
+"I forget nothing of the kind.  Clap me into a prison and you may
+whistle for anyone to carry out--to do what you wish.  You can decide
+now, or lose the option.  That's in the rules of a game like this."
+
+"You carry things with a high hand," he cried angrily.
+
+"Most probably I shouldn't be here if I didn't," said I, with a laugh.
+"It's my advantage to force the pace at this juncture; and the risk's
+too big to throw away a single chance."
+
+He made no reply, but pushing back his chair got up and walked about
+the room, in a state of indecision absolutely foreign to his character
+and habits.
+
+I knew how momentous the decision was.  If I were the dangerous
+Nihilist that Paula Tueski had declared, the risk of letting me free
+and entrusting to me such a task as that we had discussed was critical
+and deadly.  The Russian instinct was to clap me into a gaol and be
+done with me; but the personal feeling pulled him in the other
+direction--to use me for a tool in the project that was all in all to
+him.  With the Grand Duke once out of his path there was nothing
+between him and almost absolute rule.
+
+I watched him with an anxiety he little suspected, for my manner was
+studiously careless, indifferent, and reckless.
+
+"Did you give this girl any particular task if she escaped?" he asked,
+stopping suddenly in his walk close to me.
+
+"Certainly; to find Rupert Balestier, tell him of my position, and get
+him to try and smooth away the difficulties.  I had also arranged how
+she could communicate with and find me if I managed to get away."
+
+He took the answer as I gave it with perfect frankness, and it seemed
+to help his decision.  He resumed his pacing backwards and forwards.
+
+Two or three minutes later he stopped his walk and taking the permit he
+had written held it out to me.
+
+"Will you give me your word as an English gentleman that if I give you
+this and allow the girl to leave Russia, you will make no attempt to
+escape, and will go on with the proposal we have discussed?"
+
+It was my turn to hesitate now.
+
+"No, I cannot," I said after a moment's thought.  "An Englishman cannot
+lend himself out as an assassin, Prince Bilbassoff.  I will do this.  I
+will give you my word of honour not to attempt to leave Russia, and if
+a meeting between the Grand Duke and myself can be arranged without
+dishonour to me, I pledge myself to meet him.  I will never take that
+word back unless you release me; but more I cannot do.  Let Olga
+Petrovitch go, and you shall do as you will with me."
+
+"I take your word," he said, quietly.  "Your identity will remain
+unknown.  Your sister will leave for the frontier under escort at
+midnight.  You can take the news to her, and she can leave with you to
+make her arrangements for departure.  I hold you responsible for her;
+and you will explain only what is necessary to her.  You remain a
+Russian."
+
+And with the permit and the order for her instant release in my hand I
+left him, conscious that I had been brushing my back against a dungeon
+door the whole time and had only just escaped finding myself on the
+wrong side of it.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXV.
+
+COILS THAT NO MAN COULD BREAK.
+
+Poor Olga!  I shall not easily forget the effect the news had on her.
+
+I went out from the interview impregnated with the conviction that I
+was now indeed hopelessly baffled.  I saw how completely the whole
+position had been changed.  The very axis had shifted.  And the
+knowledge that I had to make Olga understand it all before she left
+Russia was more unpalatable and depressing than I can describe.
+
+Up to the present moment there had indeed been the slight off-chance
+that we should both escape, and the knowledge that if we could only do
+so, we might find happiness in another country.  But that hope was as
+dead as a coffin nail.  I was bound to Moscow by a shackle more
+powerful than iron fetters.  I had pledged myself not to attempt to go
+until the Prince himself had given me permission; and I knew that he
+would never think of doing this until the duel had been in some way
+arranged.  On the other hand the Nihilist attack on the Emperor was to
+be made in two days' time.  If it succeeded an ignominious death at the
+hands of the law could be the only result for me; while if it failed,
+death was almost as certain at the hands of the Nihilists who would
+adjudge me their betrayer.
+
+Between the upper and nether millstones I was helpless; certain only of
+being crushed by them.  Thus nothing could make me believe that I
+should ever again set eyes on the woman whose release I had thus
+secured and whom I now loved with all my heart.
+
+Nor could I part from her without allowing her to see something of this.
+
+She was indeed so quick to appreciate the meaning of what I told her,
+that all the sweet pleasure and gladness she shewed when welcoming me
+changed in a moment to sadness.
+
+"I would ten thousand times rather not go," she said.  "I do not care
+what they do to me.  I have brought you into this, and it is me they
+should punish," she said more than once.
+
+"But you can't do what this man wants, Olga," said I with a smile, to
+reassure her.  "If you could, he would probably let me go and hold on
+to you.  If I couldn't, he would hold on to us both.  But you must go
+for this reason.  You must find Balestier and tell him to come here.
+He must stop making a fuss about Hamylton Tregethner, and just come on
+here and see me and let us try together to find out some solution of
+the puzzle.  But he must hold his tongue unless talking to the right
+pair of ears."
+
+"I shall know no rest till I find him," replied Olga instantly.  "And
+if I do not, I shall come back here.  I will not leave you like this."
+
+I kissed her; but did not tell her that so far as I was concerned her
+return would be useless, for the cogent reason that I should not be
+alive.  It was impossible that I could survive by many hours the
+Imperial visit.  This I kept from her, however, for the farewell was
+already more than sufficiently sad and trying; and I doubt if any
+consideration on earth would have induced her to leave if she had
+really known how imminent was my danger.
+
+I talked much indeed of the help Balestier might be able to render, and
+thus impressed on her strongly the need for her to find him, however
+long it might take her.  This giving her a task and connecting it with
+the work of helping me, kept her hope alive and tended to reconcile her
+to the parting, so that in the end she shook off much of her
+depression.  I could see also she was battling with her feelings to
+distress me as little as possible.
+
+I loved her the more as I saw this, but the parting was such pain for
+us both, that I was glad when it was over.  I stood and watched the
+train steam out of the station and saw her leaning from the carriage
+window to catch the last glimpse of me.  And I was sad indeed, as I
+turned away with a positively choking sense of loneliness such as I had
+never felt before in all my life.
+
+The departure of my brave little sister, clever-witted counsellor, and
+dearest companion seemed to leave such a void in my life that in the
+first hours which followed her departure I mourned for her as one
+grieves for the dead.  And in truth she was dead to me.
+
+But the events of the day following left me little time for meditation.
+It was Sunday and a day of brisk action.  Early in the morning there
+were special regimental duties; and on my return to my rooms for
+breakfast I found waiting for me a stranger, whose card, given to my
+servant, described him as "J. W. Junker, St Petersburg Gazette."
+
+He rose at my entrance and said in a very pleasant voice:--
+
+"Excuse a journalist's liberty in coming to you.  I am the special
+correspondent of the St Petersburg Gazette and have come to do the
+Czar's visit, and I should very much like a word with you on the
+matter."
+
+"I don't see where I can be of any help, but if there's anything I can
+tell you, fire away," I said.  "I've had a couple of hours' drill this
+morning, however, and I have to be on the parade ground in less than an
+hour, so you must excuse me if I have my breakfast while we chat.  But
+perhaps you'll join me?"
+
+"With the greatest pleasure," and down he sat, and while the servant
+was in the room for the first few minutes, he chatted away like the
+bright and pleasant fellow he appeared to be.  But as soon as my man
+had left the room, his manner changed suddenly and his voice took a
+direct earnest tone that made me look at him in some astonishment.
+
+"Don't have that fellow back again.  Is it all acting, or don't you
+really recognise me?  I knew you in a moment."
+
+"Did you?  Well, I certainly don't know you.  I never met a
+journalist----"  He broke in with a short laugh and waved his hand with
+a quick gesture of imperative impatience as he stared at me hard.  His
+manner annoyed me.
+
+"Well, if you're not what you said you were, what the devil are you
+doing here?  What do you want?" I felt like pitching him out of the
+place.
+
+"Didn't you expect me?"
+
+"Expect you?  No; how should I?"
+
+"Instructions were sent to prepare you."
+
+"I can only say I haven't the ghost of a notion what you want."
+
+"To complete the arrangements for to-morrow's glorious event," and his
+face lighted with a momentary enthusiasm.
+
+"How am I to know you?" I asked, suspiciously.
+
+"I am Gorvas Lassthum; and I saw you twelve months ago when the other
+plan was laid, as you will remember, and failed.  Your memory is
+treacherous, my friend."
+
+"There are some things I train it to forget," I answered, equivocally.
+
+I was in a fix.  I guessed the man was a Nihilist agent, of course, and
+his air of self-importance suggested that he was high up in the
+leadership.  But on the other hand Moscow was at the moment swarming
+with spies of all kinds; and this might be one.  I assumed an air of
+extreme caution therefore, and after a flash of thought added: "And
+some that I prefer not to know at all.  It pleases me now to hold that
+from my side you and I are strangers.  You know me well; say then just
+what you wish to say.  I on my side don't know you, and prefer to say
+nothing."
+
+"Good," he cried; and reaching out offered me his hand and when I gave
+him mine, he pressed it and said earnestly:--"Would God we had more men
+like you--so ready in act and so cautious in word."
+
+I bowed and made no other sign.
+
+"You have the orders for the disposition of the troops to-morrow, and
+at the last minute the whole of them, or the most of them, will be
+changed.  You yourself will be detailed to guard that part of the line
+which runs over the flat stretch by the river on the further side of
+the Vsatesk station.  Guard it well; for a greater life than that of
+the Emperor depends on your vigilance--the life of the People."
+
+As he said this another of those little flashes of light that seemed to
+transform him from a pleasant man of the world into an enthusiast leapt
+into his eyes.  A pause followed in which I said nothing.
+
+"Your orders will be to station your men at set distances on either
+side of the line--it being an easy place to guard--and you will have
+some three miles of the line under your command.  It is good.  Now,
+take thought.  At one point in about the centre of your section, the
+land dips and the line is embanked to a height of some ten feet, for a
+length of about half a mile.  At that spot there are four alder
+trees--three to the left of the line, and one to the right.  These
+three form an irregular triangle, one side of which is much shorter
+than the others; and if you follow the short line which those two trees
+make, you will find that they form a comparatively straight line with
+the fourth tree on the other side of the railway embankment.  Do you
+follow me?"
+
+He made a rough model on the table-cloth, using some of the breakfast
+things for the purpose of shewing the positions of the railway and the
+trees.
+
+"No one can mistake that," I said.
+
+"Well, you are to take up your position here, you yourself, I mean,
+here, in a dead straight line between these two trees"--demonstrating
+them on the table-cloth--"for this is where there will be an accident.
+And now, pay close heed to this.  You will go out by train; and when
+your men are paraded at the station they will be joined by five of
+ours.  These will mingle with yours at the very last moment; and if any
+questions are asked they will produce the necessary authority.  These
+five men you will arrange carefully to take the next five positions to
+you on your right hand.  When the train leaves the line, they will
+instantly close round and guard the Emperor's carriage; and you will
+see that nothing prevents them.  That is all you have to do; and if you
+act discreetly you will run no risk.  You will not fail.  They know
+their duties and will do them; and will let no one come between them
+and their noble task.  Five bolder men do not breathe in all Russia.
+Remember, they are to be stationed next to you on your right.  You
+understand?"
+
+"Every item."
+
+"It is a great day for you, friend," he said.
+
+"It is a great day for Russia," I returned; and soon after he left me.
+
+I was filled with the most anxious doubt as to what course I ought to
+take to checkmate this horrible plot, of which I was the most unwilling
+depository and was marked out as the forced agent.
+
+During the whole day I was turning the problem over and over in my
+thoughts: and I could see no course that would be at all effective in
+thwarting the plot without at the same time exposing myself to all the
+hazard of being punished as a Nihilist.  I could, of course, tell the
+police or Prince Bilbassoff, but this meant a double danger for me.
+They would take measures to alter the arrangements as to the visit; the
+reason for this would have to be told to the Czar; it would certainly
+leak out to the Nihilists, and I should be a mark for their assassins
+at once.  On the other hand the story told by Paula Tueski would seem
+to have the corroboration which my acquaintance with Nihilist matters
+would give to it, and I should be in peril there.
+
+One consideration there was that gave some reassurance.  I had already
+had the orders for the distribution of the troops, and I knew that I
+was to be miles away from those cursed alder trees at the moment when
+the Czar would be passing.  I knew too that if the plot went wrong in
+that main feature, it would fail altogether.
+
+The Nihilists were not such fools as to draw down on themselves all the
+sensational punishments which would inevitably follow the discovery of
+an organised attempt on the life of the Czar, for the mere empty
+purpose of sending the Imperial train off the line.  Unless therefore,
+they had some emissary so highly placed as to be in possession of the
+information long before any of us in Moscow knew about it, the whole
+machinery was likely to be stopped for the one flaw.  And though I had
+had some proofs of the extraordinary accuracy of their information, I
+could not believe their power to be such as this necessitated.
+
+But in the afternoon, when according to arrangement I went again to the
+Prince Bilbassoff, startling news awaited me, that redoubled all these
+doubts and difficulties, and set them buzzing and rushing through my
+brain, threatening to muddle my wits altogether.
+
+There was a distinct change in the manner of his reception of me, and
+it pleased me to set this down to the fact that his opinion of me was
+raised by the knowledge that the black past of Alexis Petrovitch was
+mine only by adoption, and that in reality I had the clean antecedents
+of an English gentleman.
+
+"I can't give you more than a few minutes," he said, "and I must
+therefore squeeze as much as possible into them.  I have taken your
+suggestion and have wired to London to find out about you.  The result
+is what I am bound to say I hoped; and the consequences are I am going
+to trust you."
+
+"That's as you please," said I, quietly.
+
+"It does please me, because I don't want this duel to fall through.
+Now you want some cause for fighting that will satisfy your honour.
+Will you fight this man if he insults you?"
+
+"I'll fight any man who does that," I replied.
+
+"Now, whose officer are you?"
+
+"The Czar's, while I am in Russia."
+
+"Will you risk your life in his service?"
+
+"My sword is absolutely at his service."
+
+"If you should hear His Majesty insulted in your presence would you
+face the man who did it?"
+
+"As surely as effect follows cause."
+
+"Then this man's whole life is an insult to the Czar."
+
+"In what way?"
+
+"He is a Nihilist to his finger-tips.  His presence near the throne is
+a standing menace to the Emperor; his hand is ever raised to seek his
+Majesty's life; and his whole life is that of a traitor who learns the
+highest secrets only to betray them to these enemies of God and the
+Emperor."
+
+"What proof have you?" I asked in the profoundest astonishment.  I
+began to see now how the most secret information leaked out.
+
+"None, boy.  Or do you think he would be where he is for an hour?"
+
+"Then how do you know it?"
+
+"If a secret is known to three people, two of whom you know to be as
+staunch as steel, and yet it gets out--how do you think it happens?  If
+this happens not only once but two or three times, what do you think of
+the man?  This man is a traitor; and as surely as there is a God in
+Heaven, the Crown is not firmly on my master's head while the man
+remains alive.  Now, will you fight him?"
+
+"The matter is a public, not personal, one: Russian not English.  My
+sword is not a bravo's to be hired for that sort of work."
+
+He swore a deep oath under his breath at this, and then changed it to a
+laugh with an ugly ring in it.
+
+"If you mean to climb, my young cockerel, we must see more of your
+spurs and hear less of your scruples.  Personal!  Good God, what more
+do you want?  Aren't you the Emperor's own property?  Isn't the Little
+Father in danger?  Isn't that enough?  Personal!  Ugh.  Well, is this
+personal enough for you?  His Highness has already done you the honour
+to pick you out for the favour of his ill will.  This is a letter which
+by one of those little accidents that do sometimes happen in my office,
+has fallen into my hands.  He is writing to an agent of his here in
+Moscow.  Listen: 'There is a young lieutenant of the Moscow Infantry
+Regiment, named Petrovitch, about whom I want all the possible
+information.  He is a dishonourable scoundrel, I understand--a dicing,
+gambling, drinking fellow, who thinks he can crow and strut on the
+crest of his dunghill with impunity because he had the luck to beat a
+better man than himself in a duel, and the insolence to insult another
+officer--one of my friends--and then hide himself under official
+protection.  I hear now that he is meditating another and a greater
+coup.  I know much about him, but want you to get me as much more
+information as possible.  Such swash-buckling knaves are a disgrace and
+danger to everything they touch.  He is not to be trusted in anything
+and all reasons make his overthrow necessary.'"
+
+As he finished reading the extract, the Prince paused and lowering the
+letter looked at me over the top.  Then without giving me time to
+answer, he continued:--
+
+"Your 'butcher Durescq' was this man's close friend and tool--doing his
+work for him.  It was through this patron's influence that Durescq
+escaped being turned out of the army altogether.  Now, you can see two
+things--why this man hates you, and how it was I heard of you.  Is that
+personal enough, Lieutenant?"
+
+"By God, I should think it is," cried I, on fire with rage.  "What does
+he dare to interfere with me for?"  As I asked the question the reason
+flashed upon me as by inspiration.  He had heard of my being associated
+with Prince Bilbassoff and was afraid that as I knew so much about
+Nihilism, I should get to learn of his connection with it, and he thus
+deemed it best to have me put out of the way.  He meant to have me
+"removed."  When I looked up, the Prince's keen subtle eyes were fixed
+on me with calculating intentness.
+
+"It is curious that this man should fix on you as the object of his
+resentment--even though he is a Nihilist.  Take care, my friend.  I
+know you have inherited a Nihilist black cloak and dagger with your
+other undesirable possessions; beware how you use them."
+
+"I believe the real Alexis had dealings with them," I said.
+
+"If this Tueski woman manages to let them understand the truth, then,
+you will need the wariest wits in the world to avoid stumbling."
+
+"You have maddened me," I cried, as if impetuously, and in the highest
+excitement.  "Get me a meeting with that villain and were he twenty
+times the swordsman he is, and covered in iron mail from head to foot,
+my sword should find a chink to let the life out of him.  I am on fire."
+
+Then I rushed away; for in truth I dared not stay to be any longer
+questioned about my relations with the Nihilists.
+
+It all seemed clear to me now.  They meant to use me for the horrible
+business of the following day; and then under some pretext get rid of
+me--murder me if necessary--or denounce me.  This man held that I knew
+too much for his safety.
+
+All this was supposing, of course, that I escaped the danger of the
+plot itself.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVI.
+
+MY DECISION.
+
+The news I heard from Prince Bilbassoff wrought me to a higher pitch of
+excitement than anything that had ever happened in my life.  I was in a
+very highly strung condition, and my nerves were no doubt greatly
+wrought upon as the result of the stirring events of the previous few
+days.  That may have rendered me unduly susceptible to this new
+development.
+
+Be that as it may, I went out of the Prince's presence filled with a
+spurring desire to kill the man who as it seemed to me was planning my
+ruin in this most treacherous manner.
+
+The view I took was that this Grand Duke was moved by the double motive
+of personal anger on the score of my affair with Alexandre Durescq and
+of a feeling of insecurity on account of the knowledge I had of his
+Nihilism.  I knew too much to be trusted.  The issues were so
+tremendous, the decision I had to make so full of moment, and the time
+for me to choose my course so short, that my wits had need to be at
+their sharpest.
+
+I had out my horse and went for a hard gallop--one of the best
+prescriptions I know of to clear a tangled judgment.  It acted now.  As
+I rode at hot speed my thoughts began to settle; and then gradually a
+scheme occurred to me, wild, desperate, and hazardous at best, and
+fraught with fearful risks to others beside myself; but yet if
+successful, offering me what I wanted above all--complete deliverance
+from the whole of my present difficulties.
+
+My first thought in all was for myself.  Not for the Emperor, nor the
+army, nor Russia, nor any big interests--for myself and for my escape
+from the country whose most unwilling guest and compulsory servant I
+was.  Had I been a Russian officer in reality, I could have taken but
+one course--disclosed the Nihilist plot, or so much of it as I knew,
+and thus have checkmated the whole devilish business at once.  Had I
+ever received any particular mark of favour at the hands of the
+Government or the country, gratitude would have urged me to take the
+same course.
+
+But I owed nothing to a soul in all Russia.  Everyone had tried to use
+me as a tool.  The Colonel of the regiment had begun by making use of
+my quarrel with Durescq to humiliate Devinsky.  The officers, almost
+without exception, had swaggered over me contemptuously until my skill
+as a swordsman shewed them the price of contempt might be death.  The
+Nihilists had first tried to assassinate me, and only when I had seemed
+to serve their ends with more daring and secrecy than any other man
+among them, had they turned with a demand for more sacrifices; while
+this Grand Duke, apparently one of the chief of them, was even now
+planning to get rid of me.  Prince Bilbassoff was in the same list; and
+without a doubt would have shut up both Olga and myself on Paula
+Tueski's accusation, had he not wished to hire me as an assassin.
+Everywhere I turned it was the same.
+
+What then did I owe to Russia that I should think of any single
+consideration except my own safety and welfare?
+
+The question which I asked myself therefore, was whether I could plunge
+my hand into this seething cauldron of intrigue and murder and pluck
+out my own safety.
+
+A word from me would foil the whole Nihilist plot, and the Czar would
+make his entry into Moscow in due form and time.  But how should I
+profit?  Supposing the Nihilist calculations were correct, and I was
+appointed to the section of the line where the "accident" was to
+happen, I should have to contrive obstacles and make difficulties which
+would in all probability draw down on me the suspicions of the whole
+Nihilist crew.  Add that element of suspicion to the feeling which the
+Grand Duke already entertained and was inculcating into others, and
+what chance was there of my escaping either open ruin or assassination?
+
+Assuming that I did escape even, what should I gain?  I was tied to
+Russia by the word I had passed to the Prince, and could not hope to be
+set free from it until I had either fought the Grand Duke, or until the
+Prince was convinced that the duel was impossible.  But as the Duke
+looked on me as nothing less than a pestilential traitor to the
+Nihilist cause, was it likely that he would consent to meet me?
+Certainly not.  Even if we added the cause which the Prince had
+suggested--the spurious betrothal to the Princess--I should get no
+benefit.  The Grand Duke would merely regard that as an additional
+reason for having me removed secretly from his path.
+
+All this meant therefore, that even if I thwarted the plot in this way,
+I should be kept in Russia and apart from Olga, until the Grand Duke
+consented to fight me; or, in other words, until his emissaries had
+convinced themselves that they could not manage to assassinate me.  Nor
+was it probable that that conviction would come until they had made a
+series of unsuccessful efforts.
+
+A pleasant prospect, truly!
+
+On the other hand, if I did nothing and allowed the infernal plot to be
+carried through and the Emperor murdered, it would mean death to me;
+certain death.  As the officer placed in charge of the section of the
+line where the deed would be done, who had allowed the murderers
+disguised as soldiers to mix with my troops; who had actually posted
+them at the very spot where the train was to be derailed; and who above
+all was already suspected of Nihilist intrigue; I was certain of
+conviction, even without the Grand Duke's special animosity.  Add that,
+however, and the result was as dead certain as that night alternates
+with day.
+
+If I was to escape, therefore, it must be by a shrewd stroke dealt by
+myself alone and for myself alone.  And such a stroke it was that
+suggested itself in the course of that ride.
+
+Briefly, it was to allow everything to go forward right to the very
+supreme moment, and then by personal effort to save the Emperor's life
+by my own hand in such a way as to draw the Imperial attention directly
+on myself.
+
+I thought I saw how it could be done: and when I turned my horse's head
+homeward I rode at a slower pace, meditating all the details of the
+plan with the closest attention.  The Nihilists had told me enough to
+shew me how to act; and my sense of fair play urged me to use the
+knowledge for my sole advantage, and without involving a single
+Nihilist in danger by open denunciation.  I was a Nihilist against my
+will; and though I had been forced into the plot, I was altogether
+opposed to telling what had been told to me in this spirit of
+confidence.  At the same time I was a Russian officer, almost equally
+against my own seeking, and so long as I preserved the Emperor's life I
+need not regard other matters as a Russian officer would.
+
+By the time I reached my rooms I had my plans shaped, and my scheme
+developed; and my accustomed mood of calm, wary self-possession had
+returned.
+
+I changed and went to the club.  The place was crammed with the
+officers stationed in Moscow and their friends who had been sent into
+the city on special duty in connection with the Czar's visit on the
+following day.  Everyone was in the noisiest spirits.  Good news had
+come of the prospects of war.  All believed that on the next day the
+Little Father would make a ringing war speech that would render peace
+impossible; and many of the men were talking as though the sword had
+already leapt from the scabbard, and a million men, tramping warwards,
+were already driving the scared Turks before them, like husks before
+the winnowing fan.
+
+I lounged about the place, exchanging a word now and then with one or
+another of my acquaintances, and I saw some of the youngsters stop
+their war babble as I passed and whisper to their companions, and the
+latter would turn and look in my direction.  I was fool enough to be
+pleased at these little indications of the changed feelings with which
+in scarcely more than a month I had made my fellow-officers think and
+speak of "that devil Alexis."
+
+More than once I smiled to myself as I thought what a bomb-shell would
+be exploded in the room if they were all told the hazardous secret
+which filled my thoughts just at that moment.
+
+"To hell with the Turk, Alexis," cried Essaieff, catching sight of me
+and stopping me as I moved past.
+
+"May the Sick Man never recover!" I returned, answering in the form
+that was then in vogue with us all.
+
+"Drink, man, drink," he cried, excitedly, thrusting a glass of some
+kind of liquor to me.  It was evident he had been toasting the war
+pretty freely.  "Sit here with us.  Take it easy, man, now while we
+can.  We've a long march ahead before we catch a glimpse of the
+minarets of Constantinople.  Gentlemen, here is a Russian of whom you
+will hear much when the war comes.  Lieutenant Petrovitch of ours,
+gentlemen, my particular friend, and as good a fellow as ever held a
+commission.  You can do anything with him, except quarrel; then, damme,
+you must look out for yourself, for there isn't a man in Moscow, nor I
+believe in Russia, can get through his guard; and as for shooting, God!
+I believe if a single devil of a Turk shews only the shadow of an
+eyelash round the corner of a fortification, he'll hit him with a
+ricochet.  'That devil Alexis,' he is to us; and if the devil's only
+half as good a fellow as this, I'll be content for one to serve him."
+
+"I've heard of Lieutenant Petrovitch," said one of the men, as he bowed
+to me ceremoniously and lifted his glass in response to Essaieff's
+toast.
+
+"Then you will know how to discount the exaggerations of my good friend
+Essaieff," said I, quietly.
+
+"On the contrary, I knew Durescq."
+
+"Is Lieutenant Petrovitch the officer who was in that matter?" asked
+another, shewing great interest in me at once.
+
+"I should think he is," cried Essaieff, noisily enthusiastic.  "It was
+in this very room that the thing occurred.  I'll tell you...."
+
+"Essaieff, my dear fellow, I'd much rather not," I interrupted; and
+turning to one of the officers I asked:--"Do you really think the war
+will come now?"  But Essaieff would not let me change the subject.
+
+"War come? of course it will; but this is something much better than
+war just now," he burst in.  "Several of us thought there was mischief
+in the air when we saw Devinsky and Durescq together, and I was
+standing there, waiting for...."
+
+"Excuse me," I interrupted, rising.  "I wish to speak to a man I see
+over there; and really I can't stand Essaieff when he gets on this
+theme," and with that excuse I left.
+
+Wherever I went there were the same signs of revelry, excitement and
+pleasure.  All were anticipating a really splendid gala day on the
+morrow, with gaieties, festivities, balls, receptions, concerts,
+levees, everything that society deems life worth living for to follow.
+
+I went away very early.  I had to keep my nerves as firm as cold steel,
+and the noisy ruffled atmosphere of this place with its crowd of
+gesticulating, laughing, excited men, and the drink that was
+circulating so freely, formed the worst of all preparations for such a
+day as the morrow would be for me and the task I had to perform.
+
+Before going home I strolled through one or two of the broader streets;
+and everywhere I went I could not fail to observe that while the
+unusual throngs of people in the streets reflected the feelings of
+rejoicing that had animated the officers whom I had just left, and that
+all Moscow was slowly going mad with anticipative excitement, the
+number of police agents was multiplied many times over.  The leaven of
+suspicion embittered everything; and, as no one knew better than I,
+with what terrible cause.  As I mingled with the great, jostling,
+bantering crowd I found myself speculating how the majority of them
+would decide such an issue as that which had been bewildering me; and
+the wild task I had for the morrow made me feel like a thing apart from
+everyone of them--an alien not only in race, but in every attribute and
+aspiration.
+
+The contact with the crowd helped in a way to strengthen the decision I
+had made.  I was one against all these thousands; fighting by myself
+for my own hand against desperate odds, and with none to help me in a
+single detail.
+
+When I reached my rooms I went at once to bed, knowing that every
+minute of rest had its value as a preparation for the work of the
+following day.  I had made my resolution, formed my plans, thought out
+even the details.  I had gauged the risk and knew full well that the
+probabilities were all against my being alive on the following night.
+
+But this at least was equally certain--if I lived and was free I would
+have won my way out of Russia.
+
+These were the thoughts that filled me; and so occupied was I with them
+that it was not until I purposely put them away from me in order to get
+to sleep, that I recalled how little I had thought of Olga during the
+whole of that eventful day.
+
+She was in my thoughts when I fell asleep, however: and her face
+cheered me in my dreams.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVII.
+
+THE FOUR ALDER TREES.
+
+I was up very early on the morning of the Czar's visit.  We had a
+parade at 6.30 to receive final instructions; and as I walked to the
+barracks I was in high spirits, buoyant, self-confident, and
+alert--much as I had felt on the morning of my duel with Devinsky.  I
+could not have been in better tone.
+
+The morning air was very fresh and clear and the sunlight fell
+everywhere upon flags, decorations, triumphal arches, and the rest of
+the festal preparations for the great holiday to which work people were
+busy putting the final touches.
+
+Everybody seemed in the highest spirits.  Laughter and jest and a
+pleasant interchange of greetings rang on the air on all sides of me;
+and the whole city seemed to be already wreathed in smiles.
+
+My brother officers came straggling up after I had reached the ground,
+and more than one of them shewed abundant signs of the previous night's
+carouse; looking as though a couple more hours' sleep were sadly
+wanted.  Headaches abounded among them, and more than one regarded me
+with a sort of comical envy because I was not dull-eyed, pale, nor
+unrested.  They took it for granted that I had drunk as deeply as they,
+and set down my steady head as one more proof of my prowess.  Some men
+can always see something of a hero in the man who can drink heavily and
+yet shew no signs of his dissipation.
+
+When the Colonel came and we fell in, there was a disappointment for
+me.  My new plan was based on the correctness of the Nihilist
+information--that I should have the command of the troops guarding the
+section of the line where were four alder trees; and I reckoned
+confidently upon hearing from the Colonel of the alteration in the
+original plans.
+
+But no announcement of the sort was made.  On the contrary, as soon as
+the troops had fallen in, the arrangements which had been announced on
+the previous day were repeated; and I found that instead of being told
+off to take charge of the railway to the north of the city, I had to
+pass the whole day in guarding the Western Gate and the road for some
+distance on either side of it.  I was ordered to parade my men at eight
+o'clock and to march straight to the place of guard.
+
+I went home to breakfast, disappointed and disgusted.  I didn't care a
+jot about missing the sightseeing, but I was angry that the plan on
+which I had now set my heart had failed; and that instead of being able
+to strike a vigorous blow for my own freedom I should have to pass the
+hours dawdling about doing nothing more than a sort of police work in
+keeping order among a crowd of gaping, staring, gawky, country yokels.
+
+I was in an exceedingly ill temper therefore when I returned to the
+parade ground to start on my most unwelcome and unpalatable task.
+
+But I found the whole place in complete confusion and uproar, and the
+first words I heard were that the whole plan of the day's work had been
+altered; that the troops had been changed and interchanged in a most
+perplexing manner; that regiments and companies and even odd files of
+men had been mixed up in the greatest apparent confusion; and that not
+one of the original commands remained unaltered.
+
+I hurried to the Colonel for my orders, and found him cursing volubly
+and with tremendous energy at the infinite confusion the alterations
+had caused.  But he found me my orders readily--he was a splendid
+disciplinarian--and when I read them I marvelled indeed at the
+extraordinary exactness with which the Nihilists had been able to
+anticipate matters.
+
+My command was changed to the guarding of the three mile stretch of
+line outside the Vsatesk station, commencing a thousand yards to the
+north of that point.  I was to train out at once; post my men at 25
+yards distance; and allow no one to approach the line for two hours
+before the coming of the Imperial train, and until half an hour after
+it had passed; the time of its passing being given confidentially as
+2.45--two hours later than had been originally fixed for the actual
+arrival in Moscow.  More than that, the men under my command were not
+to be drawn solely from my own regiment, but from no less than three
+others, all specified, who were to meet me at the station.
+
+As I read these instructions I saw in them the influence of someone who
+must be both near to the Throne and intimately acquainted with the
+whole Nihilist plot.  The object of classing together under one command
+men taken suddenly from different regiments was a master-stroke of
+treachery for this particular work.  Apparently it prevented any
+collusion among any disaffected regiments, but in reality it opened the
+way for the five assassins to get into the ranks without the least
+suspicion; while the meeting at the railway station, probably urged as
+a necessity to save time at the moment when the plans had been all
+changed, must have been in fact designed solely for the purpose of the
+plot.
+
+He who was secretly behind all this was no ordinary man.  That was
+clear.  And I saw that in pitting my wits against his, seeing that he
+already had the Imperial ear, I should have to be wary indeed, if I
+wished to avoid a fall.  But I did not shirk the contest: and now that
+I knew I was really to have the chance, I clenched my teeth in
+desperate resolve.
+
+After incalculable trouble and much irritating delay, I got together
+the small company that came from my own regiment and marched them to
+the railway station.  I halted them and looked round for the
+detachments that were to join me.  I posted my men in a place that
+would lend itself well to the Nihilists joining them.  The three
+detachments of men reported soon after my arrival, each in charge of a
+sergeant; and when I had ascertained the train by which we were to
+travel--a matter of no small difficulty in the indescribable confusion
+that prevailed, I moved the whole two hundred to the platforms.
+
+I had seen nothing of the Nihilists, so far, and this caused me some
+surprise.  But on the platforms the order of the ranks could not be
+maintained and when about half of my command were entrained, I was
+addressed by one of a file of five men who reported that he and his
+comrades had been told off to accompany me; and he produced written
+instructions to that effect.
+
+I glanced at the order and saw that it was sufficiently in form to
+enable me to take the men with me, and while pretending to study the
+paper I looked searchingly at each of the men.  They were a daredevil
+set, in all truth, but they stood in their uniforms with as much
+military air as the average Russian rankers.
+
+I assumed an air of great vexation, and rapping out an oath, loud
+enough for all about me to hear, I called up the sergeant of my own
+regiment and telling him the men had been sent to join me, and cursing
+them and everybody in general for the interruption, told him to find
+places in the train for them.  In this way everything went smoothly,
+and we were soon gliding out of Moscow for the short run, while I sat
+back alone in the first-class compartment which I had had reserved for
+myself.
+
+I had still some slight preparations to make, and wished to be alone to
+think.  First I examined my arms carefully.  I looked to every chamber
+of my revolver.  Each bullet might mean a life before the day was three
+hours older.  Next, I looked to my sword.  It was the same that had
+seen me through my trouble with Devinsky and I knew it as a man learns
+to know the feel of his walking stick.  Lastly, I had a long deadly
+looking dagger; the sheath fastened to the right hip of my trousers
+where it could be drawn with the greatest ease.  As a final reserve I
+had in a small secret pocket a couple of pills--poison enough to kill
+half a dozen men.  I meant to make a quick end of things if they went
+wrong with me.
+
+Satisfied that everything was in order, I lay back and mapped out again
+the exact disposition of the men in my charge: and the precise course I
+meant to take at the critical moment.  I was still occupied in this
+when the train drew up at the little station, Vsatesk; and in less than
+half an hour later, I had reached my section and begun to post my men
+and was looking about me for the four alder trees and the exact spot
+where I had been warned to take my post.
+
+Knowing what I did about the Nihilist intentions, it was obviously
+unnecessary to pay much heed to any part of the line except that where
+I knew the "accident" would happen.  So I sent out a couple of
+sergeants to dispose the men on that part of the line which lay to the
+north of the four trees.
+
+These were easily found, and I carried out to the letter the Nihilist
+instructions to post the five men who were to kill the Czar,
+immediately to the right, or south, of the line formed by the three
+trees as described to me.
+
+I did this for the simple reason that it was my cue to deceive everyone
+right up to the last moment.  Had I altered the disposition of these
+men they would have known that I meant treachery to them and to the
+cause; and what the consequences would have been it was impossible to
+foresee.  As it was they took their places with a grim readiness, and a
+significant glance that spoke to me eloquently.
+
+As soon as all the troops were placed I took my own position and,
+girding up my patience to wait for the coming of the Imperial train and
+with it my opportunity, I scanned every inch of the line for some
+evidence of the Nihilists' preparations.  I could not detect a sign of
+any change in the road or of any preparation of any kind.  The track
+was not very well laid, and in several spots it bore signs of recent
+repairs; but beyond that there was nothing.  This fact may have helped
+to conceal the work of the Nihilists, of course; but although I knew
+almost the very spot where it had been carried out, I could detect
+nothing.
+
+The suspense was trying indeed; and while I was waiting, it was natural
+enough, perhaps, that my imagination should be chiefly busy in
+suggesting many reasons why I was almost bound to fail in my desperate
+venture.
+
+I did not know in which train the Emperor would travel.  I knew of
+course that there would be first the pilot engine; there would also be
+the baggage train; probably also a special train for the suite and
+servants; and the Imperial train.  But this might be first, second, or
+third of the three.  I had not been told as to this.  So far as my
+Nihilist work was concerned, it was not necessary that I should know
+it.  That work began when the train had left the line; and I had been
+posted near where that must happen.  I concluded therefore, that I had
+not been trusted with a single jot more of information than it was
+deemed necessary for me to have.
+
+I should have to depend upon the Nihilists who were to move the lever
+being accurately informed on this point.  But this troubled me.  If the
+worst happened, of course the "accident" must take place and the train
+be sent off the line, and I must use my opportunity then.  What I
+wished to do was to stop the train in which the Emperor would travel;
+but if I did not know which that was, I might easily make an ugly
+blunder that would expose me to danger from the Nihilists and not only
+do me no good with the Court, but mark me out as an object for ridicule
+and suspicion.
+
+This uncertainty did not present itself to disturb me until I was
+actually on the line waiting for the coming of the trains, and face to
+face with the necessity for action.
+
+The point where I stood was about a mile and a half to the north of the
+station and the line was so dead straight, that it could be watched for
+five or six miles farther north, and I should thus have ample notice of
+the approach of the trains.  It was a very clear day moreover; and as
+my sight was exceedingly keen and good, I knew I should be able to
+catch the earliest glimpse of the trains whose passing meant so much to
+me.
+
+I managed to get the whole of the company under my command posted more
+than two hours before the Emperor was timed to pass; and after I had
+made a show of inspecting those who were guarding that part of the
+section which I knew to be outside the sphere of danger, I did the work
+very thoroughly with those who were in that part where the grim,
+hazardous drama was to be played.
+
+I had been careful to keep the men of my own regiment close to me and
+on both sides of the five Nihilist spies; and I was glad to see that
+many of them were among my staunchest admirers.  They would have
+followed me to death without a word; and the sergeant, whose name was
+Grostef, the most athletic fellow in the ranks, was my sworn champion,
+on the ground that I was the only man in the regiment who could outrun,
+and outjump him, and beat him with any weapon he liked to pick.  I
+believe the fellow loved me for my strength and skill.
+
+The time dragged a bit for the patient fellows on guard who were not
+near enough to exchange a word without the sergeants being pretty sure
+to hear it; and the eyes of all soon began to be cast longingly
+northward in impatient desire to catch a glimpse of the trains.  Almost
+the only men who shewed no signs of feeling were the five to whom the
+coming of the train meant, as they knew and were content to know, the
+coming of death also.  They stood like stone figures: impassive,
+immovable and stern: the type of men to whom death in the cause of duty
+is welcome.
+
+An hour before the time, I took up my position finally exactly in the
+line of the three alder trees, and resolved not to move again nor to
+have my attention drawn away from the rails until the work was over;
+and I only lifted my eyes now and then from the track to send a sharp,
+quick glance along the line to see if the train were yet in sight.
+
+The first intimation I had that the trains were getting near came from
+the opposite direction.  Between us and the Vsatesk station about half
+a mile distant, was a signal box, and the light wind which was blowing
+from the south carried to my ears the sharp smack of the signal arm as
+it fell from the danger point, and signalled the line all clear.
+
+I knew then it was a matter of minutes.  My pulse began to quicken up
+slightly; and my scrutiny of the track and rails increased in
+intentness.  But the minutes dragged on and the announced time came and
+passed.  I knew of the Czar's passion for punctuality, and after this
+delay had lasted some time I began to think a genuine accident must
+have caused it.  In this weary suspense, a quarter of an hour, half an
+hour, three quarters passed, and my watch shewed 3.30, and still not a
+sign of even the pilot engine was visible.
+
+Then a tiny black speck in the far straight distance, topped by a small
+white steam cloud told me the pilot engine was coming at last; and in
+the swift glances spared from my scrutiny of the rails, I saw it grow
+larger and blacker as it covered the intervening space, until it
+thundered up, and crashed and lumbered by us and began to fade in the
+opposite direction disappearing round the slight curve which was
+between us and Vsatesk station.
+
+What the interval would be between the pilot engine and the first
+train, and what that first train would be, I did not know.  The
+intervals always differed; sometimes five minutes, sometimes ten,
+sometimes as much as twenty minutes were allowed to elapse.  But the
+interval was nothing compared with the question--which train would
+follow.  On that might turn the whole result of the affair.
+
+All the men had now straightened up, and even the five on my right
+shewed signs of being interested.  I saw them looking up with stealthy,
+longing, deadly fixedness for the coming of their prey.
+
+But on the line itself there was no sign of change.
+
+I had understood that at some point the rails would be shifted so as to
+throw the train off the line.  But search as closely as I would, I
+could not detect the least sign of any preparation for this.  The
+uncertainty which this circumstance caused added to my excitement and
+the suspense became doubly trying.  It quickened up to a climax when I
+saw once again in the distance the growing black speck with the white
+crown, that told me the second train was at hand.
+
+I kept my eyes glued to the rails and my ears strained to catch the
+first notification either by sight or sound that the trap had been
+laid.  Without such a sign, I dared not do anything.
+
+Yet nothing happened; and the black speck in the distance developed
+into a distinct shape, and increased quickly in size, and a slight hum
+came vibrating along the rails.  The hum grew into the sound of muffled
+drums; then swelled to a heavy threatening rumble; and rapidly climaxed
+to a crashing, rattling, reverberating roar, as the clattering clanging
+jolting baggage train lurched heavily by, and roared away southward.
+
+It passed safely every point on the line; and the old question which
+would be next recurred with greater strain than before, and drummed
+itself in on my brain like a sharp throbbing shoot of pain.
+
+When for the third time the little warning speck in the distance told
+me that either the Czar or his suite must now be coming, my excitement
+waxed well nigh out of control; my hand stole on to the hilt of my
+sword and loosened it in the scabbard, my fingers played on the stock
+of my revolver, and my eyes never for an instant left the rails, but
+ran up and down them with swift eager searching glances, hungry for a
+sign.
+
+As the distance between me and the on-coming train lessened, the
+tension increased and my sense of baffled impotence, when I detected no
+sign anywhere on the rails, was staggering.  By a great effort only
+could I prevent myself from doing something to stop the approach of the
+train and my eagerness was multiplied infinitely when, in a glance
+which I could not keep from straying to the murderous gang on my right,
+I saw them one and all making ready stealthily for their deadly work.
+
+But no sign on the track gave me my cue for action, and I could only
+wait, full of my resolve to do all that had to be done should this be
+the train to be thrown off the line.
+
+It came thundering up and passed me without my being able to take a
+step of any sort.  Like the other it passed along the whole section of
+the line in safety, though I saw, with an astonishment that for the
+moment bewildered me, that the Imperial saloon was the central carriage.
+
+Obviously the Czar had passed in safety.  And I jumped instantly to the
+conclusion that for some reason the mechanism, which was to have
+derailed the train, had failed to act.
+
+But an incident which occurred almost as soon as the train had passed,
+shewed me the falseness of this conclusion.
+
+I was still staring fixedly at the track, when at a point that was
+exactly opposite me, and thus in a direct line with the three alder
+trees, I saw the two rails swing aside from the track, just enough to
+turn a train off the rails that was travelling over the place.  There
+was scarcely a click of sound: and, after a moment they swung back as
+silently into position.
+
+I read the whole thing in a moment.
+
+The operator knew that the moment had come for action and wished to
+make quite sure that the mechanism was in due order.  The sight
+increased infinitely the oppressive weight and strain of the suspense.
+I knew now that the Czar was in the third train, and that the Imperial
+carriage had been sent on with the second as a ruse.
+
+I knew too, that the supreme hour of my struggle was at hand, in all
+grim reality.
+
+I could now relieve my eyes from the straining task of watching the
+track, and I looked about me.  The five men to my right were also on
+the alert.  They had not been misled by the ruse of the empty court
+carriage, and were waiting in deadly readiness to strike the blow which
+they had come out to deal.
+
+Then I turned my eyes northward along the straight level track, and
+just as I did so I caught in the distance the first glimpse of the
+third train, in which I knew, as certainly as if I could already see
+him, that the Czar was travelling.
+
+As the train loomed nearer and the moment for action approached, my
+spirits rose also.  Uncertainty was at an end.  A few minutes would
+decide whether I was to live or die.
+
+I braced myself for the biggest effort of my life.
+
+I was like a man whose nostrils expand as they breathe in the scent of
+deadly fight.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVIII.
+
+THE ATTACK ON THE CZAR.
+
+Though I did not now care whether the rails were disturbed again or
+not, seeing that I knew where the mechanism was and could point to my
+having discovered, as the reason for what I was about to do, I kept
+glancing at the spot, while I let the train approach unchecked near
+enough to have all eyes drawn to my actions.
+
+I guessed the distance which the brakes would take to act and when the
+train had reached a point such as I judged necessary, I sprang on the
+track between the rails and waving my arms excitedly, thundered out at
+the top of my voice a warning to stop the train.
+
+This was taken up by the soldiers who repeated the shouts and cries,
+and a moment later the shrieking whistle of the engine told us the
+warning had been heeded and that the brakes were on at full pressure.
+
+With a succession of whirring, grating, rasping, grinding jerks the
+train slackened quickly, and in a moment everything was plunged in
+indescribable commotion.  The soldiers on both sides began to close in
+on the fast stopping train.
+
+"Close ranks round the whole train," I shouted to Sergeant Grostef: and
+ordered him away to bring up the men as quickly as possible.
+
+But I had made one miscalculation that was nearly proving fatal to
+everything.  When I sprang on the line to stop the train, the rails had
+not been moved, and even now for some reason they remained in position.
+I had calculated to cause the train to be stopped so that it would
+reach the false points at a slow pace, and thus be derailed close to
+where I stood.  I judged that the jerk with which the train would leave
+the line would be sufficient to bring it to a standstill, but not
+enough to overturn it; and I should thus be able to get at once to the
+presence of the Emperor, and tell my story in person at the moment when
+he would be most affected by the occurrence.  But as the rails remained
+in position--owing probably to the fact that the man operating them had
+seen that the train had been stopped and deemed it best to do
+nothing--there was nothing to stay the train's progress, except the
+brakes.
+
+To my horror I saw it pass me with just about sufficient speed to carry
+it right into the middle of the five men who were waiting there to
+murder the Emperor.
+
+With a loud shout to the men nearest to me to follow I dashed after it,
+making sure as I ran in which carriage was the Emperor.
+
+The first of the five men planted himself right in my path, and fired
+his revolver point-blank at me when I was only three or four paces from
+him.  He missed and then drew his sword to engage me.  With scarcely a
+second's delay I cut down his sword arm and a second slash at his neck
+as I ran past, sent him reeling down the embankment, all but headless,
+with the blood spurting from the fearful wounds I had inflicted.
+
+My one thought was now the Emperor; and I saw that the other assassins
+had discovered him in the train as quickly as I.
+
+One of them stood with a bomb, ready poised in his hand, intending to
+hurl it right into the carriage.  I tore it from him and threw it with
+all my force over the embankment and then plunged my sword into the
+villain's heart.
+
+[Illustration: I tore it from him.]
+
+The bomb exploded the instant it touched the ground below, and the
+effects were perfectly awesome.  There was a prodigious roar; the earth
+reeled as if under a heavy blow, and a number of the soldiers were
+thrown to the ground; the train seemed to be shaken bodily: and before
+the reverberation of the explosion ceased, the splintering of wood and
+the crashing of glass, told of desperate injuries to some of the
+carriages.
+
+The saloon carriage in which the Czar travelled suffered most, and it
+was so violently shaken that the windows were broken, the sides split,
+and the doors jammed.
+
+It was a moment for strong heads; and, thank God, I was able to keep
+mine.
+
+The three surviving Nihilists were among the first to shake off the
+effects of the shock, and two of them made instantly for the door of
+the Czar's carriage.
+
+His Majesty had been at the window and must have seen me tear the bomb
+from the man's hand; but the shock had driven him away now.  Glancing
+round I saw Sergeant Grostef and one or two more of my men had
+recovered themselves and were running towards us.  Seconds meant lives
+now; and I dashed forward and sprang upon the steps of the carriage
+after the two who were striving with might and main to tear the door of
+the saloon open.  It was partly jammed by the effects of the explosion,
+and was being defended by two men, who to my surprise were His
+Majesty's only companions in the saloon.  I learnt the reason for this
+afterwards; another instance of the damnable treachery which hedged the
+Emperor round.
+
+Those inside were like children before the maddened Nihilists; and the
+door was wrenched open and the Czar's companions shot down but not
+killed, just as I reached the carriage platform.  I shot one of the
+Nihilists instantly, but I believe the other would have succeeded in
+his deadly purpose had it not been for Sergeant Grostef who entered the
+carriage on my heels.  He dashed forward and threw himself on the
+second man and both went to the ground in a fearful struggle.
+
+The Emperor, though as brave as a man could be, was for a moment in
+complete bewilderment.  Caught weaponless and menaced by what seemed
+certain death, his nerves all unhinged by the explosion, his companions
+struck down before his face, he had rushed away in an effort to escape
+from what looked like a hellish snare, and was seeking to fly by the
+other door, when the fifth of the murderous crew attacked him with
+drawn sword.  Seeing the man in uniform, the Czar believed that the
+whole of the guard had mutinied and meant to murder him.
+
+"Is there no one to help me?" he cried, looking round.
+
+"Yes, to hell," growled the man, with a grim quip, as he rushed upon
+him.
+
+I had dropped my sword in entering the saloon, and my revolver had been
+dashed out of my hands, so that I could do nothing but fling myself
+before the Emperor, and give my body to save his.
+
+I dashed in between them, uttering a loud and violent shout, in the
+hope of attracting the man's attention to me.  But he was too grim a
+devil to be turned from his work; and the only effect of my
+interference was to impel him to greater efforts.
+
+But he was too late.
+
+Taking a liberty with his Imperial Majesty, which at another time might
+have cost me my freedom and perhaps my life, I pushed the Emperor
+violently on one side, and threw myself upon his murderer.
+
+The thrust that was meant for the Emperor, passed through my neck, and
+I rejoiced as I felt the man's steel run into my flesh.  I had saved
+the Emperor's life, even if I had lost my own.  Then I called to
+Grostef as I felt the villain draw out the steel and saw the light of
+unsated murder lust redden his eyes.
+
+With a desperate effort I seized his blade, and though it cut and
+gashed my hands through and through as the man tugged and twisted it to
+wrest it from me, I held on till the villain put his foot against my
+chest and dragged the weapon away, despite my most desperate effort.
+Then he drew it back to plunge it into the Czar's heart.  But at that
+moment I saw Grostef's great blade swing in the air with tremendous
+force, and sever the miscreant's head from his body.
+
+But the Czar was safe: and as I rolled over near his feet, I rallied
+all my strength for a last effort and cried:----
+
+"God save your Majesty."
+
+After that I had a dim feeling that good old Grostef and the Emperor
+were both bending over me trying to staunch the blood that came flowing
+from my throat and mouth, choking me, from the wound which the villain
+had meant for the Emperor.  But I had saved him and he had seen I had
+saved him.
+
+"Who is it?" I heard the Czar ask.
+
+"Lieutenant Petrovitch, your Majesty, of the Moscow Infantry Regiment,"
+answered the old soldier.
+
+"Your Majesty, I implore you, take care.  You are in an ambush of
+Nihilist villains," cried some one stepping forward hastily.  "I know
+that man"--pointing to me--"he is the most dare-devil rebel of them
+all, and has planned this business for your assassination.  For God's
+sake have a care.  This is the most devilish snare that was ever vainly
+laid."
+
+The Emperor moved away from me quickly and looked in the deepest
+perplexity from one to another of the group who had now crowded into
+the carriage.
+
+"That is a strange thing to hear," said His Majesty.  "The man has just
+saved my life at the infinite hazard of his own.  You see him.  But for
+him and for this good fellow"--waving a hand toward old Grostef--"the
+thrust you see there would have been in my heart."
+
+"Yet I pledge myself to prove what I say.  You know I do not speak at
+random.  They are probably together in this."
+
+Old Grostef growled out a stiff oath that was lost in his beard and
+then without releasing my head which was supported on his knee, he
+brought his hand to the salute and said gruffly:----
+
+"Nihilist or no Nihilist, your Majesty, the lieutenant will soon be a
+dead man, choked by his own blood if his wounds are not dressed."
+
+"There will be one traitor the less, then," said the man who had
+accused me, accompanying the words with a brutal sneer.
+
+"Oh the contrary, Grand Duke," said the Emperor angrily, "his life is
+my special care.  If he be a traitor it seems to me I should pray to
+God to grant me thousands of such traitors in my army."
+
+"God save your Majesty, and Amen to that," cried old Grostef, unable to
+keep his tongue between his teeth at that, and positively trembling in
+his excitement.
+
+"Silence," said the Emperor.  "And now let all haste be made to get on
+to the city."
+
+"As your Majesty pleases," said the man whom I guessed was the Grand
+Duke against whom Prince Bilbassoff had warned me.  "I will make good
+my words, and we will save the life to take it."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIX.
+
+THE TRUTH OUT AT LAST.
+
+While an examination of the train was made to see how much of it could
+proceed, my wounds were roughly dressed, and as soon as it was
+ascertained that only one of the saloons could go on, the Emperor said
+that I should travel in it with himself and his immediate party, and
+instructions were wired to Moscow that a doctor should be sent out to
+the small station just outside the city, where it had been arranged
+already that the Emperor should change into the Imperial train that had
+passed empty.  The object of this was that the entry into the city
+should be made from the royal train, and thus no comment be raised.
+
+As I was being moved into the other carriage an incident happened which
+I knew might have a very sinister effect upon my fortunes.  My men
+cheered lustily as soon as they caught sight of me; but when the cheers
+had died away a wild and vehement curse greeted me from the only one of
+the five Nihilists who had life enough left in him to grind his teeth
+and hiss out an imprecation.
+
+"He was our leader, damn him," cried the man, "and betrayed us.  To
+hell with such a traitor!" and he poured out his curses with tremendous
+volubility, till a soldier standing by, clapped his hand on his mouth
+and silenced him.
+
+"Your Majesty hears that?" said the Grand Duke, and I saw the Emperor
+was greatly impressed and looked at me doubtingly.
+
+I could not speak then, but I had sense enough left to understand my
+peril; and during the short journey I was thinking busily.
+
+All the time the Emperor was in close consultation with the Grand Duke,
+and it was easy to see that poison was being poured into the Imperial
+ear to prejudice me.  But I could do nothing until my wounds had been
+properly dressed and the power to speak freely restored.  At present I
+could not utter a word without bringing the blood into my mouth: and I
+lay chafing and fretting and fevering myself, as I watched what I read
+to be the conviction of my treachery stealing over the face of the Czar.
+
+I knew his character well enough to appreciate my danger fully.  The
+one subject on which his mind was warped and morbid in its
+sensitiveness was the fear of assassination: and under its influence he
+would believe almost anything that was told to him.  The personal
+influence of the Grand Duke was, moreover, enormous.
+
+As we were nearing the little station where the change of trains was to
+be made, the Emperor crossed the saloon and spoke to me.
+
+"Lieutenant Petrovitch, can you hear me?"
+
+I looked at him and tried to raise my bandaged, mangled hand to the
+salute, but could not.
+
+"Don't move," he said, hastily, seeing the attempt.  "The charges made
+against you are of the most terrible kind and there certainly seems to
+be much more ground than I at first thought.  But my own eyes saw what
+you did, and you will have the fullest opportunity of explaining
+everything.  For the time you are under arrest, necessarily; but it
+will be my personal charge to see that everything is done for you that
+surgical skill can do.  A few hours and proper treatment will, I hope,
+render you able to give the necessary explanation, and in the mean time
+you will see no one but the doctors.  I myself shall then see and
+question you."
+
+He was turning to leave me then, when I made a sign that I wished to
+answer, and he bent forward to listen.
+
+"Your Majesty will have a care," cried the Grand Duke, who had heard
+and watched everything closely.
+
+"Do you think the man breathes poison that I should be afraid of him,
+maimed and bleeding and helpless as he is?" was the reply.
+
+I made a great effort to speak, but it nearly killed me, and with all
+my struggle I could get only a word at a time, and that with tremendous
+difficulty.
+
+"Your--Majesty--keep--my--men--watching--line--where--I--stood--by--
+alder--trees."
+
+"It shall be done," he said; and I saw him exchange looks with the
+Grand Duke and then shrug his shoulders and lift his eyebrows as he
+left the saloon.
+
+Directly he had left, the doctors came round me, and I resigned myself
+cheerfully and completely into their hands.  But the Czar had given me
+the tonic that had done more than all the doctor's efforts to pull me
+round quickly.  I was to have a private audience; and it would not be
+my fault, if I did not win my way to freedom and Olga.
+
+Some three or four hours after the Czar had left me I was moved on to
+Moscow in the saloon where I lay; and my reception there was most
+mingled.  Some garbled accounts of the attempt on the Emperor's life
+had got about, and when I was carried from the saloon and placed in a
+State carriage and then driven away in the midst of a large military
+escort, the people were at a loss to know who I was, and whether I was
+a Nihilist to be hooted or a hero to be cheered.  They were in a noisy
+mood that day, and did both therefore, until the party neared the
+Palace and it was clear I was being taken there.  This decided that I
+must be a hero and the hooting ceased and the cheering shouts rang out
+with a deafening roar.
+
+I was glad to be done with that part of the business.  I knew well that
+the same throats that had been stretched in shouts of acclamation were
+quite as ready to be strained in yelling for my death.  The populace
+wanted an excuse for a noise; and it was all one to them, so far as
+personal gratification went, whether they yelled in a man's honour, or
+roared for his death.
+
+The day's round of festivities was a particularly full one for the
+Emperor, and it was many hours before he could possibly be at liberty;
+but every hour added to my strength.  The doctors soon ascertained that
+the wound in the neck was not a very dangerous one, though it had been
+a ghastly one enough to look upon.  The thrust had been within an ace
+of killing me; but the man's weapon had missed the arteries and the
+vertebrae, though it had sliced an ugly wound in the windpipe, having
+let the blood into it, and thus nearly choked me.  My hands were badly
+cut, very badly mangled indeed; and the doctors thought more seriously
+of them than of the wound in the neck, so far as after-consequences
+were concerned.  But they soon patched me up sufficiently to enable me
+to speak if necessary.
+
+With this knowledge I awaited the Emperor's coming with such patience
+as I could command.
+
+It was past midnight before he came; and then only to ask as to my
+condition.  He seemed pleased that I was so much better: and closely
+questioned the doctor who had remained in constant attendance on me as
+to the exact nature of my wounds and when I should be able to undertake
+the fatigue of a long conversation.  I might do it at once with care,
+was the doctor's report; but it would be better after a night's rest.
+
+"Then it shall be to-morrow evening.  Certain matters have yet to be
+investigated," said the Czar, turning to me, "and you will have full
+opportunity of answering all that may be said."  His manner had ceased
+to shew the kindliness I thought I had detected in the earlier
+questions about my condition, and I judged that his mind had received
+further prejudice against me.
+
+I felt that delay was dangerous to me; but I could not help myself.  I
+said I should prefer to answer all his questions at once and tell him
+all I had to say; but he turned from me somewhat peremptorily with a
+short reply that he had made his decision.  And with that he left the
+room.
+
+I augured ill from the Emperor's demeanour; but as any change in him
+would only increase my need for the greatest possible amount of
+strength, I thrust all my troubles resolutely out of my thoughts and
+went to sleep.  I slept into the next day when the doctor's report was
+altogether favourable.  My head, too, was clear and my wits vigorous
+for the ordeal that was in store for me.
+
+In the morning, the Emperor sent to inquire my condition, instead of
+coming in person, and I interpreted this as a sign that the thermometer
+of favour was still going down.
+
+When he came in the evening the Grand Duke was with him, and I saw by
+the expression of the latter's face that he at any rate was
+anticipating a triumph and my downfall.
+
+"Now, Lieutenant, you are well enough to answer questions, tell the
+truth.  I warn you it must be the whole truth; for I have had many
+surprising facts brought to my knowledge, and all your answers can be
+at once tested--and will be."
+
+"Your Majesty, I pledge myself to answer every question.  But before I
+do that there is one communication I should like to make to yourself
+alone."
+
+"You can make any statement you like afterwards.  Now, tell me, are you
+a Nihilist?"
+
+"I am not," I answered firmly.
+
+"Well, what have been--Stay, you acted bravely yesterday, you are
+charged with this: that you are and have been a Nihilist for years and
+that your sister is one also; that you were concerned twelve months ago
+in the attack upon the Governor of Moscow; that before and since then
+you have been in constant communication with the Nihilist leaders; that
+with your own hand you assassinated Christian Tueski, after having
+yourself volunteered for the work; that you proposed the plot which by
+the mercy of God failed yesterday; that you were privy to the whole
+matter and went out to assist in the deadly work."
+
+"Who are my accusers, Sire?"
+
+"It is the accusation, not the accuser you have to answer," replied the
+Emperor, sternly.  "You are to answer, not question."
+
+"I have a complete answer, which happily I can support with ample
+proof.  Until less than two months ago, I had never exchanged a word
+with a Nihilist..."
+
+"He is a liar," burst out the Grand Duke, vehemently.
+
+A hot answer rose to my lips, but I checked it.
+
+"Then, Sire, a band of them set upon me in the street and would have
+assassinated me, had I not beaten them off with my sword.  One of them
+I took prisoner to my rooms, and from him I learnt that I was supposed
+to have...."
+
+"Supposed!" exclaimed the Grand Duke.
+
+"Supposed to have incurred their wrath.  They had sentenced me to
+death, it appeared, and that was the first attempt at my execution.  I
+then took a course which I am well aware will seem peculiar.  I went to
+a meeting at which the death of Christian Tueski was resolved, and I
+was selected to kill him."
+
+"You confess this?" cried the Emperor, harshly.  "You, my officer?"
+
+"Sire, I beg your patience.  I did this because I did not think I
+should be in Russia many hours; and because I thought I could gain the
+time I needed by pretending to be at the head of the conspiracy.  Not
+for a moment did I intend to lay a finger on him.  I am no assassin."
+
+"But he was assassinated by you Nihilists," cried the Emperor, with
+bitter indignation.  "The whole land has rung with the news."
+
+"The man is a madman, or takes us for fools," said the Grand Duke.
+
+"I am as innocent of his death, Sire, as a child, except, I fear,
+indirectly.  He died by the hand of his wife, whom on the very day of
+his death I had warned of the plot to kill him."
+
+"Your proofs, man, your proofs," cried the Emperor impatiently.
+
+"That most unfortunate woman had been under the impression that there
+had been an intrigue between myself and her and...."
+
+"Half Moscow knew of it," interrupted the Duke.
+
+"Until less than two months ago, I had never seen her in all my life,"
+I returned.  "She thought by this deed to coil such a web round me that
+I could not escape from marrying her.  Had I wished to kill the man, I
+had ample opportunity on the very afternoon of the day he was murdered,
+for I was closeted alone with him for two hours.  He, too, had set his
+bullies on to me and I went to settle things with him and to get
+permits to leave the country for myself and Olga Petrovitch.  I got
+them, and that night his wife thrust into his heart a dagger she
+believed was mine, added the Nihilist motto, and then hid the sheath,
+with the name 'Alexis Petrovitch' on it, intending to use it as a means
+to force me to marry her under the threat of charging me with the
+crime."
+
+"Your repute does not belie you," growled the Duke.  "You're the most
+callous dare-devil I ever heard of to tell a tale of that kind.  To
+choose a woman's petticoats!"
+
+The Emperor turned to him and held up a hand in protest.
+
+"In that way I got the credit for that crime; and I was then approached
+about the attempt of yesterday."
+
+"Ah!"  The Emperor drew in a sharp breath.
+
+"I listened to what was said, believing still that I should be out of
+the country before the time, and intending in any event to make the
+success of the scheme impossible.  A series of extraordinary events
+prevented my leaving, and when more details were told me, I saw there
+must be someone in the matter very near your Majesty's throne.  I
+thought I could perhaps discover who that was and thus, by remaining,
+serve your Majesty most effectively.  I think I know now who it is, or
+at least have the means of obtaining proof.  Up to nine o'clock
+yesterday morning the pivot on which everything was to turn was yet
+unsettled.  A part was assigned to me days ago, on the understanding
+that certain military duties would be confided to me; that a change in
+the whole plans would be made at the very last moment; that all the
+commands would be altered; and that I should find myself in charge of a
+certain section of the line.  I was told this in general terms more
+than a week ago; and everything was confirmed to me in detail on Sunday
+morning--twenty-four hours before the change was announced by the
+Colonel of the regiment."
+
+"'Fore God, Sir, what are you saying?" cried the Emperor in a loud
+voice.  He had turned white and was pressing his hand to his forehead
+with every sign of great agitation.  "Do you hear this?" he asked the
+man who had been so loud in accusing me, and who himself was now
+fighting hard for self-possession.
+
+I had struck home indeed.
+
+A dead silence followed, lasting more than a minute; and to give it
+full weight I affected to be unable to speak.
+
+"I'm not surprised such a tale overcomes him in the telling.  It is
+wild enough to listen to, let alone to invent," said the Grand Duke,
+recovering himself with a sneer.
+
+"Proceed, when you can, Lieutenant," said the Emperor, shortly.
+
+"I have nearly finished, Sire," I answered weakly.  "But there is one
+point where I can give you the highest corroboration of the key to all
+this seeming mystery.  Will your Majesty send for Prince Bilbassoff?"
+
+The Duke started as I mentioned the name and glanced keenly at me as it
+seemed to me in much discomposure.
+
+"I was told, Sire," I resumed, when the Emperor had complied with my
+request.  "That there was one, or at most two persons beside your
+Majesty who knew the real order of matters for yesterday; and that it
+was from that one, or from one of those two persons, that the
+information was given to the Nihilists which formed the basis of this
+plot.  I did not believe it possible, Sire, and I did not think
+therefore that any attempt could be made.  But yesterday morning to my
+intense astonishment, I found myself appointed to command exactly the
+section of the line of which I had been told by the Nihilists, many
+hours, indeed days in advance."
+
+The consternation of both my hearers as I dwelt on this was so great
+that I emphasized it; and I saw then that I could safely slur over the
+only point that I really feared in the whole story--the episode of the
+five men whom I had posted in accordance with the Nihilist orders.
+
+I had struck such a blow at the Grand Duke that he said no more; and he
+was much more busy thinking of how to defend himself than of how to
+accuse me.
+
+I next told of the secret mechanism; how I had seen it work; how it
+proved that the operator must have had exact knowledge of the train in
+which the Emperor would travel, and then how I had sprung on the line
+to stop the train.  I left my actions after that to speak for
+themselves.
+
+The impression created by my story was profound; due of course to the
+terrible and daring accusation I had levelled at the man who had
+accused me.
+
+The Emperor remained wrapped in deep thought; and in the silence that
+followed, Prince Bilbassoff entered.  I could tell by the quick glance
+he gave round the room and particularly at me, that he did not at all
+like the look of matters.  He had heard something of the facts about
+me, and I believe he thought I had perhaps denounced him in the matter
+of the proposed duel with the Grand Duke.
+
+"Lieutenant Petrovitch has asked for you to be present, Prince, to
+support some part of the explanation he has given of certain charges
+brought against him."
+
+"As your Majesty pleases," replied the Prince bowing.
+
+The Emperor resumed his attitude of intense thought, and then after
+some moments, he regarded me with a heavy frown and said very sternly
+and harshly:
+
+"The story you tell is incredible, sir.  It is a mass of
+contradictions.  You say the Nihilists attempted to kill you, having
+decreed your death; and yet that you had never spoken to one until the
+night of the attempt.  You say this woman whom you accuse of the murder
+of her husband did this horrible deed for your sake as the result of an
+intrigue--and yet that you had never seen her until almost the very
+hour when she sinned thus for your sake.  You say that you listened to
+these Nihilist intrigues in the belief that you would be out of the
+country--yet you hold and have held for years a commission in my army.
+It is monstrous, incredible, impossible."
+
+"There is another contradiction which your Majesty has forgotten," said
+I daringly.  "That I, being as my enemies tell your Majesty, a Nihilist
+of the Nihilists and a leader among them, should yet have slain three
+of them with my own hand in defence of your Majesty's life and have
+turned the sword of the fourth into my own body.  As your Majesty said
+yesterday, traitors of that kind should rather be welcome.  But if your
+Majesty thinks that that is an additional proof of my guilt, my life is
+at your service still."
+
+He looked at me as if in doubt whether to rebuke me for this daring
+presumption, or to admit his own doubt.  But I did not give him time to
+speak.
+
+"I have deceived your Majesty, however, though I wished to speak openly
+at the outset.  I told you there was a key to all this of a most
+extraordinary fashion.  There is; and I throw myself humbly on your
+mercy, Sire.  The tales you have been told about me are all true to a
+point, and false afterwards.  To a point all these horrible charges
+against Alexis Petrovitch are true; but what I have told you is true
+also.  The key is--that I have only been Alexis Petrovitch for seven
+weeks.  I am not a Russian, Sire, but an Englishman; and Prince
+Bilbassoff here has within the last few hours had proof of this."
+
+"An Englishman!" exclaimed the Czar, in a tone that revealed his
+complete bewilderment.  "I don't understand."
+
+"I wish to tell your Majesty everything," and then I told him almost
+everything as I have set it down here.
+
+As I told the story, ending with my wish to be allowed to leave the
+country at once, I saw his interest deepening and quickening, and
+perceived that he was coming round to my side.  He listened with
+scarcely a break or interruption, and at the close remained thinking
+most earnestly.
+
+"What confirmation have you, Prince?"
+
+Prince Bilbassoff was so relieved to find that I had said nothing
+indiscreet about him that he spoke in the strongest way for me.
+
+"I know much of this to be true, your Majesty.  I have had telegrams
+from England confirming Mr. Tregethner's story; and there is now in
+Moscow a certain Hon. Rupert Balestier, who has been making the most
+energetic inquiries for him; and--the weirdest of all--the wretched
+woman, Paula Tueski, has killed herself and left a confession of her
+crime."
+
+The Emperor's decision was taken at once.
+
+"I owe you deep reparation, Mr. Tregethner.  I ought to have trusted my
+instinct and my eyesight, and have known that no man would have done
+what you did yesterday to save my life, and be anything but my firm
+friend.  May God never send Russia or me a greater enemy than you.  May
+you never lack as firm a friend as I will be to you.  God bless you!"
+
+My heart was too full for speech, and I could only falter out the words:
+
+"I would die for your Majesty."
+
+"You will do better than that--you will live for me; and when you are
+well, we will speak of your future."
+
+With that he turned to leave the room and said to the Grand Duke, who
+was quite broken and unstrung:--
+
+"Now, we will find that strange leakage."
+
+As soon as they had left, Prince Bilbassoff questioned me closely, and
+when he heard about the accusation I had by inference brought against
+the man who had tried to ruin me and had so nearly succeeded, words
+could not express his delight.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXX.
+
+AFTERWARDS.
+
+It was nearly a month before the doctors would consent to my being
+moved, and even then they grudged their permission.  All the time I lay
+like a Royal Prince in the Palace with all the world ready to do my
+lightest wish.  Had I been in a hospital, I believe the doctors would
+have sent me packing a full fortnight earlier; but wounds heal slowly
+when the State has to pay the doctors' fees.
+
+The time was pleasant enough, however, save for one thing.  I was full
+of anxiety on Olga's account.  Prince Bilbassoff brought my friend
+Balestier to me and he stayed all the time, and used all his efforts to
+find some trace of her whereabouts.  The Emperor, too, promised that
+all in his power should be done to find her; and whenever I saw Prince
+Bilbassoff I importuned him also on the same quest; and his promises
+were as ripe as the Czar's.
+
+She was not found, however, and I fretted and worried until Balestier
+drove home the conviction that the best thing I could do was to hurry
+and get well, and then set out to search for her myself.  This pacified
+me, and I did all that was possible to help the doctors.
+
+But this failure to find her was a never-ending subject of thought, as
+well as of somewhat angry satire when the opportunity offered.  One day
+when the Prince came I rallied him strongly on the matter, thinking to
+gibe him into greater activity.
+
+"Your agents are poor hounds, Prince," I said.  "They bay loudly enough
+on the trail, but they don't find."
+
+"They have found the brother," he answered quietly.  "And the girl
+can't be far off."
+
+"The brother be hanged," cried I.
+
+"Not by the Russian hangman.  He doesn't mean to return here; but he
+has dropped your name and probably by this time has left Paris
+altogether.  He knows the facts--or some of them; our agent told him
+them; and he means to put as great a distance between himself and
+Russia as the limitations of the globe will permit."
+
+"He's a poor creature.  How was he found?"
+
+"As usual--a woman."
+
+"Well, I owe him no grudge.  He has given me a better part than I ever
+thought to play in life.  And a good wife too--if we can only find her."
+
+"We shall find her.  The woman's not born that can hide herself from
+us, when we are in earnest."
+
+"Well, I wish you'd be thoroughly in earnest now.  If you were only as
+much in earnest as you were about that duel...."
+
+"I am; for I owe you more than if you had fought the duel."  I looked
+at him in some astonishment.  "I have only to-day heard the definite
+decision," he continued.  "You gave me the clue, and I did not fail to
+follow it up.  You say my men are not sleuth hounds.  Give them a blood
+scent like that and try."
+
+"All of which is unintelligible to me," I replied, noting with surprise
+his excitement and exultation.
+
+"Heavens, lad, I'm more sorry than ever you're not going to join us.
+And now that that hindrance is out of the path, the path is brighter
+than ever.  What fools you young fellows are to go tumbling into what
+you call love, and playing the devil with a career for the sake of
+muslin and silks and pretty cheeks.  I suppose..." he looked
+questioningly, and waited as if for me to speak.
+
+"Suppose what?"  I knew what he meant well enough, but liked to make
+him speak out.
+
+"That you've really made up your mind or whatever you call it, not to
+stop in Russia?"
+
+"Absolutely.  I'm going to commit social suicide and marry for
+love--that is, if I can only find my sweetheart; or rather if you can
+find her for me."
+
+"I wish I couldn't," he returned; and then fearing I should
+misunderstand him, added:--"I don't mean that.  I mean, I'm sorry I'm
+not to have your help."
+
+"At one time it looked as though you were going to have it whether I
+would or no, and I'm afraid I may have misled you and--and others
+somewhat.  I'm sorry for this."
+
+"Save your vanity, youngster," he said with a short laugh,
+understanding me.  "My sister is no love-sick maiden with her head full
+of a silly fancy that any one man is necessary to her."
+
+I flushed a little at the rebuke; and bit my lip.
+
+"We wanted you for Russia, not for ourselves," he added, after a pause.
+"You have already done the Empire a splendid service; and that's why
+you're regretted.  Though, mark me, I don't say, now that things have
+turned out as they have, I should not have been a bit proud of you as a
+member of my family."
+
+"What service do you mean?  Saving my own skin?"
+
+"No.  Overthrowing the Grand Duke.  He is completely broken.  No trap
+could have snared him half so well.  It has now come out that the
+disposition of the troops was his sole work; he himself arranged the
+very order of the trains; and the minute details which he executed were
+known to him alone.  He laid his plans splendidly for his infernal
+purpose, and had you been the man he anticipated--the dare-devil who
+had killed Tueski--nothing could have saved the Emperor's life.  But
+God in His mercy willed the overthrow of as clever a villain as was
+ever shielded by high rank.  That particular slip no man could have
+possibly foreseen; but he made another which surprised me.  Only a
+little thing, but enough.  When I came to look closely into the
+business I found that he had worked out in the greatest detail all the
+arrangements for the last journey and the disposition of the troops,
+and had committed them to paper in a number of sealed orders.  These he
+dated back to the previous Saturday; but only gave them out the last
+thing on Sunday night.  His object was of course that when inquiries
+came to be made the dates on the papers should tell their own story and
+prove, apparently, that, as they had been given out on the Saturday,
+there would have been plenty of time for it to have leaked out to the
+Nihilists through some one of the many officials who would be in
+possession of it, at the time you proved it was known to the Nihilists.
+On that supposition there were a hundred channels through which it
+would have got out, and the Duke would have been only one among many in
+a position to divulge the secret.  Like a fool he thus drew the coil
+close round his own body; and as soon as the Emperor knew that, my men
+made a search.  That did the rest effectually."
+
+"And what has happened to him?"
+
+"What should happen to such a man?" answered the Prince, sternly.
+
+"Death."
+
+"Right.  But the Emperor would not.  He's as soft as a pudding.  The
+man is imprisoned, that's all.  For life, of course.  But rats have an
+ugly trick of slipping out as well as into a dungeon.  And if he ever
+does get out, boy, you will have one enemy powerful enough to make even
+you cautious."
+
+"Keep him safe, then," I laughed.  "For when I leave Russia, I want to
+leave all this behind me."
+
+"You may look for trouble of some kind from the Nihilists, however."
+
+"They are not taken very seriously by us English, Prince," I replied.
+
+"Maybe; but remember you have been a Russian for a couple of months,
+and have dealt them a stroke that they will never forget."
+
+He left me soon after that, but I did not pay any serious heed to his
+warning.  I pondered his news, however.  I was glad that Alexis
+Petrovitch had ceased to masquerade in my name; but I could not
+understand how it was that if the Russian agents could so easily find
+the brother, they should be baffled in their search for Olga.  But it
+spurred my anxiety to go a-hunting on my own account; and I was
+heartily glad therefore, when the doctors agreed to release me, and my
+marching orders for St. Petersburg came.
+
+By the Emperor's commands I was taken straight to his Palace; and his
+Majesty's reception could not have been more gracious than it was.
+
+He loaded me with signs of his favour; with his own hands pinned to my
+breast the highest Order he could confer on a foreigner; and did
+everything except press me to enter his service.
+
+"Your sojourn in Russia is associated in my mind with so painful and
+terrible an event, and you are personally connected with it so closely,
+that in my service you would always serve to keep open a wound that
+bleeds at the mere reference.  I am like a man who has given
+unrestrainedly the kisses of love and received in return the poison of
+the asp.  Moreover, Prince Bilbassoff tells me that you have made up
+your mind to go to your own country; and while you will, I hope, always
+be my friend, and I, with God's help, will always be yours, I shall not
+seek to detain you."
+
+"I am even now impatient to be away, your Majesty," I replied, "and
+crave your leave to go at once.  I hope to leave St Petersburg
+immediately."  I spoke with the eagerness of a lover; and his reply
+surprised, and indeed, dismayed me.
+
+"No, Mr. Tregethner, that I cannot suffer.  I should feel an ingrate if
+I permitted you to leave without accepting my hospitality.  I do not
+like an unwilling guest; but for a fortnight more at least you must
+remain here."
+
+I looked at him quickly in my amazement, and then with a bow said:--
+
+"Your Majesty has promised me the gracious distinction of your
+friendship; and as a friend I appeal to you to permit me to be your
+guest at another time.  The matter I have in hand is very urgent."
+
+"I am not accustomed to have my wishes in these matters questioned,"
+returned the Emperor; and at that moment I wished the Imperial
+friendship at the bottom of the Baltic.
+
+It meant that just when I was well and strong, and in every way able to
+start on the task that was more to me than anything else on earth, I
+had to cool my heels dangling attendance on this well meaning Imperial
+Marplot in this prison-palace of his.  But I smothered my feelings like
+a courtier and murmured an assent--that compliance with his wishes
+would be a pleasure.
+
+He laughed, and then in a most un-Emperor-like manner clapped me on the
+shoulder and said:--
+
+"You'd soon learn the humbug of the courtier, friend.  But you must not
+put all this down to me.  You stay by the special desire of the Prince
+Bilbassoff's beautiful but rather imperious sister, in whose favour you
+stand high--though you have not always treated her very well, it seems.
+She has now a great desire for some more of your company, and has set
+her heart on your remaining to be present at a Court marriage which she
+has planned."
+
+"I shall know how to thank the Princess when I see her," I answered,
+drily enough to make my meaning clear; for the Emperor laughed and said
+that might be true and that the Princess was even now anxious to see me
+to thank me for past services.
+
+My gratitude to the latter may be imagined; and when the Emperor
+dismissed me, I thought of the pleasure it would afford me to express
+it to her.
+
+The opportunity came at once, for I was shewn straight to a saloon
+where she appeared to have been awaiting me.
+
+"We meet, under changed circumstances, Mr. Tregethner--my inclination
+to call you Lieutenant is almost irresistible."
+
+"His Majesty has told me, Princess, that it is to you I owe the
+pleasure of being compelled to stay here at the present time."
+
+"I am glad to have been able to secure you so high a mark of the
+Imperial favour," she answered, her eyes laughing at me, but the rest
+of her features serious.  "I am always glad to help those who are
+candid and frank with me."
+
+"As glad as you are to be candid and frank with those you help,
+Princess?  Is there another duel in prospect?  Or more wrongs to be
+avenged?  In connection with this marriage I hear of, for instance?"
+
+"A fair question," she answered, smiling.  She was certainly a very
+beautiful woman when she smiled.  "There is--but only very indirectly.
+By the way, do you not wonder that I content myself with giving you no
+more than a fortnight's imprisonment?"
+
+"If you knew the punishment it is likely to be to me you would not wish
+to inflict a heavier."
+
+"You mean, you are so eager to be searching for this girl who
+masqueraded as your sister, that you cannot spare a fortnight for the
+Russian Court.  Excuse me; I cannot think that even Englishmen can be
+so impolite and phlegmatic."
+
+"My 'sister' is very dear to me, Princess," I said, emphasizing the
+word.
+
+"Oh, yes, we know the value of a lover's sighs and a lover's vows and a
+lover's impatience and a lover's constancy and a lover's everything
+else.  And you Englishmen are but like other men in these things."
+
+I didn't understand her, so I held my tongue.
+
+"I dare believe that though you are now so eager to be away on this
+romantic search of yours, and are fretting and fuming at the delay
+which I have caused, so that you may have the opportunity of witnessing
+the grandeur of the Court marriage I have arranged, you will cool in
+your ardour long before the fortnight is out.  There are women about
+the Russian Court, Sir, to the full as fair and witching and sweet as
+Olga Petrovitch."
+
+"I have the evidence of that before my eyes, Princess," I said, looking
+at her and bowing to hide my chagrin at her words.
+
+"You are angry that I hold you fickle.  You should not be," she said,
+with a swift glance reading my mood.
+
+"I have confidence in my faith."
+
+"And I confidence in your lack of it," she retorted, with a touch of
+irritation in her tone.  "I dare wager heavily that we have here many a
+young girl in whose smiles the fire of your eagerness to leave Russia
+in this search would be quickly quenched.  Nay, I will do more, for I
+love a challenge, and love especially to see a man who vaunts himself
+on his strength of purpose and strong will and fidelity overthrown and
+proved a braggart--but perhaps you dare not be put to a test?"  She
+asked this in a tone that made every fibre of purpose in my body thrill
+with loyalty to Olga in reply to the taunt.
+
+"Name your test," I answered, shortly.
+
+"I wager you that I will find one among my maidens here who will turn
+you from your purpose of leaving us; lure you into more than content to
+abandon your search; and make you pour into her own pretty ears a
+confession that you are glad I caused you to dally here--and all this
+within three days."
+
+"It is not possible, Princess.  I take up your challenge readily, if
+only to while away the hanging time."
+
+She looked at me as if triumphantly.
+
+"You dare say that?  Then you are half conquered already.  Now I know
+you will----What is it?" she broke off to a servant who came in.
+
+Then after hearing the servant's message, she made an excuse and left
+me.
+
+I was more than angry with her.  The jest which had for its foundation
+the possibility that I should change in half a week and, instead of
+fretting and fuming to begin my search, be reconciled to this mummery
+of a flirtation with some Court hack or other, annoyed and disturbed
+me; and I turned away and gazed out of one of the tall bayed windows
+into the wide courtyard below, and felt ready to consign the whole
+world to destruction, with the exception of that part where Olga might
+be and such a strip as might be necessary for me to get to her.
+
+Against the Princess I was particularly enraged.  To hold me for an
+empty whirligig fool to turn like a magnetised needle in any direction
+that any chance magnet might choose to draw me!  Stop contentedly?
+Bosh!  Give up the search?  Rot!  I was so angry when I heard her come
+back into the room, that I affected not to know that she was present.
+And I stared resolutely out of the window pretending to be vastly
+interested in the antics of a couple of big young hounds that were
+gambolling together.  I laughed hugely, and uttered a few exclamations
+to myself but loud enough for the Princess to hear.
+
+The Princess took it very coolly, however.  She said nothing, and for a
+couple of minutes the farce went on.
+
+I expected a tirade at my rudeness; but instead I heard the frou-frou
+of her dress as she crossed the room toward me.
+
+I increased my affected gestures and muttered exclamations, and had a
+mind to let fly an oath, just a little one, to shock her, when she put
+her face so close to mine that I could feel its warmth, and she
+whispered right into my ear:--
+
+"Bad acting.  Too self-conscious, Alexis!"
+
+The Princess had won easily.  I surrendered without an effort; gave up
+all thought of the search and was suddenly filled with a glad content
+to stop.  For the voice was Olga's, and the merry laugh was hers, and
+the blush was hers, and the love light was hers too; and the next
+moment I held her in my arms close pressed to my heart.
+
+The Princess had indeed won anyhow, and in much less than three days;
+and I stopped for that wedding with all the delight in the world--in
+fact nothing could have induced me to miss it.
+
+For the bride was Olga, and the bridegroom myself, once--"that devil
+Alexis!"
+
+
+
+
+THE END.
+
+
+
+
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+Biography
+
+Moltke's Letters to His Wife
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+
+
+My Reminiscences
+
+By LORD RONALD GOWER.  With Etched Portrait.  New Edition.  Post 8vo.
+$2.50.
+
+
+
+Rupert of the Rhine
+
+A Biographical Sketch of the Life of Prince Rupert, by LORD RONALD
+GOWER.  With three Portraits in photogravure.  Crown 8vo, buckram,
+$1.75.
+
+
+
+Major General, the Earl of Stirling
+
+An Essay in Biography by LUDWIG SCHUMACHER.  _Edition limited to 130
+copies_.  Cloth, $1.00.
+
+A book so pretty that it might be welcomed, even if it were not as
+carefully done as it is.--Book Buyer (New York).
+
+
+
+Four Generations of a Literary Family
+
+By W. CAREW HAZLITT.  With photogravure portraits, facsimiles, &c.  2
+vols., Demy 8vo.  (Scarce.)
+
+These volumes deal with the Hazlitts in England, Ireland, and America,
+and give a picture of Ireland in 1780 and of America in 1783-7.  They
+contain a store of theatrical anecdotes, sketches of celebrated book
+collectors, an account of old Brompton, and a good deal of matter
+relating to auction rooms and sales by auction.  The history of the
+origin of "Our Club," founded by Douglas Jerrold, is also given.
+
+Note.--This work was suppressed in England, the author having been
+threatened with libel suits by the relatives of many persons mentioned
+in the text.  A limited American edition was secured by the New
+Amsterdam Book Company, and the work now ranks among scarce books.
+
+
+
+Gordon in China and the Soudan
+
+By E. EGMONT HOKE.  Demy 8vo, cloth, $2.25.
+
+This work is practically a reprint of "The Story of Chinese Gordon,"
+which ran through twelve editions within eighteen months of its
+appearance.  The book has been out of print for a considerable time,
+but in view of recent events, it is now greatly in demand.  To meet
+that demand, it has been decided to re-issue it with such minor changes
+as were necessary.
+
+
+
+Bibliography
+
+A Bibliography of Gilbert White of Selborne
+
+By EDWARD A. MARTIN, F.G.S., author of "Amidst Nature's Realms," "The
+Story of a Piece of Coal," Etc.  $1.50.
+
+Gilbert White's remarkable book, "The Natural History of Selborne," has
+perhaps been published in a greater number of editions than any other
+book of the kind in the world.  The work mentioned above gives a very
+interesting account of both the man and his book, and as an essay in
+bibliography, ranks with the very best works of its class.
+
+
+
+Fiction
+
+The Devil-Tree of El Dorado
+
+By FRANK AUBREY.  With Illustrations by LEIGH ELLIS AND FRED HYLAND.
+Thick 12mo, cloth, stamped in fire bronze and gold, $1.50.
+
+The book should find as many readers as "King Solomon's Mines."--New
+York Sun.  (2/3 column review.)
+
+We have often wondered why the famous legend of El Dorado had never
+found its way into romance.  Though the novel of adventure is once more
+in vogue, and although the cry is general that all possible themes have
+long ago been exhausted this still was left untouched; the story
+tellers seemed to have thought the quest as hopeless as the adventurers
+found it.  The omission has now been made good; the hidden city has
+been found.--Macmillan's Magazine, London.--(Extract from a
+thirteen-page review.)
+
+Is an exceptionally fascinating book. * * * We know well that the
+scenes and characters are all ideal--nay, we feel that some are utterly
+impossible--but none the less they enthrall us.--New York Herald,
+(3/4-column review.)
+
+The book is recommended to the perusal of all.--Boston Times.
+
+Here we have a book that is deserving of success.--Waverley Magazine,
+(Boston.)
+
+This is one of the best books of adventure that has appeared in the
+last year or so.--Hartford Post.
+
+_The first edition in England was sold in advance of publication!  The
+second did not last a week!_
+
+
+
+Mr. Paul's Translation of Huysmans' last great novel.
+
+En Route
+
+By J. K. HUYSMANS.  Translated, with a prefatory note, by C. KEGAN
+PAUL.  Second edition.  Crown 8vo, $1.50.
+
+We are inclined to think it not only the greatest novel of the day, but
+one of the most important books of our quarter of the century.--The
+Bookman (extract from five-page review).
+
+The Rt. Hon. W. E. Gladstone, in a letter to the translator, says: "It
+places the claim of the 'Route' through mysticism higher, I think, than
+any other book I have read; and by this fact alone it imposes modesty
+and reserve upon all critics from outside and from a distance."
+
+
+
+Opals From a Mexican Mine
+
+By GEORGE DE VALLIÈRE.  i2mo, cloth, richly bound, $1.25.
+
+Are indeed literary gems. * * * We are glad to have found these Mexican
+opals; they are to us gems of value and we thank the author.--Boston
+Times.
+
+Now and then a tale flames like a field of poppies in windless
+sunshine--such, for instance, as these Mexican tales which have just
+appeared bearing an unfamiliar name.--The Bookman, New York.
+
+In them all, no worse local solecism than the dropping of a few
+accents.  The like hardly happens twice in a decade.  * * * Are
+unmistakably interesting.--Critic (New York).
+
+
+
+The Lure of Fame
+
+By CLIVE HOLLAND, author of "My Japanese Wife," etc., etc.  With a
+drawing and decoration by GEORGE WHARTON EDWARDS.  Large l6mo, square,
+handsomely embossed cover, $1.00; paper, 50c.
+
+Charles Dexter Allen writes as follows in the Hartford Post: "Before
+one gets to the story itself, he must stop and admire the handsome
+setting the book has received.  Bound in dark blue, with a bold cover
+design in gold, it has an especially designed title page by George
+Wharton Edwards, and an excellent frontispiece by the same artist.  Its
+title, 'The Lure of Fame,' will suggest something of the thread of the
+story, but one is not thereby prepared for so tender and sympathetic a
+picture as those pages reveal, or so close an analysis of human
+feelings and experiences."
+
+
+
+Nephelé
+
+A Novel.  By FRANCIS WILLIAM BOURDILLON.  12mo, artistically bound,
+$1.00.
+
+We urge so rare a treat as its pages impart on the attention of our
+readers.--The Bookman (New York).
+
+At the very first sentence the reader realizes that he is breathing a
+rarer air than usually emanates from the printed page, and at the very
+last sentence he realizes how he has kept on the heights. * * *
+Whatever the cause, the achievement is the sort that revives one's
+faith in that quality which, for want of a better word, we know as
+inspiration.--New York Sun.
+
+The story is so delightful that to attempt to describe it seems to
+indicate a lack of appreciation.  It must be read to be
+understood.--Hartford Post.
+
+
+
+Pacific Tales
+
+By LOUIS BECKE, author of "By Reef and Palm," etc.  With frontispiece
+photogravure Portrait of the Author and several illustrations.  Crown
+8vo, green cloth, gilt top, $1.50.
+
+The volume consists of the following: An Island Memory, The South Sea
+Savant, In the Old Beach-Combing Days, Miss Malleson's Rival, Prescott
+of Naura, Chester's "Cross," Hollis's Debt: a tale of the Northwest
+Pacific, The Arm of Luno Capal, In a Samoan Village, the
+"Black-Birdes," In the Evening, The Great Crushing at Mount Sugar-Bag:
+a Queensland Mining Tale, The Shadows of the Dead, "For we were Friends
+Always," Nikoa, The Strange White Woman of Maduro, The Obstinacy of
+Mrs. Tatton, The Treasure of Don Bruno.
+
+
+
+Animal Episodes and Studies in Sensation
+
+By G. H. POWELL.  8vo, cloth, $1.50 net.
+
+The reader, if he be in sorrow, or even in suspense, is taken out of
+himself and knows nothing of what is going on save what the author
+tells him--James Payn, in "Illustrated London News."
+
+Thrilling to the point of intensity--Westminster Gazette.
+
+Breathlessly interesting--Pall Mall Gazette.
+
+
+
+A Stable for Nightmares
+
+Or, Weird Tales.  By J. SHERIDAN LE FANU, author of "Uncle Silas,"
+"House by the Churchyard," etc.; SIR CHARLES YOUNG, Bart., and others.
+Bound in brimstone yellow cloth, and appropriately illustrated, 75
+cents.
+
+The Commercial Advertiser, New York, under the title of "A Revel in
+Spookdom," writes in part as follows: "What is there better for a real,
+clammy, irresponsible thrill than a volume of ghost stories?  You open
+the book anywhere and the breath of chilly, graveyard air that comes
+from the pages prepares you at once for the refreshing horrors you are
+about to enjoy.  At least that was my experience when I opened 'A
+Stable for Nightmares,' by J. Sheridan Le Fanu.  The cover is of the
+hue of cold 'Welsh rabbit,' suggestive of awful indigestion and gaunt
+nightmares that serve to make any ghost stories probable.  The tales
+are of various complexions, but all imbued with the 'pobbiness' of
+new-made corpses that it so useful an element in making effective
+preternatural narratives... Everyone of the eleven stories is a
+splendid example of weirdness...  If you want ghost stories fresh from
+the charnel house, buy this book for 75 cents and you will find it a
+profitable investment."
+
+
+
+The XIth Commandment
+
+By HALLIWELL SUTCLIFFE.  Handsomely bound in cloth, gilt top, $1.25.
+
+Full of deep thought, tempered with a bright appreciation of the
+ridiculous and invested with delicate sarcasm, is the new novel of
+Halliwell Sutcliffe, called "The XIth Commandment."  Mr. Sutcliffe's
+theme is the diplomatic attitude of a north-country vicar in the Church
+of England, who seeks to maintain an equilibrium in his ministrations
+to the rich and poor in his parish, while favoring the rich.  In
+striking contrast to this attitude, the work of a young curate,
+sincere, broadminded and convincing, is refreshingly shown.--Buffalo
+Express.
+
+It is full of stress and emphasis, vibrant and thrilling in places,
+and, for a novel of its character, it holds the interest of the reader
+to a surprising degree.--Commercial Advertiser (New York).
+
+As the story progresses one's interest grows continually and the book
+may be called not merely readable, but genuinely interesting.--Hartford
+Post.
+
+
+
+Seven Frozen Sailors
+
+By GEORGE MANVILLE FENN, assisted by COMPTON READE, F. ARCHER, and
+others.  Illustrated by A. BURNHAM SHUTE.  Square i6mo, cloth.  75
+cents.
+
+"Seven Frozen Sailors" is certainly a title possessing enough
+originality to arouse one's curiosity.  The idea is unique, and the
+seven stories, each by a different author, form an interesting mosaic
+of imaginative literature...  The reading public seems to crave
+something new, and here is a volume, not cumbersome, but of modest
+size, that will, no doubt, prove attractive.--Every Saturday (Elgin,
+Ill.).
+
+The old saying, "too many cooks spoil the broth," does not hold true in
+this instance, for the little book is really enjoyable.--Boston
+Transcript.
+
+
+
+The Copsford Mystery
+
+(_Eighth edition, completing seventeenth thousand_).  By W. CLARK
+RUSSELL, author of "An Ocean Free Lance," "The Wreck of the Grosvenor,"
+etc.  Handsomely illustrated by A. BURNHAM SHUTE, and others.  Cloth,
+$1.25; paper, 50 cents.
+
+"The Copsford Mystery; or, Is He the Man?" is by W. Clark Russell,
+whose name at once suggests rolling billows and dashing spray.  But
+this is not a sea tale and is the only story not of the sea that he has
+written.  Save in the first chapter, when we are introduced to a girl
+who is in the habit of rowing, off Broadstairs, and who gets carried
+out to sea by the tide, and is rescued by a dark-browed, sunburnt, but
+handsome man, there is nothing of the sea in it.  The construction of
+the story is more like Doyle than Russell, but it resembles the
+latter's sea stories in its careful attention to detail.  There is also
+careful delineation of character.  In an introduction is an interesting
+sketch of Russell and his writings, and the book has full page
+illustrations by A. Burnham Shute and others.
+
+
+
+An Ocean Free Lance
+
+(_Fifth edition, completing thirteenth thousand_).  By W. CLARK
+RUSSELL.  New edition, illustrated by HARRY L. V. PARKHURST.  Cloth,
+superbly bound, $1.25; paper, 50 cents.
+
+This dashing romance of the sea is held by some readers to contain Mr.
+Russell's best work.  In it will be found the oft-quoted description of
+a naval engagement.
+
+
+
+A Noble Haul
+
+By W. CLARK RUSSELL, author of "The Wreck of the Grosvenor," "The
+Copsford Mystery," "An Ocean Free Lance," etc.  _5th thousand_.  Cloth,
+50 cents.
+
+Of this work, we need only say that it is an old-fashioned "Clark
+Russell story."
+
+
+
+A Sailor's Sweetheart
+
+By W. CLARK RUSSELL, author of "An Ocean Free Lance," etc.  Illustrated
+by J. STEEPLE DAVIS.  12mo, cloth, $1.25; paper, 50 cents.
+
+We have given this superb sea classic a handsome dress, in keeping with
+its character, and recommend it to the public as an unusually
+interesting story.
+
+
+
+Basile the Jester
+
+(_Second Edition_).  A Romance of the Days of Mary Queen of Scots.
+12mo, Netherland Library, paper, 50 cents; cloth, $1.25.  By J. E.
+MUDDOCK, author of "The Dead Man's Secret," "Maid Marian and Robin
+Hood," "For God and The Czar," "Lochinvar," etc.  Illustrations by
+STANLEY WOOD and others.
+
+The author has taken pains to represent truthfully and effectively the
+life and times of Mary, Queen of Scots, the Court intrigues of the
+period, the plots and counterplots of the nobles.  The book is not a
+prosy history with a little conversation added, but a stirring novel
+full of action, and will undoubtedly rank as one of Mr. Muddock's most
+popular works.
+
+
+
+A Bride's Experiment
+
+(Second edition).  By CHAS. J. MANSFORD, author of "Shafts from an
+Eastern Quiver," "Bully, Fag and Hero," etc.  Holland Library, paper,
+50 cents; cloth, $1.00.
+
+This strong story will prove to be a welcome addition to our dainty
+Holland Library.  Mr. Mansford is one of the best known contributors to
+the Strand Magazine.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's By Right of Sword, by Arthur W. Marchmont
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+The Project Gutenberg E-text of By Right of Sword, by Arthur W. Marchmont
+</TITLE>
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+
+The Project Gutenberg EBook of By Right of Sword, by Arthur W. Marchmont
+
+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: By Right of Sword
+
+Author: Arthur W. Marchmont
+
+Release Date: December 20, 2011 [EBook #38357]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BY RIGHT OF SWORD ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Al Haines
+
+
+
+
+
+</pre>
+
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<A NAME="img-cover"></A>
+<CENTER>
+<IMG CLASS="imgcenter" SRC="images/img-cover.jpg" ALT="Cover art" BORDER="">
+</CENTER>
+
+<BR><BR><BR>
+
+<A NAME="img-front"></A>
+<CENTER>
+<IMG CLASS="imgcenter" SRC="images/img-front.jpg" ALT="I raised my sword and struck him with the flat side of it across the face.--<I>Frontispiece, Page 42</I>." BORDER="2">
+<P CLASS="capcenter">
+I raised my sword and struck him with the flat side of it<BR>
+across the face.&mdash;<I>Frontispiece, <A HREF="#p42">Page 42</A></I>.
+</P>
+</CENTER>
+
+<BR><BR><BR>
+
+<H1 ALIGN="center">
+By Right of Sword
+</H1>
+
+<BR>
+
+<P CLASS="t3">
+BY
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="t2">
+ARTHUR W. MARCHMONT
+</P>
+
+<BR>
+
+<P CLASS="t4">
+AUTHOR OF
+<BR>
+"Sir Jaffray's Wife," "Parson Thring's Secret,"
+<BR>
+Etc., Etc.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR><BR>
+
+<P CLASS="t3">
+NEW AMSTERDAM BOOK COMPANY
+<BR>
+156 : FIFTH : AVENUE : NEW : YORK
+<BR>
+HUTCHINSON &amp; COMPANY, LONDON
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR><BR>
+
+<P CLASS="t4">
+Copyright 1897
+<BR>
+BY
+<BR>
+ARTHUR W. MARCHMONT
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR><BR>
+
+<P CLASS="t3b">
+LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="noindent">
+<A HREF="#img-front">
+I Raised My Sword and Struck Him with the Flat Side of it across the Face . . . <I>Frontispiece</I>
+</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="noindent">
+<A HREF="#img-004">
+"I Know that You are My Brother, Alexis"
+</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="noindent">
+<A HREF="#img-087">
+A Swinging Cut Made Another Drop His Knife with a Great Cry of Pain
+</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="noindent">
+<A HREF="#img-096">
+"Here, Strike," I Cried
+</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="noindent">
+<A HREF="#img-109">
+"Alexis, Did You Bring That Proposal to Me Deliberately?"
+</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="noindent">
+<A HREF="#img-191">
+"Take Another Two Grains, Mouse"
+</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="noindent">
+<A HREF="#img-208">
+I Darted Forward into the Doorway
+</A>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="noindent">
+<A HREF="#img-305">
+I Tore It from Him
+</A>
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR><BR>
+
+<P CLASS="t3b">
+CONTENTS
+</P>
+
+<TABLE ALIGN="center" WIDTH="80%">
+
+<TR>
+<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">CHAPTER</TD>
+<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top">&nbsp;</TD>
+</TR>
+
+<TR>
+<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">I.&nbsp;&nbsp;</TD>
+<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top">
+<A HREF="#chap01">THE MEETING</A></TD>
+</TR>
+
+<TR>
+<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">II.&nbsp;&nbsp;</TD>
+<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top">
+<A HREF="#chap02">I AM A NIHILIST</A></TD>
+</TR>
+
+<TR>
+<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">III.&nbsp;&nbsp;</TD>
+<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top">
+<A HREF="#chap03">MY SECONDS</A></TD>
+</TR>
+
+<TR>
+<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">IV.&nbsp;&nbsp;</TD>
+<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top">
+<A HREF="#chap04">THE DUEL</A></TD>
+</TR>
+
+<TR>
+<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">V.&nbsp;&nbsp;</TD>
+<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top">
+<A HREF="#chap05">GETTING DEEPER</A></TD>
+</TR>
+
+<TR>
+<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">VI.&nbsp;&nbsp;</TD>
+<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top">
+<A HREF="#chap06">A LEGACY OF LOVE</A></TD>
+</TR>
+
+<TR>
+<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">VII.&nbsp;&nbsp;</TD>
+<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top">
+<A HREF="#chap07">A LESSON IN NIHILISM</A></TD>
+</TR>
+
+<TR>
+<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">VIII.&nbsp;&nbsp;</TD>
+<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top">
+<A HREF="#chap08">THE RIVERSIDE MEETING</A></TD>
+</TR>
+
+<TR>
+<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">IX.&nbsp;&nbsp;</TD>
+<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top">
+<A HREF="#chap09">DEVINSKY AGAIN</A></TD>
+</TR>
+
+<TR>
+<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">X.&nbsp;&nbsp;</TD>
+<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top">
+<A HREF="#chap10">"THAT BUTCHER, DURESCQ"</A></TD>
+</TR>
+
+<TR>
+<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XI.&nbsp;&nbsp;</TD>
+<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top">
+<A HREF="#chap11">DANGER FROM A FRESH SOURCE</A></TD>
+</TR>
+
+<TR>
+<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XII.&nbsp;&nbsp;</TD>
+<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top">
+<A HREF="#chap12">CHRISTIAN TUESKI</A></TD>
+</TR>
+
+<TR>
+<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XIII.&nbsp;&nbsp;</TD>
+<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top">
+<A HREF="#chap13">OLGA IN A NEW LIGHT</A></TD>
+</TR>
+
+<TR>
+<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XIV.&nbsp;&nbsp;</TD>
+<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top">
+<A HREF="#chap14">THE DEED WHICH RANG THROUGH RUSSIA</A></TD>
+</TR>
+
+<TR>
+<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XV.&nbsp;&nbsp;</TD>
+<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top">
+<A HREF="#chap15">A SHE DEVIL</A></TD>
+</TR>
+
+<TR>
+<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XVI.&nbsp;&nbsp;</TD>
+<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top">
+<A HREF="#chap16">THE NEXT NIHILIST PLOT</A></TD>
+</TR>
+
+<TR>
+<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XVII.&nbsp;&nbsp;</TD>
+<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top">
+<A HREF="#chap17">AN EXTRAORDINARY ADVENTURE</A></TD>
+</TR>
+
+<TR>
+<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XVIII.&nbsp;&nbsp;</TD>
+<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top">
+<A HREF="#chap18">THE REASON OF THE INTRIGUE</A></TD>
+</TR>
+
+<TR>
+<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XIX.&nbsp;&nbsp;</TD>
+<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top">
+<A HREF="#chap19">OLGA'S ABDUCTION</A></TD>
+</TR>
+
+<TR>
+<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XX.&nbsp;&nbsp;</TD>
+<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top">
+<A HREF="#chap20">THE RESCUE</A></TD>
+</TR>
+
+<TR>
+<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XXI.&nbsp;&nbsp;</TD>
+<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top">
+<A HREF="#chap21">THREE TO ONE</A></TD>
+</TR>
+
+<TR>
+<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XXII.&nbsp;&nbsp;</TD>
+<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top">
+<A HREF="#chap22">THE BEGINNING OF THE END</A></TD>
+</TR>
+
+<TR>
+<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XXIII.&nbsp;&nbsp;</TD>
+<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top">
+<A HREF="#chap23">CHECKMATE!</A></TD>
+</TR>
+
+<TR>
+<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XXIV.&nbsp;&nbsp;</TD>
+<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top">
+<A HREF="#chap24">CRISIS</A></TD>
+</TR>
+
+<TR>
+<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XXV.&nbsp;&nbsp;</TD>
+<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top">
+<A HREF="#chap25">COILS THAT NO MAN COULD BREAK</A></TD>
+</TR>
+
+<TR>
+<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XXVI.&nbsp;&nbsp;</TD>
+<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top">
+<A HREF="#chap26">MY DECISION</A></TD>
+</TR>
+
+<TR>
+<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XXVII.&nbsp;&nbsp;</TD>
+<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top">
+<A HREF="#chap27">THE FOUR ALDER TREES</A></TD>
+</TR>
+
+<TR>
+<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XXVIII.&nbsp;&nbsp;</TD>
+<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top">
+<A HREF="#chap28">THE ATTACK ON THE CZAR</A></TD>
+</TR>
+
+<TR>
+<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XXIX.&nbsp;&nbsp;</TD>
+<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top">
+<A HREF="#chap29">THE TRUTH OUT AT LAST</A></TD>
+</TR>
+
+<TR>
+<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XXX.&nbsp;&nbsp;</TD>
+<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top">
+<A HREF="#chap30">AFTERWARDS</A></TD>
+</TR>
+
+</TABLE>
+
+<BR><BR><BR>
+
+<A NAME="chap01"></A>
+
+<P CLASS="t1">
+BY RIGHT OF SWORD.
+</P>
+
+<BR>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+CHAPTER I.
+</H3>
+
+<H4 ALIGN="center">
+THE MEETING.
+</H4>
+
+<BR>
+
+<P CLASS="noindent">
+Moscow.
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="noindent">
+"MY DEAR RUPERT.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Don't worry your head about me.  I shall be all right.  I did not see
+you before leaving because of the scene with your sister and Cargill,
+which they may perhaps tell you about.  I have done with England: and
+as the auspices are all for war, I mean to have a shy in.  I went to
+Vienna, thinking to offer myself to the Turks: but my sixteen years in
+Russia have made too much of a Russ of me to let me tolerate those lazy
+cruel beggars.  So I turned this way.  I'm going on to St Petersburg
+to-day, for I find all the people I knew here as a lad have gone north.
+I have made such a mess of things that I shall never set foot in
+England again.  If Russia will have me, I shall volunteer, and I hope
+with all my soul that a Turkish bullet will find its billet in my body.
+It shan't be my fault if it doesn't.  If I hadn't been afraid of being
+thought afraid, I'd have taken a shorter way half a score of times.  My
+life is an inexpressible burden, and I only wish to God someone would
+think it worth while to take it.  I don't want to be hard on your
+sister, but whatever was left in my heart or life, she has emptied, and
+I only wish she'd ended it at the same time.  You'll know I'm pretty
+bad when not even the thought of our old friendship gives me a moment's
+pleasure.  Good-bye.  Don't come out after me.  You won't find me if
+you do.
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="noindent">
+Your friend,<BR>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;HAMYLTON TREGETHNER."<BR>
+</P>
+
+<BR>
+
+<P>
+The letter was wretchedly inconsequential.  When I sat down to write I
+hadn't meant to tell Rupert Balestier that his sister's treatment had
+made such a mess of things for me; but my pen ran away with me as it
+always does, and I wasn't inclined to write the letter all over again.
+I hate letter writing.  I was to leave Moscow, moreover, in an hour or
+two, and when I had had my things sent to the railway station and
+followed them, I dropped the letter into the box without altering a
+word.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+It had made me thoughtful, however; and I stood on the platform looking
+moodily about me, wondering whether I should find the end I wished most
+speedily by joining the army or the Nihilists; and which course would
+bring me the most exciting and quickest death.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+I had three or four hours to wait before my train left, and I walked up
+and down the platform trying to force myself to feel an interest in
+what was going on about me.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Presently I noticed that I was the object of the close vigilance of a
+small group of soldiers such as will generally be seen hanging about
+the big stations in Russia.  They looked at me very intently; I noticed
+them whisper one to another evidently about me; and as I passed they
+drew themselves up to attention and saluted me.  I returned the salute,
+amused at their mistake, and entered one of the large waiting saloons.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+It was empty save for one occupant, who was standing by the big stove
+looking out of a window near.  This was a girl, and a glimpse I caught
+of her face shewed me she was pretty, while her attitude seemed to
+suggest grief.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+As I entered and went to another part of the room, she started and
+glanced at me and then looked away.  A few seconds later, however, she
+looked round furtively, and then to my abundant surprise, came across
+and said in a low, confidential tone:
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"It is not enough, Alexis.  I knew you in a minute.  But you acted the
+stranger to perfection."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+She was not only pretty, but very pretty, I thought, as she stood with
+her face raised toward mine, a light of some kind of emotion shining in
+her eyes where I saw traces of tears.  But my recent experiences of
+Edith Balestier had toughened me a lot, and I was suspicious of this
+young woman.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Pardon me, Madam, you have made a mistake."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Then she smiled, rather sadly; and her teeth shone salt white between
+her full curved lips.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Your voice would betray you, even if your dear handsome eyes did not.
+Do you think the mere shaving of your beard and moustache can hide your
+eyes.  Just look into mine and see if the shade is not exact?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+I did look into them: and very beautiful eyes hers were.  Little
+shining blue heavens all radiant with the light of infinite capacity to
+feel.  Fascinating eyes, very.  But I had not lived the first sixteen
+years of my life in Russia without getting to know that in that big
+land all is not snow that looks white; and that a very awkward intrigue
+may lurk beneath a very fair seeming surface.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Madam, I am charmed, but I have not the honour of knowing you."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+A passing cloud of irritation shewed and a little gesture of
+impatience, sufficient to remind me that the gloved hands were very
+small.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Ah, why keep this up now?  There is no need, and no time.  Is not the
+train starting in less than an hour&mdash;and by the way, what madness is it
+that makes you loiter about here in this public way, out of uniform and
+as if there were no danger and you were merely taking a week's holiday,
+instead of flying for...."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Madam," I broke in again.  "I must repeat, I am a stranger.  You must
+not tell me these things.  My name is Hamylton Tregethner, an
+Englishman, and...."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Yes, yes, I know you are: or at least I know you are going to call
+yourself English, though you haven't told me what your name is to be.
+But I know that you are my brother Alexis, going to leave me perhaps
+for ever, and that when I want to scold you for running this risk&mdash;for
+you know there are police, and soldiers, and spies in plenty to
+identify you&mdash;you...." here she made as if to throw herself into my
+arms.  But suspecting some trick, I stepped back.
+</P>
+
+<A NAME="img-004"></A>
+<CENTER>
+<IMG CLASS="imgcenter" SRC="images/img-004.jpg" ALT="&quot;I know that you are my brother, Alexis.&quot;" BORDER="2">
+<P CLASS="capcenter">
+&quot;I know that you are my brother, Alexis.&quot;
+</P>
+</CENTER>
+
+<P>
+"Madam, I must ask you to be good enough not to play this comedy any
+farther."  I spoke rather sternly.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"If your disguise were only as good as your acting, Alexis, not a soul
+in Russia would suspect you.  Oh, I see what you mean," she cried, a
+look of intelligence breaking over her features.  "I forgot.  Of
+course, I am compromising your disguise by thus speaking to you.  I am
+sorry.  It was my love for you made me thoughtless, when I should have
+been thoughtful.  I will go away."  She turned on me such a look of
+genuine grief that it melted my scepticism.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"There is really some strange mistake," I said, speaking much more
+gently.  "At first I thought you were intentionally mistaking me for
+someone else; for what object I knew not.  But I see now the error was
+involuntary.  I give you my honour, Madam, that you are under a
+complete mistake if you take me for any relative of your own.  I am an
+Englishman, as I say, and I arrived in Moscow only last night, and am
+leaving for St Petersburg by the next express train.  I am afraid, if
+you persist in your mistake, it may have unpleasant consequences for
+you.  Hence my plain speech.  But I am what I say."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+As I finished, I raised my hat and stood that she might convince
+herself of her blunder.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+She looked at me with the most careful scrutiny, even walking round to
+get a view of my figure.  Then she came back and looked into my face
+again; and I could see that she was still unconvinced.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"It is impossible," she said, under her breath.  "If I allow for the
+difference your beard and moustache would make, you are my brother."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I am Hamylton Tregethner," I said, and I took out my pocket-book and
+shewed her my passport to Paris, Vienna, Moscow, "and travelling on the
+Continent."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"These things can be bought&mdash;or made," she said.  Then she seemed to
+understand how she had committed herself with me, if I were really a
+stranger, and I saw her look at me with fear, doubt, and speculation on
+her pretty expressive face.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+She sighed and lifted her hands as if in half despair.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Madam, you have my word as an Englishman that not a syllable of what
+you have said shall pass my lips."  The bright glance of gratitude she
+threw me inspired me to add:&mdash;"If I can be of any help in this matter,
+you may command me absolutely."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+She gave me a little stiff look, and I thought I had offended her: but
+the next moment a light of eagerness took its place.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"When are you leaving?" she asked with an indifference I could see was
+assumed.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"By the St Petersburg express at 6 o'clock."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"That is two hours after the Smolensk train."  She paused to think and
+glanced at me once, as if weighing whether she dare ask me something.
+Then she said quickly:&mdash;"Will you give me a couple of hours of your
+company on this platform and in the station this afternoon?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+It was a strange sort of request and when I saw how anxiously she
+awaited my reply I could perceive she had a strong motive: and one that
+had certainly nothing to do with any desire for my company.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Then suddenly I guessed her motive.  The cunning little woman!  Her
+brother was obviously going to fly from Moscow.  She saw that inasmuch
+as she herself had mistaken me for him, others would certainly do so;
+and thus, if she and I were together, the brother would get away
+unsuspected and would be flying from Moscow while he would be thought
+to be still walking about the station with his sister.  I liked the
+idea, and the girl's pluck on behalf of her brother.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I will give you not only two hours," I said, "but two days, or two
+weeks, if you like&mdash;if you will tell me candidly what your reason is."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+She started at this and saw by my expression that I had guessed her
+very open secret.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"If you will walk with me outside, I will do that," she said.  "I am a
+very poor diplomatist."  With that we went out on to the platform and
+commenced a conversation that had momentous results for us all.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+She told me quite frankly that she wished me to act as a cover for her
+brother's flight.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"No harm can come to you.  You will only have to prove your
+identity&mdash;otherwise I should not have asked this," she said,
+apologetically.  And then to excuse herself, she added, "And I should
+have told you, even if you had not asked me."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+I believed in her sincerity now, and I told her so in a roundabout way.
+Then I said:&mdash;"I am in earnest in saying that I will stay on in Moscow
+for a day or two if you wish.  I have nothing whatever to do, and if
+the affair should bring me in conflict with anyone, I should like it.
+I can't tell you all my reasons, as that would mean telling you a
+biggish slice of my life; but feel assured that if there's likely to be
+any adventure in it from which some men might shrink, it would rather
+attract me than otherwise.  But if you care to tell me the reasons of
+your brother's flight, I will breathe no word of them to a soul, and I
+may be of help."  I began to scent an adventure in it, and the perfume
+pleased me.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+My words set her thinking deeply, and we took two or three turns up and
+down before she answered.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"No, you mustn't stop over to-day," she said, slowly.  Then she added
+thoughtfully:&mdash;"I don't know what Alexis would say to my confiding in
+you; but I should dearly like to."  She turned her face to me and
+looked long and searchingly into my eyes.  Then smiled slightly&mdash;a
+smile of confidence.  "I feel I can trust you.  I will risk it and tell
+you.  My brother is flying because a man in his regiment"&mdash;here her
+eyes shone and her cheeks coloured to a deep red&mdash;"has fastened a
+quarrel on him.  He has&mdash;has tried to&mdash;well, he has worried me and I
+don't like him"&mdash;the blush was of indignation now&mdash;"and because of this
+he has picked a quarrel with Alexis; and to-morrow&mdash;means to kill him
+in that form of barbarous assassination you men call duelling.  He
+knows he is infinitely more skilful than poor Alexis, and that my dear
+brother is no match for him with either sword or pistol; and he will
+drag him out to-morrow, and either shoot or stab him."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The tears overflowed here, and made the eyes look more bright and
+beautiful than ever.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Why didn't your brother refuse to fight?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"How could he?" she asked despairingly.  "He would have been a marked
+man&mdash;a coward.  And this wretch would have triumphed over him.  And he
+knows this, because he offered to let Alexis off, if I&mdash;if I&mdash;Oh, would
+that I were a man!" she cried, changing the note of indignant grief for
+anger.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Do you mean he has made such an offer as this since the challenge
+passed?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Yes, my brother came and told me.  But I could not do it.  And now
+this has come."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+I didn't think very highly of the brother, but he had evidently talked
+his sister round.  What I thought of most was the chance of a real
+adventure which the thing promised.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The man must be a bully and a scoundrel, and it would serve him right
+to give him a lesson.  If this girl had not recognised me, perhaps he
+would not.  I felt that I should like to try.  There was no reason why
+I should not.  I could easily spare a couple of days for the little
+drama, and go on to St Petersburg afterwards.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"You are very anxious for your brother's safety?" I asked.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"He is my only protector in the world.  If he gets away now to Berlin
+or Paris, I shall follow and go to him."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"But is he likely to get away when he will be missed in a few hours.  A
+single telegram from Moscow will close every frontier barrier in Russia
+upon him."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"We know that;" and she wrung her hands.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"If he could have two clear days he could reach the frontier and pass
+unquestioned," I said, significantly.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+She was a quick-witted little thing and saw my point with all a woman's
+sharpness.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Your life is not ours to give away.  This man is noted for his great
+skill."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Would everyone be likely to make the same mistake about me that you
+have made this afternoon?" I asked in reply.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+She looked at me again.  She was trembling a little in her earnestness.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Now that I know, I can see differences&mdash;especially in your expression;
+but in all Moscow there is not a man or woman who would not take you
+for my brother."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Then I decide for the two days here.  And if it will make you more
+comfortable, I can assure you I am quite as able to take care of myself
+with either sword or pistol as this bully you speak of.  But it is for
+you to decide."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+There came a pause, at the end of which she said, her face wearing a
+more frightened look:&mdash;
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"No, it must not be.  There are other reasons.  My brother is mixed up
+with..."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Excuse me, can you tell me which is the train for Smolensk?" asked a
+man who came up and interrupted us, speaking in a mixture of Russian,
+English and German.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The girl started violently, and I guessed the man was her brother.  A
+glance at his eyes confirmed this.  They were a weak rendering of the
+glorious blue eyes that had been inspiring me to all sorts of impulses
+for the last hour.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"That disguise is too palpable," I said, quietly.  He had shaved and
+was wearing false hair that could deceive no one.  In a few minutes the
+whole situation was explained to him by his quick sister.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I've only consented to go in order that Olga here may not be robbed of
+her only protector," he said, thinking apparently to explain away his
+cowardice.  "She has no one in the world to look after her but me, you
+know.  If you'll help her in this matter, she will be very much
+obliged; and so shall I.  You needn't go out to-morrow and fight
+Devinsky&mdash;that's the major's name: Loris Devinsky.  My regiment's the
+Moscow Infantry Regiment, you know.  If you'll go to my rooms and sham
+ill, no one will know you, and as soon as I'm over the frontier I'll
+wire Olga, and you can get away."  He was cunning enough as well as a
+coward, evidently.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Very well," said I.  "But you'll get over no frontier if you wear a
+beard which everyone with eyes can see is false, and talk in a language
+that no one ever spoke on this earth.  Pull off the beard: the little
+black moustache may stay.  Speak English, or your own tongue, and play
+my part to the frontier; and here take my passport; but post it back to
+your sister to be given to me as soon as you're safe over.  And for
+Heaven's sake don't walk as if you were a thief looking out for arrest.
+No one suspects; so carry yourself as if no one had cause to."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+It was a good thing for him I had seen his sister first.  He would
+never have got me to personate him even for a couple of hours.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+But we got him off all right, and his sister was so pleased that I
+could not help feeling pleased also.  First in his assumed character he
+made such arrangements for my luggage as I wished, and then we hurried
+up to the train just before it started.  As we reached the barrier
+where the papers had to be examined, he turned and bade his sister
+good-bye, and then said to me aloud in Russian, hiding his voice a
+little:&mdash;
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Well, good-bye, Alexis;" and he shook hands with me.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Good-bye," I answered with a laugh: and he waved an adieu to us from
+the other side of the barrier.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+As we turned away together, Olga was a little pale.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Three soldiers saluted me, and I acknowledged the salute gravely,
+glancing at them as I passed.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Then I noticed a couple of men who had been standing together and
+watching the girl and myself for some time, leave their places and
+follow us.  I told my companion and presently I saw her turn and look
+at them, and then start and shiver.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Do you know them?" I asked.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Alas, yes.  They are Nihilist spies, watching us."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Ah, then there is a little more in this than I have understood so
+far," I said.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"You shall know everything," she replied as we left the station
+together.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR><BR>
+
+<A NAME="chap02"></A>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+CHAPTER II.
+</H3>
+
+<H4 ALIGN="center">
+I AM A NIHILIST.
+</H4>
+
+<P>
+"I think if you don't mind we will go back to the station," said my
+companion, stopping after we had gone a little way without speaking.
+"It is very convenient for talking.  Besides, you have to decide
+whether this thing shall be carried any farther."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I have already decided," I replied, quietly.  "I am going through with
+it, if it is at all possible.  But I have thought of many difficulties."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"You must know all that I can tell you, please, before you decide, or I
+shall be very uncomfortable."  She said this very firmly.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Certainly you must tell me everything that will help me to know what
+manner of man I am now."  I smiled as I said this to reassure her; but
+she was very earnest and a little pale.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+She waited a while until there was no one near us, and then said in a
+low tone:&mdash;
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"My brother is mixed up with the Nihilists in some way.  I don't know
+how, quite: but I believe they suspect him of having played them false,
+and I think his life is threatened.  Those two men you saw at the
+station were spies, sent either to stop him, or, if he got away, to
+follow him."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"But they didn't attempt to stop him."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"No, they mistook you for him, thinking they could see through the
+disguise of a clean shaven face.  Had you entered the train, they would
+very likely have told you openly not to go, or have warned you of the
+consequences."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"And what would be the consequences?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Surely you know what it means for a Nihilist to disobey orders?  It is
+death."  She was white now and agitated.  "I am so ashamed at not
+having told you before you took the first step."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"It would have made no difference in my decision," I replied promptly.
+I thought more of clearing her clouded face than of any possible
+consequences to me.  "But tell me, are you also mixed up with them in
+any way?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I am putting my liberty and perhaps my life into your hands," she
+said, in the same very earnest tone and manner.  "My brother has drawn
+me in with him to a certain extent.  You know they like to have many
+women in the ranks."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I am sorry for you.  I have rarely known a Nihilist who was capable of
+getting much pleasure out of life."  A cold touch of fear seemed to
+contract her features, as she glanced at me and shrank a little from me.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"You!  What&mdash;how come you to know anything of this?  You said you
+were&mdash;an Englishman?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I am an Englishman: but I lived the first sixteen years of my life in
+Russia: the last six of them in Moscow here; and I know much of Russian
+life.  I have made only one visit to Russia since I left; and this time
+I arrived only last night, and intended to go on to St Petersburg as I
+told you to-day.  It will save time in this matter if you can make up
+your mind to believe absolutely in my good faith."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+I looked into her face as I said this, and I held out my hand.  She
+laid hers in it, and we clasped hands in a strong firm grip as a token
+of mutual faith and friendship.  I believed in the little soul, and
+meant to stand by her.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I will trust you now," she said, simply, after a pause.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"As for what you have told me, it can make no difference to me," I
+declared.  "If I go out and meet this fellow Devinsky to-morrow, and he
+beats me, it will be all the same to me whether I am a Nihilist or an
+Englishman.  There is only one soul in all the world who will care; and
+I shall give you a letter to be posted to him&mdash;if things go wrong."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+I stopped to give her an opportunity of promising to do this; but she
+remained silent, and walked with her head bent low.  I felt rather a
+clumsy fool.  She was such a sensitive little body, that the thought of
+my being killed, as the result of her having got me to help her brother
+away, naturally upset her.  She couldn't know how gladly I should
+welcome the other man's sword-point between my ribs.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+After a pause of considerable constraint she said:&mdash;
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"There is no need whatever for you to go out and meet Major Devinsky.
+You can do as Alexis said; be ill in bed until the passport comes back,
+and then leave."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Oh, I'm not one to play the coward in that way," said I, lightly, when
+a look of reproach from those most expressive eyes of hers made me
+curse myself for a clumsy fool for this reflection on her brother's
+want of pluck.  "I mean this.  If I take up a part in anything I must
+play it my own way; but there's more than that behind.  I don't want to
+look like bragging before you; but I have come out here to Russia to
+volunteer for the war which everyone says must come with Turkey.  I've
+done it because&mdash;well, you may guess that a man has a pretty strong
+reason when he wants to volunteer to fight another country's battles.
+It's the sort of thing in which he can expect plenty of the kicks,
+while others get all the ha'pence.  I've not been a success in England
+and I've had a stroke lately that's made me sick of things.  I can't
+explain all this in detail: but the long and short of it is that if
+anything were to happen to me to-morrow morning, it would be the most
+welcome thing imaginable for me.  Now, you'll understand what I mean
+when I tell you that nothing you can say as to the danger of the
+business can do anything but attract me.  If I could only feel my blood
+tingling again in a rush of excitement, I'd give anything."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+My companion listened carefully to this, and her tell-tale face was all
+sympathy when I finished.  Obviously she was deeply interested.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Have you no mother or sister?" she asked.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"No&mdash;fortunately for them."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Have you never had anyone to lean on you and trust to you for guidance
+and protection?  That helps a good man."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"No.  But I've had those who've taken good care to break my trust in
+them&mdash;and everything else."  This with a bitter little reminiscent
+sneer and a shrug of the shoulders.  "Still, it has its advantages.
+Any new part I might wish to play could not be more barren than the
+old."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+My companion shot a glance up in my face as I said this, but made no
+answer.  It was I who broke the silence.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Time is flying," I said, in a lighter tone: "and I have much to learn
+if I am to be your brother for the next two or three days.  I want to
+know where I live, where you live, all that you can tell me about my
+brother officers and my duties&mdash;everything.  Indeed that is necessary
+to prevent my being at once discovered."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+After some further expostulation she told me that she and her brother
+were orphans; that they had come about a year or so before to Moscow on
+her brother being transferred to this regiment; and that the brother
+had private quarters in the Square of St. Mark, while she lived with an
+aunt, their only relative, in a suite of rooms close to the Cathedral.
+They were of a very old family, neither rich nor poor, but having
+enough to live comfortably and mix in some amount of society.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+I gathered, however, that Alexis had been the source of much trouble.
+He had embarrassed his money affairs; lived a fast life, become
+involved with the Nihilists; dragged in his sister; and had ended by
+compromising himself in many quarters.  She told me the story, so much
+as she knew of it, very deftly, intending no doubt to screen her
+brother; but I could read enough between the lines to understand that
+his life had been anything but saintly.  Moreover, I was very much
+mistaken if he were not as arrant a coward as ever crowed on a
+dung-hill and ran away when the time came for fighting.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+All this gave me plenty of food for thought&mdash;some of it disagreeable
+enough.  It was no pleasant thing to take up the part of a coward and a
+scape-grace.  Scapegrace I had been all my life in a way: but no man
+ever thought me a coward.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+I take no credit to myself for not being a coward; and I am quite ready
+to believe that there are sound physiological reasons for it.  Nature
+may have forgotten to give me those nerves by which men feel fear; but
+it is the case that never in my life have I experienced even a passing
+sensation of fear.  I would just as soon die as go to sleep.  I have
+seen men&mdash;much better men than I, and quite as truly brave&mdash;shudder at
+the idea of death and shrink with dread from the thought of pain.  But
+at no time in my life have I cared for either; and I have come to
+regard this as due to Nature's considerate omissions in my creation.
+Certain other omissions of hers have not been so considerate.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+This will explain, however, why the thought of the danger which
+troubled my new "sister" so much did not cause me even a passing
+uneasiness, especially at such a time.  What I was anxious to do was to
+get hold of as much detail as possible of my new character; and I was
+sufficiently interested by it to wish to play it successfully.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+To this end I questioned my companion very closely indeed about the
+names and appearance of the brother's friends and fellow officers,
+about the habits of military life, and in short about everything I
+deemed likely to help me not to stumble.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+At the close of the examination I said:&mdash;&mdash;
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"At any rate we two must begin to rehearse.  You must call me Alexis
+and must allow me to call you Olga; and we must do it always to avoid
+slips."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+She saw the need but blushed a bit when I added:&mdash;-"And now, Olga,
+we'll make our first practical experiment.  We'll go together to my
+rooms and you must shew me what sailors call my bearings."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Shall we walk&mdash;Alexis?" she asked, her eyes bright and her cheeks
+ruddy with pretty confusion.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"By all means&mdash;Olga," I answered, returning her smile, and imitating
+her emphasis on the Christian name.  "Do you know that my sister's name
+has a very quaint sound in my ears, and comes very trippingly to a
+brother's tongue?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"But you don't like it and you think it common," she returned.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Yes, you have often said so, Alexis.  Surely you remember.  Why, only
+this morning you said how silly you had always thought it," she
+replied, demurely.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Oh, I see," I laughed.  "Ah, I've changed that opinion.  A good many
+other things have changed too, since this morning," I added drily; and
+we both laughed then, and, considering the circumstances, were in
+extremely good spirits.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Alexis," she cried, with a sudden warning, as we turned a corner into
+the Square of St. Gregory.  "Don't you see who is coming toward us?
+Major Devinsky and Lieutenants Trackso and Weisswich.  The major will
+pass next you.  What will you do?"  She asked this in a quick hurried
+voice.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Cut him as dead as a door nail," said I, instantly, drawing myself up.
+"And the other fellows too; are they friends of mine, by the way?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"No, they are his toadies," she whispered.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Olga bent her face down and would not see them; but I squared my
+shoulders and held my head aloft, fixing my eyes steadily on the three
+men as they approached.  At first they did not recognise me.  Then I
+saw one of them start, and making a rapid motion of his hand across his
+chin, he whispered to his companion, both of whom started in their turn
+and laughed.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+As we passed the major made an effusive bow to my "sister" which the
+other two copied, while all three sneered with an air of insolent
+braggadocio and simultaneously put their hands to their chins as their
+eyes fell on me.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+My blood seethed with anger at the insult.  Nothing could have fired my
+eagerness more effectively to begin the drama of my new life.  If I
+didn't punish each of those three for that insult, it should be because
+death stepped in to stop me.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I am glad we met them," said I, smiling.  "I shall know now which is
+my adversary to-morrow, and shan't pink the wrong man by mistake.  But
+you look a bit scared, Olga."&mdash;I saw she was very pale.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I am afraid of that man," she answered.  "He is a man of good family
+and great wealth, and has a lot of influence in certain circles.  He is
+an ugly enemy."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Ugly, he certainly is," said I, lightly, speaking of his face.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I mean dangerous," replied the girl seriously.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I know you do, child," I answered, as naturally as if she were really
+my sister.  "But we'll wait till we talk this over after to-morrow
+morning.  I tell you what I'll promise you as a treat.  You shall
+breakfast with me, or rather I'll breakfast with you to-morrow, and
+tell you at first hand all about the meeting.  You have been a little
+too anxious about me."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I am afraid that might occasion remark," she replied with the demure
+look I had noticed once or twice before.  "You know that you have not
+always been an attentive brother, Alexis: and it is not good acting to
+overdo the part:" and she threw me a little smile and a glance.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+I laughed and answered:&mdash;"That may be: but I've changed since the
+morning, as I told you before."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Very well, then.  You remember of course that aunt never gets up early
+enough to have breakfast with me&mdash;but you shall come if"&mdash;and here the
+light died right out of her face and her underlip trembled so that she
+had to bite it to keep it steady&mdash;"if all goes well, as I pray it may."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"You are a good sister, and need have no fear.  I am not made of the
+stuff to go down before that bully's sword.  So get ready my favourite
+dish&mdash;whatever that may be&mdash;and I'll promise to do justice to it."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Here are your rooms," she said, a moment later, as she stopped before
+a large wide house.  "They are on the ground floor with those windows.
+But before we go in, remember your manservant's name is Vosk, and he is
+a very sharp fellow.  And please let me give you a word of warning.
+Alexis has not only not been attentive to me, but his manner has often
+been very brusque and&mdash;oh, if you had had sisters you would know how
+brothers behave.  They don't mind turning their backs on one; they
+contradict, and interrupt and laugh at one; treat one as a convenience,
+and are rude.  They don't in the least mind hiding their affection
+under the garb of indifference and contempt, and all that."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Am I to treat you with contempt, then?" I asked with a grin.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I think you should be a little more brusque," she replied, laughing
+and blushing.  She was really a very jolly little sister.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I shall get into it all in a day or two, perhaps."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"You had better try.  Vosk is very sharp indeed."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"All right, I'll find means somehow to dull his wits."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+We went in and I then tried to put a little more bluntness into my
+manner and to play the brother.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The man was in his room when I entered and started when he saw the
+change in my appearance.  I caught his vigilant eye glance sharply at
+the pattern and cut of my clothes.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Does your face hurt you now, Alexis?" asked Olga.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+I understood her and answered in a somewhat surly tone, putting my hand
+to my left cheek.  "No, not so much now; but it was an infernally silly
+joke to play.  It's cost me my beard and a suit of clothes.  A good
+thing it wasn't a uniform.  Put out something for me to wear, Vosk," I
+said sharply to the man.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+He looked at me again very keenly, but went at once to do what I
+ordered.  Olga and I went into the chief sitting room&mdash;there were two
+leading one out of the other&mdash;and sat down.  The man's manner had
+reminded me of several things.  Very soon I made an excuse and sent him
+out.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"You must tell me all about the clothes I have to wear at different
+functions," I said.  "Vosk saw that these were not out of my wardrobe
+proper, and while he's out, I'll hurry and change them, and we'll see
+how the uniforms fit me.  A mistake may spoil everything at the last
+moment."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+I ran into the bedroom and slipped into the undress uniform the man had
+laid ready.  To my supreme satisfaction I found that they fitted me
+fairly well; and though they required some touches here and there, they
+would pass muster as my own.  I tried on also some of the other
+uniforms I saw in the room; and wearing one of them, I went back to my
+"sister."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+She cried out in her astonishment:&mdash;"My brother Alexis to the life."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Your brother Alexis to the death," I answered so earnestly that she
+coloured as I took her hand and kissed it.  Then in a lighter tone I
+added, "Uniforms make all men of anything like the same figure look
+alike.  It's fortunate that your brother's an army man."  Then we
+chatted for some minutes until I thought it prudent to change back
+again into the undress uniform that Vosk had put out.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Then I took a lesson in uniforms and questioned Olga until she had told
+me all that she herself knew about them.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR><BR>
+
+<A NAME="chap03"></A>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+CHAPTER III.
+</H3>
+
+<H4 ALIGN="center">
+MY SECONDS.
+</H4>
+
+<P>
+I walked with my sister to her home, and then returned to my rooms and
+sat down to think out seriously and in detail the extraordinary
+position into which I had fallen.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The more I considered it the more I liked it, and I am bound to add the
+more dangerous it seemed.  Obviously it was one thing to be mistaken
+for a man and to pass for him for a few minutes or hours: but it was
+quite another to take up his life where he had dropped it and play the
+part day by day and week after week.  There must be a thousand threads
+of the existence of which no one but himself could know, yet each would
+have to be laid correctly in continuation of the due pattern of his
+life; or discovery would follow.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Here lay my difficulty, and for a time I did not see a way round it or
+through it or under it.  So far as I could judge by all that my sister
+had told me, the resemblance between the real Alexis and myself was
+strictly limited to physical qualities.  A freak of nature had made us
+counterparts of one another in size, look, complexion, voice, and
+certain gestures.  But it stopped there.  My other self was a subtle,
+cunning, intriguing, traitorous conspirator, and very much of a coward:
+while I&mdash;well, I was not that.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+I come of a very old Cornish family with many of the Celtic
+characteristics most strongly developed.  I believe that I have a
+certain amount of mother wit or shrewdness, but no process that was
+ever known or tried with me was sufficient to drive into me even
+sufficient learning to enable me to scrape through a career.  I was the
+despair first of the Russian schoolmasters for over ten years, and next
+of all the English tutors who took me in hand during the next ten.  I
+went to a large English school, and was expelled, after a hundred
+scrapes, because I learnt nothing.  I tried to cram for Oxford, but
+never could get through Smalls; and the good old Master, who loved a
+strong man, almost cried when, after two years of ploughs, he had to
+send me down, when I was the best oar in the eight, the smartest field
+and hardest hitter in the eleven, the fastest mile and half-mile in the
+Varsity, and one of the three strongest men in all Oxford.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+But I had to go, and I went to an army crammer to try and be stuffed
+for the service.  I never had a chance with the books; but I carried
+all before me in every possible form of sport.  It was there I picked
+up my fencing and revolver shooting.  It became a sort of passion with
+me.  I could use the revolver like a trickster and shoot to a hair's
+breadth; while with either broadsword or rapier I could beat the
+fencing master all over the school.  However, I was beaten by the
+examiners and my couple of years' work succeeded only in giving my
+muscles the hardness of steel and flexibility of whipcord.  I am not a
+big man, nearly two inches under 6ft, but at that time I had never met
+anyone who could beat me in any trial where strength, endurance, or
+agility was needed.  But these would not satisfy the examiners, so I
+gave up all thought of getting into the army that way.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+I tried the ranks, therefore, and joined a regiment in which a couple
+of brainless family men had enlisted, as a step toward a commission.
+But I was only in for six months: and my surprise is that I stopped so
+long.  There was a beast of a sergeant&mdash;a strong fellow in his way who
+had been cock of the dunghill until I came&mdash;and after I'd thrashed him
+first with the single-sticks, and then with the gloves, and in a
+wrestling bout had given him a taste of our Cornish methods, he marked
+me out for special petty illtreatment.  It came to a climax one day
+when a couple of dozen of us were sent off on a train journey.  I left
+on the platform some bit of the gear.  He noticed it and bringing it to
+the carriage window, flung it in at me and, with a sneer and a big
+coarse oath, cried:&mdash;"D'ye think I'm here to wet-nurse you, you
+damnation great baby?"  And he waited a moment with the sneer still on
+his face: and he didn't wait in vain, either.  Forgetting all about
+discipline and thinking only of his insult, I flung out my left and hit
+him fair on the mouth, sending him down like a ninepin.  Then I picked
+up my things and went straight away to report myself to the officer in
+charge of us.  There was a big row, with the result that the sergeant
+was reduced to the ranks, and I was allowed to buy myself out, being
+given plainly to understand that if I stayed in, my chance of a
+commission was as good as lost.  This closed my army career.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+For a few years I was at a loose end altogether&mdash;a man of action
+without a sphere.  Then the natural result followed.  I fell madly in
+love with my best friend's sister, Edith Balestier.  I cursed my folly
+in having wasted my life, and filled the air with vows that I would set
+to work to increase my income of £250 a year to an amount such as would
+let me give her a home worthy of her.  She loved me.  I know that.  But
+her mother didn't; and in the end, the mother won.  Edith tossed me
+over ruthlessly, while I was away for a couple of months; and all in a
+hurry she married another man for his title and money.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+It was only the old tale.  I knew that well enough; but it seemed to
+break my last hope.  Everything I'd ever really wanted, I'd always
+failed to get.  I was like a lunatic; and vowed I'd kill myself after
+I'd punished the woman who'd done worse than kill me.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+I thought out a scheme and played it shrewdly enough.  I shut the
+resolve out of sight, and laughed and jibed as though I felt no wound.
+And I waited.  The chance came surely enough.  I went down to a dance
+at a place a bit out of town and took my revolver with me.  After a
+waltz I led my Lady Cargill out into the shrubbery and when she least
+suspected what I was about, whipped out the weapon and told her what I
+was going to do.  She knew me well enough to feel I was in deadly
+earnest; but she made no scene, such as another woman might.  Her white
+beauty held my hand an instant, and in that time her husband, Sir
+Philip, came up.  Then I had a flash of genius.  I knew he was as
+jealous as a man could be and as he had known nothing of my relations
+with Edith, like many another self-sufficient idiot, he imagined she
+had loved him and no one else.  I opened his eyes that night.  Keeping
+him in control with the pistol, I made him hear the whole passionful
+story of her love for me from her own lips; and I shall never forget
+how the white of his craven fear changed to the dull grey of a sickened
+heart as he heard.  At a stroke it killed my desire to kill.  I had had
+a revenge a thousand times more powerful.  I had made the wife see the
+husband's craven poltroonery, and the husband the wife's heart
+infidelity; and I let them live for their mutual distrust and
+punishment.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+A month later I stood on the Moscow platform, my back turned on England
+for ever, my face turned war-wards, and my heart ready for any
+devilment that might offer, when my fate was tossed topsy-turvy into a
+cauldron of welcome dangers, promising death and certainly calculated
+to give me that distraction from my own troubles which I desired so
+keenly.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+I was thus ready enough to take up my new character in earnest and play
+it to the end.  If I were discovered, it could not mean more than
+death; while there were possibilities in it which might have very
+different results.  War with Turkey was a certainty, and at such a time
+I should be able to find my sphere, and might be able to carve for
+myself a position.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+It was clear that Alexis had so far been known as a very different man
+from the kind that produces good soldiers: but men sometimes reform
+suddenly, and the new Alexis would be cast in a quite different mould.
+The difficulty was to invent a pretext for the sudden change; and in
+regard to this a good idea occurred to me.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+I resolved to say that I had had an ugly accident and a great fright,
+and to connect this with the shaving of my beard and moustache.  To
+pretend that the mishap had effected as complete a change in my nature
+as in my appearance: as if my brain had been in some way affected.  I
+mapped out a very boldly defined course of eccentric conduct which
+would be not altogether inconsistent with some such mental disturbance.
+I would be moody, silent, reserved, and yet subject to gusts and fits
+of uncontrollable passion and anger: desperate in all matters touching
+courage, and contemptuously intolerant of any kind of interference.  I
+knew that my skill with the sword and pistol would soon win me respect
+and a reputation, while any mistakes I made would be set down to
+eccentricity.  I was drawing from life&mdash;a French officer whom I had
+known stationed at Rouen: evidently a man with a past which no one even
+dared to question.  I calculated that in this way I should make time to
+choose my permanent course.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+I soon had an opportunity of setting to work.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The officer who, as Olga had told me, was to be my chief second in the
+morning, Lieutenant Essaieff, came to see me.  He was immensely
+surprised at the change in my appearance, scanned me very curiously and
+indeed suspiciously, and asked the cause.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Drink or madness?" he put it laconically, in that tone of contempt
+with which one speaks to a distrusted servant or a disliked
+acquaintance.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Even my friends held me cheap, it seemed.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Neither drink nor madness, if you please," said I, very sternly,
+eyeing him closely.  "But a miracle."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"And which of the devils is it this time, Petrovitch?" he asked,
+laughing lightly.  "Gad, he must have been hard put to it.  Or is it
+one of the she-devils, eh?  You know plenty of those.  Let's have the
+tale."  He laughed again; but the mirth was not so genuine that time,
+and I could see that the effect of the fixed stare with which I
+regarded him began to tell.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I'm in no mood for this folly," said I, very curtly.  "Save for a
+miracle, I should now be a dead man.  That's all.  And I'll thank you
+not to jest about it."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+He was serious now and asked:&mdash;"How did it happen?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+I made no answer, but sat staring moodily out in front of me, and yet
+contriving to watch him as he eyed me furtively now and again, in
+surprise at the change in me.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Are you ill, Petrovitch?" he asked at length.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Hell!" I burst out with the utmost violence, springing to my feet.
+"What is it to you?"  And then with complete inconsequence I added:&mdash;"I
+was praying, and in answer a light flashed on me and would have
+consumed me wholly, but for a miracle.  Half my clothes and my
+face-hair were consumed&mdash;and I was changed."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Ah, prayer's a dangerous thing when you've a lot of arrears to make
+up," he said with a sneer.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+I turned and looked at him coldly and threateningly.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Lieutenant Essaieff, you have been good enough to lend me your
+services for this business to-morrow morning, but that gives you no
+title to insult me.  After to-morrow you will be good enough to give me
+an explanation of your words."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+He had risen and stood looking at me so earnestly that I half thought
+he suspected the change.  But he did not.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"You will not be alive to demand it," he said, at length,
+contemptuously, clipping the words short in a manner that shewed me how
+angry he was and how much he despised me.  "I'm only sorry I was fool
+enough to be persuaded to act for you," he added as he swung out of the
+room.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+I laughed to myself when he had gone, for I saw that I had imposed on
+him.  He thought I was half beside myself with fear.  Evidently I had
+an evil-smelling reputation.  But I would soon change all that, I
+thought, as I set to work to examine all the papers and possessions in
+the rooms.  I was engaged in this work when my other second arrived.
+He was named Ugo Gradinsk, and was a very different kind of man, and
+had been a much more intimate friend.  He had heard of my accident and
+had come for news.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+A glance at him filled me with instinctive disgust.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"What's up, Alexis?" was his greeting.  "That prig Essaieff, has just
+told me you're in a devil of a funny mood, and thinks you're about out
+of your mind with fear.  What the devil have you done to yourself?"  He
+touched his chin as he spoke.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Can't I be shaved without setting you all cackling with curiosity?  I
+had half my hair burnt off and shaved the other half."  He started at
+my surly tone and I saw in his eyes a reflection of the other man's
+thoughts.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"D'ye think you'll be a smaller mark for Devinsky's sword?  It's made a
+devil of a difference in your looks, I must say.  And in your manners
+too."  I heard him mutter this last sentence into his moustache.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Do you think I mean for an instant to allow that bully's sword to
+touch me?" I asked scowling angrily.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Well, you thought so last night when I was giving you that wrinkle
+with the foils&mdash;and that was certainly why you got this infernal duel
+put off for a day."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Ah, well, I've been fooling you, that's all," said I, shortly.  "I've
+played the fool long enough too, and I mean business.  I've taken out a
+patent."  I laughed grimly.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"What the devil d'ye mean?  What patent?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"A new sword stroke.  The sabre stroke, I call it.  Every first-rank
+swordsman has one," I cried boastfully.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"First-rank swordsman be hanged.  Why, you can't hold a candle to me.
+And I would not stand before Devinsky's weapon for the promise of a
+colonelcy.  Don't be an ass."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"My cut's with the flat of the sword across the face directly I've
+disarmed my man."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"And a devilish effective cut too no doubt&mdash;when you have disarmed him.
+But you'd better be making your will and putting your things in order,
+instead of talking this sort of swaggering rubbish to keep your courage
+up.  You know jolly well that Devinsky means mischief; and what always
+happens when he does.  I don't want to frighten you, but hang it all,
+you know what he is."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I'm going to pass the night in prayer," said I: and my visitor laughed
+boisterously at this.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"If you confess all we've done together, old man, you'll want a full
+night," he said.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"The prayers are for him, not for me," and at that he laughed more
+boisterously than before: and he began to talk of a hundred dissipated
+experiences we had had together.  I let him talk freely as it was part
+of my education, and he rattled on about such a number of shameful
+things that I was disgusted alike with him and with the beast I was
+supposed to be.  At length to my relief he stopped and asked me to go
+across to the club for the last night.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+I resolved to go, thinking that if I were in his company it would seem
+appropriate, and I wished to paint in more of the garish colours of my
+new character among my fellow-officers.  I made myself very offensive
+the moment I was inside the place.  I swaggered about the rooms with an
+assumption of insufferable insolence.  Whenever I found a man looking
+askance at me&mdash;and this was frequent enough&mdash;I picked him out for some
+special insult.  I spoke freely of the "miracle" that had happened to
+me, and the change that had been effected.  I repeated my coarse silly
+jest about praying all night for my antagonist: and I so behaved that
+before I had been in the place an hour, I had laid the foundations of
+enough quarrels to last me a month if I wished to have a meeting every
+morning.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Ah, he knows well enough he's going to die to-morrow morning," said
+one man in my hearing.  "It's no good challenging a man under sentence
+of death," said another; while a number of others held to Essaieff's
+view&mdash;that I was beside myself with fear, or drink, or both combined.
+I placed myself at the disposal of every man who had a word to say; but
+the main answer I received was an expression of thanks that after that
+night I should trouble them no more.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+I left the place, hugely pleased with the result of the night's work.
+I had created at a stroke a new part for Alexis Petrovitch: and
+prepared everyone to expect and think nothing of any fresh
+eccentricities or further change they might observe in me in the future.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+I reached my rooms in high spirits, and sat down to overhaul the place
+for papers, and to learn something more of myself than I at present
+knew.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR><BR>
+
+<A NAME="chap04"></A>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+CHAPTER IV.
+</H3>
+
+<H4 ALIGN="center">
+THE DUEL.
+</H4>
+
+<P>
+The discoveries I made were more varied and interesting than agreeable:
+and I found plenty of evidence to more than justify my first ill
+impressions of Olga's real brother.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+It was time indeed that there should be a change.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The man must have gone off without even waiting to sort his papers.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Rummaging in some locked drawers, the keys of which I found in a little
+cabinet that I broke open, I came across a diary with a number of
+entries with long gaps between them, which seemed to throw a good deal
+of light on my past.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+There were indications of three separate intrigues which I was
+apparently carrying on at that very time; the initials of the women
+being "P.T.," "A.P.," and "B.G."  The last-named, I may say at once, I
+never heard of or discovered: though in some correspondence I read
+afterwards, I came across some undated letters signed with the
+initials, making and accepting and declining certain appointments.  But
+both "P.T." and "A.P." were the cause of trouble afterwards.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+I found that a number of appointments of all kinds were fixed for the
+following afternoon.  The initials of the persons only were given, but
+enough particulars were added to shew the nature of the business.  Thus
+someone was coming for a bet of 1,000 roubles; a money lender was due
+who had seemingly declared that he would wait no longer; and quite a
+number of tradesmen for their bills.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+I soon saw the reason for all this.  I was evidently a fellow with a
+turn for a certain kind of humour; and I had obviously made the
+appointments in the full assurance either that Devinsky's sword would
+have squared all earthly accounts in full for me, or that I should be
+safe across the frontier and out of my creditors' way.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+I recalled with a chuckle my words to Olga&mdash;that if I were to play the
+part I must play it thoroughly.  This meant that not only must I fight
+the beggar's duel for him, but if I were not killed, fence with his
+creditors also or pay their claims.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+I swept everything at length into one of the biggest and strongest
+drawers, locked them up, and sat down to think for a few minutes before
+going to bed.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+If I fell in the morning I wished Rupert Balestier to hear of it; and
+the only means by which that could be done would be for me to write a
+note and get Olga to post it.  Half a dozen words would be enough:
+</P>
+
+<BR>
+
+<P CLASS="noindent">
+"MY DEAR RUPERT,
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"The end has come much sooner than I hoped when writing you this
+afternoon.  A queer adventure has landed me in a duel for to-morrow
+morning with a man who is known as a good swordsman.  He may prove too
+much for me.  If so, good-bye old friend, and so much the better.  It
+will save an awful lot of trouble; and the world and I are quite ready
+to be quit of one another.  The receipt of this letter posted by a
+friendly hand will be a sign to you that I have fallen.  Again,
+good-bye, old fellow.  H.T."
+</P>
+
+<BR>
+
+<P>
+I did not put my name in full, to lessen the chance of complication
+should the letter go astray.  I addressed it, and then put it under a
+separate cover.  Next I wrote a short note to my sister; and this had
+to be ambiguously worded, lest it also should get into the wrong hands.
+</P>
+
+<BR>
+
+<P CLASS="noindent">
+"MY DEAR SISTER,
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"You know of my duel with Major Devinsky and that it is in honour
+unavoidable.  Should I fall, I have one or two last words.  I have many
+debts; but had arranged to pay them to-morrow; and I have more than
+enough money in English bank notes for the purpose.  Pay everything and
+keep for yourself the balance, or do with it what you think best.  My
+money could be used in no better way than to clear up entirely this
+part of my life.  I ask you to post the enclosed letter to England; and
+please do so, without even reading the address.  This is my one request.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"God bless you, Olga, and find you a better protector than I have been
+able to be.
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="noindent">
+Your brother,<BR>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"ALEXIS."<BR>
+</P>
+
+<BR>
+
+<P>
+This I sealed up and then enclosed the whole in an envelope together
+with about £2,000 in bank notes which I had brought with me from
+England.  The envelope I addressed to my "sister" and determined to ask
+my chief second, Lieutenant Essaieff, to give it to Olga, should I fall.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+One other little task I had.  I went through my clothes and my own few
+papers and carefully destroyed every trace of connection with Hamylton
+Tregethner, so that there should be nothing to complicate the matter of
+identity in the event of my death.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+So far so good&mdash;if Devinsky killed me.  But what if I could beat him?
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The quarrel was none of mine.  I had no right to go out and even fight
+a man in an assumed character, to say nothing of killing him.  Look at
+the thing as I would I could make nothing else than murder of it; and
+very treacherous murder, to boot.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The man was doubtless a bully, and he seemed willing to use his
+superior skill to fix a quarrel on Olga's brother and kill him, in
+order to leave the girl without protection.  But his blackguardism was
+no excuse for my killing him.  I had no right to interfere.  I had
+never seen her or him until the last few hours; and however much Major
+Devinsky deserved punishment, I had no authority to administer it.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Probably if the man knew how I could use the sword he would never have
+dreamt of challenging me; and I could not substitute my exceptional
+skill for Olga's brother's lack of it and so kill the man, without
+being in fact, whatever I might seem in appearance, an assassin.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+If I were to warn him before the duel that a great mistake had been
+made as to my skill, I shouldn't be believed.  He and others would only
+think I was keeping up the braggart conduct of that evening at the
+club.  At the same time I liked the idea of the warning.  It would at
+any rate be original, especially if I succeeded in beating the major.
+But it was clear that I could not kill him.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+All roads led round to that decision: and as I had come to the end of
+my cigar and there was plenty of reason why I should have as much sleep
+as possible, I went to bed and slept like a top till my man, Vosk,
+called me early in the morning and told me that Lieutenant Gradinsk was
+already waiting for me.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"That beggar, Essaieff, has gone on to the Common"&mdash;this was where we
+were to fight&mdash;"Told me to tell you.  Suppose he doesn't care to be
+seen in our company.  I hate the snob," he said when I joined him.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"So long as he's there when I want him, it's enough for me," said I, so
+curtly, that my companion looked at me in some astonishment.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Umph, don't seem over cheerful this morning, Alexis.  Must perk up a
+bit and shew a bold front.  It's an ugly business this, but you won't
+help yourself now by...."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Silence," I cried sternly.  "When I'm afraid, you may find courage to
+tell me so openly.  At present it's dangerous."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Then I completed my few preparations in absolute silence, both Gradinsk
+and the servant watching me in astonishment.  When I was ready, I
+turned to Vosk.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"What wages are due to you?" I asked sharply.  He told me, and I paid
+him, adding the amount for three months' further.  "You leave my
+service at once.  I have no further need of you."  I was in truth
+anxious to get rid of him.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"My things are here.  I...." he began, obviously making excuses.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I give you five minutes to take what is absolutely necessary.  The
+rest you can have another time.  You will not return here."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Do you suspect..."  he began again.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I only discharge you," I returned curtly.  "Half of one of your
+minutes is gone."  He looked at me a moment, fear mingled with his
+utter astonishment, and then went out of the room.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Five minutes later I locked the doors behind us and put the keys in my
+pocket.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"What has he done, Alexis?  Isn't it rather risky?  You've been so
+intimate...." said Gradinsk, as soon as we were in the droschky.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"It is I who have done this, not he," I answered, sharply.  "It is my
+private affair if you please."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"D&mdash;&mdash; your private affairs," he cried in a burst of temper.  "Even if
+you are going to die, you needn't behave like a sullen hog."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+I stared round at him coldly.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"After the meeting I shall ask you to withdraw that, Lieutenant
+Gradinsk," and we did not exchange another word till the place of
+meeting was reached.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+We were the last to arrive: and there appeared to have been some doubt
+as to whether I should dare to turn up, I think; for I caught a
+significant gesture pass between my opponent's seconds.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+How I looked I know not; but I felt very dangerous, and I tried to be
+perfectly calm and self-possessed and natural in my manner.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Lieutenant Essaieff," I said, drawing my chief second on one side
+after I had saluted the others.  "There are two matters to be
+mentioned.  If I should fall, will you give this letter with your own
+hands immediately to my sister?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"You have my word on that," he said, bowing gravely.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"One thing more.  I have an explanation to make to my opponent, Major
+Devinsky, which I think should be made in the hearing of all."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"An apology?" he asked, with a slight curl of the lip.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"No, but an explanation without which this duel cannot take place.
+Will you arrange it?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+He went to Devinsky's seconds, and then returning fetched me and
+Gradinsk, who was very nervous.  I went up to the other group and spoke
+very quietly but firmly.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Before the duel takes place, Major Devinsky, I must make such an
+explanation as will prevent its being fought under a mistake.  I am a
+much more expert swordsman than is currently known.  I have purposely
+concealed my skill during the months I have been in Moscow; but I
+cannot engage with you now, without making the fact known.  I have
+indeed rather drawn you into this affair and I now desire you to join
+with me in declining to carry the dispute further.  After this
+explanation, and at any future time I shall of course be at your
+disposal."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The effect of this short speech was pretty much what might have been
+expected.  All the men thought I was trying to get out of the fight by
+impudent bragging, and Devinsky's seconds laughed sneeringly.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+I turned away as I finished speaking, but a minute later, Essaieff
+brought me a message&mdash;and the contempt rang in his tone as he delivered
+it.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Major Devinsky's reply to your extraordinary request is this: The only
+terms on which he will let you off the fight are an unconditional
+compliance with the condition he has already named to you.  What is
+your answer?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"We will fight," I replied shortly: and forthwith threw off my coat and
+vest and made ready.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+I eyed my antagonist with the keenest vigilance during the minute or
+two the seconds took in placing us, and I saw a certain boastful
+confidence in his looks and a swagger in his manner, which were
+eloquent of the cheap contempt in which he held me&mdash;a sentiment that
+was shared by all present.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+My second, Essaieff, manifestly did not like his task; but he did
+everything in a workmanlike way which shewed me he knew well what he
+was about, and in a very short time our swords were crossed and we had
+the word to engage.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+An ugly glint in the major's eyes told me he had come out to kill if he
+could; and the manner in which he pressed the fight from the outset
+shewed me that he thought he could finish it off straight away.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+He was a good swordsman: I could tell that the instant our blades
+touched: and he had one or two pretty tricks which wanted watching and
+would be sure to have very ugly consequences for anyone whose eye and
+wrist were less quick than his own.  As he fought I could readily see
+how he had gained his big reputation and had so often left the field
+victorious after only a few minutes' fighting.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+But he was not to be compared with me.  In two minutes I knew precisely
+his tactics and at every point I could outfight him.  I had no need
+even to exert myself.  After a few passes, all my old love of the art
+came back to me and all my old skill; and when he made his deadliest
+and trickiest lunges I parried them without an effort, and could have
+countered with fatal effect.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+I wished to get the fullest measure of his skill, however, and for this
+reason did not attempt to touch him for some minutes.  Then an idea
+occurred to me.  I would prove to the men with us that I had no real
+wish to avoid the fight.  Intentionally I let my adversary touch my
+left arm, drawing a little blood.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+They stopped us instantly; and then came the question whether enough
+had been done to satisfy the demands of honour.  Had I chosen, I could
+without actual cowardice have declared the thing finished: but I
+intended them all to understand that I had to the full as keen an
+appetite as my opponent for the business.  I was peremptory therefore
+in my demand to go on.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+In the pause I made my plan.  I would cover my adversary with ridicule
+by outfencing him at all points: play with him, in fact; and give him a
+hundred little skin wounds to shew him and the rest how completely he
+had been at my mercy.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+I did it with consummate ease.  My sword point played round him as an
+electric spark will dart about a magnet, and he was like a child in his
+feeble efforts to follow its dazzling swiftness.  Scarcely had we
+engaged before I had flicked a piece of skin from his cheek.  The next
+time it was from his sword arm.  Then from his neck, and after that
+from his other cheek; until there was no part of his flesh in view
+which had not a drop of blood to mark that my sword point had been
+there.  The man was mad with baffled and impotent rage.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Then I put an end to it.  After the last rest I put the whole of my
+energy and skill into my play, and pressed him so hard that any one of
+the onlookers could see I could have run him through the heart half a
+dozen times: and at the end of it I disarmed him with a wrench that was
+like to break his wrist.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+To do the man justice, he had pluck.  He made sure I meant to kill him,
+but he faced me resolutely enough when I raised my sword and put the
+point right at his heart.
+</P>
+
+<A NAME="p42"></A>
+
+<P>
+"One word," said I, sternly.  "I have put this indignity on you because
+of the insolent message you sent to me by Lieutenant Essaieff.  But for
+that I would simply have disarmed you at once and made an end of the
+thing.  Now, remember me by this...."  I raised my sword and struck him
+with the flat side of it across the face, leaving an ugly red trail.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Then I turned on my heel and went to where my seconds stood, lost in
+staring amazement at what I had done.  I put on my clothes in silence;
+and as I glanced about me I saw that the scene had created a powerful
+impression upon everybody present.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+All men are irresistibly influenced by skill such as I had shewn under
+circumstances of the kind; and the utter humbling of a bully who had
+ridden rough-shod over the whole regiment was agreeable enough now that
+it had been accomplished.  My own evil character was forgotten in the
+fact that I had beaten the man who had beaten everybody else and traded
+on his deadly reputation.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Lieutenant Essaieff came to me as I was turning to leave the place
+alone.  He gave me back the letter I had entrusted to him, and after a
+momentary hesitation, said:&mdash;
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Petrovitch, I did you an injustice, and I am sorry for it.  I thought
+you were afraid, and I had no idea that you had anything like such
+pluck and skill.  I believed you were blustering; and I apologise to
+you for the way in which I brought Devinsky's message.  But for what
+happened last night in your rooms"&mdash;and he drew himself up as he
+spoke&mdash;"I am at your service if you desire it."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I'd much rather breakfast than fight with you to-morrow morning,
+Essaieff, if you won't think me a coward for crying off the encounter."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"After this morning no one will ever call you a coward;" said he; and I
+think he was a good deal relieved at not having to stand in front of a
+sword which could do what mine had just done.  "Shall we drive back
+together?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+We saluted the others ceremoniously, my late antagonist scowling very
+angrily as he made an abrupt and formal gesture.  Then I snubbed
+Gradinsk, who looked very white, remembering what I had said to him
+when driving to the ground; and Lieutenant Essaieff and I left together.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"How is it we have all been so mistaken in you, Petrovitch?" asked my
+companion when we had lighted our cigarettes.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"How is it that I have been so mistaken in you?" I retorted.  "I chose
+to take my own way, that's all.  I wished to know the relish of the
+reputation for cowardice, if you like.  I have never been out before in
+Moscow, as you know; and have never had to shew what I could do with
+either sword or pistol.  Nor did I seek this quarrel.  But because I
+have never fought till I was compelled, that does not mean that I can't
+fight when I am compelled.  But the truth's out now, and it may as well
+all be known.  Come to my rooms for five minutes before breakfast&mdash;I am
+going to my sister's to breakfast&mdash;and I'll shew you what I can do with
+the pistols.  It may prevent anyone making the mistake of choosing
+those should there be any more of this morning's work to do."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I hope you can keep your head," he said, after a pause.  "You'll be
+about the most popular man in the whole regiment after to-day's
+business.  I don't believe there's a more hated man in the whole city
+than Devinsky; and everyone's sure to love you for making him bite the
+dust.  I suppose you're coming to the ball at the Zemliczka Palace
+to-night.  You'll be the lion."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+There was a touch of envy in his voice, I think, and he smiled when I
+answered indifferently that I had not decided.  As a fact I didn't know
+whether I had any invitation or not, so that my indifference was by no
+means feigned.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+When we reached my rooms I took him in and as I wished to noise abroad
+so far as possible the fact of my skill with weapons, I shewed him some
+of the trick shots I had learnt.  Pistol shooting had been with me, as
+I have said, quite a passion at one time and I had practised until I
+could hit anything within range, either stationary or moving.  More
+than that, I was an expert in the reflection shot&mdash;shooting over my
+shoulder at a mark I could see reflected in a mirror held in front of
+me.  Indeed there was scarcely a trick with the pistol which I did not
+know and had not practised.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The lieutenant had not words enough to express his amazement and
+admiration; and when I sent him away after about a quarter of an hour's
+shooting such as he had never seen, he was reduced to a condition of
+speechless wonder.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Then I dressed carefully, having bathed and attended to the light wound
+on my arm, and set out to relieve my "sister's" suspense and keep my
+appointment for breakfast.  I found myself thinking pleasantly of the
+pretty, kindly little face of the girl, and when I saw a light of
+infinite relief and gladness sparkle in her eyes at sight of me safe
+and sound and punctual, I experienced a much more gratifying sensation
+than I had expected.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Her face was somewhat white and drawn and her eyes hollow, telling of a
+sleepless, anxious night; and she grasped my hand so warmly and was so
+moved, that I could not fail to see that she had been worrying lest
+trouble had come to me through her action of the previous day.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"You haven't had so much sleep as I have, Olga," I said, lightly.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Are you really safe, quite safe, and unhurt?  And have you really been
+mad enough to go out and fight that man?  Oh, I could not sleep a wink
+all night for thinking of you and of the cruel gleam I have seen in his
+eyes."  And she covered her face with her hands and shivered.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Getting up early in the morning always gives me an unconscionable
+appetite, Olga.  I thought you knew that," said I lightly and with a
+laugh.  "But I see no breakfast; and that's hardly sisterly, you know."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"It's all in the next room ready," she answered, leading the way.  "But
+tell me the news:" and her face was all aglow with eager inquiry.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I had no difficulty with Major Devinsky.  As I anticipated he was no
+sort of a match for me at that business.  I'm not bragging, but I've
+been trained in a totally different school, and&mdash;well, the beggar never
+had a chance."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+She smiled then, and her eyes danced in gladness, but as suddenly grew
+grave again.  Wonderfully tell-tale eyes they were!
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"What about&mdash;I mean&mdash;is he hurt?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"No, not much.  Nothing serious.  His quarrel wasn't with me, you see,
+so I couldn't kill him or wound him seriously.  But you'll hear
+probably from others what happened."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I want to hear from you, please.  You promised the news at first hand
+remember."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Well, I played rather a melodrama, I fear.  I managed to snick him in
+a number of places till he's pitted a good deal.  I gave him a lesson
+for having treated you in that way and also for his insolence to me.
+Besides I wished to make a bit of an impression on the other men there.
+He won't trouble us again, I fancy."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"He's dangerous, Alexis: mind that.  Very dangerous.  But oh, I'm so
+glad it's all over and you're safe and sound&mdash;And here's your favourite
+dish&mdash;though you don't know what it is."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I don't care what it is.  I'll take whatever you give me on trust."
+At that she glanced at me and coloured, and hung her head.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+She was very pretty indeed when the colour glowed in her cheeks, and as
+a rather long silence followed I had plenty of time to observe her.
+She made a most captivating little hostess, too; and I began to feel
+that if I had had a sister of my own like her, I should have been
+remarkably fond of her, and perhaps&mdash;who can tell?&mdash;a very different
+man myself.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"By the way, there's one thing you must be careful to say," I said,
+breaking a long pause that was getting embarrassing.  "You will
+probably be asked whether you knew that I was an expert with the sword
+and pistol and was purposely concealing my skill from the men here in
+Moscow.  That's what I've said, and it may be as well that you should
+seem to have known it.  A brother and sister should have no secrets
+from each other, you know."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+She shook her head at me and, with a smile and in a tone of mock
+reproach, said:
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"You haven't always thought that, Alexis."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"It's never too late to mend," returned I.  "And I'll promise for the
+future, if you like&mdash;so long as the relationship lasts, that is."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+To that she made no answer, and when she spoke again she had changed
+the subject.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+We chatted very pleasantly during breakfast, and I asked her presently
+about the dance at the Zemliczka Palace.  She was going to it, she
+said, and told me that I had also accepted.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Can a brother and sister dance together, Olga," I asked.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I don't know," she replied, playing with the point as though it were
+some grave matter of diplomacy.  "I have never had to consider the
+question practically because you have never asked me, Alexis.  But I
+think they might sit out together," and with the laugh that accompanied
+that sentence ringing in my ears, like the refrain of a sweet song, we
+parted to meet again at the ball.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR><BR>
+
+<A NAME="chap05"></A>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+CHAPTER V.
+</H3>
+
+<H4 ALIGN="center">
+GETTING DEEPER.
+</H4>
+
+<P>
+The news that I had beaten Devinsky, had played with him like a cat
+with a bird, spread like a forest fire.  Essaieff was right enough in
+his forecast that everyone would be delighted at the major's overthrow.
+But the notoriety which the achievement brought me was not at all
+unlikely to prove a source of embarrassment.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+I should be a marked man, and everything I did would be sure to be
+closely observed.  Any gross blunder made in my new character would be
+the more certainly seen, and would thus be all the more likely to lead
+to my discovery.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+There were of course a thousand things I ought to know; hundreds of
+acts that I had no doubt been in the habit of doing regularly&mdash;and thus
+any number of pitfalls lay gaping right under my feet.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+My difficulties began at once with my regimental duties.  I did not
+know even my brother officers by sight, to say nothing of the men.  The
+fact that the real Alexis had not been very long with the regiment
+would of course help me somewhat in regard to this; as it was quite
+conceivable that having been very indifferent to my duties and anything
+but a zealous officer, I might not have got to know the men.  But I was
+just as ignorant of the regimental routine which ought to be a matter
+of course.  I had questioned Olga on every detail and drawn from her
+all that she knew&mdash;and she was surprisingly quickwitted and well
+informed on the subject&mdash;and I had of course my own limited military
+experience to back me; but I lacked completely that familiarity which
+only actual practice could give.  This difficulty gave me much thought
+and I am bound to say amused me immensely.  The way out that I chose
+was a mixture of impudence and eccentricity; and I relied on the
+reputation I had suddenly made for myself as a swordsman being
+sufficient to silence criticism.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+I went back to my rooms, and while there a manservant whom Essaieff had
+promised to send to me, arrived.  I would not have one from the ranks,
+but chose a civilian that had been a soldier; and under the guise of
+questioning his present knowledge of military matters, dress, etc., I
+drew out of him particulars of the uniforms I ought to wear on
+different occasions, the places and times of all regimental duties,
+and&mdash;what was of even more importance&mdash;a rough idea of the actual
+duties which fell to the share of Lieutenant Alexis Petrovitch.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+That was enough for me.  I dressed and went to head-quarters, resolved
+to see the Colonel, and on the plea of indisposition ask to be excused
+from duty on that and the following day.  To my surprise&mdash;for I had
+heard from Olga that I stood very low down in Colonel Kapriste's
+estimation&mdash;I was received with especial cordiality and favour.  His
+greeting was indeed effusive.  He granted my request at once, said I
+could take a week if I liked, after my hard work, and declared that I
+must take great care of myself for the sake of the regiment.  Then he
+pressed me to wait until he had finished his regimental work as he
+wished to talk to me.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+What he wanted was an account of the duel, and a very few minutes
+shewed me that if he was no friend of mine, he was a strong enemy of
+the man I had fought.  He questioned me also as to the change in my
+appearance, why I had shaved my beard and moustache, what excuse I had
+to give for having been out without my uniform on the previous day; and
+my blunt reply that I had had an accident and hoped I was master of my
+own features, and that if my uniform was burnt it was more becoming for
+an officer to be in mufti than naked, drew from him nothing more than
+the significant retort that he hoped I had changed as much in other
+respects.  Then he turned curious to know where I had learnt to use the
+sword, and who was the fencing master that had taught me; and I turned
+the point with a laugh&mdash;that Major Devinsky's evil genie conferred the
+gift on me, as they were not ready yet below to take charge of the
+major's soul.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+He was so delighted with my success over the man whom he evidently
+hated, that he let my impertinence pass; but I could see that the two
+aides who were present, were as much astonished at my conduct as at the
+Colonel's reception of it.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+But it was of great service to me.  It emphasized the complete change
+in me; and I left with a feeling of intense satisfaction that the
+difficulties of the position were proving much less formidable when
+faced than they had seemed in anticipation.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+I went next to the exercise ground and watched with the closest
+scrutiny everything that took place.  Now and again one or other of the
+officers came up to me; and to all alike I adopted an attitude of cold
+and stolid impassiveness.  This was my safe course.  I knew that Alexis
+had hitherto been unpopular with the whole regiment, except perhaps one
+or two of the worst and wildest fellows; and I judged that any
+approaches made now were rather out of deference to the dangerous skill
+I had suddenly developed than to any old familiarity.  In most cases I
+could therefore quite safely appear to resent old neglect and so
+repulse any present advances.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"You're not at drill, this morning, Petrovitch," said one.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+I gave him a stony, stolid stare.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"On the contrary, I am here," I answered, turning away.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I mean, you're not drilling," he said, with a feeble laugh.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I have already been out this morning," I returned giving him another
+most unpleasant look.  "Do you mean that you want to drill with me?"  I
+stared him out of countenance until the feeble laugh which he repeated
+had passed from his face, and with a muttered excuse he went back to
+his men.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+This sort of thing with variations in my hard unpleasantness happened
+several times while I remained on the ground; and before I left I had
+managed to stamp the impression pretty clearly on my fellow-officers
+generally, that it would be best not to interfere with me.  This was
+just what I wished.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+At the club, where I went after leaving the exercise ground, there were
+several of the men whom I had so insulted on the previous night.  I was
+in truth rather sorry that I had made such a cad of myself; since that
+was not the sort of character I saw now I could construct out of the
+composite materials of the two very different careers and persons that
+were now to be blended.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+My reputation was made already and I found everywhere some evidences of
+the advantages it carried.  More than one of those who on the night
+before had been most profuse in their expressions of contempt for me
+were now obviously very ill at ease; and some of them were
+unquestionably expecting me to take a strong course.  But I spoke to no
+one; and merely returned a curt and formal acknowledgment of any
+greetings made to me.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+After a time Lieutenant Essaieff came in, and I noticed not without
+satisfaction that as soon as he saw I was in the place he came across
+to me.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I hear you have made a remarkable conversion, Petrovitch."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Yes?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Old Saltpetre, I mean.  Cruladoff told me and said he could scarcely
+believe his own eyes and ears when you and that old martinet were
+chumming together like a couple of young subs.  He swears that a man
+has been cashiered before now for saying a good deal less than you
+said."  I saw he was referring to the Chief, so I made a shot.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"It's not much of a secret what he thinks of Devinsky."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Do you really know the story, then?  Why, you told me last week that
+you didn't."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I didn't know a good deal then that I know now," I returned drily.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Neither did we," he answered significantly.  "Any way the old boy
+swears by you now; and after you'd left this morning went on in a fine
+strain to the two aides, praising you sky high.  By Gad, if the war
+really comes you'll be in luck, and get every bit of daredevil work the
+old Salamander can thrust your way.  Hullo, Cruladoff!" he broke off as
+one of the men I had seen that morning with the Chief came up.  "I was
+just telling Petrovitch what you told me."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Some others joined us then, and though I held myself in the strongest
+reserve, I exchanged a few words with one or two.  What was of great
+importance, moreover, I learnt to know a number of my comrades by sight
+and name.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+My actions were all carefully studied.  I spoke very little indeed;
+never dropped a word that had even a suggestion of boastfulness in it,
+and only answered when any man chose to address me.  I knew from what
+Olga had told me that I was with some of the best men in the
+regiment&mdash;those who hitherto had held me in the poorest esteem&mdash;and I
+was scrupulously careful that in my outward demeanour there should now
+be nothing whatever to cause offence.  I would allow no man to
+interfere with or even criticise me&mdash;but on my side I would interfere
+with none.  The eccentricity that was to cover my ignorance should be
+defensive armour only.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+In this manner I carried myself through the difficulties of that day;
+and it was indeed easy enough.  I found most of my comrades only too
+ready to be civil rather than suspicious; and the extraordinary success
+of the morning set them on the look out for further eccentricities and
+peculiarities.  A man who could successfully conceal the possession of
+such extraordinary skill with sword and pistol, might be expected to
+have any number of surprises in store; and no one was in any hurry to
+ask the reason for the concealment.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The fame of my achievement affected even the men who came to have their
+debts paid that afternoon and evening; and the money lender&mdash;a scurvy
+wretch of the lowest type&mdash;was so frightened and trembled so violently
+when I asked him how he dared to send me threatening letters, that he
+could scarcely sign his receipt.  The whole of them were certainly
+profoundly astonished at getting their money; and probably I should not
+have paid a kopeck, but for a change in my intentions that had begun to
+affect me.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+I liked the promise of the new life for which I had exchanged my old
+and empty career; and I had begun to consider whether, instead of
+leaving when my passport came, I should not remain where I was and
+continue to be Lieutenant Alexis Petrovitch of the Moscow Infantry
+Regiment.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+I had already done much to earn a title to the position.  I had saved
+the real man's body by helping him over the frontier; I had saved his
+honour by fighting his duel for him; I had made his sister pretty safe
+from further molestation at Devinsky's hands; I had created quite a new
+Alexis Petrovitch in the regiment; and now I had paid the beggar's
+debts.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Obviously I could play the part a good deal better than he could, and
+therefore&mdash;why not continue to play it?  There was plenty of danger in
+it.  Siberia at least, if it was discovered that I had been personating
+a Russian officer and fighting duels in his name.  But I cared nothing
+for that.  If it threatened me, it had its compensations; since it made
+it quite impossible for the real Alexis ever to return and claim his
+position, even if he wished.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+I had intended to fight for Russia in any event, supposing the war
+came; and if I fell in some battle it would not matter in the least how
+my grave was ticketed.  It might save me no end of trouble, moreover,
+if I took the good the gods gave me without bothering any more about
+volunteering.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The more I thought of it as I sat and smoked by myself, the firmer
+became my resolve just to float with the stream and remain what I was,
+till chance discovered me, if ever it did.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+I had probably got over the worst danger by my impudence, my knack of
+fighting, and the extraordinary resemblance to my other self; and
+already I could see my way through many of the difficulties, so far as
+the regiment was concerned.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Moreover, I am bound to admit I liked the part.  I had never had such a
+chance before; and if all the truth must be told, my vanity was not
+altogether proof against the sensation I was creating.  I had had such
+a run of bad luck for the past few years, that a change was welcome.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+By the time my reverie was finished, therefore, I had more than half
+resolved to be Hamylton Tregethner no more.  Then it was time to dress
+for the ball at the Zemliczka Palace; and I was snob enough&mdash;I can call
+it nothing but sheer snobbery&mdash;so to time my entrance into the rooms as
+to cause as much sensation as possible.  Though outwardly calm and
+quite impassive, I am positively ashamed to say I enjoyed the ripple of
+comment which I saw pass from lip to lip, and the evident interest
+which I awakened.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+At the same time matters were within an ace of being very awkward.  Any
+number of people came forward to speak to me, all of whom manifestly
+expected I should know them both by name and by sight.  I had one
+greeting for all: cold, impassive, uninterested, though there were a
+number of very handsome women with whom I should have been glad to
+chat, if I could have done so safely.  But I dared not.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Indeed the women worried me more than enough.  The men I could stave
+off and keep at a distance easily; for in truth they all seemed shy of
+forcing themselves on me;&mdash;but the women wanted to compel me to take
+notice of them and were not to be put off by any excuse or shift.  How
+many I ought to have known; with how many I had had flirtations, I of
+course had not the remotest idea.  I was thus very glad when a chance
+of escape came with the entrance of Olga, who arrived with her aunt.
+The latter was rather a good looking woman, I thought; and I got away
+from the other people on the plea of having to go and speak to the two.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Well, aunt, what do you think...."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Aunt?" exclaimed Olga's companion, looking at me with unmistakable
+anger.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+My sister flashed a quick danger signal at me.  I had blundered badly.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Alexis, your joke is very ill-timed," she said, severely.  "You should
+know the Countess Krapotine better than to suppose that your
+barrack-yard jibes would be welcome."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I hope the Countess Krapotine knows there is no one in all Moscow
+whose good will I prize more highly and would lose more unwillingly
+than hers.  It was a silly jest: and was prompted only by a desire to
+claim even a passing relationship with one whom Moscow delights to
+honour.  Her kindness to you, Olga, makes her kin to me."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"You are always a little hard on your brother, Olga," said the
+Countess, whom I had mistaken for an aunt many years older and
+infinitely ugly.  But the matter passed, and as I did not care to stop
+and talk with them for too long, I left them after arranging which
+dances I was to sit out with my sister.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+I did not dance with anyone: but contented myself with lounging about
+observing what was going on.  I had more than one little adventure: but
+one in particular impressed me.  I was leaning against the wall near an
+archway between two of the ball rooms when I noticed an exceedingly
+handsome woman making eyes and signs secretly to some one near me.  She
+was a remarkably striking woman, tall, dark, handsome, and passionate
+looking; and after a minute I glanced round about me to see who the
+fortunate man might be.  Just then there was no man at all near me: and
+looking furtively at her, I noticed that the signs ceased when I was
+apparently not observing her.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+I looked at her openly and they recommenced immediately.  It seemed
+therefore that they were meant for me.  I tested this, until there was
+no room for doubt: and I looked at her with a little more interest,
+speculating who she might be, and what she was to me.  But I made no
+sign that I knew her; as of course I did not; and after a minute or two
+I moved away, as it was time for me to go to Olga.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+There was just then a little difficulty in getting through the rooms
+owing to the crush of people, and presently to my intense surprise a
+very angry voice whispered close in my ear:&mdash;
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Beware!"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+I turned at once and found it was the handsome woman who had been
+signalling to me.  The crowd had brought us close together, and she was
+staring hard at me, her face expressive of both agitation and ill
+temper.  I was amused and without relaxing my features bowed as I
+muttered:
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I will."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+This answer seemed to increase her anger, but at that instant another
+movement of the throng separated us, and I went away to find Olga.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+We sat and chatted and laughed together&mdash;especially at my mistake with
+the countess&mdash;and presently glancing up I saw opposite to us the woman
+who had acted the little bit of melodrama with me.  She was eyeing us
+both now angrily.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Who's that?" I asked, pointing her out to my sister.  The girl shook
+her head gravely.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I wish you didn't know, Alexis."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Oh, do I know?  I've put my foot in it then, I expect;" and I told her
+what had happened.  She smiled, and then shook her head again, more
+gravely than before.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"All Moscow knows that you and Madame Paula Tueski are thick friends;
+and you ought to know that you have set many scandalous tongues
+wagging."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Well, she's a very handsome woman," said I, glancing across at her.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Your favourite style of beauty was always somewhat masculine and
+fleshly," said Olga in a very sisterly and very severe tone.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Yes, I'm afraid I've not always admired those things I ought to have
+admired."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Say, rather, you have often admired those things which you ought not.
+<I>Com</I>mission, not <I>o</I>mission."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Well, I've a new commission now, and you gave it me," said I, playing
+on her word and looking closely at her.  I took rather a pleasure in
+watching the colour ebb and flow in her bright expressive face.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+She looked up now, very steadily, right into my eyes, as if to read my
+thoughts; and then looked down again and was silent.  And in some way
+the look made me sorry I had jested.  After a pause she said in her
+usual direct way:&mdash;
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"We are wasting time.  There is so much I must yet tell you, and some
+of it is very disagreeable.  You and I have quarrelled more than once
+about that woman, Paula Tueski.  You wished me to know her, and I would
+not; I wished you to give her up, and you would not."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I'll do it at once," I said, readily.  "I shall not feel the pang&mdash;&mdash;"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Do, please, be serious," she interrupted in her turn, with a little
+foot tap of impatience, while a frown struggled with a smile for the
+mastery in her expression.  The smile had the best of it at first, but
+the frown won in the end.  "Paula Tueski, you have often told me, is a
+dangerous woman.  As wife of the Chief of the Secret Police she has
+considerable power and influence; though to be candid I never could
+tell whether you said this as an excuse for continuing your friendship
+with her, or because you were really afraid of her.  You are not very
+brave, Alexis, you know."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"No, I'm afraid I'm not," I admitted.  "But at any rate I won't try to
+force her on you for the future.  I think I can promise that."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"She's an exceedingly ambitious woman, and means you no good, Alexis,"
+said Olga, very energetically.  "If you can give her up safely I hope
+you will."  She was very earnest about this, and I was going to
+question her more closely when someone came up to claim her for a dance.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Very soon after this I left, taking care to keep out of the way of the
+woman who seemed so anxious that I should speak to her.  I remembered
+the "P.T." of the diary and of the correspondence; and I saw that there
+might easily be some ugly complications unless I was very careful.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+I walked home to my rooms and was very thoughtful on the way.  This
+legacy of old sweethearts was the most unpleasant feature of my new
+inheritance as well as possibly the most dangerous.  It was just the
+kind of knot, too, that a sword could not cut; and before the night
+closed, I had a very jarring reminder of this.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR><BR>
+
+<A NAME="chap06"></A>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+CHAPTER VI.
+</H3>
+
+<H4 ALIGN="center">
+A LEGACY OF LOVE.
+</H4>
+
+<P>
+As I approached the broad deep doorway of my house I saw a tall man
+muffled up, standing half concealed in the shadow of one of the pillars.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Who are you, and what are you doing there?" I asked peremptorily,
+stopping and looking at him.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"What should I be doing, but waiting for Lieutenant Petrovitch?"
+answered the fellow, stepping forward.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Well, I am Lieutenant Petrovitch.  What do you want?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"You are not the lieutenant."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Then you are not looking for Lieutenant Petrovitch," I returned, as I
+opened my door.  "Be off with you."  I spoke firmly, but his reply had
+rather disconcerted me.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Instead of going he advanced toward me when he saw me open the door,
+and shot a glance of surprise at me.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I beg you honour's pardon.  I didn't recognise you; and when you
+pretended not to know me, I thought it was someone else.  You've
+disguised yourself by that change in your face, sir."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+There was a mixture of servility and impudence in the man's manner
+which galled me.  He spoke like a fawning sponger: and yet with just
+such a suggestion of threat and familiarity in his manner as might come
+from a low associate in some dirty work which he thought gave him a
+hold over me.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"What is it you want?" I spoke as sternly as before; and the fellow
+cringed and bowed as he answered with the same suggestion of familiar
+insolence.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"What have I waited here five hours for but to speak to your lordship
+privately&mdash;waited, as I always do, patiently.  It's safer inside,
+lieutenant."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Come in, then."  It was clearly best for me to know all he had to say.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+As soon as we were inside and I had turned up the lights I placed him
+close to the biggest of them; and a more villainous, hangdog looking
+rascal I never wish to see.  A redhaired, dirty, cunning, drinking Jew
+of the lowest class; with lies and treachery and deceit written on
+every feature and gesture.  The only thing truthful about him was the
+evidence of character stamped on his self-convicting appearance.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I wonder what you are to me," I thought as I scanned him closely, his
+flinty shifting eyes darting everywhere to escape my gaze.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Well, what do you want?  I'm about sick of you."  A quick lifting of
+the head and eyebrows let a questioning glance of mingled malice, hate,
+and menace dart up into my face.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Lieutenant, your child is starving and his mother also; and I, her
+father, am tired of working my fingers to the bone to maintain them
+both."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"What are you working at now?" I asked with a sneer.  I spoke in this
+way to hide my unpleasant surprise at the unsavoury news that lay
+behind his words.  The more I looked at him the more was I impressed
+with a conviction of his rascality: but the fact that he was a
+scoundrel did not at all exclude the possibility that some ugly episode
+concerning me lay behind.  On the contrary it increased the probability.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I've not come to talk about my work, but to get money," said my
+visitor in a surly tone.  "And money I must have."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Blackmail," was my instant conclusion: and my line of conduct was as
+promptly taken.  There is but one way to take with blackmailers&mdash;crush
+them.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Did you understand what I said just now?  I am sick of you and your
+ways, and I have done with you."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The man shifted about uneasily and nervously without replying at once,
+and then in a sly, muttering tone, and with an indescribable suggestion
+of menace said:&mdash;
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"There are some ugly stories afloat, Lieutenant."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Yes: and in Russia, those who tell them smell the atmosphere of a gaol
+as often as those against whom they are told.  A word from me and you
+know where you will be within half a dozen hours."  This was a safe
+shot with such a rascal.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"But you'll never speak that word," he said sullenly.  "We've talked
+all this over before.  You can't shake me off.  I know too much."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Obviously my former self had handled this man badly: probably through
+weakness: and had allowed him to get an ugly hold.  He was presuming on
+this now.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+I took two rapid turns up and down the room in thought.  Then I made a
+decision.  Taking ink and paper I sat down to the table and wrote,
+repeating the words aloud:&mdash;
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"To the Chief of Police.&mdash;The Bearer of this&mdash;&mdash;"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"How do you spell your rascally name?" I cried, interrupting the
+writing and looking across at him.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"You know.  You've written it often enough to Anna."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Good.  I had got the daughter's name at any rate.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Yes, but this is for the police, and must be accurate."  The start he
+gave was an unmistakable start of fear.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Everyone knows how to spell Peter, I suppose.  And you ought to know
+how to spell Prashil, seeing your own child has to bear the name."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"The Bearer of this, Peter Prashil, declares that he has some
+information to give to you which incriminates me.  Take his statement
+in writing and have it investigated.  Hold him prisoner, meanwhile, for
+he has been attempting to blackmail me.  You, or your agents will know
+him well.
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="noindent">
+Signed, ALEXIS PETROVITCH.<BR>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Lieutenant, Moscow Infantry Regiment."<BR>
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Now," I cried, rising, giving him the paper, and throwing open the
+door.  "Take that paper and go straight to the Police.  Tell them all
+you know.  Or if you like it better stand to-morrow at midday in the
+Square of the Cathedral and shout it out with all your lungs for the
+whole of Moscow to hear.  Or get it inserted in every newspaper in the
+city.  Go!" and I pointed the way and stared at him sternly and angrily.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I don't want to harm you."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Go!" I said.  "Or I'll wake my servant and have the police brought
+here."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+For a minute he tried to return my look, and fumbled with the paper
+irresolutely.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Go!" I repeated, staring at him as intently as before.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+He stood another minute scowling at me from under his ragged red brows
+and then seemed to concentrate the fury of a hundred curses into one
+tremendous oath, which he snarled out with baffled rage, as he tore the
+paper into pieces and threw them down on the table.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"You know I can't go to the police, damn you," he cried.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+I had beaten him.  I had convinced him of my earnestness.  I shut the
+door then and sitting down again, said calmly:&mdash;
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Now you understand me a little better than ever before; and we will
+have the last conversation that will ever pass between us.  Tell me
+plainly and clearly what you want.  Quick."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Justice for my daughter."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"What else?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"The money you've always promised me for my services," with a pause
+before the last word.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"What services?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"You know."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Answer.  Don't dare to speak like that," I cried sternly.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"For holding my tongue&mdash;about Anna&mdash;and&mdash;the child.  I want my share,
+don't I?" he answered sullenly, scowling at me.  "Is a father to be
+robbed of a child and then cheated?"  He asked this with a burst of
+anger as if, vile as he was, he was compelled to stifle his sense of
+shame with a rush of rage.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Hush-money, eh?  And payment for your daughter's shame.  Well, what
+else?"  I threw into my manner all the contempt I could.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"My help in other things&mdash;with others."  He uttered the sentence with a
+leer of suggestion that sent my blood to boiling point; and he followed
+it up with a recital of mean and despicable tricks of vice and foul
+dissipation until in sheer disgust I was compelled to stop him.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+What more the man might have had to say I knew not; but I had heard
+enough.  It was clear that I was indeed a bitter blackguard, and that
+for my purposes I had made use of this scoundrel, who had apparently
+begun by selling me his own daughter.  It was clear also that all this
+must end and some sort of arrangement be made.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+At the same time I knew enough of Russian society to be perfectly well
+aware that not one of the acts which this man had suggested would count
+for either crime or wrong against me.  One was expected to keep the
+seamy side of one's life decorously out of sight; but if that were
+done, a few "slips" of the kind were taken as a matter of course.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Personally, I hold old-fashioned notions on these things, and it was
+infinitely painful to me that I should be held guilty of such
+blackguardism.  I would at least do what justice I could.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I have been thinking much about these things lately," I said, after a
+pause.  "And I have come to a decision.  I shall make provision for
+you..."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Your honour was always generosity itself," said the fellow squirming
+instantly.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"On condition that you leave Moscow.  You will go to Kursk; and there
+ten roubles will be paid to you weekly for a year; by which time if you
+haven't drunk yourself to death, you will have found the means to earn
+your living."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"And Anna?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Your daughter will call to-morrow afternoon on my sister&mdash;&mdash;"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Your sister?" cried the man in the deepest astonishment.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"My sister," I repeated, "at this address"&mdash;I wrote it down&mdash;"and the
+course to be taken will depend on what is then decided.  You understand
+that the whole story will be sifted, so she must be careful to tell the
+truth.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"The discreet truth, your honour?" he asked with another leer.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"No, the whole truth, without a single lie of yours.  Mind, one lie by
+either of you, and not a kopeck shall you have."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+With that I sent him about his business.  I resolved to have the whole
+story investigated; and it occurred to me that it would be a good test
+of my sister's womanliness to let her deal with the case.  I reflected
+too that it would do her no harm to know a little of the undercurrent
+of her brother's life.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+That done, I turned into bed after as full a day as I had ever lived,
+and slept well.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Reflection led me to approve the plan of sending the old Jew's daughter
+to Olga; and after breakfast the next morning I wrote a little note to
+prepare her for the visit.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"This afternoon," I wrote, "you will have a visit from a girl whose
+name is Anna Prashil, and she will tell you something about your
+brother's history which I think your woman's wit will let you deal with
+better than I can.  We will have the story sifted, but you can do two
+things in the matter better than I&mdash;judge whether the girl is an
+impostor; and if not, what is the best thing to do for her.  I will see
+you afterwards."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+I sat smoking and thinking over this business when my servant, Borlas,
+announced that a lady wished to see me; and ushered in a tall woman
+closely veiled.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+I was prepared now for anything that could happen.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+I rose and bowed to her; but she stood without a word until Borlas had
+gone out.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Don't pretend that you don't know me," she said, in a voice naturally
+sweet and full and musical, but now resonant with agitation and anger.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+It was a very awkward position.  Obviously I ought to know her, so I
+thought it best to speak as if I did.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I make no attempt at pretence with you," I said, equivocally.  "But
+aren't you going to sit down?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"No attempt at pretence?  What was your conduct last night if not
+pretence&mdash;maddening, infamous, insulting pretence?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+I knew her now.  It was the handsome angry woman whose signals at the
+ball I had ignored&mdash;Paula Tueski.  She had probably come to upbraid me
+for my coldness and neglect.  "Hell holds no fury like a woman
+scorned," thought I; and this was a woman with a very generous capacity
+for rage.  If she recognised me....
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Won't you take off that thick veil, which prevents my seeing your very
+angry eyes.  You know I always admire you in a passion, Paula."  I did
+not know how I ought to address her so I made the plunge with her
+Christian name.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Why dared you insult me by not speaking to me at the ball last night?
+Why dared you break your word?  You pledged me your honour"&mdash;this with
+quite glorious scorn&mdash;"that you would introduce your impudent chit of a
+sister to me at the ball.  And instead, my God, that I am alive to say
+it!&mdash;you dared to sit with her laughing, and jibing and flouting at me.
+Pretending&mdash;you, you of all men on this earth&mdash;that you did not know
+me!  Do you think I will endure that?  Do you think&mdash;&mdash;"  Here rage
+choked her speech, and she ended in incoherency, half laugh, half sob,
+and all hysterical.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+I was sorry she stopped at that point.  The more she told me the easier
+would be my choice of policy.  From what she said I gathered this was
+another of the pledges made under the fear of Devinsky's sword.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"You know perfectly well that Olga is exceedingly difficult to coerce&mdash;
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Bah!  Don't talk to me of difficulties.  You would be frightened by a
+fool's bladder and call it difficulties.  I suppose you shaved your
+beard and moustache because they were difficulties, eh?  Difficulties,
+perhaps, in the way of getting out of Moscow unrecognised on the eve of
+a fight?  You know what I mean, eh?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+For a moment I half thought she, or the police agents of her husband
+might have guessed the truth, and this made me hesitate in my reply.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Did you think I was afraid to kill Major Devinsky, or ashamed to let
+it be known that I am the best swordsman in the regiment?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Why have you never told me that?" she cried with feminine
+inconsequence.  "I don't understand you, Alexis.  You want me one day
+to get this man assassinated because you say you know he can run you
+through the body just as he pleases, and you promise me the friendship
+of your sister if I will do it; and yet the very next, you go out and
+meet him and he has not a chance with you.  But why did you do it?  I
+have heard of it all.  Did you want to try me?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+I thanked her mentally for that cue.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"At all events two things are clear now," I said.  "I did not want to
+get out of Moscow for fear of Devinsky, and you would not do that which
+I told you could alone save my life.  You did not think my life worth
+saving."  I spoke very coldly and deliberately.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"So that is it?" she cried, with a quick return of her rage.  "You
+insult me before all Moscow because I will not be a murderess&mdash;your
+hired assassin."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+It was an excellent situation.  If I had devised it myself, I could not
+have arranged it more deftly, I thought.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+I shrugged my shoulders and said nothing; but the silence and the
+gesture were more expressive than many words.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+My visitor tore off the veil she had worn till now, and throwing
+herself into a chair looked at me as though trying to read my innermost
+thoughts: while I was trying to read hers and was more than half
+suspicious that she might see enough to let her jump at the truth.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+But a rapid reflection shewed me I should be wise to use the means she
+herself had supplied, as an excuse for the change in me toward her.  It
+was dangerous, of course, to set at defiance a woman of her manifest
+force of character and in her position; but in attempting to continue
+even an innocent intrigue with her there was equal danger.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+She remained silent a long time, considering as it seemed to me, how
+she should prevent my breaking away from her.  She was a clever woman,
+and now that the first outburst of emotion was over, she abandoned all
+hysterical display and resolved, as her words soon proved, to appeal to
+my fears rather than to any old love.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+She laughed very softly and musically when she spoke next.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"So you think you can do as you will with me, Alexis?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"On the contrary," I replied, quite as gently and with an answering
+smile.  "I have no wish to have anything at all to do with you."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Yet you loved me once," she murmured, the involuntary closing of her
+eyelids being the only sign of the pain my brutal words caused.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"The sweetest things in life are the memories of the past, Paula.  If
+you really loved me as you said, it will be something for you to
+remember that while you prized my life, you held my love."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"A man would starve on the memory of yesterday's dinner."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"True; or hope that somebody else will give him even a more satisfying
+meal."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"You could always turn a woman's phrases, Alexis."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"And you a man's head, Paula."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Bah!  I have not come here to cap phrases."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Yet there can be little else than phrases between us for the future.
+You have shewn me what store you set on my life."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Did you think I could love you if you were such a coward that you
+dared not fight a duel?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"You thought I dared not when you refused to help me."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"You said you dared not.  But do you think I believed you?  Could I
+believe so meanly of the man I loved?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"You discussed the matter as if you believed it," said I; making a leap
+in the dark and blundering badly.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Discussed it?  What do you mean?  With whom?  Do you think I am mad?
+I sat down at once and answered your mad letter in the only way it
+could be answered."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Great Heavens!  I had apparently been fool enough in my desperate
+cowardice to actually write the proposal.  The letter itself, if she
+dared to use it, spelt certain ruin.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Well, you answered the test your own way, and...."  I shrugged my
+shoulders as a suggestive end to the sentence.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+She paused a moment looking thoughtfully at me.  Then knitting her
+brows, she asked:
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"What is the real meaning of this change, Alexis?  Do try for once to
+be frank.  You have always half a dozen secret meanings.  You have
+boasted of this in regard to others&mdash;perhaps because you were afraid to
+do anything else."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Are you a judge of my fears?  I think I have already shewn you that
+that which I led you to believe frightened me most had in reality no
+terrors at all for me."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"One thing I know you are afraid of&mdash;to break with me."  This came with
+a flash of impetuous anger, bursting out in spite of her efforts at
+self-restraint.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+I smiled.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"We shall see.  I have not broken with you.  It is you who have broken
+with me.  How often have you not sworn to me," I cried passionately,
+making another shot&mdash;"that there was nothing upon this earth that you
+would not do if I only asked you?  What value should I now set on a
+broken love-vow?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Had I thought you were even in danger, I would have dared even that,
+Alexis, dangerous and desperate as you know such a hazard must be."
+She spoke now with a depth of tone that was eloquent of feeling.  "What
+I told you is true&mdash;and you know it.  There is nothing I will not do
+for you.  Bid me do it now to shew you my earnestness.  Shall I leave
+my husband?&mdash;I will do it.  Shall I tell the world of Moscow the tale
+of my love?&mdash;I will do it.  Nay, bid me strip myself and walk naked
+through the streets of the city, calling on your name and proclaiming
+my love&mdash;and I will do it with a smile, glorying in my shame because it
+brings you to me and me to you&mdash;never to part again."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+This flood of passion spoken with such earnestness as I had never heard
+from the lips of woman before was almost more than I could endure to
+hear without telling the truth to her.  It abashed me, and the story of
+the deception I was practising on her rose to my lips: but before I
+could speak she had resumed, and her wonderful voice had a power such
+as I cannot describe.  It seemed to compel sympathy; and as it became
+the vehicle for every varying phase of feeling it almost raised an echo
+of feeling in me.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"You don't know the fire you have kindled; you don't dream of its
+volcanic fierceness.  I do not think I myself knew it until last night
+when you turned from me in silence and coldness, as though, my God! as
+though your lips had never rested on mine, or mine on yours, in pledge
+of delirious passion.  Ah me!  You cannot act like this, Alexis.  It
+was you who warmed into life the love that burns in me, and it is not
+yours to quench.  You must not, cannot, aye&mdash;and dare not do it.  You
+know this.  Come, say that all this is just your pique, your temper,
+your whim, your test, your anything; and that all is still between us
+as it must always be&mdash;always, Alexis, always."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+If I had been the man she thought I was, I cannot but believe she would
+have prevailed with me.  The seductiveness of her manner, her absolute
+self abandonment, and the plain and unmistakable proof of her love,
+were enough to touch any man placed as he would have been.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+But I had nothing to prompt my kinder impulses.  She was only a
+stranger: infinitely beautiful, passionate, and melting: but yet
+nothing more than a stranger.  And I had no answering passion to be
+fired by her glances, her pleas, and her love.  She was a hindrance to
+me; and I was only conscious that I was in a way compelled to act the
+part of a cad in listening to her and cheating her.  And I could only
+remain silent.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+She read my silence for obstinacy, and then began to shew the nature of
+the power she held over me.  I was glad of this; as it seemed to give
+me a sort of justification for my action.  It was an attack; and I had
+to defend myself.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"You do not answer me.  You are cold, moody, silent&mdash;and yet not
+unmoved.  I wonder of what you are thinking.  Yet there can be but one
+burden of your thoughts.  You are mine, Alexis, mine; always, till
+death&mdash;as you have sworn often enough.  And after your bravery I love
+you more than ever.  I love a brave man, Alexis.  Every brave man.  I
+would give them the kiss of honour.  And that you are the bravest of
+them all is to me the sweetest of knowledge.  Yesterday, when I heard
+how you had humbled that bully, I could do naught but thrill with pride
+every time I thought of it.  It was my Alexis who had done it.  Won't
+you kiss me once as I kissed you a thousand times in thought yesterday?
+No?  Well, you will before I go.  And then I began to think how glad I
+was that I had made it impossible for you ever to think of giving me
+up.  I know you are brave;&mdash;but even the bravest men shudder at the
+whisper of Siberia."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+She paused to give this time to work its effect.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I wonder how other women love; whether, like me, they think it fair to
+weave a net round the man they love, strong enough to hold the
+strongest, wide enough to reach to the Poles, and yet fine enough to be
+unseen?"  She laughed.  "I have done this with you, sweetheart.  You
+know how often you have asked me for information and I have got it for
+you&mdash;you have wanted it for the Nihilists.  Knowing this I have given
+it and&mdash;you have used it.  Once or twice you have told them what was
+not true, and now you are suspected and in some danger of your life.
+But you are guarded also and watched.  Two days ago you were at the
+railway station in private clothes and with your dear face shaven; you
+were trying to leave Moscow.  But you probably saw the uselessness of
+the attempt and gave it up.  Had you really tried, you would have been
+stopped.  Do you think you can hope to escape from me?  Do you think
+you can break through the net-work of the most wonderful police system
+the world ever knew?  Psh!  Do not dream of it.  Moscow is a fine,
+large, splendid city.  But Moscow is also a prison; and the man who
+would seek to break out of it, but dashes his breast against the drawn
+sword of implacable authority."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"You have a pleasant humour, and a light touch in your methods of
+wooing," said I, bitterly.  She had made a great impression on me.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"The wooing is complete, Alexis.  It was your work.  I do but guard
+against being deceived.  Escape from Moscow being hopeless for you, you
+have only to remember that a word from me in my husband's ear will open
+for you the dumb horrid mouth of a Russian dungeon which will either
+close on you for ever, or let you out branded, disgraced, and manacled
+to start on the long hopeless march to Siberia."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+I had rather admired the woman before; now I began to hate her.  I
+could not fail to see the truth behind her words; and a flash of
+inspiration shewed me now that the safest course I could take was to
+shake off the character I had so lightly assumed.  But her next words
+bared the impossibility of that.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Do you think now it is safe to break away from me?  But that is not
+all.  There is another consideration.  You have drawn your sister into
+these Nihilist snares.  You know how she is compromised.  I know it
+too.  There are more dungeons than one in Russia.  If you were in one,
+I would see to it that she, who has scorned and flouted and insulted
+me, was in another; with her chance also of a jaunt across the plains."
+The flippancy of this last phrase was a measure of her hate.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The thought of the poor girl's danger beat me.  What this woman said
+was all true&mdash;damnably, horribly, sickeningly true.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Have you planned all this?" I asked, when I could bring myself to
+speak calmly.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"No, no, Heaven forbid.  I had not a thought of it in all my heart; not
+a thought, save of love and a desire to shield you from any real danger
+that threatened you, till,"&mdash;and her voice changed
+suddenly&mdash;"yesterday, when you loosed all the torrents that can flow
+from a jealous woman's heart.  I am a woman; but I am a Russian."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+She was lying now, for she was contradicting what she had said just
+before.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"My sister's fate is nothing to me," I said, callously.  "She has made
+her bed, let her lie on it.  But as for myself"&mdash;I had but one possible
+to seem to yield&mdash;"I care nothing.  I am not the coward you once
+thought me, and my meeting with Devinsky shews you that clearly enough.
+But I doubted your love when I found you did not answer to the test I
+made."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"You do not doubt it now.  I am here at the risk of my life; at the
+risk of both our lives," she said, her eyes aflame with feeling as she
+hung on my deliberately spoken words.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"This morning has been a further test, and I should not be a sane man
+if I doubted you now, or ever again."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Then kiss me, Alexis."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+She sprang from her chair and threw herself into my arms, loading me
+with wild tempestuous caresses, like a woman distraught with passion.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+I hated myself even while I endured it; and nothing would have made me
+play so loathesome and repugnant a part but the thought that Olga's
+safety demanded it.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+She was still clinging about me, calling me by my name, caressing me,
+upbraiding me for my coldness, and chiding me for having put her to
+such a test, when a loud knock at the door of the room disturbed us
+both.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+It was my discreet servant Borlas; the loudness of his knock being the
+measure of his discretion.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+He said that my sister was waiting to see me.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR><BR>
+
+<A NAME="chap07"></A>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+CHAPTER VII.
+</H3>
+
+<H4 ALIGN="center">
+A LESSON IN NIHILISM.
+</H4>
+
+<P>
+I was not a little annoyed that so soon after Olga had warned me
+against the wiles of Paula Tueski, she should come just when my most
+unwelcome lover was in my rooms&mdash;and at such a moment.  But I thrust
+aside my irritation&mdash;which was not against Olga&mdash;and went to her,
+curious to learn what had brought her to visit me.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+She told me in a few sentences.  A friend had been to warn her that I
+was in danger from the Nihilists and that unless I took the greatest
+care, I should be assassinated.  The poor girl was all pale and
+agitated with alarm on my account, and had rushed off to hand the
+warning on to me.  She was half hysterical.  She wanted me to fly at
+once, to claim the protection of the British Consulate; to proclaim my
+identity and get away even before my passport came from her brother.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"There is not the danger you fear, Olga," I said, reassuringly.  "I
+shall find means to avoid it.  But I want to speak to you about another
+matter.  Paula Tueski is here"&mdash;my sister shrank back and looked at me
+with a hard expression on her face such as I had not seen there in all
+our talks.  Evidently she hated the woman cordially.  "You are right in
+your estimate of her in one respect, and for the moment she has beaten
+me.  Much as I dislike the business, we must manage to blind her eyes
+and tie her hands for the moment&mdash;or I for one see none but bad
+business ahead."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"How comes she to be here?" asked Olga, in a voice of suppressed anger.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I will tell you all that another time," I answered, speaking hurriedly
+and in a very low tone.  "Another point has occurred to me.  She is
+very bitter against you and has been urging your brother to get you to
+receive her.  This was to have been done last night.  My apparent
+refusal to speak to her at all came as a crowning insult, and she was
+mad.  There is one way in which I think we might the more easily
+deceive her, if you can bring yourself to do it.  Come in now and let
+me present her to you: or let me go and tell her that you will call on
+her."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Will it make things safer for you?" she asked, always thinking of the
+trouble into which she would persist in saying she had brought me.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"It would make them safer for you, I think."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I care nothing for myself.  She can't harm me.  Do you wish it?  Do
+you think it desirable?  I will do it if you say yes."  She spoke so
+earnestly that I smiled...  Then she added:&mdash;"Ah, it is so good to have
+someone that I can trust.  That's why I leave it to you."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I don't wish it," I answered, gravely, "because she is the reverse of
+a good woman, but I do think it would be prudent."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Let's go to her at once," cried the girl, getting up from her chair
+readily.  "We can talk afterwards.  That's the one privilege...." she
+checked herself and then coloured slightly.  I pretended not to notice
+it; but this absolute confidence pleased me not a little.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Bear in mind, we are only playing a part with this woman," I whispered.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I know.  She is too dangerous for me ever to forget that, or to play
+badly."  She dashed a glance of quick understanding at me and then
+seemed to change suddenly into a Russian grande dame.  An indescribable
+air of distinction manifested itself in a hundred little signs, and she
+carried herself like a stately duchess, as we entered the room where
+Paula Tueski sat waiting impatiently.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+A great glad light of triumph leapt into the latter's eyes as she saw
+Olga was with me, and she, too, drew herself up as I made the two
+formally known to each other.  It was a delightful bit of comedy.  Olga
+was full of quite stately regrets that she had not had the pleasure of
+knowing the other long before: said that her brother's friends were, of
+course, her friends; and that she hoped to call that week on Madame
+Tueski and that Madame would find an opportunity of returning the visit
+speedily.  She made such an appearance of unbending to the other, that
+the difference between them was all the more pronounced.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Madame Tueski on her side was too full of the seeming triumph over us
+to be able to be natural with my sister; and she alternately gushed and
+froze as she first tried to captivate and then would remember that Olga
+was only consenting through compulsion to know her.  The result was as
+ridiculous as an episode could be beneath which lurked such
+possibilities of tragedy.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+It lasted only a few minutes when I suggested, and I had a purpose,
+that the two should leave the house together.  I wished to get rid of
+Paula Tueski without further love-making: and desired in addition that
+if there were any spies about the house they should see the two
+together, so that if any tales were carried to the Chief of the Police
+they should be innocent ones.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I will call later in the day if possible," I promised Olga, as she
+left.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Ugh, how I hate her;" was the whispered reply, inconsequential but
+very feminine.  And I shut the door on the two and went back to my room
+to think out this new set of most complicated problems.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Paula Tueski's visit had changed everything; and I saw it would be
+foolish not to look that fact straight in the face.  I could not see
+how things would end; but certainly flight, for the time, was simply
+impossible.  For myself, I did not much care.  I had had a few hours of
+excitement which had completely drawn me out of the morbid mood in
+which I had arrived in Moscow; and nothing had happened to make me much
+more anxious to live than I had been then.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Life might have been endurable enough, if I could have gone on with my
+army career as Lieutenant Petrovitch; but not if the abominable and
+disgraceful intrigue were to be added as a necessary condition.  That
+would be unendurable: and had I been a free agent, I would have ended
+the whole thing there and then, by admitting the deception and putting
+up with the results.  Indeed, it occurred to me that in a country like
+Russia, where I knew that courage stood for much and military skill for
+more, the reputation I had managed to make would be likely enough to
+tell in my favour if I told the truth and asked leave to volunteer.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+But was I a free agent?
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Look at the thing as I would I could see no means by which I could get
+out of the mess, even taking my punishment, without leaving my sister
+in deep trouble.  If Paula Tueski found that I had humbugged her and
+that Olga was in the plot, it was as plain as a gallows that she would
+be simply mad and would wreak her spite on the girl.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Could I leave Olga to this?  The words of confidence she had spoken
+were still echoing in my ears&mdash;and very pleasant music they made&mdash;and
+could I quietly save my own skin and leave her in the lurch?  It was
+not likely that I should do anything of the sort; and I didn't
+entertain it for a moment as a possibility.  The girl had trusted to
+me; and I must make her safety the first consideration of any plan I
+formed.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+But how?
+</P>
+
+<P>
+I could see only one way.  It was that she should get out of Moscow,
+and indeed out of Russia altogether.  It was not probable that the
+woman Tueski would place any obstacle in the way, provided I did not
+attempt to leave as well; and I came to the conclusion that the best
+possible course would be for Olga to take her departure at once.  She
+could go and join her brother in Paris, or wherever he had gone; and
+then I could carry on alone the play, farce, burlesque, comedy, or
+tragedy, as it might prove.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+It was early evening before I could get round to see Olga, and then I
+had to spend some time with her aunt, the Countess Palitzin, an ugly,
+garrulous and dyspeptic old lady, who wanted to hear all about the
+Devinsky business over again: and then went on to tell me of some
+famous duels that had happened in her young days.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+I observed that Olga was very thoughtful during the interview with the
+aunt, but as soon as we were alone she put her hand into mine and with
+a look that spoke deep feeling and pleasure, said:&mdash;
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"You could have done nothing that would have better pleased me&mdash;nothing
+could shew so clearly that you understand me better than anyone ever
+did before.  I have seen the girl and listened to her story and
+questioned her.  I think there is yet good in her and I am convinced
+she tells the truth.  She longs to be separated from her dreadful
+father...."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"He leaves for Kursk to-morrow," I said.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Good.  Then I will make the care of the others my charge.  I don't do
+much that is useful; and if I can make that life happier and give the
+child the chance of growing up to be a good Russian, I shall have done
+something.  What say you?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+She seemed more admirable than ever in my eyes for this; but I
+hesitated a moment what to say; and she, quick to read my looks, added,
+her own features taking a reflection of my doubts:&mdash;
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"But of course that is all subject to your opinion.  Is there anything
+else you think better?  But I should like this very much:" and a smile
+broke over her face.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"The plan is excellent; but there is a difficulty, unless you can make
+your arrangements at once and permanently, or at any rate for a
+considerable time ahead.  Or you might perhaps better arrange for the
+mother and child to leave Russia."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The girl looked perplexed; and fifty little notes of interrogation
+crinkled in her forehead and shot from her eyes.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"There is something behind that, of course," she said.  "What is it?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I think it would be the best plan if you yourself were to go away on a
+little tour.  You have had the idea of leaving Russia, you know, and
+going to your brother as soon as he has made a home in Paris, or
+wherever he stops."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Well?" when I paused.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Bluntly, I think you would be safer across the frontier;" and I told
+her at some length my reasons.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"But what of you?  Do you think I do not wish to share the success
+which my brother is enjoying here?  Or are you thinking of leaving
+Russia also?"  By a swift turn of the head she prevented me from seeing
+her face as she asked this.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+I laughed as I answered lightly:&mdash;"No.  The state of my health,
+combined with regimental duties, social engagements, Nihilistic
+contracts, and other complications render it a little difficult to
+leave at present."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The girl did not laugh, however, but kept her face turned from me; and
+I could not help admiring the poise of the head and the graceful
+outline it made against the grey evening light falling on her from the
+window.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+She seemed so much more womanly than the laughing girl I had met first
+on the Moscow platform, and it was difficult to think that so short a
+time had passed since then.  I filled up the long pause during which
+she appeared to be making up her mind what answer to give me, by
+thinking what a pleasant sister she was and how sorry I should be to
+lose her.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Well?" I asked, when the pause had lasted a very long time.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I am very much obliged to you for your advice," she said, turning
+round and looking coldly at me, and speaking in a formal precise tone;
+"but I find myself unable to take advantage of it.  I cannot
+conveniently leave Moscow just now."  Then just when I was at a loss to
+know how I had offended her, she changed suddenly.  She stamped her
+foot quite angrily, a flush of indignation reddened her cheeks and her
+eyes flashed as she looked at me and cried:&mdash;"And I thought you
+understood me!  Do you think we Petrovitch's are all cowards?  And that
+I am like Alexis, having got you into this fearful trouble would run
+away and leave you to get out of it alone?"  For an instant she
+struggled with her emotion.  Then she exclaimed: "It is an insult!" and
+bursting into tears she rushed out of the room.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+I stared in blank amazement at the door after it had closed behind her,
+and wondering what it was all about, left the house in a medley of
+confused thoughts, in which regret for having in some clumsy way
+worried her and the consciousness that she was really a plucky girl
+intermingled themselves with the memory of how pretty she had looked in
+her emotional indignation.  The thought of her tears, and that I had
+caused them, gave me the worst twinges, however; and this kept
+recurring and bothering me during the whole evening.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+At the club, where I went from Olga's house, I was careful to maintain
+the same part as on the previous day: the character of a stern,
+reserved, observant man, moody but very resolute and determined.  Not a
+sign of the bully nor a symptom of braggadocio: but just the kind of
+man who, while quite willing to let others take their own way in life,
+means to take his.  Unready to force a quarrel, but equally unready to
+pass over a slight; and relentless if involved.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+This was pretty much my own character, with some of the dash and life
+pressed out of it; and it was easy enough for me to maintain it.  That
+night I played a little.  I knew I had formerly been a pretty heavy
+gambler; but to-night I purposely stopped short in the full tide of
+winning.  I had lost at first, and the luck turned with a rush, as it
+will, and as soon as I had pulled back my losses I stopped, to the
+astonishment of all who had been accustomed to find in me a heavy
+plunger.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"You'll be donning the cowl, next, Petrovitch, and preaching
+self-denial," said one, a handsome laughing youngster who had been
+bemoaning his own losses a minute before.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"A good thing for the Turks, if he does it before the war," said
+another subaltern.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Some others chimed in, and it was easy to see from the drift of the
+talk how genuine was the turn in the tide of opinion about me.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+I left the club and wanting fresh air while I thought over matters I
+went for a short walk.  I knew the City pretty well, of course, owing
+to my long residence there; and the changes since I had left were not
+very considerable.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Walking thoughtfully down one of the broad streets I became conscious
+that I was being followed.  I had had a similar sensation before; but
+what Paula Tueski had told me about being watched and guarded, and the
+warning that Olga had given me now caused me to attach more importance
+to the matter.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+It is one of the most hateful sensations I know, to feel that one's
+footsteps are being dogged by a spy.  I turned round sharply several
+times, and each time noticed a man at some distance behind me trying to
+slip out of sight.  He was clever at his business, and several feints I
+made in the attempt to shake him off failed.  But I escaped him at
+length in the great Church of St Martin.  Everyone knows the many
+outlets of that enormous pile.  It has as many entrances as a rabbit
+warren, and most of them are nearly always open.  I went in by one door
+and left instantly by another, and running off at top speed, I was out
+of sight before the spy could well know I had left the building.  I
+seemed to breathe more freely as soon as I had shaken the fellow off.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+I stayed out some time, renewing my acquaintance with several parts of
+the city; and it was late when I reached home&mdash;so late that the streets
+were deserted.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+This fact nearly cost me my life.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+I was passing a narrow street when, without the slightest
+warning&mdash;though I cannot doubt that in some way my approach had been
+signalled&mdash;four men rushed out on me with drawn knives.  By mere chance
+their first rush did not prove fatal; for two of them who struck at me
+came so close, that the knives gashed my clothes.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+But when they missed their chance, I did not give them another.  I
+sprang aside, whipped out my sword, sent up a lusty cry for help that
+made the houses ring again, and set my back against the wall to sell my
+life as dearly as I could.  They closed round me and attacked
+instantly; a swift lunge sent my blade through one of them, a swinging
+cut made another drop his knife with a great cry of pain, and an
+unexpected, but tremendously violent back-handed blow with the hilt of
+my sword right in the face sent a third down reeling and half senseless.
+</P>
+
+<A NAME="img-087"></A>
+<CENTER>
+<IMG CLASS="imgcenter" SRC="images/img-087.jpg" ALT="A swinging cut made another drop his knife with a great cry of pain." BORDER="2">
+<P CLASS="capcenter">
+A swinging cut made another drop his knife with a great cry of pain.
+</P>
+</CENTER>
+
+<P>
+This sort of reception was by no means what they had expected; and as a
+shout in answer to my cry for help came from a distance, the unwounded
+man and the two who could get away rushed off at top speed; while the
+fourth who had only been dazed, struggled to his feet and would have
+staggered off as well had I let him.  But I stopped him, made him give
+up his knife, and then I drove him before me to my rooms&mdash;only a very
+short distance off&mdash;without waiting for the man to come up who had
+replied to my shout for help.  I did not want any help now.  No one man
+was at all likely to do me any harm, and I might thus get to know the
+cause of the attack, without being troubled with any outside
+interference.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Now, why did you seek to kill me?" I asked sternly, as soon as the man
+was in my room.  "You're not a thief; your dress and style shew that.
+Why, then, do you turn assassin?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"There should be no need for me to tell you that," said he, speaking
+with vehemence.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Nevertheless, I ask it," I returned, with even more sternness.
+Evidently I was going to make another discovery; and when the man
+waited a long time before answering, I scanned him closely to see if I
+could guess his object.  Clearly he was no thief.  He was fairly well
+dressed in the style of an ordinary tradesman or a superior mechanic;
+his appearance betokened rather a sedentary life and his muscles had
+certainly not been hardened by any physical training.  As certainly he
+was no police spy.  He was the last man in the world to have been
+picked out for such a job as that of the attempt on my life.  There was
+no probability of there being any private feud against me; that seemed
+ridiculous.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+I could only conclude, therefore, that the attack was from the
+Nihilists.  The man looked much more like an emissary of that
+kind&mdash;able to give a sudden thrust with a sharp knife; but incapable of
+doing more.  The instant I had come to this conclusion, and I came to
+it much more quickly than I can write it, I resolved what to do.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I am glad this encounter has taken place&mdash;not omitting the result, of
+course," I added grimly.  "There is no cause whatever for this decree."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The man's lip curled somewhat contemptuously, as I made this protest.
+He seemed to have formed the average low estimate of the value of my
+word.  Everywhere I turned I was met by the worthlessness of the scamp
+whose name I now bore.  The contempt silenced, even while it angered,
+me.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"You did not attend," he said curtly.  "A man's absence is poor proof
+of either innocence or courage.  You are not only a traitor but a
+coward."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"What!" I turned on him as if he had struck me.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+This puny, pale, insignificant weakling faced me as dauntlessly as if
+the positions were reversed and I was in his power, not he in mine.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"You are brave enough here now, no doubt&mdash;you armed against me
+unarmed."  He threw this sneering taunt at me with deliberate insolence.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+I stared at him first in amazement, and then in admiration.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+I had but to raise my hand to kill him with a stroke.  He read my
+thoughts.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"What do I care for my life, do you think?  Take it, if you like.  One
+murder more&mdash;even in cold blood&mdash;is a little matter to a soldier."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+A couple of turns up and down the room cooled me.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I don't want your life," said I, calmly.  "Though it's dangerous to
+call me a coward, and were you other than what you are, I'd ram the
+word down your throat.  With you, however, I'll deal differently.  You
+say I was afraid to attend your last meeting.  I'll do better than
+merely call that a lie, I'll prove it one.  Call another meeting in as
+big a place as you can, pack it with all the deadliest cut-throats you
+can find, resolve to shoot me down as I enter the door, and if I dare
+not attend it, then call me coward&mdash;but not till then."  My blood was
+up now, and I spoke as hotly as I felt.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Will you come?" asked the man.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Call the meeting and see.  Nay, more.  Between now and the time of the
+meeting think of the wildest and most dangerous scheme that you can to
+test what a desperate man can do for the cause, and give me the lead in
+it.  And when I've failed, write me down traitor, and not till then.
+And now, go, or by God I may forget myself and lay hands on you."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+My voice rang out in such sharp stern tones that the man's antagonism
+was beaten down by my earnestness.  My fierceness seemed to fire him,
+and when I threw open the door for him to go, he stood a moment and
+stared into my face, his own all eagerness, light and wildness.  Then
+he exclaimed in a tone of intense excitement:&mdash;-
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"By God, I believe you're true after all."  And with that he went.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+It was not until the man had been gone some time and I was pacing up
+and down my room, still excited, and revolving the chances of this,
+perhaps the most desperate of all the complications which threatened
+me, that I saw a letter on tinted paper, lying on my table.  I took it
+up and found it was from Olga, and my thoughts went back with a rush to
+her and to the circumstances under which I had left her that evening.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The letter was not very long.
+</P>
+
+<BR>
+
+<P CLASS="noindent">
+MY DEAR BROTHER,
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I have not ceased to regret the hasty words I spoke to you this
+evening.  Forgive me.  Of course you do not think me a coward; and I
+can see now that you must have some other motive for wishing me to
+leave Moscow and Russia, while you remain here alone to face&mdash;what may
+have to be faced.  But whatever your reason is, I cannot do it.  Do you
+understand that?  I cannot.  That is stronger than I will not.  I think
+you know me.  If so, you know that I will not.  If I thought you
+believed me capable of leaving you in the lurch after having brought
+all this on you, I should wish I had never had&mdash;such a brother.  I will
+never even let you mention the matter to me again.
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="noindent">
+Your sister,<BR>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;OLGA."<BR>
+</P>
+
+<BR>
+
+<P>
+I read this letter through two or three times, each time with a higher
+opinion of the staunch-hearted little writer.  And at the end I
+surprised myself considerably by pressing the letter involuntarily to
+my lips.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+She was a girl worth a good tough fight.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR><BR>
+
+<A NAME="chap08"></A>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+CHAPTER VIII
+</H3>
+
+<H4 ALIGN="center">
+THE RIVERSIDE MEETING
+</H4>
+
+<P>
+The Nihilists were not long in taking up my challenge; and on the
+following afternoon, the man whom I had interviewed in my rooms met me
+in the street and told me I was to meet him on the south side of the
+Cathedral Square at nine o'clock the next night.  There was a
+peremptory ring in the message which I didn't care for, but I promised
+to keep the appointment.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+I had thought out my plans and had come to see that the impulse under
+which I had spoken was as shrewd as the proposal itself was risky.  If
+I was not to be a perpetual mark for their attacks, I must make an
+impression on them; and I saw at once that the safest thing that could
+happen was at the same time the most daring&mdash;I must take the lead.  If
+some desperate scheme were placed in my hands for execution, I should
+certainly be allowed a free hand to carry it out, and as certainly have
+time in which to do it.  That was what I needed.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+I did not place the danger of attending the meeting very high.  If I
+were not murdered on my way to the place, wherever it might be&mdash;and
+that was highly improbable&mdash;I did not think they would venture to kill
+me at the meeting itself.  Moreover I reckoned somewhat on the effect I
+believed I had created on the man in my rooms.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+I took a revolver with me as a precaution; but I had little doubt about
+getting through the night safely.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+It turned out to be a very different affair from anything I had
+anticipated, however, and taken on the whole it was perhaps one of the
+most thrilling experiences I have ever passed through.  Whether I was
+really in danger of death at any time, or whether the whole business
+was merely intended to try and scare me, I don't know.  But I believe
+that if I had shewn any signs of fear, they would have murdered me
+there and then.  Certainly they had all the means at hand.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+I met the man by the Cathedral, and muttering to me to follow him at
+twenty paces distance, he walked on and presently plunged into a
+labyrinth of streets, leading from the Cathedral down to the river in
+the lowest quarter of the town.  The place was ill lit and worse
+drained, and the noisome atmosphere of some of the alleys which we
+passed and the mess through which we trudged, were horribly repulsive.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+In the lowest and darkest and dirtiest of the streets the man stopped
+and with a sign to me not to speak, pointed to a dark tumbling doorway.
+As I entered it, I saw it was about the aptest scene for a murder that
+could have been chosen.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The place was almost pitch dark, and as we had stepped out of a very
+bright moonlight, I had to stand a moment to let my eyes accustom
+themselves to the change.  Then I made out a broken, rambling stairway
+just ahead of us.  Taking it for granted that I was to go up these,
+ignorant whether I was supposed to know the place, and quite unwilling
+even to appear to wish to hang back, I stumbled up the stairs as
+quickly as the gloom would let me.  When I reached the top I found
+myself in a long, low shed that ran on some distance in front of me to
+a point there I thought I could discern a faint light.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+I groped my way forward, the boards giving ominously under my feet,
+when suddenly a voice said in a loud whisper out of the gloom and as if
+at my very ear:&mdash;
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Stand, if you value your life."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+I stopped readily enough, as may be imagined; and then the silence was
+broken by the swishing, rushing swirl of the swiftly flowing river,
+while currents of cold air caused by the moving water, were wafted up
+full in my face.  I strained my ears to listen and my eyes to see and
+craning forward, I could make out a huge gap in the floor wider than a
+man could have leapt, which opened right to my very feet.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+What happened I don't know; it was too dark to see.  But after a time
+there was a sound of a heavily moving body close at my feet, the noise
+of the water grew faint, and I was told to go forward.  I went on until
+I was again called to a halt; and after a minute the sound of the
+rushing water came again clear and distinct, this time from behind me.
+Then a flaring light was kindled all suddenly and thrown down into the
+wide gap until with a hiss it was extinguished in the river below.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+I knew what that meant.  It was a signal that all hope of retreat was
+cut off, and the signal was given in this dramatic fashion to frighten
+me if my nerves should be unsteady.  As a matter of fact it had rather
+the opposite effect.  I have generally found that when men are really
+dangerous they are least demonstrative.  These things&mdash;the darkness,
+the silence, the rushing water, the means of secret murder&mdash;were all
+calculated to frighten weak nerves no doubt, but they did not frighten
+me.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+At the same time I saw that if the men wished to murder me, they had
+ample means of doing it safely, and that the situation might easily
+become a very ugly one.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Without wasting time I went forward again, and passing through a door
+which was opened at my approach, I found myself in the end room of a
+disused and tumbling riverside warehouse; the side next the river being
+quite open and over-hanging the waters.  The place was unlighted save
+for the bright moonlight which came slanting in from the open end, and
+down through some chinks and gaps in the roof.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Scattered round the place were some thirty or forty men, their faces
+undistinguishable in the gloom, though care was taken to let me see
+that each man carried a knife: and when I entered, five or six of them
+closed round the door, as if to guard against the possibility of my
+retreat.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+I glanced about me to see whom to address, or who would speak to me.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+For a couple of minutes or more, not a soul moved and not a word was
+spoken.  The only sounds audible were these which came from the river
+without; the hushed burr of night life from the dim city beyond.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"You plea has been considered," said a voice at length in a tone
+scarcely above a whisper; but I thought I could recognise it as that of
+the man who had been in my rooms.  "It has been resolved not to accept
+it.  You have been brought here to-night to die."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"As you will; I am ready," I answered promptly.  "I am as ready to lose
+my life as you are to take it."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Kneel down," said the man.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Not I," I cried, resolutely.  "If I am to die, I prefer to stand.  But
+here, I'll make it easier for you.  Here's the only weapon I have.
+Take it, someone."  I laid my revolver on the floor in a little spot
+where a glint of moonlight fell on it.  Then I threw off my coat and
+waistcoat and turning back my shirt bared the heart side of my breast.
+If they could be dramatic, so could I, I thought.  "Here, strike," I
+cried.  "And all I ask is for a clean quick thrust right to the heart."
+I was growing excited.
+</P>
+
+<A NAME="img-096"></A>
+<CENTER>
+<IMG CLASS="imgcenter" SRC="images/img-096.jpg" ALT="&quot;Here, strike,&quot; I cried." BORDER="2">
+<P CLASS="capcenter">
+&quot;Here, strike,&quot; I cried.
+</P>
+</CENTER>
+
+<P>
+"No 13," said the man, after a long pause.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+A tall, broad, huge man loomed up out of a dark corner and stood
+between me and the light from the river.  As he laid his hands on me,
+the clasp was like a clamp of iron, and his enormous strength made me
+as a child in his clutch.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+With a trick that seemed to tell of much practice, he seized me
+suddenly by the right arm, holding it in a grip I thought no man on
+earth could possess, and bending me backwards held me so that either my
+throat or my heart were at the mercy of the long knife he held aloft.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+I let no sound escape me and did not move a muscle.  The next instant
+my left hand was seized and a finger pressed on my pulse.  In this
+position I stayed for a full minute.  I do not believe that my pulse
+quickened, save for the physical strain, by so much as one beat.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"It is enough," said the man who had before spoken; and I was released.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"You are no coward," he said, addressing me.  "I withdraw that.  You
+can have your life, on one condition."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"And that?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"That you swear..."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I will swear nothing," I interposed.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"You have taken the oath of fealty."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I will swear nothing.  Take my life if you like, but swear I will not.
+If I had meant treachery, I should have had the police round us
+to-night like a swarm of bees.  You have had a proof whether I'm true
+or not; and when I turn traitor, you can run a blade into my heart or
+lodge a bullet in my brain.  But oaths are nothing to a man who means
+either to keep or break his word.  What is the condition?  I told you
+mine before."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Yours is accepted.  Your task is"&mdash;here he sunk his voice and
+whispered right into my ear&mdash;"the death of Christian Tueski."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I accept," I answered readily.  I would have accepted, had they told
+me to kill the Czar himself.  "But it will take time.  I will have no
+other hand in it than mine.  It is a glorious commission.  Mine alone
+the honour of success, and mine alone the danger, or mine alone the
+disgrace of failure."  I looked on the whole thing now as more or less
+of a burlesque; but I played the part I had chosen as well as I could.
+And when the little puny rebel put out his hand in the darkness and
+clasped mine, I gripped his with a force that made his bones crack, as
+if to convey to him the intensity of my resolve and my enthusiastic
+pleasure at the grim work they had allotted me.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Then I was told to leave; and in a few minutes I was once more in the
+open air, quite as undecided then as I have always remained, as to what
+had been the real intentions in regard to myself.  One of my chief
+regrets was not to be able to see the burly giant who had twisted me
+about on his knee as easily as I should a fowl whose neck I meant to
+wring.  He was a man indeed to admire; and I would have given much for
+a sight of him.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+But my guide hurried me back through the labyrinth of streets into
+respectable Moscow once more, and I was soon busy with my thoughts as
+to how long a shrift I should have before my new "comrades" would grow
+impatient for me to act.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Certainly they would have plenty of time for their patience to grow
+very cold before I should turn murderer to further their schemes.  But
+I could not foresee the strange chain of events which was fated to
+fasten on me this new character that I had assumed so lightly and
+dramatically&mdash;the character of a desperate, bloodthirsty, and
+absolutely reckless Nihilist.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR><BR>
+
+<A NAME="chap09"></A>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+CHAPTER IX.
+</H3>
+
+<H4 ALIGN="center">
+DEVINSKY AGAIN.
+</H4>
+
+<P>
+It will be readily understood that I now found life exciting enough
+even to satisfy me.  The complications multiplied so fast, without any
+act of mine, that I had no time to think of the old troubles and
+disappointments which had so soured Hamylton Tregethner, and emptied
+life for him.  They had already faded into little more than memories,
+associated with a life that I had once lived but had now done with
+altogether.  I was getting rapidly absorbed by the dangers and
+incidents of the new life.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+How completely I had changed the current of opinion about Alexis
+Petrovitch I had abundant evidence during the next few days, in the
+form of invitations to houses which had hitherto been closed to me.
+People also began to remember Olga, and she shared in this way in the
+altered condition of things.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+I did not tell her any particulars of my night with the Nihilists, nor
+of the mission with which I was charged.  It would probably distress
+her, and could do no good; unless I might find it necessary to use it
+to compel her to leave Moscow.  I questioned her as to her own
+connections with the Nihilists, and from what she told me I saw that
+though they were slight in themselves, they were enough to put her in
+the power of a woman such as Paula Tueski; and decidedly much more than
+sufficient to make her arrest a certainty if I were to be arrested, or
+if anything should happen to throw increased suspicion on me.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Our meeting after her letter to me was a very pleasant one.  She met me
+with a smile and begged me again to forgive her.  That was not
+difficult.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I can speak frankly to my brother, now.  I couldn't always, you know,
+Alexis"&mdash;she glanced with roguish severity into my face&mdash;"because a few
+days ago you used to get very bad tempered and even swear a little.
+But I'll admit you are improving&mdash;in that respect; though I am afraid
+you are as dogged as ever.  But I can be dogged, too: and if I speak
+frankly now, it is to tell you that nothing you can do will make me go
+out of Russia until you are safe.  You may form what opinion you like
+of me&mdash;though I don't want that to be very bad&mdash;but a coward you shall
+never find me."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I didn't think you a coward.  You know that; you said it in your
+letter; and I shall not forgive that rudeness of yours, if you persist
+in this attitude."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"What is the use of a brother if one can't be rude to him, pray?  As
+for your forgiveness, you can't help that now.  You've given it.
+Besides, on reflection, I should not be frightened of you.  Will you
+make me a promise?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Yes, if it has nothing to do with your going away."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"It has."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Then I won't make it.  But I'll make a truce.  I will not press you to
+go away, unless I think it necessary for my own safety.  Will that do?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Yes, I'll go then," she answered readily, holding out her hand to make
+a bargain of it, as she added:&mdash;"Mind, if it's necessary for your
+safety."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"You're as precise as a lawyer," said I, laughing, as I pressed her
+hand and saw a flush of colour tinge her face a moment.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Now," she said, after a pause.  "I have a surprise for you.  I have a
+letter from an old friend of yours&mdash;a very old friend."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"An old friend of mine.  Oh, I see.  And old friend of your brother's,
+you mean.  Well, who is it now?  Is there another complication?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"No, no.  An old friend of my new brother's.  From Mr. Hamylton
+Tregethner."  She laughed merrily as she stumbled over the old Cornish
+syllables.  "I don't like that Englishman," she said, gravely.  "Do you
+know why?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Not for the life of me."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Well, I do not; but I can't say why."  Her manner was peculiar.  "See,
+here is the passport.  Mr. Tregethner has sent it and he seems to have
+crossed the Russian frontier without the least difficulty.  He has gone
+to Paris by way of Austria.  When shall you go?"  She did not look up
+as she asked this, but stood rummaging among the papers on the table.
+I took the passport, unfolded and read it mechanically; then without
+thinking, folded it up again and put it away in my pocket.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Evidently she meant it as my dismissal; and it was very awkward for me
+to explain that I could not be dismissed in this way because of the
+difficulties in the road of my leaving.  I did not wish to appear to
+force myself upon her as a brother; but I could not go without first
+seeing her in safety.  And there was the crux.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I'll make my arrangements as soon as I can," I replied, after a
+longish pause; and I was conscious of being a little stiff in my
+manner.  "But of course I can't manage things quite as I please.  You
+see, I didn't come into this&mdash;I mean, I took up the part and&mdash;well, I'm
+hanged if I know what I do mean; except that of course I'm sorry to
+seem to force myself on you longer than you like, but I can't get away
+quite so easily as you seem to think.  I know it puts you in an awkward
+position, but for the moment I don't for the life of me see how it's to
+be helped."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+As I finished she lifted her head, and her expression was at first
+grave, until the light of a smile in her blue eyes began to spread over
+her face, and the corners of her mouth twitched.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Then you won't be able to go yet?  Of course, it's very awkward, as
+you say: but I must manage to put up with it as best I can.  In the
+meantime as we have to continue the parts, we had better play them so
+as to mystify people.  Don't you agree with this?
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Yes, I think that, certainly," I answered, catching her drift, and
+smiling in my turn.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Then I am riding this afternoon at three o'clock; and as it might
+occasion remark if our afternoon rides were broken off quite suddenly,
+don't you think it would be very diplomatic if you were to come with
+me?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Yes, very diplomatic," I assented, readily.  "But you never told me
+before," said I, rising to go and get ready, "that we were in the habit
+of riding out together every day."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"It hasn't been exactly every afternoon," answered Olga, laughing.  "In
+fact, it's more than a year since the last ride, but the principle of
+the thing is the same.  We ought not to break the continuity."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"No, we ought not to break the continuity," I assented, laughing.
+"I'll soon be back."  I was, and an exceedingly jolly ride we had.
+Olga was a splendid horsewoman&mdash;a seat like a circus rider&mdash;and as soon
+as we were free of the city we had two or three rattling spins.  As we
+rode back we discussed the question of the best course for us to take.
+We were both too much exhilarated by the ride to take any but a
+sanguine view; and so far as I am concerned, I think I talked about it
+rather as a sort of link between us two than in any serious sense.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+When I got to my rooms I was surprised to learn from my servant Borlas
+that my old opponent, Major Devinsky, had called to see me.  I did not
+know he was back in Moscow, though I knew he had been away.  I had been
+at drill that morning&mdash;I had quickly fallen into the routine of the
+work&mdash;and had heard nothing of his return.  Certainly there was no
+reason why he should come to me; though there were many why he should
+keep away.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+He may have watched me into my rooms; for almost before I had changed
+my riding things, he was announced.  He came in smiling, impudent, self
+assertive, and disposed to be friendly.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"What can you want with me that can induce you to come here?" I asked
+coldly.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I want an understanding, Petrovitch...."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Lieutenant Petrovitch, if you please," I interposed.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Oh, I beg your pardon, Lieutenant Petrovitch, I'm sure," he answered
+lightly.  "But there's really no need for this kind of reception.  I
+want to be friends with you."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+I bowed as he paused.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"You and I have not quite understood each other in the past."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Not until within the last few days," I returned, significantly.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I'm not referring to that," he said, flushing.  "Though as you've
+started it I'll pay you the compliment of saying you're devilish neat
+and clever in your workmanship.  I had no idea of it, either, nor
+anyone less...."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"What do you want with me?" I interrupted, with a wave of the hand to
+stop his compliment.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I want to talk quietly over with you my suit for your sister's hand.
+I want to know where we stand, you and I."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"My sister's hand is not mine to give."  This very curtly.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I don't ask you to give it, man; I only want to win it.  I am as good
+a match for her as any man in Moscow..."  and with that he launched out
+into a long account of his wealth, position, and prospects, and of the
+position his wife would occupy.  I let him talk as long as he would,
+quite understanding that this was only the preface to something
+else&mdash;the real purpose of his visit.  Gradually he drew nearer and
+nearer to the point, and I saw him eyeing me furtively to note the
+effect of his words, which he weighed very carefully.  He spoke of his
+family influence; how he could advance my interests; what an advantage
+it was to have command of wealth when making an army career: and much
+more, until he shewed me that what he really intended was to presume on
+my old evil reputation and bribe me with money down if necessary, and
+with promises of future help, if I would agree to let Olga marry him.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Your proposal put in plain terms means," I said, bluntly, when he had
+exhausted his circuitous suggestions, "that you want to buy my consent
+and assistance.  I told you at the start that my sister's hand was not
+mine to give; neither is it mine to sell, Major Devinsky."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+He bent a sharp, calculating look on me as if to judge whether I was in
+earnest, or merely raising my terms.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I am not a man easily baulked," he said.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Nor I one easily bribed," I retorted.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"You will have a fortune, and more than a fortune behind you.  With
+skill like yours you can climb to any height you please."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Sink to any depth you please, you should say," I answered sternly.
+"But my sister declines absolutely to be your wife.  She dislikes you
+cordially&mdash;as cordially as I do: and no plea that you could offer would
+induce her to change her mind."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"You weren't always very solicitous about her wishes," he muttered,
+with an angry sneer.  I didn't understand this allusion: but it made me
+very angry.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"You are under my roof," I cried hotly.  "But even here you will be
+good enough to put some guard on your speech.  It may clear your
+thoughts to know what my present feelings are."  I now spoke with
+crisp, cutting emphasis.  "If my sister could by any art or persuasion
+be induced to be your wife, I would never consent to exchange another
+word with her in all my life.  As for the veiled bribe you have
+offered, I allowed you to make it, that I might see how low you would
+descend.  Sooner than accept it, I would break my sword across my knee
+and turn cabman for a living.  But your visit shall have one result&mdash;I
+will tell my sister all that has passed..."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"By Heaven, if you dare."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"All that has passed now, and if she would rather marry you than retain
+her relationship to me, I will retire in your favour.  But you will do
+well not to be hopeful."  I could not resist this rather petty little
+sneer.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"You will live to repent this, Lieutenant Petrovitch."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"At your service," I replied, quietly with a bow.  He was white to the
+lips with anger when he rose to go, and he seemed as if fighting to
+keep back the utterance of some hot insult that rose to his tongue.
+But his rage got no farther than ugly looks, and he was still wrestling
+with his agitation when he left the room.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+I could understand his chagrin.  He would have dearly liked to force me
+at the point of the sword to consent, and the knowledge that this was
+no longer possible, that in some way which of course he could not
+understand I had broken his influence and was no longer afraid of him,
+galled and maddened him almost beyond endurance.  He looked the baffled
+bully to the life.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+It was two days before I had an opportunity of speaking to Olga about
+it.  I had made a rule of seeing her daily if possible, lest anything
+should happen that needed explanation by her; but she was away the next
+day and our daily "business conference," did not take place.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+She took the matter very curiously when I did mention it, however.  She
+was a creature of changing moods, indeed.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I have a serious matter to speak to you about; something that may
+perhaps surprise you," I said, when we were riding.  "I am the bearer
+of a message to you."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"To me?" her face wrinkling with curiosity.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Yes, to you.  I have to be very much the brother in this; in fact the
+head of the family," and then without much beating about the bush I
+told her of Devinsky's visit and of his desire to make her his wife.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+She listened to me very seriously, scanning my face the while; but did
+not interrupt me.  I had expected a contemptuous and passionate
+refusal.  But her attitude was simply a conundrum.  She heard me out to
+the end with gravity, and when I had finished, reined in her horse and
+for a full minute stared point-blank into my eyes.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Then she laughed lightly, and asked as she sent her horse forward
+again:&mdash;
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Do you think I ought to marry him&mdash;brother?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Frankly, I was a good deal disappointed at her conduct.  I did not see
+that there could be a moment's hesitation about her answer, especially
+after all she had said to me about the man.  And this feeling may
+perhaps have shewn in my manner.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I could do no less than tell you of the proposal, considering that
+Devinsky believes in the relationship between us," I said.  "But I
+don't see how you, knowing everything, can look to me for the judgment
+I should have had to give were that relationship real and I actually
+head of the family."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+This stilted reply seemed to please her, for she glanced curiously at
+me and then smiled, as I thought almost merrily, or even mischievously,
+as she replied:&mdash;
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"A proposal of marriage is a very serious thing, Alexis."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Yes, and so people often find it."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Major Devinsky is very rich, and very influential.  He is right when
+he says that his wife would have a very good position in one way in
+Moscow."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I wish her much happiness with him," I retorted, grimly.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"He is very handsome, too."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+I said nothing.  She disappointed and vexed me.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Ah, you men never see other men's good looks.  You're very moody," she
+added, after a pause when she found me still silent.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I don't admire Major Devinsky," I said rather sullenly.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+She laughed so heartily at this and seemed evidently so pleased that I
+wished I had found the laugh less musical.  Next, she looked at me
+again thoughtfully before she spoke, as if to weigh the effect of her
+words.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"It would be greatly to your advantage, too, Alexis, to have Major
+Devinsky...."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Thank you," I cut in shortly.  "I do not seek Major Devinsky's
+patronage.  When I cannot climb or stand without it, I'll fall, and
+quite contentedly, even if I break my neck.  Shall we get on?"  And I
+urged my horse to a quick trot.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+My evident irritation at her suggestion&mdash;for I could not hear the
+matter without shewing my resentment&mdash;seemed to please her as much as
+anything, for she smiled as her nag cantered easily at my side.  But I
+would not look at her.  If she meant to marry Devinsky I meant what I
+had said to him.  I would have no more to do with the business, and I
+would get out of Russia as soon as possible the best way I could.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+A sidelong glimpse that I caught of Olga's face after a while shewed me
+that the look of laughing pleasure had died away and had given place to
+a thoughtful and rather stern expression.  "Making up her mind," was my
+thought; and then having a stretch of road ahead, I quickened up my
+horse's speed to a hard gallop and we had a quick burst at a rattling
+pace.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+When we pulled up and stood to breathe our horses before turning their
+heads homewards, the girl's cheeks were all aglow with ruddy colour and
+her eyes dancing with the excitement of the gallop.  She made such a
+picture of beautiful womanhood that I was forced to gaze at her in
+sheer admiration.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+We had not spoken since I had closed the last bit of dialogue, and now
+she manoeuvred her horse quite close to me and said:&mdash;
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Alexis, did you bring that proposal to me deliberately?"
+</P>
+
+<A NAME="img-109"></A>
+<CENTER>
+<IMG CLASS="imgcenter" SRC="images/img-109.jpg" ALT="&quot;Alexis, did you bring that proposal to me deliberately?&quot;" BORDER="2">
+<P CLASS="capcenter">
+&quot;Alexis, did you bring that proposal to me deliberately?&quot;
+</P>
+</CENTER>
+
+<P>
+"Yes.  It was scarcely a question I could answer for you."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Couldn't you?"  Her eyes rested on mine with an expression that at
+another time I should have read as reproach.  "Did you think there
+could be any but one answer?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"No, I didn't.  But one never knows," I said, remembering what she had
+said just before the gallop.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Don't you?  Well, you must think we Russian women are poor stuff!  One
+day, ready to sneak off in disgraceful cowardice: and the next, willing
+to marry an utterly despicable wretch because he has money and
+influence and position.  Do you mean to tell me that you, acting as my
+brother, actually let this man make this proposition in cold blood, and
+did not hurl him out of your rooms?  You!"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+I stared at her in sheer amazement at the change, and could find not a
+word to say.  Nor was there any need.  Now that her real feelings had
+forced themselves to words she had plenty: and for some minutes she did
+nothing but utter protestation after protestation of her hatred and
+contempt of Devinsky: while her hits at me for having been the
+mouthpiece of the man were many and hard.  What angered her was, she
+said, to feel that the smallest doubt of her intention had been left in
+Devinsky's mind; and it was not till I told her much more particularly
+and exactly all that had passed on this point that she was satisfied.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+We had ridden some way homewards when her mood changed again, and
+laughter once more prevailed.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"So you told him I must choose between him and&mdash;my brother; or rather
+my present relationship to you?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I told him I would never speak to you again if you married him."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Well, I have chosen," she replied at once.  "I shall not give up&mdash;my
+brother," and with that she pricked up her nag and we rattled along
+fast, her cheeks growing ruddier and ruddier than ever with the
+exercise.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+I couldn't follow her change of mood; but I was heartily glad she had
+decided to have nothing to do with Devinsky.  She was far too good a
+girl to be wasted on him.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR><BR>
+
+<A NAME="chap10"></A>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+CHAPTER X.
+</H3>
+
+<H4 ALIGN="center">
+"THAT BUTCHER, DURESCQ."
+</H4>
+
+<P>
+We were not by any means done with Devinsky yet, however, and I was to
+have striking proof of this a couple of days later.  I met him in the
+interval as men in the same regiment are bound to meet; and I deemed it
+best to avoid all open rupture, seeing that he was my superior officer,
+and unpleasant consequences to others beside myself might result.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+I told him shortly that Olga declined his offer and that it must never
+be renewed.  He took it coolly enough, replying only that his feelings
+for her would never change, nor should he abandon the resolve to make
+her his wife.  Then he made overtures of peace and apologised for what
+he had said.  I thought it discreet to patch up a sort of treaty of
+mutual tolerance.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+I was speaking of this to Essaieff, to whom, in common with all the
+mess, Devinsky's infatuation for Olga was perfectly well known, and my
+former second seemed particularly impressed by it.  Since the duel I
+had seen more of him than of any other man, and I liked him.  I could
+be with him more safely than with others, moreover, because he had seen
+so little of the unregenerate Alexis.  Every man who had been at all
+intimate with my former self I now avoided altogether, because of the
+risk of detection&mdash;although this risk was of course diminishing with
+every day that passed.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I don't like what you say, Petrovitch," said Essaieff, after he had
+thought it over.  "I'm convinced Devinsky's a dangerous man; and if he
+attempts to make things up with you, depend upon it he's got some ugly
+reason behind."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"A reason in petticoats," said I, lightly.  "A brother's a charming
+fellow to a man in love with the sister."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"No doubt; but he thought he was going to kill the 'charming fellow' in
+that duel.  Why did he go away; and where did he go?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"He didn't tell me his private business, naturally."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Yet I'm much mistaken if it didn't in some way concern you."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I don't see how."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"We don't see the sun at midnight, man; but that's only because there's
+something in the line of sight.  Other people can see it clearly
+enough."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Well, I don't see this sun, any way; and I'm not going to worry about
+it."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Have you ever heard of Durescq?  Alexandre Durescq?" he asked after a
+pause.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"No, never," I answered promptly, making one of those slips which it
+was impossible for me to avoid in my private chats.  Essaieff's next
+words shewed me my blunder.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"My dear fellow, you must have heard of him.  Durescq, the duellist.
+The man who has the reputation of being the best swordsman in the
+Russian army.  The French fellow who naturalised, and clapped a 'c'
+into his name and cut off the tail of it to make Duresque into Durescq.
+Why, he was here last year, and dined with us at the mess.  Devinsky
+brought him.  You had joined us then, surely and must have been
+introduced by Devinsky?  You must remember him."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Oh, that Durescq!" I exclaimed, as if recalling the incident.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"'That Durescq!'  There's no other for the whole Russian army," said
+Essaieff drily.  "And if he heard you say it, he'd want an explanation
+quickly enough."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I was thinking for a minute of another Duresque, Essaieff, whom I knew
+much better.  Different sex, whose killing of men was done in a
+different way."  I smiled as I made the equivocation.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I met him this morning," said my companion, not noticing my remark and
+looking more thoughtful than before.  "I wonder if Devinsky's absence
+has anything to do with Durescq's presence; and whether..." he paused
+and looked at me.  "It would be a damnably ugly business; but
+Devinsky's not incapable of it; and so far as I know, the other man's
+worse than he is.  Moreover, I know that they have been together in
+more than one very dirty affair.  There are ugly items enough standing
+to both their debits.  But this would be murder&mdash;sheer, deliberate,
+damnable murder, and nothing else."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+I had rarely seen him so excited as he was now.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"You think Devinsky has brought this man here to do what he couldn't do
+himself the other morning?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I don't say I think it," replied Essaieff, cautiously.  "I shouldn't
+like to think it of any man: but if I were you I'd be a bit cautious
+about getting into a quarrel."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Caution be hanged," I cried.  "If that's their game I'll force the
+pace for them.  We'll have a real fight next time, Essaieff, and we'll
+make the thing such that one of us is bound to go under.  But I'll have
+one condition, and one only&mdash;that Devinsky meets me first.  And if I
+don't send him first to hell to wait for his friend or act as my <I>avant
+courier</I>, may I have the palsy."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"What a fire-devil you've turned, Alexis," said Essaief,
+enthusiastically.  It was the first time he had used my Christian name,
+and it pleased me.  "Even the rankers have found you out now.  'That
+devil Alexis,' is what they call you one to the other, since you beat
+their best men in leaping, and running, and staff playing.  If the war
+comes, as like good Russians we pray it may, what a time you'll have.
+They'll follow you anywhere.  Yes, there's shrewdness enough in your
+last devilment.  If you insist on first killing Devinsky, Durescq will
+probably take back a bloodless sword to the capital."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+His pithy reference to the feeling in the regiment touched my vanity on
+its weak spot, and gave me quite disproportionate pleasure.  As we
+talked over this possible plan of Devinsky's I tried to get him to
+speak of the feeling again.  It is rather a paltry confession to make;
+but the nick-name, 'That devil Alexis,' was exactly what I would have
+wished to bear.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Although Essaieff had suggested this action on the part of Devinsky, I
+scarcely thought it possible that he would do what we had discussed;
+but I had not been many minutes in the club that evening before the
+thing seemed not only probable, but certain; and I saw that I had a
+very ugly corner to turn.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Alexandre Durescq was there and I eyed him curiously.  He was taller
+than I by an inch, but not so broad.  His figure was well knit and
+lithe, and he moved with the air which a man gets whose sinews are of
+steel and are kept in perfect condition by constant and severe
+training.  He was the type of a sinewy athlete.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+His face was a most unpleasant one.  The features were thin and all
+very long; and the thinness added to the apparent abnormal length from
+brow to chin.  His complexion was almost Mongolian in its sallowness;
+his hair coal black, and his eyes, set close to his large and very
+prominent aquiline nose, were small but brilliant in expression and
+seemingly coal black in colour.  Altogether a most remarkable looking
+man; and I was not astonished that Essaieff had been surprised when I
+said I had forgotten him.  He was not a man to be forgotten.  The
+expression of his face was sardonic and saturnine, and his manners and
+gestures were all saturated with intense self-assertiveness.  He moved,
+looked, and spoke as though he felt that everyone was at once beneath
+him and afraid of him.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+He was at the far end of the room when I entered, and I saw Devinsky
+stoop and whisper to him immediately he caught sight of me.  The man
+turned slightly and glanced in my direction, and my instincts warned me
+of danger.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+I would not baulk the pair; but I would not provoke the quarrel.  I
+moved quietly about the room, chatting with one man and another; but
+keeping a wary eye disengaged for the two at the other end.  Gradually
+I worked my way round to where they were, and both rose as I
+approached.  I saw too, that Devinsky's old seconds and toadies were
+near and were watching me and smirking.  They formed a group of three
+or four men who seemed to me to have intimation what was coming.  They
+were waiting to see me "jumped."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+I knew, however, that if I kept quiet, I should make the task more
+difficult for the pair, and thus compel Devinsky to shew his hand; and
+so give me the pretext I needed to force the first fight on him.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Good evening, Petrovitch, or Lieutenant Petrovitch, I suppose I should
+say," said Devinsky, and the instant he spoke I could tell he had been
+drinking.  "I think you've met my friend Captain Durescq?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Not yet," I said, looking straight into Devinsky's eyes with a meaning
+he read and didn't like.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Is this the gentleman who is so particular in asserting his
+lieutenancy?  Good evening, Lieutenant Petrovitch."  He said this in a
+tone that was insufferably insolent; and as if to point the insult, the
+two toadies when they heard it, sniggered audibly.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Nothing could have played better into my hands.  All four made an
+extraordinary blunder, since they shewed, before I had opened my lips,
+that the object was to force a quarrel; and thus the sympathies of
+every decent man in the place were on my side.  I kept cool.  I was too
+wary to take fire yet.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I thought you knew Captain Durescq when he was here last year," said
+Devinsky.  "But you may have forgotten."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Good evening, Captain Durescq," said I, ignoring Devinsky and
+returning the other man's greeting.  "What is the latest war news in St
+Petersburg?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Bad for those who do not like fighting," he said, looking at me in a
+way that turned this to a personal insult.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"But good perhaps, for those soldiers whose swords are to hire," I
+returned, with a smile which did not make my point less plain.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The man's eyes flashed.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"They will take the place of your friends who do not like the
+fighting," I added; and at this all about us grew suddenly silent.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"My friends?  How do you mean?" asked Durescq stiffly.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Those you mentioned in your first sentence.  Whom else should I mean?"
+and I let my eye rest as if by accident on Devinsky.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"You have a singular manner of expressing yourself, Lieutenant."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"We provincials do not always copy the manners of the capital, you
+know," I returned in my pleasantest manner.  "I think the provinces are
+growing more and more independent every year.  We arrange our own
+affairs in our own way, have our own etiquette, form our own
+associations, and settle our own quarrels without aid from the capital."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+I heard Devinsky swear softly into his moustache at this; but there was
+nothing for them to take hold of, though every man in the room
+understood what I meant; and nearly all were now listening.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Yes, I have heard you have singular manners in the provinces.  My
+friend here, Devinsky, has told me several curious things.  I heard of
+one provincial for instance, who allowed himself to be insulted and
+browbeaten till his cowardice was almost a by-word, and it became
+really impossible for him to remain in the army unless he accepted the
+challenge he had so often refused.  And then he begged, almost with
+tears, to get terms made; and when this was not done, he deadened his
+fears with drink and came to the club here like a witless fool,
+behaving like a drunken clown; and then at last actually went out and
+fought in a condition of seeming delirium.  We do not have that in the
+capital.  In St Petersburg we should have such a scabby rascal whipped
+on a gun."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+A movement among the group of toadies shewed me how this burlesque of
+my conduct was appreciated there, while Devinsky was grinning
+boastfully.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Did Major Devinsky tell you that?" I asked; my voice down at least two
+tones in my excitement, while my pulses thrilled at the insult.  But
+outwardly I was calm.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Yes, I think that's a pretty fair description, isn't it, Devinsky?"
+replied Durescq, turning coolly to the latter for confirmation.  Then
+he turned again to me and asked:&mdash;"Why, do you recognise the
+description, Lieutenant Petrovitch?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"You have not heard the whole of the story," I answered, getting the
+words out with difficulty between teeth I had to clench hard to keep my
+passion under control.  "The man who was beaten in the duel left Moscow
+in a panic and went to St Petersburg for a purpose&mdash;that you may
+perhaps approve."  There was now dead silence in all the room and the
+eyes of every man in it were rivetted on me.  "The first object of the
+duel was that he might kill in it the man whose skill was thought to be
+inferior to his own, so that he might persecute with his disgusting
+attentions the sister of him on whom he had fixed the quarrel.
+Failing, he went to fetch a cleverer sword than his own to do his dirty
+work; and he fetched&mdash;&mdash;"  I paused and then my rage burst out like a
+volcano&mdash;"He fetched a butcher named Durescq to do butcher's work; and
+I, by God! won't baulk him."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+With this I lost all control, and springing upon him I seized his nose
+and wrung it and twisted it, dragging his head from side to side in my
+ungovernable fury, until I nearly broke my teeth with the straining
+force with which I clenched them.  Then raising my hand I slapped his
+face with a force and loudness that resounded right through the room
+and made every man start and wonder what would come next.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"That is from the man you say dare not fight.  One last word.  Before I
+meet the butcher, I insist on meeting the man who hired him.
+Lieutenant Essaieff will act for me."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+With that I left the room, feeling that although I was now all but
+certain to be killed by Durescq I should at least die as became "that
+devil Alexis."
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR><BR>
+
+<A NAME="chap11"></A>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+CHAPTER XI.
+</H3>
+
+<H4 ALIGN="center">
+DANGER FROM A FRESH SOURCE.
+</H4>
+
+<P>
+I walked home with a feeling of rare exhilaration.  Whatever happened,
+this was my own quarrel, and I had so acted as to secure the sympathy
+of all who knew the facts.  The quarrel had been fixed on me in public
+in a manner peculiarly disgraceful to both my opponents, and if they
+killed me, it would be murder.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+If on the other hand I could kill either or both, the world would be
+the sweeter and purer for their riddance.  Moreover I had so arranged
+matters that I saw how I should have at least an equal chance of my
+life.  I should have the choice of weapons and I would fight Devinsky
+with swords and the "butcher" with pistols.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+I thought much about Durescq's skill.  He had a huge reputation both as
+a swordsman and a shot; but I was very confident in my own skill with
+the sword, and inclined to doubt whether he could beat me even with
+that.  In the end, however, I decided not to run that risk.  The issue
+should be left to chance.  The duel should be fought with pistols.  One
+should be loaded, and one unloaded; and a toss should settle which each
+should have.  We would then stand at arm's length, the barrel of one
+man's weapon touching the other's forehead.  The man to whom Fortune
+gave the loaded weapon would thus be bound to blow the other's brains
+out, whether he had any skill or not.  Both would stand equal before
+Fortune.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+About an hour later, Essaieff came to me and told me that the whole
+regiment was in a state of excitement about the fight and that feeling
+against Devinsky had reached a positively dangerous pitch, especially
+when it was known that he had practically refused to meet me.  That
+point was still unsettled, and Essaieff had come to get my final
+decision.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"My advice is, stand firm," he said.  "You're in the right.  There
+isn't an unprejudiced man in the whole army who wouldn't say you were
+acting well within your rights; just as, I must say, my dear fellow,
+you've acted splendidly throughout."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+I told him what I had been thinking.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"It seems a ghastly thing to put a life in the spin of a coin," he
+commented.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Better than to have it ended without a chance, by the thrust of a
+butcher's knife."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"That name will stick to Durescq for always," he said, with a slow
+smile.  "It was splendid.  Do you know you made me hold my breath while
+you were at him.  Damn him, so he is a butcher!"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Do you say Devinsky won't meet me?" I asked.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"No, not that he won't; but he raises the excuse that as Durescq's
+challenge was given first&mdash;as it was indeed&mdash;the order of the fight
+must follow the order of the challenges.  But they arranged the
+challenges purposely in that order."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I shan't hold to the point," I said, after a moment's consideration.
+"If they insist I shall give way and meet Durescq first.  But this will
+only make it the more easy for us to insist on our plan of fighting.
+Don't give way on that.  I am resolved that one of us shall fall: and
+chance shall settle which."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Essaieff tried to persuade me to insist on meeting Devinsky first; but
+I would not.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"No.  He shan't carry back to St Petersburg the tale that we in Moscow
+are ready to bluster in words, and then daren't make them good in our
+acts."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I hope he'll carry back no tale at all to St Petersburg," answered my
+friend, grimly: and then he left me.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+I completed what few preparations I had to make in view of the very
+probably fatal issue of the fight: wrote a letter to Olga and enclosed
+one to Balestier as I had done before; and was just getting off to bed,
+when Essaieff came back to report.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+My message had added to the already great excitement and there had been
+at first the most strenuous opposition to our plan of fighting.  But he
+had forced his way, and the meetings&mdash;with the "butcher" first and, if
+I did not fall, with Devinsky afterwards&mdash;were fixed for eight o'clock.
+He promised to come for me half an hour before that time: and he urged
+me to get to bed and to have as much sleep as possible to steady my
+nerves.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+They were steady enough already.  I gloated over the affair; and I
+meant so to use it as to set the seal to my reputation as "that devil
+Alexis," whether I lived or died.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+But after all I was baulked.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+I slept soundly enough till Borlas called me early in the morning and
+told me strange news.  A file of soldiers were in my room, and the
+sergeant had requested me to be called at once as he had an important
+message.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+I called the man into my bedroom and asked him what he wanted.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"You are to consider yourself under arrest, Lieutenant," he said
+saluting, and drawing himself up stiffly.  "And in my charge."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"What for?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I don't know, Lieutenant.  I had my orders from the Colonel himself
+first thing; and, if you please, I am to prevent you leaving the house.
+You'll understand my position, sir.  Will you give me your word not to
+attempt to leave?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Where are your written orders?"  I knew the man well and he liked me.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"My orders are verbal, Lieutenant; but very strict and imperative."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Privately, do you know anything of the cause of this?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"You'll have a letter from the Colonel, I think, Lieutenant, within an
+hour, requiring you to go to him.  Major Devinsky is also confined to
+his quarters, sir; and also, I think, Captain Durescq.  We've heard in
+the regiment, sir, what happened at the officers' club last night."  A
+certain look on his lined bearded face and in his eyes as he saluted me
+when he said this, told me much.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+I chafed at the interference, and cursed the Colonel for having
+apparently taken a hand in the matter.  This butcher would now be able
+to go back to St Petersburg with a lying garbled tale that we in Moscow
+got out of quarrels by clinging to the coat tails of our commanding
+officer; and it made me mad.  I tried to persuade the sergeant to let
+me out to go to the place of meeting; promising to be back within an
+hour; but he was immovable.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I would, if I dared, Lieutenant; but I dare not.  I'm not the man to
+stop a fair fight, and I hate this work.  But duty's duty."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+When Essaieff came, he threw new light on the matter.  The affair had
+caused a huge commotion.  In the early hours of the morning he had been
+summoned to the Colonel, who had in some way got wind of the matter; a
+very ugly version having been told him.  My friend had had to tell the
+plain truth and there had been the devil to pay.  The wires to St
+Petersburg had been kept going through the night; the whole thing had
+been laid before Head-Quarters at the Ministry for War; and the arrest
+of the three principals had been ordered from the capital.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Soon afterwards a peremptory summons came for me from the Colonel and
+when I got to him I found both Devinsky and Durescq there, together
+with two or three of the highest officers then stationed in Moscow.  A
+sort of informal examination took place, out of which I am bound to say
+both the other men came very badly; and in the end we were all three
+ordered off to stay in our quarters under arrest.  I found that not
+only were we not allowed to go out&mdash;sentries being posted in my rooms
+all the time&mdash;but no one was permitted to enter: nor could I
+communicate with a single individual for two days.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+At the end of that time the order came for me to resume duty; and as
+soon as the morning's drill was over, the Colonel sent for me and told
+me what had happened.  The military authorities at St Petersburg had
+taken the harshest view of the conduct of my two antagonists.  It was
+regarded as a deliberate plot to kill.  Devinsky had been cashiered;
+and only Durescq's great influence had prevented him from sharing the
+same fate.  As it was, he had had all his seniority struck off, been
+reduced to the rank of a subaltern, and sent off there and then under
+quasi arrest with heavy military escort, to a regiment stationed right
+away on the most southern Turkestan frontier.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"As for Devinsky, the regiment's well rid of him," said the Colonel,
+with such emphasis and earnestness that I saw his own personal
+animosity had had quite as much to do with the man's overthrow as the
+latter's own conduct.  But it pleased the old man to put it all down to
+me, and when we were parting, he shook hands cordially and said:&mdash;"The
+Regiment owes you a vote of thanks, my boy; and I'll see that it's paid
+in full."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"One question I should like to ask," said I.  "How did you get to hear
+of it all?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"The news was everybody's property, lad, and&mdash;don't ask questions," he
+replied with dry inconsequence.  And would say no more.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+But I was soon to learn, and the news surprised me as much as any part
+of the whole strange incident.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The first use I made of my liberty was to go and see Olga and explain
+my absence and all that had happened.  She had heard a somewhat garbled
+account of it in which the part I played had been greatly exaggerated,
+and she received me with the greatest tenderness and sympathy; and
+tears of what seemed pleasure, but she explained as cold, glistened in
+her eyes.  We had a long and closely confidential chat; and she made me
+feel more by her trustful manner and gentle attitude than by her actual
+words, how much she had missed me during the days of our separation and
+how thankful she was to be free of Devinsky for good, and how much she
+felt she owed to me on that account.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+For myself I was sorry when I had to leave her.  She was the only
+person in Moscow to whom I could speak without restraint; a fact that
+made our interviews so welcome that I was loath to end this one.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+It was getting dusk when I left and as I walked home I was thoughtful
+and preoccupied.  The question of Olga's safety was pressing very
+hardly on me and made me extremely anxious.  The more I saw of her the
+more eager I was to get her out of harm's way; and the consciousness
+that she must share the consequences of any disaster that might happen
+to me, were I discovered, was pressing upon me with increasing
+severity.  I was beginning to anticipate more vividly, moreover, the
+coming of some such disaster.  The time was passing very quickly.  It
+was getting on for nearly three weeks since the Nihilist meeting, and I
+knew that my Nihilist "allies" would be growing anxious for a sign of
+my zeal.  They were probably well aware that I was doing nothing to
+redeem my pledge.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+There was also the undeniable danger inseparably connected with the
+distasteful intrigue with Paula Tueski.  I had so neglected her in my
+character of lover that I was hourly expecting some proof of her
+indignation.  I had only seen her twice in the three weeks; and each
+time in public; and though Olga and she had interchanged visits, I knew
+perfectly well that she was not the woman to take neglect passively.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+I blamed myself warmly, too, for my own inactivity.  My whole policy
+had been so to try and gain time, and yet I had made no use of it,
+except to get into broils which had increased the already bewildering
+complications.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+That this would be the effect of my quarrel with Devinsky and Durescq,
+I could not doubt when I came to think the matter over in cool blood.
+I had been the means of both of them being ruined; and naturally every
+friend they had in Russia would take part against me.  I knew that
+Durescq had friends among the most powerful circles in Russia, and I
+had nothing to oppose to their anger save the poor position of a
+lieutenant in a marching regiment and a past that was full of
+blackguardism and evil repute.  Personally this was all nothing to me;
+but when I thought of the indirect results it might have for Olga it
+troubled and worried me deeply.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Everything pointed to one conclusion&mdash;that Olga should leave Russia
+while she could do so in safety.  I was meditating on these things when
+a girl stopped me suddenly, asking if I were Lieutenant Petrovitch.
+She then gave me a scrap of paper; and I glanced at and read it.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"<I>The old rendezvous, at once.  Urgent.  P.T.</I>"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+I questioned the girl as to who gave it to her, and where the person
+was; but getting no satisfactory account, dismissed her with a few
+kopecks.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+It beat me.  Obviously it was from Paula Tueski.  Equally obviously it
+was an appointment at which she had apparently something to say of
+importance.  But where the deuce the "old rendezvous" was I knew no
+more than the wind.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+I am not one to waste time over the impossible; and as I certainly
+could not go to a place I did not know of, I tore the letter into
+shreds and went on home.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+I let myself in and found that my servant was out&mdash;a most unusual thing
+at that time of the day; but I had begun to fear that the man was below
+rather than above the average of Russian servants and was already
+contemplating his dismissal.  I did not attach much importance to his
+present absence, however; and throwing myself into a chair sat and
+thought or tried to think of some scheme by which I could induce Olga
+to leave the country, and some means by which her departure could be
+safely arranged.  She must go at once.  She had promised me to go when
+I could tell her it was necessary for my safety; and I could truthfully
+say that now.  If she would go, I would have a dash for liberty myself.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+While I was thinking in this strain someone knocked at my outer door,
+and when I opened it, to my surprise, Paula Tueski rushed in quickly.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+A glance at her face shewed me she was in an exceedingly ill temper; as
+indeed it appeared to me she generally was.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Where is your servant?" was her first question hurriedly asked.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I really don't know.  Out somewhere; but&mdash;&mdash;"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"His absence means danger, Alexis.  Why didn't you come to me when I
+sent a message to you just now.  You read it, questioned the girl, and
+then tore it up and threw it in the gutter; and all this as
+unconcernedly as if you did not know full well that from our window you
+must be in full view of me.  Are you always going to scorn me?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+I took care to shew no surprise; but it was clear I had blundered
+badly, and that the "rendezvous" was close to the spot where the paper
+had been given to me.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I could not come.  I had to hurry home.  I&mdash;&mdash;"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Bah!  Don't trifle with me like that.  Haven't you had enough of your
+prison during the last two days?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"You know the news, then?" said I, following her gladly off the track.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"It is you who do not know the news.  Ah, Alexis, you are giving me
+more trouble in this new character of yours than ever you did in the
+old one&mdash;much as you harassed me then.  But I do not mind if only...."
+She stopped and looked at me with beaming eyes.  "You have not kissed
+me; and here I am risking all again and even venturing right here into
+your rooms."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"What do you mean about new character?" I asked.  Her phrase had
+startled me.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I like it better than the old.  Fifty thousand times better 'That
+devil Alexis,' than 'That roué Petrovitch.'  But whenever I think of
+the change, I can't understand it&mdash;I don't understand you.  I could
+almost swear, sometimes, you are not the same man"&mdash;she came close up
+to me and putting her hands on my shoulders, stared long and earnestly
+right into my eyes&mdash;"and then I wonder how I can have been so blind as
+not to have seen all that lay hidden in you: all that was noble and
+brave and daring.  But I love you, Alexis, twenty thousand times more
+than ever; and to have saved your life now is a thought of infinite
+sweetness to me.  Kiss me, sweetheart."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+I started back as if she had stung me.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Do you mean you had anything to do with..."  I stopped, but she knew
+what I meant.  She smiled and in a voice exquisitely sweet and tender,
+though hateful to me, she answered:
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Your life is mine, Alexis?  Do you think I would let that butcher from
+St Petersburg take it?  Let him keep to his own shambles.  Yes, I set
+the wires in motion, and I did not stop until the one man was utterly
+ruined and the other degraded in the eyes of all Russia.  Your life is
+mine, Alexis"&mdash;she seemed to revel in this hateful phrase&mdash;"and those
+who would strike at you, must reckon with me as well.  We are destined
+for each other, you and I; and we live or die together."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"You have done me a foul wrong, then," I cried hotly.  "You have
+disgraced me; made me out for a braggart that provokes a fight and then
+shirks it by screening myself behind the law.  Do you suppose I thank
+you for that?"  I spoke as sternly as I felt.  But she only smiled as
+she answered,
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I did not think of your feelings.  This man would have killed you.
+His hands are bloody to the armpits.  Do you think I would let him find
+another victim in you when I could stop him and save you?  Did you not
+reproach me, too when I did not interfere before, and tell me my love
+was cold?  Would I suffer such a reproach again, think you?  No, no.
+Your life is mine, I repeat, and for the future I will protect it
+whether you will or no.  That is how I love; and so it shall be always.
+I have come now to warn you.  Hush!  What is that?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+I listened and heard someone moving in the lobby of my rooms.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"It is Borlas returned," I said, and opening the door called him.
+Getting no answer I called again loudly; and then my visitor whispered
+to me to come back into the room.  But I paid no heed to her, and went
+forward a few steps to go into my servant's room.  As I did so, a
+desperate rush was made and three men disguised, dashed at me
+violently.  They had gained an entrance somehow and were no doubt
+making their way to attack me in my room or were going to lay in wait
+for me, when my quick ears heard them and thus spoiled their plans.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+I was unarmed, and saw instantly the foolishness of attempting to fight
+three men, probably armed, while I had not so much as a stick.  Making
+a feint of an attack upon the nearest, therefore, I jumped aside and
+darted back into the room I had just left, closing the door instantly
+behind me, while my companion and I held it shut until I had secured it.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Then I turned to her for an explanation.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"They are my husband's agents," she whispered.  "He suspects us, as you
+know; and he arranged this attack, thinking that if you were killed,
+the act just at this juncture would be set down to Devinsky's revenge.
+I came on purpose to warn you.  If they catch me here now, we are both
+ruined beyond hope."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Then they shan't catch us," I replied.  "Or if they do, shan't live to
+carry the tale outside the door:" and I proceeded to put in execution a
+plan which had already occurred to me.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR><BR>
+
+<A NAME="chap12"></A>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+CHAPTER XII.
+</H3>
+
+<H4 ALIGN="center">
+CHRISTIAN TUESKI.
+</H4>
+
+<P>
+While the men were straining and fighting to get admission into the
+room, I loaded my revolver, seized a heavy stick that lay in a corner,
+and opening the window noiselessly and with some little trouble and
+agility, got into the street.  I let myself into the house and then I
+thundered at the outer door of my own rooms as if seeking immediate
+admission.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Instantly there was a great scuffling within, and I knew that the men
+were making off by the back, in the probable belief that they had been
+disturbed by some unexpected caller.  Judging the time as best I could,
+so that I might perhaps catch one of them, I rushed in suddenly.  One
+had fled, the second was in the act of dropping from a window, while a
+third was just clambering out.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+I struck this one a blow on the head which laid him down senseless in a
+heap on the floor, and leaning out was in time to give the second a
+whack that must have nearly broken his arm.  Then without wasting a
+moment I bound the man I had knocked down and closely bandaged his eyes.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Telling Paula Tueski that I had scared the rascals away, I dragged the
+fellow to the light, that she might recognise him.  She identified him
+directly, and without a word being spoken except by me, I thrust him
+into a dark closet and turned the key on him while I settled what to do
+next.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"You knew him, I could see," I said, when I joined my visitor again.
+"Is he a police spy?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"No, not in the ordinary sense.  I have seen him with my husband: but
+exactly what he is, I don't know.  I believe he is one of a small band
+of really villainous men, used for especially ugly work."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"But why am I marked out for a visit from them?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I believe my husband has suspected you&mdash;on my account.  I know he
+hates you cordially.  You remember that affair in the Opera lobby, when
+you insulted him so grossly."  I nodded: but of course I had not the
+remotest idea what she meant.  "He never forgives.  Since then he has
+been accumulating every jot and tittle of fact against you&mdash;and you
+have given him plenty, Alexis&mdash;and if he can work your overthrow, he
+will."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Yes: but why try to get me assassinated.  I'll go at once and ask
+him," I said, readily and impulsively.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Are you mad?" exclaimed my companion.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"On the contrary, I'll go and shew him the danger of interfering with
+me.  Where is he to be found now?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"At home.  He will not leave for an hour yet to make his evening visit
+to the Bureau.  But he will never consent to see you."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"At any rate I'll try; and I'm much mistaken if I don't force him.  I
+have a plan," I added, after a minute's thought.  "I will clear us both
+at a stroke.  Go at once to my sister, and tell her from me that I wish
+her to come back here with you and wait for me.  Mind, too, should
+anyone come to fetch away that fellow I've locked up, let Olga say
+enough in his presence to make it clear that she was here with us when
+the attack was first made.  Be quick and careful: for much will depend
+on all this being well done."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+I drove rapidly to the place and sending in my card asked for an
+immediate interview with the Chief of the Police, on urgent business.
+The reply came back that M. Tueski could not see me; I was to call at
+his office.  I sent the messenger back with a peremptory reply that I
+must see him, as I had discovered an assassination plot.  I was still
+refused admittance; though a longer wait shewed me he had considered
+the matter carefully.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+This time I wrote a brief note:&mdash;"One of your hired assassins, has been
+identified, has confessed, and lies at this moment bound and in my
+power.  If you do not see me now I shall communicate direct with the
+Ministry of the Interior."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+That proved the 'Open Sesame,' and in a few moments, I was ushered into
+the presence of one of the most hated men in Russia,&mdash;the man I had
+been commissioned to kill.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+He was a small man with a face that would have been common looking but
+for its extraordinarily hard and cold expression.  It was lined and
+seamed in all directions: and each line might have been drawn by Nature
+with the express object of marking him out as an absolutely merciless,
+calculating, and emotionless man.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+His eyes were very bright as they fixed on me, and his voice, harsh,
+high pitched and tuneless.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Men don't belie your new character when they call you daring," was his
+greeting.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+He was standing by the side of a long table with his black clothed
+figure outlined against the colours of luxuriant tapestries with which
+the walls were hung.  He motioned me to a chair, near enough to be
+within the demands of courtesy to an officer bearing the Emperor's
+commission, and far enough removed from him to be safe should the
+visitor turn out to be dangerous.  I noticed, too, that an electric
+bell button was well within reach.  "What do you wish with me,
+Lieutenant?  This visit is unusual."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I am not accustomed to bother about what is usual where my life is
+concerned," I answered, firmly.  "I want an answer to a plain question.
+Why do you send your bravoes to assassinate me?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I have sent no bravoes to assassinate you, Lieutenant.  I don't
+understand you.  We don't hire assassins."  As though the whole thing
+were ridiculous.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Yet your wife recognised this man instantly."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"My wife!" he exclaimed, with a sufficient change to shew how this had
+touched him.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Yes.  Your wife.  She was in my rooms when these men came."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+He drew in a deep breath while he looked at me with eyes of hate.  I
+had got right between the joints of his armour of impassivity.  It was
+a cruel thrust; but I had an ugly game to play, and was forced to hit
+hard.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+He seemed to struggle to repress his private feelings and to remain the
+impassive official.  But human nature and his jealousy beat him, and
+his next question came with a jerk that shewed the effort behind it.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"What was she doing there?"  His tone was the essence of harsh
+bitterness.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"What was she doing there?" I echoed, as if in the greatest
+astonishment.  "Why, what should she be doing but calling with my
+sister?  They are there now, keeping guard over your&mdash;assistant."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+He turned away for a moment to prevent my seeing in his face the relief
+which I could hear in his voice as he answered:&mdash;
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"You are an even bolder man than I thought."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I don't understand you, of course; but I have need to be bold," I
+retorted, "with you against me ready to plan my private execution.
+They're heavy odds.  But now, perhaps, you'll answer my question&mdash;Why
+do you do this?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"There might be many reasons&mdash;if it were true," he answered in the same
+curt tone he had first used.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"One's enough for me, if it's true," I replied, copying his sharp
+manner.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+He stood a minute looking at me in silence, and then sat down.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I think I've been doing you an injustice, Lieutenant," he said,
+presently.  "I thought when you forced your way into me you might be
+coming to assassinate me.  But I see now you're not such a fool as to
+try and do anything of that kind when you have left a broad trail
+behind you that would lead to your certain detection.  You are young;
+with all the weaknesses of youth strongly developed&mdash;rash, hotheaded,
+sometimes tipsy, a fool with women, and when, necessary, a knave too,
+loose in money matters and unscrupulous, a gambler, a dicer, and a
+bankrupt in morals, religion, and honour.  But you are shrewd&mdash;for
+you've deceived everyone about your sword-skill and your courage&mdash;and
+under the garb of a worthless fellow you have a cool, calculating, and
+yet dare-devil head that should make your fortune.  Others are more
+right about you than I."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Others?" I asked, interested and amused by this quiet enumeration of
+the results of the analysis of two very different, but united
+characters.  "Who are the others?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+A faint ghost of what in another man would have been a smile relaxed
+the grim, hard, straight lips for an instant, in mockery of my attempt
+to draw him.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"You are not unknown, Lieutenant, as you may find soon; but you are a
+fool to mix yourself up with the Nihilists."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+It was my turn now to be on the defensive.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"That is a charge which a child can make and the wisest man can
+sometimes fail to rebut," I answered, sharply.  "I am not a Nihilist."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+He waved his hand as if my repudiation were not worth a serious thought.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I can make you a career, if you will.  If you will act under me...."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Thank you," I returned, coldly.  "I know what you can do.  You can put
+me first on the list for some task which will insure my being served as
+you meant me to be served to-day.  One commission is enough for me, and
+I prefer the Emperor's."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"You don't know what you say, nor what you refuse."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"All the more reason for not regretting my refusal," I retorted,
+lightly.  "But this does not answer my question&mdash;Why do you seek to
+have me assassinated?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Siberia is getting overpopulated," he returned, manifestly angry at my
+refusal.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"You mean it's cheaper to kill than to exile."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"One must have some regard for its morals, too," he sneered, with a
+contempt at which my rage took fire.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+I looked at him with a light in my eyes which he could read plainly
+enough.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"You are a coward, M. Tueski," said I, sternly: "because you presume
+upon the office you hold to say things which without the protection
+that guards you, you would not dare to let between your teeth."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"It is useless to talk in that strain to me," he said, shortly.  "I
+know you."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"No&mdash;by Heaven, you don't&mdash;yet.  But I'll let you know something of me
+now.  Men say you know no fear; that your loves, desires, emotions, are
+all dead&mdash;all, save ambition.  I'll test that.  This plot you have laid
+against my life is your own private revenge for some fancied wrong.
+You have sought to carry it out even at the very moment when you had
+had a hint to guard me.  It was cunningly laid, and nearly succeeded;
+and then you would have set the blame down at Devinsky's door."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+He listened without making a sign: quite impassively.  But the mere
+fact that he did listen shewed me I was striking the right note, and
+further that he wished to see what I meant to do.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Go on," he said, contemptuously, when I paused.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I can prove this: aye, and I will prove it, even if I go to the
+Emperor himself: and prove it&mdash;by your own wife."  He could not wholly
+conceal the effect of this.  He knew the strength of the threat.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"More than that," I cried then, quickening my speech and shewing much
+more passion.  "You know what the world says about me and your wife.
+You shewed me you knew it, when I told you just now that she was in my
+rooms when your men came to try and take my life.  You have dared to
+smirch my honour in regard to women: and you have lied.  So far as your
+wife is concerned, there has never been a thought of mine toward her
+tainted with dishonour.  So far as I am concerned she is virgin pure.
+But, by God! beware how you taunt me.  It lies with you to say whether
+I shall change; and if you drive me to it, I'll...."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+I left the terrible sentence unfinished; and the change in the man's
+manner shewed me how he was inwardly shrinking and wincing at my
+desperate words.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Go on.  What do you want?"  He spoke after a great effort and strove
+to keep his voice at the dead level of official lifelessness.  But the
+man was an inward fire of rage and jealousy.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"This duel is not my seeking, but yours, M. Tueski," I continued.  "And
+for my part I would as soon have a truce.  But if we are to fight on, I
+will use every weapon I can lay my hand on,&mdash;and use them desperately.
+You can prove the truth of what I say.  Send round someone to my rooms
+and fetch away the scoundrel who is there.  My sister will let him go.
+Your wife, her friend, is staying with her to help in case of need.
+And whatever else I may be, at least I should not give my mistress to
+my sister for a friend."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"You are the devil!"  The words forced themselves through his teeth at
+this word.  I used it deliberately: and it was the shrewdest thing I
+could have done.  He left the room without another word, going through
+a door behind him; and, calling to someone, he whispered some
+instructions.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"You have sent?  You are right," I said, when he returned.  "And now,
+call off these bloodhounds of yours; and so long as you play fair with
+me, my sister and your wife can be friends.  And no longer.  One other
+condition.  Give me two police permits to cross the frontier on special
+business&mdash;one for me and one for my sister.  You may not be sorry if I
+decide to take a holiday."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I cannot give them, and you cannot leave," he answered.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Write me the permits.  I'll see about using them."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"No; I cannot write them.  If I did, they would be cancelled to-morrow
+by the Ministry of the Interior."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Why?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"The fact is what I say.  You cannot leave Russia."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I care nothing for that.  Write them&mdash;or we resume this duel, M.
+Tueski."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+He was a changed man.  He was so accustomed to exact implicit obedience
+to his will, and to ride roughshod over everyone about him, that now
+being beaten, his collapse was utter and complete.  He was absolutely
+overcome by the pressure I could threaten and he thought I was
+blackguard enough to apply.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+For once at least my old black character did me a good turn.  He acted
+like a weak child now, entirely subjected by my will.  He wrote the
+permits as I directed.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+As he was writing it occurred to me there must be some influence behind
+the scenes which told with him.  Else, why did he not forthwith write
+out the order for my imprisonment?  He had done it hundreds of times
+before in the case of men infinitely more influential than myself.  His
+signature would open the door of any prison in Russia.  It suggested
+itself that it was this reason which was at the bottom of the attempt
+to get me killed.  He dared not follow out his own desire.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"One thing puzzles me," I said, coolly, as I took the permits.  "Why
+haven't you, instead of writing these, written an order packing me off
+to gaol?  What is this power behind you?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I may live in hope, perhaps," he returned.  "Your sword and your
+shrewdness may carry you far: and some day as far as the gaol you speak
+of.  I shan't fail to write it when the time comes."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+I left him with that.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+As I left the house a man pressed close to me, and I turned to see what
+he wanted.  There was no one else about.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Is it done?" he whispered.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+I looked at him keenly; but I had never seen him before, I thought.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"What do you mean?" I asked.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"The night in the riverside wharf," he whispered back.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+He was a Nihilist; here right in the very eye of the police web.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"The way is laid," I answered, equivocally, as I hurried away.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+I had actually forgotten in my eagerness all about my charge to kill
+the man with whom I had been closeted in conference.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+But I saw instantly that the Nihilist would probably hold it for an act
+of treachery that I had been in Tueski's house and yet had let him live.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR><BR>
+
+<A NAME="chap13"></A>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+CHAPTER XIII.
+</H3>
+
+<H4 ALIGN="center">
+OLGA IN A NEW LIGHT.
+</H4>
+
+<P>
+I walked back to my rooms as I wished to cool my head and think.  The
+interview with Christian Tueski had excited me, and what was of more
+importance, had kindled a hope that after all I might be able to escape
+the tremendous difficulties that encompassed me.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+One thing in particular pleased me, for it was a double-edged knife
+loosening two sets of the complications.  It was the promise I had
+given to the man to respect his wife so long as he kept faith with me.
+This gave me power over him, and what was of infinitely greater value
+to me personally, it was a shrewd defence against the wife also.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+I smiled as I thought of the ingenuity of this; but I little thought
+what would be the actual result.  It seemed then the shrewdest and
+cleverest, as well as the most daring thing I had done; but in the end
+the consequences were such as might properly have followed an act of
+the grossest stupidity and villainy possible.  For the moment it
+pleased me, however, and I was in truth finding the keenest pleasure in
+this parrying of the thrusts which the fates were making at me.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+There was a problem I could not solve, however, in the question of the
+power which seemed to be behind the Chief of the Police; the power
+which made him apparently afraid to strike me openly though so willing
+to trip me secretly.  I could not imagine what it could be, nor whence
+it could come.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+When I reached my rooms my sister and Paula Tueski were waiting for me
+in the greatest anxiety; and both were overjoyed to see me safe and
+apparently in high spirits.  The police agents had been for the fellow
+I had left under lock and key; and Olga had taken care to carry out my
+instructions to the letter.  Her quick instincts had warned her, and
+she had made a parade of almost affectionate friendship for the other
+woman during the time the men had been present.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+After I arrived she could scarcely take her eyes off me, and I saw them
+glistening as with tears.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I will take you home, directly," I said, carelessly, as a brother
+might speak.  "But I have something to say first to Madame Tueski; so
+you must wait for a few minutes."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+A look of reproach nearly found expression in hasty words, but
+remembering herself she said hastily, acting the part to the life:&mdash;
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Oh, you're always so mysterious, Alexis.  I've no patience with you."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Then I led the other into my second sitting-room and told her much of
+what had passed: and when I came to that part of the interview that
+immediately concerned herself, she was very bitter and angry.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"You think I am a pawn to be moved where you like in your game; of no
+account, and the meanest thing on the board.  You and he are both alike
+in that&mdash;but wait.  Your life is mine, Alexis.  I have told you."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"But you must surely see that the first consideration must be all our
+lives&mdash;to say nothing of our safety," I answered, rather roughly, I
+fear, and very unsympathetically.  Her heroics rasped me.  "What the
+deuce is the good of your loving me if your husband shuts me up in a
+dungeon, or sends me dancing to Siberia, or causes a dagger to let out
+my life blood?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"You mean to keep the word you gave him?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Certainly, so long as he keeps his."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+She fixed her large lustrous eyes on me and let them rest on me during
+a long pause of silence.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"You and he together will drive me to some desperate deed," she said,
+at length, very slowly.  "Then perhaps you will learn what a love like
+mine will dare for your sake.  I cannot and will not bear this
+separation."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+She wearied me with these protests, but I said nothing and went on to
+question her as to whether there was any power behind her husband
+influencing him in regard to me.  She knew nothing, but admitted that
+she had her suspicions.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+I told her next that while he was trying to assassinate me, she might
+find the tables turned on him, as there was a Nihilist plot on foot to
+assassinate him.  She paid little heed to it at first, saying that
+there had been many such schemes formed, all of which had proved
+abortive, because he was most carefully and continuously guarded.  A
+moment later, however, her manner changed a little, and she questioned
+me somewhat closely concerning the matter.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"They don't choose their agents shrewdly in these things," she said,
+"and we hear too soon of their designs.  They should choose a man like
+you, Alexis."  She seemed to speak with a hidden meaning, and I was
+doubtful whether she knew anything; but I kept my doubts to myself.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"If they had done that, I had a rare chance to-night," I answered.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"A bold man or a reckless woman makes the chance," she retorted in the
+same manner.  "I am going, Alexis:" she added, and then forced on me
+caresses which were vastly repulsive.  But I could not reveal my true
+feelings until I had at any rate placed Olga in safety.  My
+indifference and coldness were apparent to the woman, and she upbraided
+me with a burst of angry passion, till I had to patch up a sort of
+peace.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+We went back to Olga and soon afterwards drove away, Olga and I setting
+the other down at her door.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+So long as Madame Tueski was with us, Olga maintained the part of the
+impatient sister; but as soon as we were alone her manner changed
+altogether.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I had to send for you this evening," I said, "And you saved me from a
+situation of great difficulty and hazard by coming so promptly.  I
+thank you for having done so."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+No reply.  I glanced at her in the gloomy light in the cab and saw the
+profile set hard and immobile, with the lips pressed closely together.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Storm signals out," thought I.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I was saying I thanked you.  You acted with rare discretion and did me
+a great service."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Not a word.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"You were not so silent just now."  I hazarded.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I was acting&mdash;with discretion."  She repeated my word with that relish
+and enjoyment which a well regulated mind always feels about a telling
+sarcasm.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"And what sort of discretion is this?" I retorted, laughing.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+She was silent again.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I have a good deal to tell you in explanation."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I have no wish to hear anything, thank you," she interposed.  "I can
+trust your discretion"&mdash;much emphasis again on the word&mdash;"as completely
+as you can mine.  I am glad to have been of <I>use</I> to you and Madame
+Tueski."  She threw the word "use" at me as if it had been a bomb to be
+exploded in my face.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"What have I done that's wrong?  I'm very sorry," I said.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I beg you not to apologise.  You never used to, and as you appear to
+be slipping back into your old habits it would be out of character to
+apologise&mdash;to me.  I am only to be used."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I don't a bit understand you."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+There was a moment's silence, and then she could contain her
+indignation no longer and burst out with the cause of it.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Why didn't you send me home immediately you returned?  You could
+surely have given me your servant as an escort.  Then you would have
+spared me the shame and humiliation of waiting during your private
+interchange of confidences with that woman."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+At that instant we stopped at her house.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Please not to come in to-night," she said.  "I have had to keep
+certain things waiting here while I was being of <I>use</I> to you, and was
+sitting alone in your rooms; and I have now very much to do."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I am sorry to trouble you; but I am coming in.  This thing must be
+cleared up at once;" and I followed my very angry sister into the house.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+She led the way to a small drawing-room and turning to me said coldly:&mdash;
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I am ready to hear what you wish to say."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+I had been thinking quickly during the interval, and now changed my
+point of attack.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I had a very serious thing to say.  You gave me your promise...."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I would rather you would not remind me of any promises," she
+interrupted.  This was said deliberately; but then she broke through
+her cold formality, and with a little stamp of her foot finished
+angrily:&mdash;"I won't keep them.  I won't be reminded of them.  Things are
+altered&mdash;altogether altered."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"What I was going to say is..." I began, when she broke in again.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I won't hear it.  I don't want to hear any more.  I wish you'd go
+away."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"You must hear me," I said quietly, but with some authority in my tone.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"'Must!'  I don't understand you."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Must&mdash;for your own safety."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Thank you.  I can protect myself.  Your other cares and
+responsibilities have a prior claim on you.  Will you please leave me
+now?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"No, I can't go, until I've told you...."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I will not listen!  Didn't I tell you?"  She was vehemence itself.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+I shrugged my shoulders in despair.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"This morning..." I began; but the moment I opened my lips she broke
+out again with her vehement interruptions.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Ah, things were different this morning.  I had not then been insulted.
+Do you forget I am a Russian; and think you can treat me as you
+will&mdash;keep me waiting while&mdash;bah! it is unbearable.  Will you go away?
+Is there no sense of manliness in you that will make you leave me?
+Must I call for assistance?  I will do that if you do not leave me.
+You can write what you have to say.  But, please, spare me the pain of
+seeing you again."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Her words cut me to the quick; but they roused me also.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"You had better call for assistance," I answered firmly.  Then I
+crossed to the door, locked it, and put the key in my pocket.  "I will
+spare you the pain of another interview; but now that I am here, I
+decline to go until I have explained."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"You cannot explain," she burst in.  The word seemed to madden her.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Cannot explain what?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"That woman's kisses!"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The words appeared to leap from her lips involuntarily; and she
+repented them as soon as uttered; and drawing herself up she tried to
+appear cold and stolid.  But this attempt failed completely; and in her
+anger at the thought behind the words and with herself for having given
+it utterance, she stood looking at me, her bosom heaving and tossing
+with agitation and her face and eyes aglow with an emotion, which with
+a strange delight, I saw was jealousy.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+There came a long pause, during which I recalled her manner and the way
+she had played with my words, during one of our rides when we had
+spoken of Devinsky's proposal to make her his wife.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+I have always been slow to read women's hearts and have generally read
+them wrong; but I began to study this with a sense of new and peculiar
+pleasure.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+She was getting very dear to me for a sister.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+If my guess was right, my conduct with that infernal women, Paula
+Tueski, must have been gall and wormwood to Olga.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+How should I have relished it had the position been reversed, and
+Devinsky been in Paula Tueski's place?
+</P>
+
+<P>
+These thoughts which flashed across me in rapid succession produced a
+peculiar frame of mind.  I had stood a minute in silence, not looking
+at her, and when I raised my eyes again I was conscious of sensations
+toward her, that were altogether different from anything I had felt
+before.  She had become more beautiful than ever in my eyes; I, more
+eagerly anxious to please and appease; while at bottom there was a
+dormant fear that I might be mistaken in my new reading of her actions,
+in which was mixed up another fear, not nearly so strong, that her
+anger on account of Paula Tueski might really end in our being
+separated.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+My first act shewed the change in me.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+I ceased to feel the freedom with which I had hitherto acted the part
+of brother, and I immediately threw open the door and stood aside that
+she might go out if she wished.  Then I said:&mdash;
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Perhaps you are right.  My conduct may be inexcusable even to save
+your life."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Whether there was anything in my manner that touched her&mdash;I was
+conscious of speaking with much less confidence than usual; or whether
+it was the act of unfastening the door: or whether, again, some subtle
+influence had set her thoughts moving in parallel columns to mine, I do
+not know.  But her own manner changed quite as suddenly as mine; and
+when she caught my eyes on her, she flushed and paled with effects that
+made her radiantly beautiful to me.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+She said not a word; and finding this, I continued:&mdash;
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I am sorry a cloud has come between us at the last, and through
+something that was not less hateful to me because forced by the needs
+of the case.  We have been such friends; but...." here I handed her the
+permit&mdash;"you must use this at once."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+She took it and read it slowly in silence, and then asked:&mdash;
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"How did you get this?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Myself, personally, from the Chief of the Police."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Why did you run the mad risk of going to him yourself?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"There was no risk&mdash;not so much in going to him as in keeping away from
+him.  He had tried to have me murdered, and I went to find out the
+reason."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I told you I would not leave."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Unless&mdash;and the condition now applies&mdash;it was necessary for my safety."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"And you?"  The light of fear was in her eyes as she asked this.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"As soon as you are across the frontier I shall make a dash for my
+liberty also.  I can't go before, because my absence would certainly
+bring you under suspicion."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+She looked at me again very intently, her head bent slightly forward
+and her lips parted with the strain of a new thought; while suspicion
+of my motive chased the fear for my safety from her face.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Is this to get me out of the way?  I won't go!"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Olga!"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+All my honour for myself and my love for her were in that note of
+reproach, and they appeared to waken an echo; for then this most
+strange girl threw herself down on to a couch and burying her face in
+her hands sobbed passionately.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+I turned away from the sight of her emotion&mdash;the more painful because
+of the strong self-reserve and force of character she had always
+shewn&mdash;and paced up and down the room.  I forced back my own feelings
+and the desire to tell her what those feelings were.  To do that would
+be worse than madness.  Till we were out of Russia, we were brother and
+sister and the bar between us was heavier than we could hope to move.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+When the storm of her sobs ceased, she remained for some minutes quite
+still: and I would not break the silence, knowing she was fighting her
+way back to self-possession.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Presently, she got up and came to me, holding out her hand.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I will go, Alexis&mdash;we are still firm friends?"&mdash;with a little smile of
+wistful interrogation.  "Can you forgive my temper?  I was mad for the
+moment, I think.  But I trust you.  I do indeed, absolutely.  I know
+you had no thought of insulting me.  I know that.  I couldn't think so
+meanly of you.  It's hard to leave&mdash;Russia&mdash;and&mdash;and everything.  And
+you, too&mdash;at this time.  Must I really go?"  A half-beseeching glance
+into my eyes and a pause for the answer I could not give.  "Very well.
+I know what your silence means.  Come to-morrow morning&mdash;and say"&mdash;she
+stopped again and bit her trembling lips to steady them as she framed
+the word&mdash;"and say&mdash;goodbye to me.  And now, please, let me go&mdash;brother
+and truest friend."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+She wrung my hand, and then before I could prevent her or even guess
+her intention, she pressed her lips to it and, with the tears again in
+her eyes, she went quickly away, leaving me to stare after her like a
+helpless fool, longing to call her back and tell her everything, and
+yet afraid.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR><BR>
+
+<A NAME="chap14"></A>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+CHAPTER XIV.
+</H3>
+
+<H4 ALIGN="center">
+THE DEED WHICH RANG THROUGH RUSSIA.
+</H4>
+
+<P>
+It was not destined that Olga should leave Russia yet.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+A terrible event happened within the next few hours, the report of
+which rang through Russia like a clap of thunder, convulsing the whole
+nation, and shaking for the moment the entire social fabric to its
+lowest foundations.  And one of its smaller consequences was to ruin my
+plans and expose me to infinite personal peril.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Olga was to start at noon, and I proposed to see her an hour before
+then, for what I knew would be a very trying ordeal.  But I was at that
+hour in the midst of a very different kind of interview.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Outside official circles I was one of the first men to learn the news.
+Just before ten o'clock a messenger came with a request for me to go at
+once to the chief Police Bureau.  I started in the full conviction that
+for some cause Tueski had changed his mind and meant to arrest me.  I
+was of course helpless: and could do no more than scribble a hasty line
+to Olga telling her of my appointment, asking her not to wait for me,
+and bidding her good-bye.  But I did not send it.  The police agent
+said with great politeness he would prefer my not doing anything then:
+I could send the note equally well from the Bureau.  I knew what that
+meant, and yielded.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The moment I arrived at the office I could see that some event of
+altogether unusual importance and gravity had occurred.  The air was
+laden with the suggestion of excitement.  There was an absence of that
+orderly, business-like routine always characteristic of Russian public
+offices.  The police agents were present in exceptionally large
+numbers; hurrying through the corridors, thronging the rooms, and
+standing in groups engaged in animated discussion.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+I was kept waiting some time, perhaps half an hour, before a word was
+spoken to me by anyone in authority; and then I was ushered into the
+presence of a man I did not know.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I am sorry to trouble you, Lieutenant Petrovitch, but there are one or
+two questions you can answer&mdash;and I need not say that as a Russian
+officer, bearing the Emperor's commission, we shall look to you to
+reply very fully."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+I bowed.  It was a fit preface to a conversation which should end as
+such things generally did.  But at any rate I should learn what they
+intended to do with me.  Before he spoke again I asked that the letter
+I had written to Olga might be sent; but he put the question aside,
+with a curt reply that it could wait until the Emperor's business was
+finished; and again I bowed in acquiescence.  I could do nothing.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Please to tell me exactly what passed between you and M. Tueski
+yesterday," he said.  "And particularly how you obtained the permits
+for yourself and sister.  I invite you to be particularly frank."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The question startled me.  I couldn't understand it.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Your question surprises me," I replied, to gain a little time to
+think.  "M. Tueski himself knows, and can surely tell you everything."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I ask my questions in the name of the Emperor, sir," returned my
+examiner, sternly.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"M. Tueski had done me the honour of trying to have me murdered, and I
+went to see him to demand the reason.  He did not deny it.  I persuaded
+him in the end to abandon his private malice and prevailed upon him to
+give me the permits for myself and my sister to leave Russia for a
+while.  When he had given them to me I left him."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Where are they?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Here is one.  The other is with my sister, who leaves Moscow at
+midday."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"You may stop her attempting to leave.  It will be useless.  What else
+passed?"  And he then plunged into a close cross-examination of me, the
+real object of which I could not guess, unless it meant that Tueski had
+in some way got into a mess for letting me have the permits.  I
+answered all the questions as fully as possible, taking care only to
+avoid mentioning Paula Tueski's name in connection with the compact
+with her husband.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+To my surprise I seemed to satisfy the man for the time.  When he had
+about turned me inside out, he sat for some minutes looking over my
+answers and comparing them with some of his notes: after which he
+remained thinking closely.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"What did you do after leaving M. Tueski?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I went straight to my rooms to my sister and Madame Tueski; together
+we drove Madame Tueski to her house; I then went home with my sister,
+remained there about an hour, or perhaps less; and went home and to
+bed."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"You have told me all you know, Lieutenant?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"You can ask M. Tueski," I returned.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+He fixed his eyes steadily on me while I could have counted twenty, and
+then said slowly and with deep emphasis:&mdash;
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"M. Tueski is dead."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Dead!" I repeated in the profoundest surprise.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Murdered.  Found this morning in the lower part of his own house with
+a dagger thrust through his heart."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Murdered?"  I could scarcely believe my ears.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Yes.  'For Freedom's sake'," said the man with a curl of the lip.  "At
+least, so a message on the dagger said.  Now you can understand the
+significance of my questions."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+I understood it all well enough: far better than the man himself even
+imagined; and I was completely beaten as to what the inner meaning of
+this most terrible event could be.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+One of my first reflections was that if any of the suspicions of my
+Nihilism, which the dead man entertained, were chronicled anywhere, my
+arrest and that of Olga would certainly follow; and we should both be
+doomed.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I can scarcely realise it," I said.  "It is horrible!"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"So these wretches will find," returned my interlocutor.  "These
+carrion!  But now, in view of this&mdash;and I have told you because of the
+candid manner in which you have answered my questions&mdash;is there
+anything you noticed in your visit yesterday to help us."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Clearly, he did not suspect me; and no records had been found yet.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"No.  The place seemed alive with inmates&mdash;like a rabbit warren.
+Enough to have held it against a regiment.  Good God, what villains!" I
+cried in horror.  Mine was genuine feeling enough, for some of the
+terrible effects to myself were fast crowding into my thoughts.  I
+recalled my encounter with my Nihilist comrade on the very threshold of
+the house.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Of course, those permits will be withdrawn now, Lieutenant," said the
+official as he dismissed me.  But his manner was much less severe and
+curt than at the outset.  "As a matter of fact they ought never to have
+been granted, though I cannot explain why just now.  But under the
+circumstances you will probably feel personally unwilling to leave
+Russia at such a juncture."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I should feel myself a traitor," said I, grandiloquently; and in fact
+I did feel very much like one as I left him, rejoicing that I still
+breathed the fresh air of heaven instead of the foetid atmosphere of a
+gaol.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+One thing was certain now&mdash;neither Olga nor I could hope to escape yet.
+Any attempt would be fatal.  The murder of such a man would mean that
+the lurid search light of suspicion would fall in all directions, on
+the guilty and guiltless alike.  The liberty certainly, and probably
+the life, of every suspected Nihilist in Moscow at the moment were at
+stake: and the slightest trip or false step on our part would amount to
+a direct invitation to ruin.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+As I walked back sadly and thoughtfully to my rooms, I had abundant
+proofs of the terrible effects of the assassination.  The police agents
+were everywhere, watching, raiding, arresting; and in my short walk I
+met more than one gloomy party of them, each with its one or two
+prisoners in their midst, hurrying on foot or in hired carriages to the
+police stations.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+It is not my business, however, to describe here the scenes that
+followed the most daring, most secret, most thrilling, and save one,
+most terrible assassination that ever convulsed Russia.  The murder of
+the Czar stirred the surface of the world more, because it had more of
+the pageantry of crime about it; but the death of the Chief of the
+Secret Police caused a much deeper sense of insecurity, and spread a
+far greater dread of the secret power of Nihilism.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Who had done it?  To me it was an inscrutable mystery; unless it had
+been the man I had seen near the house.  But what I had to consider was
+not whose hand had driven the dagger home, but rather what the effects
+would be to me and to her for whose safety I now felt more fears and
+concern than I had felt for myself in all my life.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+One incident in the interview I had just had impressed me greatly: the
+reference which the official had dropped as to the power behind Tueski
+in dealing with me.  My questioner had seemed to know about it that
+morning: and all this perplexed me.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+As soon as I reached my rooms I had to hurry off to the barracks in
+response to an urgent summons; and I joined readily in the excited
+conversation of my comrades about this latest Nihilist stroke.  The
+news was only beginning to leak out, and it assumed the wildest shapes;
+nor did I feel at liberty to reduce the rumours to facts.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Before the morning's work was over orders came that the troops were to
+be paraded for duty in the streets: and we were told off for patrol
+work in different parts of the city to protect the railway stations,
+and other public buildings.  All that day we were kept on duty; and as
+other troops came pouring in from other centres the whole place seemed
+under arms like a beleaguered town.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+All day and all night the raids and surprise visits by the police were
+in progress, and hundreds, if not thousands of men and women must have
+been arrested, until the gaols were crowded to suffocation point, and
+every spot where prisoners could be packed was crammed and choked with
+suspects.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The cries and curses of men and the shrieks of women made the air
+stifling.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+We were not relieved until late at night, having been all day without
+food; and even then we were kept in the barracks in readiness for any
+disturbance.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The next day's programme was much the same; and I fretted at not being
+able to either see or send to Olga.  Knowing of her brother's Nihilism
+she would surely think I had been arrested; while I on my side was
+afraid for her.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+In the afternoon of the third day we got leave from duty and from
+barracks for a few hours; and I went straight off to Olga.  Meanwhile
+not a hint had been obtained as to the identity of the assassin.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+I found Olga white and wan and ill on my account; and when we met I was
+on my side almost too moved for speech.  At first I could do no more
+than glance into her eyes as we clasped each the other's hand.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"You are looking frightfully ill, Olga," I said at length.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+She returned my look without a word and then her brow contracted, she
+breathed deeply as if in pain, and turning away wrung her hands with a
+gesture of despair.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"What is the matter?  What has happened to you?  There must be
+something..."  I stopped, or rather the sight of the white face all
+drawn and quivering with pain stopped me.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Oh, it is too horrible, too awful!  God have mercy on us!  God have
+mercy on us!"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Bad as things were so far as I knew them, this dejection seemed
+disproportionate and excessive.  She was like a mad woman distraught
+with fear or grief; and she waved her hands about as if wrestling with
+emotions she could not conquer.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Oh, it can't be true; it can't be," she moaned; and then came suddenly
+to me, turned my face to the light holding it between her white
+trembling hands, and gazed at me with a look of mingled anguish, fear,
+doubt, wildness, and&mdash;love; her lips parted and her bosom rising and
+falling as if with the strain of her passionate feelings.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+When her scrutiny was over, her hands seemed to slip down and she fell
+on her knees close to me and I heard her muttering prayers with
+vehement fervour.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"What does this mean, Olga?" I asked gently, bending down and laying my
+hand on her shoulder.  She looked round and up at my touch, and tried
+to smile.  Then she rose and standing opposite to me, put her hands on
+my two shoulders so that her face was close beneath mine.  And all the
+time she was muttering prayers.  Then, in a voice all broken and
+tremulous, she said:&mdash;
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Brother, swear as you believe there is a God in Heaven, you will
+answer truly what I ask."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I will.  I swear it," I answered, wishing to quiet her.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Did you really do this?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Do what?" I asked, not understanding.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Kill Christian Tueski?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Did I kill him?  No, child, certainly not."  I spoke in the greatest
+astonishment.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Oaths may bind you to secrecy, I know.  But for God's sake, tell me
+the truth&mdash;the truth.  You can tell me.  I am...."  I felt her shudder.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Is it this which has been driving you distracted?  There is no cause.
+I know no more by whose hand that man came by his death than a babe
+unborn."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Say that again, Alexis.  Say it again.  It is the sweetest music I
+have heard in all my life."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+I repeated the assurance, and a smile of genuine relief broke out over
+her face.  Next she cried and laughed and cried again, and then sat
+down as if completely overcome by the rush of relief from a too heavy
+strain.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"What does all this mean?" I asked quietly, after a while.  "Try and
+tell me."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I have been like a mad thing for two days.  Let me wait awhile.  I
+will tell you presently.  Oh, thank God, thank God for what you have
+said.  It drove me mad to think you should have been driven to this by
+me; and that perhaps for my sake you might have been urged to do such a
+horrible thing.  Waking and sleeping alike I have thought of nothing
+but of your suffering torture and death.  And all through me&mdash;through
+me."  She covered her face in horror at the remembrance of her
+thoughts: but a moment later took away her hands to smile at me.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"You have not told me yet what made you think anything of the sort."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I will tell you.  As soon as I heard the news, I knew of course that
+as I had been mixed up in some old Nihilist troubles, it would be
+hopeless for me to think of leaving Moscow; and when the police agent
+came I let him understand that I had given up all thought of travelling
+yet.  Then I was all anxiety for news of you, and in the afternoon I
+went to your rooms.  I found the door shut and could hear nothing.
+Then I began to fear for you.  I am only a woman."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+She stopped and smiled to me before resuming.  Then with a shudder she
+continued:&mdash;
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Then a most strange thing happened, Borlas came to me just at dusk;
+and he looked so strange that at first I thought he had been drinking.
+Saying he had a message from you he waited until I had sent the servant
+away.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"'What is it?' I asked.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"For answer he gave me a sign that made my heart sink.  I knew it too
+well, and I looked at him with the keenest scrutiny.  Had the Nihilists
+put a spy on you even in your own servant?  Then I saw&mdash;that it was not
+Borlas, but a man so cleverly made up to resemble him that I had been
+at first deceived.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"'What do you want here?' I asked, now with every nerve in my body at
+full tension.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"'Do you know?' and the light in his eyes seemed to flash into mine.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"'Do I know what?'  I could see there was something behind all this.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"He bent close to me, though we were of course alone, and spoke his
+reply in a fierce whisper.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"'Tell your brother that after this proof our hearts beat but for him;
+our plans shall all wait on him; every man of us will go to his death
+silently and cheerfully at his mere bidding.  He leads, we follow.  He
+has nobly kept his pledge for the cause of God and Freedom.'
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"As I heard this my heart seemed to stop in pain.  I had to hold to the
+table to save myself from falling."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"'Do you mean,' I gasped, 'that Alexis has murdered....'
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"'Silence, sister,' replied the man sternly.  'That is no word for you
+to utter or for me to hear.  Your brother is as true a friend as
+Russian Liberty ever had; and I thank my God that I have ever been
+allowed to even touch the hand that has dealt this vigorous blow and
+done this noble and righteous act.'
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"'I will tell him,' I said.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"'Tell him also, he need have no fear.  Not a man who was at the
+meeting is in the city now, save me; and not a single soul of the
+thousands these hell dogs of tyranny can seize knows anything&mdash;save
+only me.  And I would to the Almighty God they would take me and
+torture me and tear my flesh off bit by bit with their cursed red-hot
+pincers that I might use my last breath and my latest effort to taunt
+them that I know the hero who has done it, and die with my knowledge a
+secret.'
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Then this terrible man, you may not know his name, but I know him,
+left me, telling me it was 'a glorious day for Russia, and that God
+would smile for ever upon you for this deed.'  And I&mdash;I was plunged
+into a maelstrom of agonising fears, racking doubts, and poisoned
+thoughts about you and what I had led you to do."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+What Olga said had also immense importance and significance for me.  It
+shewed me a startling view of my situation.  It was clear the Nihilists
+attributed the murder to me, and what effect that would have upon us I
+was at a loss even to conjecture.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"The man's blood is not on my hands, Olga; but I cannot be surprised at
+the mistake.  I will tell you everything;" and I told her then all that
+had passed.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Who can have done it then?" she asked, when I finished.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"It is as complete a mystery to me as to the police.  The man I saw
+near the house might have done it; but then I suppose it must have been
+the same man who came to you: and in that case he certainly wouldn't
+have set it down to me.  I am beaten.  But I am likely to find the
+wrongful inheritance embarrassing.  I must be more cautious than ever
+to draw down no word of suspicion upon either of us.  We must both be
+scrupulously careful.  And thus it will be impossible for you to think
+of getting away."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"It's a leaden sky that has no silver streak," replied Olga.  "And that
+impossibility is my streak."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+I could not but understand this, and even while my judgment condemned
+her, my heart was warmed by her words.  But my judgment spoke.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"If you were away my anxieties would be all but ended."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"If I were away my anxieties would be all but unendurable," she
+retorted, following my words and smiling.  It was not possible to hear
+this with anything but delight; but I had my feelings too well under
+control now to let them be seen easily.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"That may be," I said.  "But my first and chief effort will be to get
+you safe across the frontier."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+She made no answer: but her manner told me she would not consent to go
+until it had become a rank impossibility for her to stay.  Presently
+she said with much feeling:&mdash;
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"If I had been away and the news had come that you had done the thing
+these men assert, how do you think I could have borne it?  I should
+have either come rushing back here or have died of remorse and fear and
+anxiety on your account.  It was through me you commenced all this."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"But of my own choice that I continued," I replied.  "And believe me,
+if all were to come over again I should act in just the same way.  I
+have never had such a glorious time before; and all I want now is to
+see you safe."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Olga paused to look at me steadily.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"You've never told me all the reason why you were so ready to take all
+these desperate risks.  Will you tell me now?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I had made a mess of things generally, as I told you before," I
+answered, with a smile and a slight flush at the reminiscences thus
+disturbed by her question.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Was there a woman in it?" Her eyes were fixed on me as she put the
+question.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"There's a woman in most things," I answered, equivocally.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Yes, I suppose so."  She turned away and looked down, and asked next:&mdash;
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Were you very fond of her, Alexis?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Judging by the little ripple that remains on the surface now that
+she's gone out of my life, no: judging by the splash the stone made at
+first, yes.  But she's gone."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Yet the waters of the pool may be left permanently clouded.  I am
+sorry for you, Alexis: and if you were really my brother, I would try
+and help you two together."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"That's not altogether a very proper thing to say."  I spoke lightly,
+and she looked up to question me.  "Her husband might not thank you, I
+mean: though I'm not quite sure about that;" and then having told her
+so much, I told her the story of my last meeting with Sir Philip
+Cargill and Edith.  But she did not take it as I wished.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"You must have loved her if you meant to kill her," she said.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"And ceased then, if I left her to live a miserable life."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I should like to see the woman you have ceased to love," she said,
+woman-like in curiosity&mdash;and something else.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"You may do that yet, if only Alexis Petrovitch can make a safe way for
+his sister out of Russia;" and then I added, pausing and looking at her
+with a meaning in my eyes which I wished her to understand though I
+dared not put it in plain words:&mdash;"But we shall not be brother and
+sister then."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+She glanced up hurriedly, her face aglow with a sudden rush of
+thought&mdash;pleasurable thought too&mdash;and then looked down again and smiled.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"In that case how should we two be together?" she asked.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Do you mean that such a time as this will be likely to render us ready
+to part?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+To that her only answer was another glance and a deeper blush.  Then I
+made an effort and recovered myself on the very verge.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"But while we are here, we are brother and sister, Olga;" and feeling
+that if I wished to keep other things unsaid I had better go away, I
+left her.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR><BR>
+
+<A NAME="chap15"></A>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+CHAPTER XV.
+</H3>
+
+<H4 ALIGN="center">
+A SHE DEVIL.
+</H4>
+
+<P>
+The more I contemplated the position the less I liked it, and the more
+urgent appeared the reasons for hurrying Olga out of the country.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+All my care was for her.  Before this new feeling of mine for her had
+forced itself upon me, the situation had been really a game of wits
+with my life as the stake; but now Olga's life, or at least her
+liberty, was also at stake.  It was there the crisis pinched me till I
+winced and writhed under it.  Fear had got hold of me at last and I
+tugged restlessly at the chain.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+That night and the next day, the day of Christian Tueski's funeral,
+were occupied with heavy duties, because the authorities, both military
+and civil, persisted in believing there was danger of an émeute.  I
+could have counselled them differently if I had dared to open my lips.
+At least I thought I could; although I did not then hold the key to the
+mystery.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+I got it from Paula Tueski.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+In the afternoon of the day but one after the funeral, I had a brief
+note asking me to call on her.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+I went and found her surrounded by all the signs and trappings of the
+deepest mourning.  She received me very gravely, and while there was
+anyone in the room, she played the part of the sorrowing, disconsolate
+widow: but the instant we were alone she shewed a most indecent and
+revolting haste to let me know her mind.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"We are alone, now, Alexis," she said.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I have called as you asked and because I wished to express my
+sympathy...."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Psh!  Don't let us be hypocrites, you and I," she exclaimed, half
+angrily, and with great energy.  "I do not pretend to you that I am
+sorry to be free, and don't you pretend to me either."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+I didn't answer, and my silence irritated her.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Would you have me weep, tear my hair, put ashes on my head and grovel
+in the dust because the biggest villain and coward and beast that ever
+lived in human shape is dead?  I hated him living; shall I love him
+dead?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"At least the dead are dead, and to revile them is mere empty
+brutality," said I, somewhat harshly.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Then I like empty brutality if it relieves my feelings.  God!  I have
+been a hypocrite long enough.  I should hate myself if I did not speak
+the truth to you."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+I shrugged my shoulders.  I had no answer.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Why didn't you send a wreath of pure white flowers as an emblem of
+your regard?  Why not a message to swell the millions of lies that men
+have uttered in their squalid fear of offending the Government by
+silence?  Ugh!  It makes me sick when I think of it all;" and she
+shuddered as if in disgust.  "He was a devil, and I won't call him by
+any softer name merely because his power to harm is gone.  Didn't he
+try to murder you?  And wasn't it jealousy?  Ah, we have much to be
+thankful to the Nihilists for, you and I."  There was an indescribable
+suggestion of a hidden meaning about this.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+I hated the woman.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"You have no clue yet, I suppose?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Yes, I have a clue," she replied, with a laugh that sounded like a
+threat.  "I can put my hand on the murderer when I will&mdash;and I will, if
+he proves a traitor."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"You are in a dramatic mood," I answered.  "Who is the man?  Why not
+denounce him?  Surely this act is what you must call treachery."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"There was a Nihilist plot to kill the man," she said, speaking with
+contemptuous flippancy of accent of the dead.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Yes, I told you that myself," I replied.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"It was because of that he died."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"So everybody thinks."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"And how do you account for it?" she asked, looking at me keenly.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I have no more idea than yourself."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+She laughed; and a hard forced laugh it was.  Then she got up from her
+chair and walked twice up and down the room in dead silence.  She
+stopped in front of me and stared down into my eyes.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Alexis, do you really love me?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The question was an exceedingly unpleasant one and filled me with
+disgust.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Surely this is no time for us to speak of such things," I said.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Do you love me, Alexis," she repeated.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I will not answer now," I said, rising.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Why not?  Why should we not speak of love now&mdash;now, aye, and always?
+Or is your passion so poor and sickly a thing that a puff from the wind
+of propriety kills it?  Not speak of such things!  I would plight my
+love to you across the very body of the dead man!"  She spoke with
+passionate vehemence.  "Remember what I told you&mdash;your life is mine.
+You cannot escape me.  Now, tell me, do you love me?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I have given my answer, and if you ask that question again to-day I
+will not stop in the room," I said angrily: the woman's persistency
+increasing my disgust.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+She laughed&mdash;a half hysterical laugh of anger.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"So you will not stop in the room and will never, I suppose, return.
+Be careful," she cried, with one of her quick passionate changes.  "Or
+I will send you away and never let you come back except begging for
+mercy on your knees for yourself and your sister."  She turned away and
+stood by the window; and I could see by her movements that she was
+struggling with violent emotions.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+She came back at length, the face paler and the voice not so steady.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I will ask you if you love me," she said.  "And I dare you to go away
+from the room."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+I accepted the challenge without an instant's hesitation.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I am going.  I will see you when you are cooler," and I went to the
+door.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+With a quick rush she prevented my opening it, and putting her back to
+it stared at me in the most violent passion, which thickened her voice
+as she spoke.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"You shall go directly&mdash;if you wish to.  You will make me hate you, one
+day, Alexis, and then&mdash;I will kill you."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"It will be far better for me to come some other time," I said, anxious
+to leave.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"You will have plenty of opportunities, never fear," she retorted, with
+a very angry sneering laugh.  "And what is more, you will not dare not
+to use them.  Listen&mdash;it is love for you drives me to this&mdash;a love that
+you can never escape now, Alexis, even if you had the will."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+She paused; but I said nothing.  I had nothing to say.  All I wished
+was to get away.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Do you think there is anything I would not do for your love, Alexis?
+I have told you there is nothing&mdash;told you so scores of times.  Now, I
+have proved it.  Do you hear&mdash;proved it.  I proved it a few nights ago
+when this hand plunged the dagger hilt deep into my husband's
+heart&mdash;for your sake."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+I started back and looked at the woman in horror.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Yes, this hand"&mdash;she held it out&mdash;"so white, smooth, deft, and
+shapely.  Don't start from it.  There is no blood shewing on it now.
+And never was.  I know how to thrust a dagger home too cleverly to
+leave a trace of either blood or guilt on me.  In all this Moscow of
+ours the one person who is deemed above all others guiltless&mdash;is
+myself.  Had it been in reality the Nihilist deadly secret stroke that
+men deem it, it could not have been more cunningly contrived, more
+secretly planned, more fatally executed.  Yet the motive was not hate
+of a Government, but love for a man.  For you, Alexis: you and you
+only.  Now do you wish to go?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+She moved away from the door; but I made no attempt to go.  The horror
+of her story had fascinated me.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"There was a tinge of hate in it, too, mark you, and more than a tinge.
+But I'll tell you all.  You ought to know, since you were in reality
+the cause of all.  You gave me the motive, suggested the occasion, and
+provoked that which led to it.  More than that, too, you can by a
+single word from me be made to bear the brunt.  Now, will you go?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Was the woman mad that she spoke in this way?  If so, there was a
+devilish method in her madness, as the story she told quickly shewed me.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I knew the day would come when either I should kill him or he would
+kill me; for he was a devil.  Well, you roused all that was most evil,
+vicious, and fiendish in him in that interview; and when I saw him he
+was like a man bereft of his wits.  Every form of reproach he could
+heap on me in cold, contemptuous, galling sneers he uttered with all
+the calculated aggravation that could make a taunt unbearable.  He
+threatened me in every tone of menace: and when I answered, turned
+suddenly furious and struck me violent blows and vowed to kill me.  It
+was then I recalled your words, that there was a Nihilist plot against
+his life; and I vowed I would be the means of carrying it out; for I
+knew I could easily put suspicion away from me.  I lured him cunningly
+to that part of the house where he was found, plunged the dagger into
+his breast, put into his pocket the forged warning of a Nihilist
+attack, opened the house at a point where a man could have entered,
+fastened to the dagger the Nihilist watchword, and then crept away to
+my own rooms."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"It was a hellish plot," I exclaimed, hotly.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"It was inspired by love for you, Alexis.  It was truly 'For Freedom's
+sake.'  Freedom that should unite us for ever."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Do you think I could ever be anything to a woman whose hand is red
+with murder?" I cried, in indignant horror.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"It was done for you&mdash;for love of you, Alexis."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Love has no kin with murder," I exclaimed, bitterly.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Your life is mine, remember," she answered, firmly.  Her determination
+and strength were inexhaustible.  "This makes you ten thousand times
+more surely mine than ever.  I told you you were the cause&mdash;and also,
+that you could be made to bear the brunt.  Listen!  You know well
+enough what chance a Nihilist has on whom the fangs of suspicion have
+fastened.  You are a Nihilist.  Your sister is one also.  I know this.
+Well, what chance, think you, would that Nihilist have of his life
+whose dagger it was that found its way between my husband's ribs.  What
+then, if I had found the sheath of it and secreted it to save the man?
+Suppose too, that I had kept back the discovery because of my guilty
+love for him.  And further that he had come at the time to tempt my
+honour and that he was leaving the house when my husband, roused by the
+noise I made, met him; and that I saw the deed done?"  She paused and
+changed her tone to one of fierce directness, as she continued:&mdash;"The
+dagger that killed Christian Tueski is your own weapon, known by its
+sheath to a hundred people: and that sheath, with your name on it, is
+in my possession.  What chance of life would there be for you and yours
+if these things were made known.  Now, do you wish to go?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+A hot and passionate reply rose to my lips, but was checked before
+uttered.  I thought of Olga, and I knew that every word this woman said
+was true&mdash;that no power in Russia could save my life or Olga's liberty
+if the tale were told now.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Delay I must have at any cost.  Time in which to meet this woman's
+horrible cunning and daring plot.  If I had hated her before, she was
+now loathsome; while the fears she had stirred on Olga's account
+intensified and embittered a thousandfold my resentment.  Yet hateful
+as the task was, I was prepared to continue my part with her.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"You think this love?" I said, after a pause in which she had been
+waiting breathlessly for me to speak.  "Do women love the men they hold
+to them by the tether rope of threats?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Do women kill for the sake of men they do not love?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Do you think to keep my love by threatening me with death?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Have I not inflicted death to keep you?  Why do you wish to bandy
+phrases?  My deeds speak for themselves.  They shew you well enough
+what I will dare to keep you true to me.  You are mine, Alexis, and no
+power shall ever part us.  I have told you this often before.  It was
+you who sought me, who proffered me your love, who poured on me your
+caresses and roused the love in me, and roused it never to cease.  Do
+you think me a silly simple fool to be wooed and won and, when
+deserted, willing to do no more than wring my feeble hands and shed
+silly tears, and prate and maunder between my stupid sobs, that my
+heart is broken and that I fain would die&mdash;Bah!  I am not of that sort.
+I am a woman who can will and act, and fashion my own ends in my own
+way.  It is not the stream that carries me, but I who turn the stream
+even though it be mingled with blood.  No, no.  If you play me false,
+Alexis, it is you, and not I, who shall die because my heart is broken."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+She shewed this determination in every line of her beautiful face and
+movement of her magnificent figure, as she stood before me a lovely
+hateful type of a vengeful woman.  She changed her mood, however, with
+astonishing suddenness and turned all softness and tenderness.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"But under all this lies my love," she said.  "It was love drove me to
+everything.  Your pledge, too, that made me feel, as nothing else could
+have done, the wall of separation between us while he lived; and my
+love could not endure it.  Ah, how I love you!" and then in words
+burning with the fever of passion, she spoke of her love for me,
+lingering over the terms as if the mere utterance of them were an
+ecstatic delight.  She laid all to the account of this love, and then
+went on to name her terms&mdash;that I must marry her.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+While she was speaking, I was thinking; trying to see some flaw in the
+devilish coil she had spread round me.  But I could see none.  Time
+might find a way: but even time she grudged, and did not mean to give.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"But we can't be married now at the moment when your husband is
+scarcely lying cold in his grave," I said, aghast at her cold-blooded
+proposition.  "Every man and woman in Moscow would immediately think we
+had murdered him together in order to marry."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Every man and woman will not know," she answered calmly.  "Do you
+think there is no such thing as a secret marriage possible in this Holy
+Russia of ours, or that gold cannot buy silence here just as anywhere
+else in the world?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I know that a secret marriage under these circumstances would put the
+lives of us both into the keeping of anyone who knew of it, however
+well you paid them.  The more you paid, indeed, the more certain the
+inference."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I care nothing for that; nor will you if you love me as you have often
+sworn you do."  She uttered this with the energy and passion which
+always were shewn when she was crossed.  But in this I was naturally as
+resolute as she.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I will not do it," I said very firmly.  "Understand me.  I will not do
+it.  It is nothing to do with love in any way at all: but simply
+self-protection.  It would be sheer suicide, and that I can do much
+more simply in other ways.  I refuse absolutely to put both our lives
+into the keeping of any man in Russia, however holy and however well
+bribed.  When we are married, it must be openly, in the light of day
+and before men's faces; and that most certainly cannot be until all
+this excitement about your husband's death has died down, and the
+marriage can take place without causing suspicion.  That must be at
+least six months hence&mdash;and probably a year or even two years."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I won't wait," she cried instantly and angrily.  "You want to break
+with me.  I am no fool."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"As you will.  Then instead of marrying me you can denounce me and come
+and see me beheaded or strangled.  If you threaten me much longer," I
+said bitterly, "you will make me prefer one of the latter fates."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+She bent close to me, trying to read my thoughts.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"And meanwhile?" she asked,
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Are you such a mad woman that you would have us placard the walls of
+the city with our secrets?  Haven't we all Russia to hoodwink?  Do you
+suppose your police agents and secret agents are all fools, to see
+nothing, think nothing, infer nothing?  It may be hard for us to be
+apart, but what else is possible?  Even this visit is fool-hardiness
+itself and may set a thousand tongues clacking.  Heaven knows, if ever
+a pair of lovers had need of caution we have now!  Have you dared so
+much for our marriage only to toss it all away now just for the lack of
+a little self-control?  We must see very little of one another.  That
+is the only possible course."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I'll not consent," she cried again, vehemently, and broke out into a
+fresh storm of protests and reproaches.  But I held to my decision,
+confident that she would see she must give way.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+We parted without coming to any definite decision; and I was glad,
+because it spared me the infliction of those outward signs of affection
+in which she delighted to indulge and which now would have been more
+than ever repulsive.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+But the knowledge of the increased peril and embarrassment overwhelmed
+me with a feeling of anxious doubt and most painful and galling
+impotence.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR><BR>
+
+<A NAME="chap16"></A>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+CHAPTER XVI.
+</H3>
+
+<H4 ALIGN="center">
+THE NEXT NIHILIST PLOT.
+</H4>
+
+<P>
+It seemed to me when I thought over my interview with Paula Tueski,
+that the complications which surrounded me could not possibly be
+increased.  It was of course hopeless to think of leaving Russia except
+by some stratagem, or in disguise; and this would be all the more
+difficult because Olga must leave first, and her flight would
+undoubtedly turn attention on me.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+A positively baffling set of conditions faced me therefore, whichever
+way I turned.  If I stayed on, Paula Tueski would insist on the
+marriage, and the crisis would come that way.  If I attempted to go,
+she herself would join with the police in following me, and the mere
+endeavour to fly would give just that colour to her story which would
+make all the world ready to believe it.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Again, if I tried the remaining alternative of proclaiming my identity,
+I had so egregiously compromised myself that I could not hope to escape
+heavy punishment of some kind; while it would certainly implicate Olga
+and at the same time have no effect against the direct lies Paula
+Tueski was ready to swear.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Above all, a great change had come over me.  I wished to live and keep
+my freedom.  The old indifference and apathy were gone.  My object now
+was to get both Olga and myself out of the country in safety; and thus
+I took diametrically opposite views of difficulties which a few days
+previously&mdash;before I had made the discovery of my love for Olga&mdash;would
+have caused me little more than a laugh of amused perplexity.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Baffling as the puzzle was, however, it became infinitely more involved
+and perilous a few days later.  Two fresh complications came to kill
+even every forlorn hope.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+My Nihilist friends were responsible for the first.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The belief that I had struck down the Chief of the Secret Police and
+had done it in a manner so secret, mysterious, and impenetrable that it
+staggered the most ingenious police spies and defied the efforts of the
+astutest detectives, surrounded me with a glamour of wholly undeserved
+and undesired reputation.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The first intimation of this had reached me through Olga, and was
+followed by several others; and I received clear proof that I was now
+regarded as a sort of leader of the forlorn hopes of these wild and
+desperate men.  A man who could alone and unaided achieve what I was
+believed to have accomplished was held capable of the greatest deeds.
+So they appeared to argue; and I was accordingly picked out next for a
+task of infinite danger and hazard in a plot of even more tremendous
+consequences than that of the recent murder.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+It was nothing less than the assassination of the Czar.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+It was resolved, by whom and in what centre of the Empire I never knew,
+to follow up the murder of Christian Tueski by the greater blow, and to
+strike this with the utmost possible despatch: as a proof of the
+desperate courage and daring of the Nihilists.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+I was chosen to play one of the chief parts.  I had no option to
+refuse.  There was no choice given me.  The task was committed to me;
+just as a command might have been given me by my military superior
+officer.  When I attempted to decline, I was given to understand that
+refusal meant death.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+I was thus placed in a position of cruel difficulty and I pondered with
+close self-searching what I ought to do.  Looking back I think I made a
+blunder in not disclosing all I knew to the authorities, leaving them
+to take what steps they pleased; but in forming my decision at the time
+I was swayed by a number of considerations most difficult to weigh.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+One of my chief reasons for holding my tongue was that as the plot
+followed so soon after the Tueski murder&mdash;for the plans were all made
+within a week&mdash;the fact that I knew so much of Nihilist plots at such a
+time, would bring both Olga and myself under suspicion of having been
+privy to the former one.  In such a case everything I wished to win
+would be jeopardised.  A single breath of suspicion would have been
+enough to sweep us both into a gaol; and once there, no one could say
+when, if ever, we should come out; for the whole country was red-hot
+against the Nihilists, and men of the highest rank and wealth were
+rotting in gaol side by side with the most abject and destitute paupers.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+I was also much concerned as to my supposed past.  I knew that the old
+Alexis was gravely compromised; but what he had actually done, I did
+not know.  If any old offences were raked up I should be certain to be
+called to account for them now, while Olga would inevitably suffer with
+me.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+For those reasons I decided to hold my tongue and to seek my own means
+for causing the infernal scheme to miss its aim.  I reckoned that, as I
+was to have a principal part assigned to me, I could by my own effort,
+either through apparent stupidity or by wilful design, wreck the whole
+project; and with this object I thought carefully over every detail of
+it which was entrusted to me.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The scheme was ingenious and, save in one respect, simple enough.  A
+fortnight later the Emperor was to pay a visit to Moscow, and already
+preparations had commenced for his reception.  At one time it was
+thought he would refuse to come because of the Tueski murder; but with
+that unerring accuracy that always made me marvel, till I ascertained
+the cause, the Nihilist leaders learnt the Imperial intentions before
+they were known in some of even the closest official circles.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+What the Czar decided to do was to have all the preparations continued
+as though the original arrangements for the visit were to be carried
+out; but at the last moment to make a change which would baffle any
+plots.  He meant to alter the arrangement of the train by which he
+would travel: and this at the very last moment.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The object of this was, of course, to thwart any plot that might be
+laid to attack the train in which he travelled, so that thus the
+plotters might be discovered.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+But the double cunning of the Nihilists was quite equal to this change:
+and the plot was indeed exactly what the officials had anticipated&mdash;to
+wreck the train in which the Czar travelled&mdash;and I think it was chosen
+for the very reason of its apparent obviousness.  Given precise
+information of the Imperial movements and a little double cunning in
+the plans, it was likely enough that the authorities would be
+especially vulnerable in just that spot in which they believed they had
+most effectively guarded themselves.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The official reasoning was that if the train in which the Czar was
+publicly but erroneously believed to be travelling could pass safely,
+then that in which His Majesty would actually be, would be sure to get
+by without mishap.  The Nihilist plans were laid in full knowledge of
+the official theory.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+A part of the line about ten miles from the city where the rails ran in
+a dead straight course over a comparatively flat country for some five
+or six miles was chosen for the attack; and it was chosen because it
+was that which the authorities would the least suspect, since it was
+most easy to watch and guard.  A man standing at either end of the
+long, flat, straight stretch could with a glass watch, not only the
+line itself, but also the land adjoining the line.  Of all the spots
+the train would pass this was by far the unlikeliest to be selected for
+any Nihilist attack.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The most prominent and conspicuous spot of all was that, moreover,
+which was picked out for the actual attempt.  At that particular point
+a shallow dip in the fields caused the line to be embanked to a height
+of some ten or twelve feet; and the key of the plan was to fix levers
+to two of the rails so that they could be moved at the very last
+moment, just when the train was within a few yards of them.  In this
+way the train would be turned off the metals and sent over the
+embankment into the field.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The levers, worked by electric motive power, were of course out of
+sight under the wooden sleepers: and the wires were trailed in tubes
+down inside the embankment and away through field-drains to a house
+more than half a mile distant from the line, where the operators were
+to remain until after the "accident."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Personally, I did not dislike the scheme: because I thought I could see
+several ways in which I could prevent any fatal outcome; should I have
+to remain in the country long enough to compel me to take part in it.
+It would be easy enough for me to appear to lose my head at the last
+moment, for instance, and so bungle matters that the men who were to
+kill the Emperor would be in fact prevented from approaching him.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+But there was also in this a desperate personal risk to myself.  I knew
+that these men would be picked from among the most reckless and daring
+spirits in the Empire; men suffering under the grossest personal wrongs
+as well as motived by wild political fanaticism.  To them the blood of
+either friend or foe was as nothing if it stood in the way of what
+their unbalanced minds deemed justice and right.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+It was thus a perilous and slippery eminence to which I had been
+thrust, and it increased infinitely the hazard of my course.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+My thoughts returned to the idea of flight with redoubled incentive,
+therefore; and a circumstance occurred which seemed to promise me some
+help in this direction.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+A letter came to me from "Hamylton Tregethner."  Olga's brother had
+escaped, as we knew, and had made his way to Paris.  He was going on,
+he said, to America as soon as he had enjoyed himself: and when he
+found himself in New York, he purposed to change his name and
+nationality once more and be a Pole.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I have not had many adventures," he wrote; "nor do I seem to have met
+many men who know me.  But I had one encounter that was rather amusing.
+I was at breakfast and saw a man staring hard at me from the other side
+of the room.  I thought he might be a friend, and so I did not look at
+him.  But he would not let his eyes move from me, and when I left the
+table he followed and spoke to me.  'Hamylton, old man, I did not know
+you at first.  You're looking frightfully ill and altered.  You're not
+going to cut me.'  This gave me a cue, though I did not understand all
+he said, when he added something about 'on account of somebody's
+conduct.'  I did cut him, however; looked him hard in the face and
+curling my lip as if in profound contempt, I turned on my heel.  I had
+the curiosity to ask afterwards who he was, and they gave me his name
+as the Hon. Rupert Balestier.  I suppose I know him, but I thought the
+best way was not to speak.  I did not shake him off, however: for that
+night he saw me again just when I was speaking English to some other
+men.  I saw him listening as if he could not believe his ears; and as
+soon as I was alone he came up and asked me who I was and what right I
+had to masquerade as his old friend, Hamylton Tregethner.  For answer I
+gave him another stare and got away.  Then I changed my hotel and am
+going away from Paris for a few days.  I do not intend to be bothered
+by the man."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+My first impression of this incident was that it boded further danger.
+I knew Balestier.  He was a man of great resolution and if he imagined
+that anyone was masquerading in my name in Paris, he would think
+nothing of rousing both the English and Russian Embassies; or of coming
+on to Moscow himself to probe the thing to the bottom.  He loved
+mysteries; was most active, energetic, and enterprising; and nothing
+would suit him better than to have imported into his rather purposeless
+life some such task as a search for me half over Europe.  He was quite
+capable, too, of jumping to the conclusion that the man he had met had
+murdered and was personating me; and in a belief of the kind he was
+just the man to raise the hue and cry in every police office on the
+Continent.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+What the real Alexis called "speaking English" was of course bad enough
+to brand him anywhere as an impostor, should he try to pass himself off
+as an Englishman.  Balestier had no doubt listened in amazement to the
+strange jargon coming from lips that looked like mine; and the
+extraordinary likeness and "my" peculiar conduct would quite complete
+his perplexity.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Probably I should hear more of the matter; and this set me considering
+whether I could not manage in some way to communicate with Balestier
+and get him to help in smuggling Olga across the frontier.  He would
+revel in the work if I could only find him.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+I turned to "Tregethner's" letter therefore to find the name of the
+hotel, and to my infinite annoyance the fool had not mentioned it;
+while his intention to run away from Paris and Balestier would cause
+more delay.  The fellow was not only a coward but an idiot as well; and
+I could have kicked him liberally, if my foot would only have reached
+from Moscow to Paris.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+As it was, Balestier, with the best will in the world, would probably
+be blundering about and plunging me still deeper into the mud, when he
+not only could, but would, have given me valuable help if I could have
+got at him to tell him what to do.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+I felt like Tantalus, when I thought of it.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR><BR>
+
+<A NAME="chap17"></A>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+CHAPTER XVII.
+</H3>
+
+<H4 ALIGN="center">
+AN EXTRAORDINARY ADVENTURE.
+</H4>
+
+<P>
+The second complication was a much bigger matter; and it was of so
+strange a description and fraught with consequences of such critical
+importance to Olga and myself that of all my experiences of that time
+it deserves to be classed as the most remarkable.  Like all else at
+that time, it came quite unsought by me, and as the direct and
+unavoidable consequence of the first step in my new life&mdash;the duel with
+Devinsky and my subsequent repute as a swordsman.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+A day or two after Tueski's funeral, and while the city was still
+quivering and staggering under the effects of the supposed Nihilist
+blow, a great ball took place at the Valniski Palace.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Count Valniski was among the richest men in Moscow, bidding hard for
+power and courting popularity right and left among all classes.  To
+this ball all the officers of my regiment were invited, together with
+many of their friends.  Amongst the latter Olga had a card; and
+although we were certainly in a poor mood for a function of the kind,
+we felt it expedient to do what all the world was doing, go to it; lest
+by remaining away we should attract attention to ourselves.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+It was a very brilliant affair, as these big Russian balls always are,
+and the crowd included many of the best and smartest people in Moscow.
+I moved about the rooms, not dancing much, but exchanging a word now
+and then with my brother officers and with other people who claimed
+acquaintance with me.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Olga had plenty of partners among my comrades, and as she was dancing
+with one of them I stood watching her and thinking how completely I had
+dropped into the new social grooves of this Moscow life and how quickly
+my first feelings of strangeness had worn off, when my friend Essaieff
+came up to me.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Alexis, I have a commission that concerns you," he said.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Well?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"You're in luck.  Try and guess."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Can't," I replied, shaking my head.  "Unless the war's broken out and
+I'm to have a step.  What is it?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"There's a woman in it.  High up, too."  There were only two women in
+Moscow I ever thought about; and one of them I wished to see safe out
+of Russia, and the other at the devil, or anywhere out of my way.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Give it up," I said, with a smile.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"It's that smile of yours fetches 'em, I believe," said Essaieff,
+smiling in his turn.  "It makes your face one of the pleasantest things
+in the world to look at."  He had ripened quickly into a very familiar
+friend and we were great chums now.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"What is there you want me to do, old man?  You wouldn't waste that
+flower of speech for nothing."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Well, something's done it.  I have been asked to present you to one of
+the wealthiest, most beautiful, and most influential women in
+Moscow&mdash;the Princess Weletsky; and asked in terms which seemed to imply
+that the honour of the introduction would be conferred on her."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"The Princess Weletsky, who is she?" I asked in absolute ignorance.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"That's just like you, Alexis.  I'm getting to know that sweet
+innocence of yours.  Whenever I mention a name that all Russia knows,
+you make the same lame show and ask, Who's he? or, Who's she?  You've
+heard of her a thousand times.  You can't help hearing of her.  You
+couldn't if you tried."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"All right," I laughed, to turn my mistake.  "Have you been talking
+about me?"  He laughed at the idea.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Why, man where are your wits?  Do you think the Princess and I are on
+gossiping terms?  I'm only the fly on the wheel in this.  She wishes to
+know you; I do know you; she once sent me a card for one of her
+assemblies and snubbed me in a high bred manner; now she can use me,
+and accordingly I am paraded for duty&mdash;to introduce you.  Come along or
+she'll be getting some Court executioner to cut my throat for
+loitering."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+I followed him, wondering what it could mean; and half a minute later
+was presented to one of the most lovely and stately women I have ever
+seen.  A queenly woman, indeed, and I should have been an icicle if I
+had not admired her.  She was radiantly fair in both hair and
+complexion, but her eyes were dark and languishing like a Spaniard's:
+while the faultless regularity of her features in no way marred the
+exquisite suggestion of womanly sympathy and mental power which spoke
+in her voice and manner and glances.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+I have seen many lovely women of all types, but in all my life none to
+compare with the exquisite magnificence of this Russian beauty.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Her reception of me could not have been more cordial, moreover, had I
+been one of the greatest of Russia's nobles, or had she begun to
+entertain some strong favour for me.  I am not a coxcomb where women
+are concerned, I hope, and certainly nothing in their treatment of me
+in my life had led me to conceit myself that such a woman as this would
+fall in love with me; but her conduct to me that night might well have
+turned my head, had it not been full of other matters.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+I asked for the honour of a dance and she gave me her programme,
+telling me I might write my name where I would.  As it was empty, this
+seemed a generous invitation; but I scribbled my initials against two
+dances, and was then going to move off.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+She glanced at the programme and smiled.  I cannot describe the effect
+which a smile produced on her face.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I had purposely kept the next dance for you, Lieutenant," she said.
+"But I see your reputation has somewhat belied you."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"My reputation?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Yes.  But I have much I should like to say to you.  I have heard of
+you often; as a daring man even among Russia's most daring; and not
+always as modest as brave."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Rumour is often an unreliable witness," said I.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"She has not always spoken kindly of you, Lieutenant.  But to see you
+is enough to test the truth of her tales."  She accompanied this with a
+glance of especially subtle flattery, as she made place for me to sit
+by her, and then drew me to talk by questioning me, always giving in
+her answer a suggestion of keen personal interest in me.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+We danced that next dance, and she declared that I waltzed better than
+any man in the room; and at the close of the dance she asked me to take
+her to one of the conservatories, under the pretext that she was
+heated.  We sat there during two dances, until the first that I had
+initialled came, and then we danced again.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+All the time she fascinated me with her manner and the infinite
+subtlety with which she implied the admiration she felt for my bravery,
+my skill as a soldier and a swordsman, my strength&mdash;everything in
+short: while she was loud in the expression of the interest with which
+she said she should take in my future.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+At the close of the dance she sent me to fetch my sister; and when I
+presented her she made Olga sit down at her side and presently sent me
+away, saying that women's friendship ripened much more quickly when
+they were alone&mdash;especially if they were interested in the same man.
+All of which would no doubt have been very sound philosophy&mdash;had Olga
+been my sister in reality.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Essaieff had been watching me, and now chaffed me a good deal about my
+conquest, and grew enthusiastic about my future.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"By Gad, man, she's as rich as a Grand Duke: and there is no limit to
+the height her husband may climb.  Play your cards well now: and you've
+got all the pluck, aye, and the brains too, if you like to use them:
+and you'll be War Minister before I apply for my Colonelcy."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+I laughed lightly; but I thought to myself that if he only knew the
+skeletons in my cupboard that were gibbering and rattling their bones
+in mockery of me, he wouldn't tell quite such an enthusiastic fortune
+for me.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+When I went back for my next dance with the princess, Olga was just
+being led away by a handsome young partner whom the Princess had found
+for her.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Olga is most delightful," she said, with one of her smiles.  "She is
+worthy of&mdash;anyone; and a most enthusiastic sister.  She is the most
+genuine soul I ever knew.  She will be my dear friend, when her reserve
+has worn off."  I thought I knew the cause of the "reserve," but I kept
+the thought to myself.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+After the dance she let me take her back to the same place, and
+glancing at her programme let it fall on her lap with half a sigh.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"You were very moderate," she said, tapping the programme with her fan.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Do you know the fable of the hungry mouse?" I asked.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"What do you mean?" This with a glance.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Only that a poor little starveling found himself in a full granary one
+day, when a fairy bade him eat.  He took a few grains and munched them
+and stopped.  'Why stop there, mouse?' asked the fairy.  The little
+thing glanced about him and looking at the crowd of fatted pets that
+were watching him suspiciously from a distance, replied:&mdash;'If I take
+more than these gentry think belong to me, they will fall on me; and
+though I might enjoy the meal at the time, it will prove a dear one and
+hard to digest.'"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"A shrewd mouse, but too timorsome," said the Princess, laughing, and
+handing me her programme again.  "Take other two grains, mouse.  Though
+I'm not quite sure by the way, whether you intended me to be the good
+fairy or the bag of grain.  Fables are often tricksy things."
+</P>
+
+<A NAME="img-191"></A>
+<CENTER>
+<IMG CLASS="imgcenter" SRC="images/img-191.jpg" ALT="&quot;Take another two grains, mouse.&quot;" BORDER="2">
+<P CLASS="capcenter">
+&quot;Take another two grains, mouse.&quot;
+</P>
+</CENTER>
+
+<P>
+"And fairies also.  But at least mice are harmless."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Except to frighten silly women.  But I am not afraid of
+mice&mdash;especially when they are so moderate in permitted pilfering."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"The touch of a fairy's wand can change even a mouse to a lion," said
+I; and when she met my gaze she dropped her eyes and coloured.  The
+dance came then and we danced it almost in silence.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+After it I went to look for Olga; but she had gone home; and then I
+waited impatiently for my next dance with my most fascinating partner.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+There is no flattery in the world half so telling on a man as a lovely
+woman's admiration, undisguised yet not flaunted; and expressed in the
+thousand subtle ways which her nimble wits can find when inspired by
+resolve to please.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+I did not think that at such a time any woman on earth could have
+exercised so strong an influence over me in the course of no more than
+an hour or two; and when we sat together after our last dance for a few
+minutes before she left, I felt I would have done almost anything on
+earth that she asked to serve her.  Something that she said drew from
+me a rather random protestation to this effect, and she reddened and
+started, and then after a rapid searching glance shot into my face, she
+sat silent, fingering her fan, restlessly.  While doing this her
+programme caught her attention.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+She looked at it and held it so that I could read it.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"No name but yours," she said, almost in a whisper.  I saw this was so.
+Then she broke the silken cord by which it was fastened to her wrist,
+and with another glance at me put it away into her bosom.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+It was a little action: but from such a woman what did it not mean?  I
+was amazed.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Another long pause followed.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Then she laid her hand in mine and looked straight at me.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Are you really a brave man?" she asked.  I seemed to take fire under
+her touch and look.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"That is not a question a man can answer for himself.  Test me."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"If your sister were insulted, would you fight for her?"  She little
+knew the cord she had touched, or guessed how the reference cooled me.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I have already done so," I returned.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"In days of old men fought for any woman who was wronged.  Would you?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I have done it before now," I answered, still thinking of Olga, and my
+thoughts for some reason slipped back to the first meeting on the
+Moscow platform.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+She paused and looked away from me for a moment as if hesitating; and
+then leaning so close to me that I could feel her warm breath on my
+cheek as she spoke, while her grasp tightened on my arm, she said in a
+tone of deep feeling:&mdash;
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I have been wronged.  You see me here as I am and what I am; but save
+for the happiness you have made me feel in being with you, I am the
+most wretched woman in all Russia.  Will you help me?  Dare you?"  And
+she seemed to hang on my words as she waited for my reply, her eyes
+searching mine as if to read my answer there.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+I was about to reply with a pledge inspired by the enthusiasm with
+which she had fired me, when my instinctive caution restrained me.  She
+was quick to see my moment's hesitation and not willing to risk a
+refusal, she added hastily:&mdash;
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"We cannot talk of this here.  I ought not to have spoken of it now:
+but you seem to have drawn my very soul from me.  Come to me to-morrow
+to my house.  I will be alone at three.  You will come&mdash;my friend?"  An
+indescribable solicitude spoke through her last two words, all
+suggestive of infinite trust in me.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Certainly," I cried.  "And certainly your friend, if I dare."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+She answered with a glance; and then seemed to cast aside her
+excitement.  Rising she let me lead her back to the ball-room.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+When I left her there were others round us, but as she bowed I caught a
+glance and the whispered words:&mdash;
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I trust you."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+I turned away half bewildered, and went home at once, pondering what
+was to be the upshot of this new development.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR><BR>
+
+<A NAME="chap18"></A>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+CHAPTER XVIII.
+</H3>
+
+<H4 ALIGN="center">
+THE REASON OF THE INTRIGUE.
+</H4>
+
+<P>
+When I was alone and the strange charm of the Princess Weletsky's
+presence had given way to calm reflection, my doubts began to grow.  I
+was naturally a cautious man under ordinary circumstances; and now my
+suspicions were the keener because my caution had been momentarily
+lulled to sleep.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+I was all inclined to disbelieve the story which the Princess had told,
+or rather had suggested; and I began to look behind all she had said
+for some motive or intrigue.  I thought she might wish for the help of
+my sword for some altogether different purpose than she had suggested:
+but I could think of nothing.  Nor could Olga, with whom I spoke very
+freely on the subject.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+She said she could see no more than appeared on the surface; and what
+that was it was superfluous to ask; especially when she told me that
+the Princess could, or would talk of nothing else to her but my
+bravery, my good looks, my courtesy, my chivalry, and so on at great
+length.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"It is agreeable to have my brother praised," said Olga once, laughing.
+"But there are limits."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+During the next four or five days Olga had ample opportunities of
+hearing these praises, moreover, as the Princess would scarcely let her
+out of her sight.  When I called on the day following the ball I found
+the two together, and the Princess in a few words we had together out
+of my sister's hearing would say nothing at all about the subject of
+her wrongs.  She enlarged on the suggestion of the previous night that
+she had been led by her impulses and her instinctive trust in me to
+speak too fully.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+For some days she maintained the same attitude of reserve, and then
+quite suddenly when we were alone, she changed again, and in words
+which I could not fail to understand she let me know indirectly that if
+I would avenge her wrongs, her hand would be my reward.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+I have never in my life had to face a more awkward crisis than that.
+What reply she expected I cannot tell: whether she looked for some
+eager passionate protestations of love, or some strong pledge of
+defence, or what.  Whether she really cared for me and the confusion
+she shewed was the sign of it, or whether the whole part was assumed
+and everything mere acting, I cannot say.  But I know that I on my part
+felt indescribably embarrassed and scarcely knew how to answer her.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+I knew, too, the danger to Olga and myself of offending a woman so
+highly placed, so influential, and powerful as the Princess.  We had
+enough troubles as it was: and if they were to be multiplied and
+aggravated in this way, we should be overwhelmed.  It was certain that
+I must find some way of temporising.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Princess, I am your devoted servant to do with as you will," I
+answered.  "And if my sword can be of service, tell me how."  She
+started and flushed with pleasure as I said this.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I knew I should not count on you in vain.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"The Grand Duke Servanieff will now learn that a more stalwart arm than
+his protects me from his insults."  Her eyes seemed to glitter as she
+watched the effect of this name on me.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Do you mean that that is the man you wish me to fight?" I cried in the
+deepest astonishment.  He was all but on the very steps of the Throne,
+and if I had approached him he would have brushed me away into a gaol
+with no more concern or difficulty than he would have whisked a fly off
+his hand.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The woman was mad.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"He persists in forcing his attentions on me, and I will not have
+them," she said.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+All my suspicions had been stung into activity by the mention of the
+name of the Grand Duke; and as I looked at the Princess she appeared to
+be watching me with quite suspicious vigilance as she added:&mdash;"He
+cannot refuse to meet anyone to whom I give the right to protect me
+from him."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+It was an intrigue.  I was sure of it; and this lovely woman was making
+me her tool.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+I answered guardedly.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"A lieutenant in a marching regiment who should presume to challenge
+that man would stand a better chance of being whipped at the cart's
+tail than of meeting him."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"He is a great swordsman, I know," she said, as if to pour suspicion on
+my courage.  But I was not a fool to be tripped by a gibe.  If I had
+wished to marry the woman I would have consented readily enough there
+and then, and risked all; but my object was to get out of Russia and to
+get Olga out with me.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I should not fear him were he twice as skilful; but this is no mere
+matter of sword fence."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Easy words, Lieutenant."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I will make them good, Princess," replied I, quietly.  "But I must
+first see the course clearer for the meeting.  What say your friends?
+Can I depend on their influence?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Won't you do this for me, then?  Am I mistaken in you?"  There was a
+sharp accent of irritation in her tone that I noticed now.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Princess, it does not best become a beautiful woman to doubt a man's
+courage until he is proved a craven.  Here is no matter of personal
+courage only; but I should be loosing upon me all the waters of
+bitterest political intrigue.  Alone I should be absolutely powerless
+to stem the torrents that would sweep me to certain ruin.  Alone,
+therefore I cannot do what you ask.  But understand me, give me the
+powerful support of your family, and I will meet the man, were he fifty
+times the Highness that he is&mdash;if we can arrange the meeting."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+She seemed disappointed at this; quite unreasonably so; and tried to
+move me.  But I stood firm, and then with evident reluctance, she told
+me her brother was with her in the matter, and that if I would see him
+all would be simple.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"My brother, Prince Bilbassoff, is, as you know, Minister of the
+Interior, and is now in Moscow in connection with the visit of the
+Emperor."  I had not known who her brother was; but when she gave me
+the name and told me where I could see him, a rapid conclusion leapt
+into my thoughts.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Prince Bilbassoff was the real power behind the Police, and I was
+probably going to find now why Christian Tueski had had to hold his
+hand against me.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+I went at once to see him.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+I found him the very opposite of the popular ideal of a bureaucrat&mdash;a
+short, grey, close-haired, spare man, with the air of a man of the
+world, and a pleasant cheery manner that suggested nothing formidable
+or even powerful.  Yet without doubt the man was in many respects the
+most powerful and the most feared in all Russia.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+He appeared to be expecting me; for the instant I was announced, he got
+up and welcomed me with a hearty shake of the hand and said:&mdash;-
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I thought my sister would have to make us acquainted, Lieutenant
+Petrovitch.  She said she wouldn't; but I expected you.  Women think
+beauty will do everything; and somehow are always calculating without
+the effects of self-interest.  Don't you think so?"  He spoke with a
+sort of easy club mannerism, and just let his eyes rest a moment on my
+face.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Of course you know the drift of what has passed then?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Of course I do.  As well as I know that your coming to me means that
+my sister's method has failed.  I from the first disagreed with it.  I
+know a great deal about you, Lieutenant Petrovitch; and I think I could
+have saved time.  But my sister was attracted to you&mdash;women always like
+you handsome young fire-eaters, especially women like my sister&mdash;and as
+she is to take a rather large hand in the matter, she wanted to play it
+her own way.  She appealed to your feelings, Lieutenant.  I should have
+gone straight to your interest: and really it will be to your interest
+to do this."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Will you tell me plainly what is wanted?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Certainly.  The death of the man whose name has no doubt been
+mentioned to you."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Why?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Not because he has insulted my sister: though that is fortunately a
+plausible pretext: but because he is a menace to the Empire."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+His bluntness astounded me.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Do you take me for an assassin?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"No.  I take you for a very resolute young man, with a great skill of
+fence, a large desire to push your fortunes high, and not too much
+scruple to act like a sword scabbard between your legs and trip you up.
+If you weren't that, you'd be no use to me.  As you are, I open before
+you a career such as lies before no other man in the Emperor's wide
+dominions at the present moment.  Do this, and you win a woman as rich
+and beautiful and, as women go, as good as any in Russia for a wife;
+and you can ask and have almost what place you like, either in or out
+of the army."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"And if I refuse?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+He laughed and shrugged his shoulders.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"You won't refuse," he said, shaking his head.  "If you do, you will be
+a young fool&mdash;too foolish to be trusted at large."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+I knew what he meant; and when I looked at him next, I understood why
+men feared him.  That laugh of his would usher a man to the knout or
+the gallows.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+I thought rapidly.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I like the project," I replied.  "But can you arrange the meeting?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+He was as quick as the devil, and detected the false note in my voice.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Lieutenant, there are two courses open to you," he said in a tone so
+sharp, stern and ringing that the change surprised me.  "You can accept
+or refuse the offer&mdash;but don't try to fool me."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Well, then, I'm not a murderer," I rapped out, angered by his words.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"That's better," he said, with a return to his light clubbish manner.
+"But this is no murder.  The man is a traitor: and no juster act could
+be compassed than his death."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Then why not do it openly?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+He smiled and threw up his hands.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Is justice always done openly?  Of course we might do that: but he
+would laugh at our efforts.  We might get him assassinated; but he is
+too powerful and the noise of the act would defeat the very object we
+have.  He is a swordsman worthy of your skill.  He has insulted, and
+will again insult my sister, your betrothed&mdash;for what is not an insult
+when you wish to make it one?&mdash;and he would delight to meet you.  He
+will think he can kill you.  Perhaps he can: may be, probably; for he
+is a very devil with the weapon.  That is your risk.  Will you take it?
+It's no light one.  But you are a young fellow with all to gain in
+winning and nothing to lose but your life.  You will do it, I know.
+I'm only surprised you hesitate."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+I sat thinking: but not in the groove he guessed.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"We'll make your sister's fortune as well," he said, raising the terms.
+"She shall make a marriage into one of the best families in Russia, and
+found a family of the highest distinction.  Think, Lieutenant."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+I was thinking about as hard as I could: but no opening offered itself.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I must have time to determine," I said.  "It seems to me that I run
+the chance of playing the cat's paw with all the flame for my share.
+What guarantee have I that if I do this and am successful I shall not
+then be deemed&mdash;too foolish to be trusted at large, as you say?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"First, my honour; secondly, your betrothal to my sister; and thirdly,
+her feeling for yourself."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"And if I refuse, Siberia, I suppose?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"No, not so far as that," he replied, lightly.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"But what if I feign to consent and carry the story to the man you
+threaten?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"There is that chance of course.  But in the first place he would not
+believe you, Lieutenant; and in the second, if he did, neither you nor
+he could do any harm; and in the third, you would have me for an enemy.
+And I am pleasanter and safer as a friend.  I have discounted that
+risk, and it is nothing."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"How long will you give me to decide?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"A week.  We can then announce the betrothal just before the Emperor's
+visit here, and gain the Imperial blessing on so righteous a marriage
+between a brave man and a beautiful woman, each motived by the highest
+patriotic feelings for Russia."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+With this half sneer ringing in my ears, he sent me away.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR><BR>
+
+<A NAME="chap19"></A>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+CHAPTER XIX.
+</H3>
+
+<H4 ALIGN="center">
+OLGA'S ABDUCTION.
+</H4>
+
+<P>
+I went home in a very unenviable frame of mind, and my temper was not
+improved by my meeting my old opponent, Devinsky, near my rooms.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+For the moment I was powerless to think of any possible means of
+relief.  My helplessness was so complete as to be almost ludicrous: and
+if it had not been for Olga, I would have just let myself be dragged
+along by the singular chain of events which had coiled themselves round
+me.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+I must rouse myself to some sort of effort for her sake.  I saw that,
+of course.  But the result of a couple of hours' thinking was only to
+increase my utter perplexity; and I went off to bed to try if sleep
+would clear my wits.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+I resolved to see Olga the next day as soon as possible after my
+regimental duties were over.  There was but one thing possible.  She
+must go at once and we must try to hit on some plan by which she could
+escape at any hazard.  But my regimental work was heavier than usual,
+and when it was over a meeting of the officers was called in reference
+to the impending visit of the Czar to Moscow.  It was thus late in the
+afternoon before I could get to Olga.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+At the house, astounding news awaited me.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The Countess Palitzin met me with the question where Olga was.  I
+looked at her in astonishment; and then she told me a message had come
+from me early in the forenoon, asking Olga to go round at once to my
+rooms.  She had gone, promising to return soon or send word.  She had
+done neither; and a six hours' absence had made the old lady anxious.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"She should have been back before this," I said, quietly, not wishing
+to add to her alarm.  "Who do you say came for her?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Your servant, Borlas, Olga told me."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+I tried to reassure her that all was right, though I did not at all
+like the look of things, and I hurried back to my rooms to question
+Borlas.  He had not been there on my return from barracks, and he was
+not there now; and there was nothing to shew that he had not been
+absent for some hours.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Did this mean treachery?  Or had Olga been arrested?  Could she be in
+the hands of the Nihilists?  Or what?  A thousand wild thoughts flashed
+through my mind as I stood for a minute thinking what I ought to do
+first, and where to look for her.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Then I recalled my meeting with Devinsky near my rooms.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+I dashed out and ran to Essaieff's rooms to find out all he knew about
+Borlas, as he had recommended the man to me; and to learn whether he
+would be likely to be bribed to do such an act of treachery as now
+seemed possible.  But my friend was out.  Leaving word for him to come
+at once to me I went on to Madame Tueski and questioned her.  She
+equivocated, suggesting that I was feeling her power; and with the
+utmost difficulty I drew from her that despite all her hints she knew
+nothing.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+I ran then to the Prince Bilbassoff; but he was away.  I hurried next
+to the Princess; she knew nothing, but was full of sympathy and offers
+of help.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+I wanted news, however, not offers of help; and I rushed back to my
+rooms, on my way to the police, on the off-chance that Borlas had
+returned.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+He had not: but in his place there was something much more important.
+A rough, wild looking country-man was standing at my door, holding the
+bridle of a shaggy pony that bore signs of heavy travelling; and the
+man had been trying vainly to get into my house.  He addressed me,
+asking where he could find Lieutenant Petrovitch; and then gave me a
+slip of paper from Olga.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"<I>Am suspicious and sending this back.  If anything wrong, follow me.
+O.</I>"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+I then questioned the man closely and he said that his wife was called
+to the window of a carriage to a young lady who was ill.  When she had
+recovered, she gave his wife a handkerchief.  In it was the message and
+a sum of money and a request that it&mdash;the paper&mdash;should be brought to
+me at once.  This had occurred at Praxoff, about ten miles out on the
+north road.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+In less than a quarter of an hour I was armed and mounted; and a few
+minutes saw me free of the city and flying at full gallop in pursuit.
+I knew the road well enough, owing to my long residence as a boy in
+Moscow; and I now put my horse to its utmost speed and made straight
+for the house where Olga had seen the peasant woman.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+I found it without the least difficulty and got a description of the
+carriage, horses, and postilion; and I  questioned the woman as to
+every word Olga had said to her and who was in the carriage.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+From what she said, I judged it was Borlas, and that the two were alone.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+I stayed no longer than was necessary to hear all the woman had to say,
+and then I rode on still at full speed, asking right and left as I went
+for tidings of the carriage.  The trail was broad enough for anyone to
+follow for some miles and then I came upon information that gave me a
+complete clue to the whole matter.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Reining up at a wayside inn, I put the usual questions; adding that the
+lady was my sister and that I was an officer in the Moscow Infantry
+Regiment.  The landlord came to me instantly.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"You are Lieutenant Petrovitch?" he asked.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Yes," and I told him my errand.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Have you been engaged in a duel this morning?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+I stared at the man and asked him what he meant.  His answer shewed
+what story had been concocted to trick Olga.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"A gentleman engaged two rooms here this morning, saying they would be
+wanted in connection with a duel in the neighbourhood.  One of the
+combatants was Lieutenant Petrovitch; and the latter's sister was
+coming to be near at hand in case of her brother being hurt.  She was
+coming out with the brother's servant and when she arrived was to be
+shewn at once to the room engaged for her.  As a fact the duel had
+already been fought in the early hours: Lieutenant Petrovitch had been
+badly wounded and lay at a private house a few miles further on, too
+ill to be moved.  The sister was to be told this; the news being broken
+gradually; and she was not to be allowed to leave the inn, unless she
+insisted very much, in which case the servant would know where to take
+her; and fresh horses were to be supplied.  I told her gently,"
+continued the landlord; "and she insisted on going on at once without
+even stopping for food.  Fresh horses were put in accordingly, and the
+carriage proceeded with less than half an hour's halt here, all told."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+I saw the ruse in a moment.  It was to get fresh horses without Olga
+being suspicious; and to draw in the landlord so as to appear to give
+the story corroboration.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"What was the man like who came to you?" I asked impatiently, ordering
+a horse to be saddled instantly.  In reply the landlord described
+Devinsky accurately.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+I saw it all now; and when the man had given me a valuable clue to the
+road which the carriage had taken&mdash;it had been met by some returning
+postboys&mdash;I set off again in pursuit in the now gathering dusk, as fast
+as I could make the new horse move.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+I rode on till the dark fell: and still on till the moon rose and
+flooded the land with her thin light; and it was not until ten at night
+that I reached the end of my journey.  Some peasants gave me the final
+clue.  They had met the carriage and a question had been asked of them
+as to the whereabouts of a certain house.  They told me now where this
+was, and a few minutes later I reached the place.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+It was an old ramshackle house, once the seat of a family of good
+position but now fallen upon evil days.  It made three sides of a
+square and the courtyard in the middle was all weed-grown, moss-covered
+and uneven, with one large yew tree standing dark and gloomy in the
+centre.  The main entrance was in the middle portion; and there were
+two small gothic arched doors in the wings.  But these seemed very
+stout as I examined them; and all the windows were latticed with stout
+ironwork.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Just the spot for such a venture as this, I thought, as I stole about
+the place to reconnoitre, treading softly, and keeping as much as
+possible in the dark shadows which the walls made.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+There was not a sound to be heard, nor a light to be seen; while the
+look of the place made it certain that I should have a hard task to
+force my way inside.  The same unpromising look of things met me when I
+left the front and crept round to the back and when I had seen all
+round the house I could not make up my mind what was the best thing to
+do.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+There are times, however, when any kind of action is better than doing
+nothing.  There was everything to be gained and nothing to be lost by
+Devinsky learning that I had followed him and knew his hiding-place.  I
+resolved on a pretty bold course, therefore, and drawing my revolver I
+stepped out into the full moonlight and walked quickly to the main
+entrance.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+I had reached to within ten yards of the door when a voice called to
+me:&mdash;
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Who goes there?  What do you want?  Stop, or I fire."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Looking up I saw the gleam of a rifle barrel levelled dead at me.  I
+did not stop to answer but leaping aside, I darted forward into the
+doorway, where the man could not cover me with his weapon, because of a
+shallow porch which intervened to protect me.
+</P>
+
+<A NAME="img-208"></A>
+<CENTER>
+<IMG CLASS="imgcenter" SRC="images/img-208.jpg" ALT="I darted forward into the doorway." BORDER="2">
+<P CLASS="capcenter">
+I darted forward into the doorway.
+</P>
+</CENTER>
+
+<P>
+The incident shewed me the sort of welcome I was to expect.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+There was an old and heavy knocker on the door, and a huge bell-pull.
+I seized both these and set up first a knocking that might have roused
+the dead and then a clanging of the bell equally furious and dinning.
+Presently the bell ceased to sound and I gathered either that someone
+within had cut the wires or that I had broken them in my energy.  The
+great knocker suited me equally well, however&mdash;perhaps better, as the
+noise rang out on the still night air, making a fearful din&mdash;and if
+there did chance to be anyone within half a mile of the place they
+would hear it and might hasten to learn the cause.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Those inside took the same view of the matter, apparently; for suddenly
+and without my knowing the cause, I found the big heavy door give way
+before one of my lusty attacks with the knocker; and as I pushed, it
+swung slowly open.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Everything within was as dark as pitch; and the contrast between the
+row I had been making and the dead silence that followed was so
+profound as to make me stand a minute that my ears should get
+accustomed to the change.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Then drawing my sword and holding my revolver in my left hand, I
+stepped in and tried to peer about me.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The light of the moon gave a faint reflection within, but not enough
+for me to be able to make out anything distinctly; nor, when I strained
+my ears could I detect the slightest sound anywhere.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+My first thought was that as I stood in the doorway, I should be an
+excellent mark for anyone caring to shoot, and I slipped aside
+therefore, into the heavy shadow of the big door.  It was full five
+minutes before my eyes, keen as they are, could distinguish anything;
+and then I seemed to make out two doorways, one on each side of a large
+hall into which the big door opened, and beyond them in the middle a
+broad stairway.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+I groped my way warily a few steps, feeling along the wall, when I
+stopped and began to reflect that I was making a fool of myself in
+attempting single-handed and in pitch darkness to find my way about the
+place.  I must wait for a light of some sort.  I had no idea how many
+men there might be in the house.  I did not know a square foot of the
+plans.  While I was blundering about in the dark I should be an easy
+prey for men whom I could as easily fight in the daylight.  Moreover I
+argued that the knowledge that I had tracked him would keep Devinsky
+from attempting any devilment as yet.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+I was in the house; and I resolved therefore to wait patiently where I
+was in the hall until I had light enough to guide me in my search for
+Olga.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+But I could not keep to the resolution.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Scarcely had I formed the plan when the stillness was broken by a
+woman's scream, shrill and piercing, and a cry for help that made my
+heart leap into my throat with wrath as I thought I could recognise
+Olga's voice.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Without another moment's hesitation, and uttering a loud shout in
+reply, I dashed forward to where I could see the outline of the
+stairway, and rushed up in the direction of the cries for help.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Idiot that I was!  Of course I rushed straight into the trap that had
+been laid for me.  As I reached the top and turned to dart along a
+corridor, my feet were tripped and I fell sprawling headlong with a
+clatter and a dozen oaths to the ground, my sword flying one way and my
+revolver another; and before I could help myself three or four fellows
+were upon me, and though I fought and struggled with them and nearly
+choked one on to whose throat I fastened my grip, I was overpowered and
+bound securely hand and foot.  Then I was blindfolded and gagged, and
+in this absolutely helpless state, carried down the stairs again,
+getting on the way two or three hearty kicks from the men I had
+pummelled.  They threw me down on the floor of an empty room and left
+me.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+I cursed my folly bitterly when I heard the fellows' footsteps as they
+left the room and locked the door behind them.  I had spoilt all for
+the lack of a little caution.  I was an idiot, a fool, a numskull, a
+jackass, to have been caught by a trick which a child might have
+anticipated; and I rolled about the floor, cursing myself and tearing
+and pulling at my bonds in my passion, till I had torn the flesh in a
+dozen places.  But I could not loosen a single strand of all the cords
+that bound me; and I gnashed my teeth and could almost have shed tears
+in my baffled rage and fury.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+I lay thus some hours till the light must have come, for even through
+the heavy bandages on my eyes, the darkness seemed tinged with grey.
+As I thought of the use I might have made of the light, my
+self-reproaches welled up again till I felt almost like a madman.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Later on I heard the door unlocked and two or three men entered.  They
+came and turned me over and holding me firmly, cut the ropes that bound
+my arms, and then tied my hands behind me in iron handcuffs, drawing
+them so tightly that I could not move them without pain.  When I was so
+far secured they cut the ropes from my legs and bade me stand up.  I
+tried; but the rush of the released blood brought with it too much
+pain, and I was just as helpless as a baby for some minutes.  When at
+length I managed to scramble to my feet, they unfastened the bandage
+from my eyes and as soon as my dazed sight could focus itself, I saw
+that brute Devinsky looking at me with a sneering laugh.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"So it's you, is it?" he cried, as if in surprise.  "Turned robber, eh,
+breaking into men's houses in the dead of night?  And what the devil
+are you doing here?  My men told me there was a thief here, but I
+didn't expect you."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Don't lie to me," I cried sternly.  "You know well enough why I'm
+here.  Where's my sister.  If you're not too damned a coward, get me my
+sword and let's settle this thing together and at once."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+He winced at the taunt, but he didn't mean to fight that way.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Thank you.  I don't fight with burglars.  I hand them over to the
+police&mdash;when it suits me.  I always thought there was something secret
+about you; now I know what it is.  You've been living by this sort of
+work I suppose.  Officer by day, and footpad by night.  I'm glad my men
+have caught you at last."  Then he sent them away; and as soon as we
+were alone he asked me:&mdash;"Do you value you life?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Yes, for one reason.  To take yours."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Well, you can have it&mdash;if you like to be reasonable."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I make no terms with a villain like you."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"More fool you," he laughed.  "You may as well face the position.  You
+are in my power.  This house is big enough and strong enough to hide a
+regiment, let alone one man.  You can't stop me now from carrying out
+my intention in regard to your sister, by fair means or otherwise; and
+you may as well make the best of a bad business, and own that I've got
+the whip hand of you, partly by my luck and partly by your own damned
+stupidity.  I'd rather have you on my side in this matter than against
+me; but with me or against me you can't stop me.  What do you say?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"This.  That the first use I'll make of my hands when they're free
+shall be to try and choke the life out of you.  And by God, I'll try
+and do it now."  In my rage I rushed upon him, but like the cowardly
+cur he was, he struck me, bound and defenceless as I was, with all his
+force in the face, and then with a cry brought in the other men.  These
+threw themselves upon me and bore me to the ground, and bound my legs
+again, so that I was once more absolutely helpless.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"You saw that attack the villain made on me," said Devinsky to the men.
+"I was offering to release him.  You'll bear witness to that.  As for
+you," turning to me, "you can stay here for a few hours more to cool
+your murderous fever; and I will send back orders for your release,
+when I am at a safe distance.  And, remember, there are strong cellars
+below; and if there are any more attempts at violence, I'll have you
+put there."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+He went out then with the men and in a moment later returned alone and
+said in a voice full of rage and hate:&mdash;"I'm going through with this,
+Petrovitch, at any cost&mdash;if I have to shut you up here till the flesh
+rots off your bones.  Your sister and I are going further on shortly:
+and I'll see you once more before I start, and give you one more chance
+of listening to reason."  And with this he left me.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+My plight was worse than ever.  So far, Olga was safe.  That was the
+only glimpse of comfort in all the miserable situation.  It was clear,
+too, that she was in the house; and though she was still in the man's
+power, I might yet find some means of helping her.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+But how?  That was the question.  And when I thought of his words that
+he was going to carry her still further away, I turned sick with rage
+and loathing.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR><BR>
+
+<A NAME="chap20"></A>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+CHAPTER XX.
+</H3>
+
+<H4 ALIGN="center">
+THE RESCUE.
+</H4>
+
+<P>
+I felt as though the heat of hell were burning in my veins as I lay on
+the floor with the remembrance of Devinsky's blow and his words turning
+my blood to fire.  If ever I were free again, I swore to myself over
+and over again, I would have his life for that blow.  My anguish and
+rage that he should have Olga in his power were infinite tortures, and
+all the less endurable because of my abject helplessness.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The one chance I had of deliverance was that someone, perhaps Essaieff,
+should hear of the matter and follow me.  But the hope was so feeble as
+to be little more than tantalising; fool-like, I had rushed off without
+leaving any intimation of what had happened.  If he did follow me,
+indeed, it would be only after a long interval, and not until Devinsky
+would have had time either to get far away or to carry out his purpose.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Then I began speculating as to what he meant to do.  He would scarcely
+dare to try and make Olga his wife against her will and consent; though
+he was evidently villain enough to go to great lengths.  In this way my
+thoughts ran over the ground trying to ferret out a means of escape as
+well as seeking a key to the man's motives; and thus another hour or
+two slipped away without my hearing a sound or getting a sign of anyone.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The strain of suspense was enough to turn one's brain.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+But a wholly unexpected and most welcome interruption came to break in
+upon my reverie.  Outside I heard the tramp of horses being ridden at a
+sharp trot into the courtyard of the house, with a jingling of arms and
+accoutrements that told me the riders were either soldiers or mounted
+police.  A sharp word of command brought them to the halt; and as soon
+as that happened, I let out such a lusty yell for help as made the
+walls ring again and again.  Then my door was opened and two men rushed
+in and ordered me to be silent, under pain of instant death, and
+clapped revolvers to my head.  But I knew they dared not fire with such
+visitors at the door and I continued to yell with all my lung power
+until, throwing down their weapons, they first clapped their hands on
+my mouth and then thrust a gag into my jaws.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Some five minutes passed and the tension of my impatience was
+unendurable.  Meanwhile the two men held me and cut the bonds from my
+legs and got ready to slip the gyves from my wrists.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Presently the tramp of feet approached the door of my room and when it
+was opened an officer of the mounted police entered with a file of men
+at his heels.  Devinsky was shewing the way and speaking as they all
+came in.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"As I have told you, he made an attack on the house in the night; my
+men secured him.  When I saw him, I recognised him, of course, and
+should have released him, but he tried to murder me&mdash;angry, I presume,
+at having been discovered and recognised at such work.  I then had him
+bound again and was going to send to-day into the city for the police,
+when you came.  If you'll take him away, that's all I want."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The man in command of the police listened to this in silence and with a
+face that shewed no more expression than a stone gargoyle.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Release him," he said to his men, and in another moment I was at
+liberty.  As soon as I was free, I began to edge my way inch by inch
+toward where Devinsky stood.  I would have him down, police or no
+police, thought I, even if it were my last act before entering a gaol.
+I guessed of course that some Nihilist blabber had told the facts, and
+that I was bound for Siberia, or worse.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Lieutenant Petrovitch, you are to accompany me, if you please," said
+the leader; and a sign to his men set two of them at each side of me.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I have first one word to say to that&mdash;gentleman," I said, pointing to
+Devinsky.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Excuse me.  My instructions are peremptory.  I must ask you to go with
+me at once&mdash;without a minute's delay."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+I saw Devinsky's face brighten at the thought of thus getting rid of
+me: and my fingers itched and tingled to be at his throat.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Am I arrested?" I asked.  "For what?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I can say nothing, Lieutenant," replied the man.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Do you know why I'm here?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"If you please, we must go, and at once," was the stolid reply.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+I saw Devinsky grin again at this.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"This man has carried off my sister," I cried.  "She is in his power
+now, and it was when I came to find her that he tricked me and then had
+me bound as you see.  Send your men to find her.  She must return with
+us."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I have no instructions to that effect," replied the man curtly.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Damn your instructions," I burst out hotly.  "Are you a man&mdash;to leave
+a young girl in this plight?"  My reply stirred only anger.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I cannot do what I am not ordered to do," said the officer again
+curtly.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Then I won't go without her.  Go back and&mdash;or better, send one of your
+men for permission to do this and stay here and keep guard over me and
+my sister at the same time."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"It is impossible.  My instructions are peremptory and nothing will let
+me swerve from them."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+I began to lose all self-command, and only by the most strenuous
+efforts did I prevent myself from heaping reproaches upon him for his
+cold-blooded officialism.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Will you leave a couple of men here then, to protect her?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I can say no more, Lieutenant, and do no more than I have said.  And
+now, we must go."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+It maddened me beyond all telling to think that I was to be carried
+away in this ruthless, heartless, implacable fashion at the very moment
+when the rescue of the girl I loved more than my life was but a matter
+of walking into another room and bringing her out.  I was staggered by
+the blow.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Do you know that I would ten thousand times rather that you had left
+me here bound and helpless as I was than take me away in this fashion.
+I must see my sister.  I must save her&mdash;why man, are you lost to every
+sense of feeling?  Take her away first&mdash;make her safe; and then I swear
+to Heaven, you or this man can do with me what you please."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The stolid stony impassiveness of the man's face crushed every hope out
+of me.  I could have struck him in my baffled rage.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I have twenty men in the troop here, Lieutenant My instructions are to
+take you at once to Moscow.  I prefer to use no force; but I have it
+here, if necessary."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+I wrung my hands in despair; and then with a wild dash I rushed to the
+door to try and find Olga for myself.  It was useless.  They closed on
+me in an instant, and I was helpless.  Then they marched me out to the
+horses, venting as I went bitter reproaches and unavailing protests,
+mingled with loud curses, laments, and revilings.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Will you give me your parole to go quietly, Lieutenant?" asked the
+leader.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"On one condition.  That we ride at full speed all the way."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I can make no condition," replied this block of official stolidity;
+"but my instructions are to act with all haste.  One question&mdash;have you
+been illtreated here?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Only as I told you."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Then he went back into the house for a moment, saying he would speak to
+Devinsky about it.  I saw the latter change colour when he received the
+police report and he made a gesture of seeming repudiation, lifting his
+hands and shrugging his shoulders.  After that he threw me a malicious
+look from his angry evil face that almost made me clamber down from the
+saddle to try and have a reckoning with him there and then.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"When I'm out of this, I'll hunt you out," I cried, between my teeth.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"When!" he answered: and the sneer in which he shewed his teeth as he
+uttered the word, was in my eyes for half that long, wild ride.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The police leader kept his word; and we rode at a hard gallop nearly
+all the way, the whole country side turning out as we thundered by.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The man would not say a word to me on the journey, except that he had
+been ordered to hold no communication at all with me; and thus I did
+not know where they were taking me, or whether I was arrested or
+rescued, until we drew rein at the Police head-quarters in Moscow and I
+was ushered straight into the presence of Prince Bilbassoff, all dirty,
+dishevelled, bruised, and travel-stained as I was.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+He rose and met me, holding out his hand.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"My dear Lieutenant, you are really giving me an unconscionable amount
+of trouble.  As much, indeed, as if you were already a member of my
+family."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"What does all this mean?" I asked.  "Am I arrested?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"What an impatient fellow you are!  It will all come in time," he
+returned, with an indescribable blending of good nature and suggestive
+threat.  "Is this all the thanks one gets for rescuing you from what,
+judging by your appearance, has been a very ugly mess.  This
+harum-scarum business will really have to stop&mdash;when you marry."  He
+seemed almost to laugh behind his grizzled moustache in the pause that
+emphasised the last three words.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Will you tell me the real meaning of this?  I have already asked you."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Sit down;" and he sat down himself, and lounged back easily in his
+chair.  "By the way, have you lunched?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"For God's sake man, don't trifle in this way.  If you know the facts,
+as I suppose you do, you'll know I'm in no mood for bantering courtesy.
+Why am I torn away by your men by force at the very moment when my
+sister is in danger at the hands of the brute who has carried her off.
+I suppose you know all this.  What does it mean, I repeat."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"You can understand, perhaps, Lieutenant, that as it is two days since
+my sister referred you to me, and you had left Moscow hastily, she was
+growing a little anxious.  You know something of women in love and
+their insistent moods."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"To hell with all these plots and intrigues," I cried, furiously.  "If
+you mean that that devil Devinsky is to have my sister in his power and
+I am to sit down coolly and bear it while you talk to me about
+marriage, you don't know me.  I'll think of nothing, talk of nothing,
+do nothing, till I have either saved her and killed that villain, or am
+killed myself."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Do you mean that you will set me at defiance?" cried the Prince, in
+stern ringing tones, his eyes flashing at me.  "That you dare to flout
+the offers we have made you, and have the hardihood to set the needs of
+the country below your own little petty personal feelings and wishes?
+Do you know what that means, sir?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I care not what it means," I answered, recklessly.  "I tell you this
+to your face.  If my sister be not saved at once, I'll never set eyes
+on you or your sister again, unless it be that you make me grin at you
+from behind the bars of some one of your cursed gaols.  That is my last
+word, if it costs me my life."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+He rose and looked at me so sternly that I could almost have flinched
+before him if my stake in the matter had not been so great.  I never
+met such a look of concentrated power before.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"If you dare to repeat that, Lieutenant Petrovitch, I will send you
+straight to the Mallovitch," he said, with positively deadly intensity
+of tone, pointing his finger through the window to where the gloomy
+frowning tower of the great prison was visible.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I care not if you send me to hell," I cried.  "Save my sister, or my
+hand shall rot at the wrist before I lift it in your service."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+We stood staring intently dead into each other's eyes; and he stretched
+forward a hand to summon those who would carry out his threat.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Then he breathed deeply, smiled, and offered me his hand instead.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"By God, you're the man we want, in all truth.  Now, I'll tell you what
+you ask."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+He had only been testing me after all, and my wits were so blunt in my
+agitation that I had not seen through him.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Have no fear for your sister," he continued.  "She is quite safe.  My
+man gave that Devinsky a message when he was leaving that puts all
+doubt on that score aside.  She is part of our bargain, and the arm of
+the State is over her.  If you accept my offer at once, your sister
+herself shall decide that man's punishment.  My object in all this is
+twofold&mdash;to let you feel something of the substance of power that will
+be yours when you have consented; and secondly to test a little more
+thoroughly your staunchness.  I am satisfied, Lieutenant.  And I hope
+you are."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Where is my sister now?" I asked, after a moment's consideration.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Where you left her, of course.  Decide how you wish her to come to
+Moscow.  Shall my men fetch her?  Shall that man bring her back
+himself?  Or will you ride out.  It is a matter of the merest form&mdash;but
+as yet, of course, you are unaccustomed to your influence and power."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+He was the devil at tempting; and though he had told me his motive, and
+I knew the rank impossibility of doing what he wanted&mdash;I could not help
+a little thrill of pleasure at the consciousness that this power lay
+within my grasp.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I will ride out and bring her in myself," I said, with a flush of
+pleasant anticipation at the thought.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"As you will.  This will do everything," he said, as he wrote me an
+order in the name of the Emperor.  I knew its power well enough.  "One
+condition, by the by.  You must not fight this Devinsky; nor do
+anything to provoke a fight."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I won't promise," I answered.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Then I give no order.  Your life is ours, not yours to play with.
+That is the essence of the matter."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I will promise," I said, changing suddenly as I thought of Olga and
+the delight of seeing her under the circumstances.  "My word on it.  I
+do nothing except in self-defence, or in defence of my sister."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Well, be off with you then," he said, rising and shaking hands, and
+speaking as lightly as if I were a schoolboy being sent off for a ride;
+and as though there were not between us a jot or tittle of a plan in
+which life and death, fortune and marriage were the stakes.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+I hurried back to make preparations for riding back at once; and half
+an hour later I had had my first meal for twenty-four hours and was
+again in the saddle, pricking at top speed along the northern road,
+followed by one of the Prince's confidential servants, sent as the
+former said to me, with especial instructions to look after the welfare
+of one who was soon to be a member of the family.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+There is no need to describe with what different emotions and thoughts
+I made that journey.  It is enough to say that I dashed along at top
+speed, haunted by half a fear that something might yet go wrong with
+the plans and that Olga might still be in some danger; while a desire
+more keen than words can express came upon me to have her once more
+under my own care.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+At the same time the sense of power to which the appeal had been so
+astutely made was roused, and I was conscious of an unusual glow of
+pride.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+When I reached the house where I had had the ugly experience of the
+previous night I looked out for any sign of hostility.  But there was
+none.  A man came immediately in answer to my summons, and Devinsky was
+waiting for me in the large hall, which I scanned curiously after my
+night's experience in it.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The sight of Devinsky roused me, but I put the curb on my temper.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+I handed him the order in silence.  He read it and sneered.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"It is a good and safe thing to shelter behind Government powers," he
+said.  "Your sister is upstairs.  This way."  He led and I followed, my
+heart beating fast.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+We passed up the stairs and then turned along a corridor to the right,
+and after turning again to the right, and entering, as I thought the
+right wing of the rambling old house, we went up another short and very
+narrow flight of stairs.  Then he opened the door of a room in
+silence&mdash;indeed we had not spoken a word all the time&mdash;and stood aside
+for me to pass.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Olga was sitting at the far end of the room looking out of the window,
+which was on the side away from the courtyard, with a woman attendant
+near her; and she did not even turn round when the door opened.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+But when I uttered her name and she saw me, she sprang up, speaking
+mine in reply with such a glad cry, and ran to me with a look of such
+rare delight on her face that I think she was going to throw herself
+into my arms and I was certainly going to let her, oblivious of all but
+the rush of love that moved our hearts simultaneously.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+When she was close to me, she checked herself, however, and put her
+hands in mine, as a sister might.  But the glances from her eyes told
+me all I cared to know at that moment, while her gaze roamed over me as
+if in bewilderment.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"How is it you are better&mdash;and out?  Where is your wound?  What is that
+mark on your face?  I don't understand.  They told me you were lying
+dangerously wounded and that you wished me to remain here until you
+could bear to see me."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"There is a good deal you don't understand yet, Olga," I said.  "The
+story of the duel was a lie from start to finish."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Then you're not wounded?  Oh, I'm so glad, Alexis" and, moving her
+hands up my arm after a timid glance at the woman, she looked her
+thankfulness and solicitude into my eyes.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The look made me speechless.  Had I tried to answer it in words, I must
+have told her my love.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"You are to come with me, Olga," I said, presently, recovering myself.
+"The aunt is all impatience to have you back again."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Why?  I explained all to her in my messages."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Your messages got lost on the way," I answered, and she saw by my tone
+how things were.  She got ready to come with me without another word;
+and I could feel my heart thumping and lurching against my side as I
+watched her and caught her turn now and again to look at me and send me
+a little smile of trust and pleasure.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+There was no need for us to speak much; we were beginning to understand
+each other well enough without words.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+We went out of the room together, and I was surprised and glad to see
+on a chair close by the door the sword which I had dropped the previous
+night.  I took it up, and as I did so Olga cried out in great and
+sudden fear.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+I looked up and saw Devinsky at the narrow head of the short stairway.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I've complied with the order," he said, his voice vibrating with
+anger.  "And I've given your sister freely into your hands.  You are at
+liberty to pass&mdash;alone."  He said this to her and then turned to me:
+"But not you, till you and I have settled our old score."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"As you will," replied I, readily.  "Nothing will please me more.  But
+stay," I cried, remembering my promise.  "I cannot now.  I have passed
+my word.  Stand aside, please, and let us pass."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Not if you were the Czar himself," he answered, hotly.  "And I'm not
+going to let you shield yourself either behind the Government&mdash;you
+spy!&mdash;or behind your sister's petticoats.  If she doesn't choose to go
+when she has the chance, let her stop and see the consequence."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Olga, you had better go on," I whispered.  "This may be an ugly
+business, and not fit for you to be here."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Where you are, I stop&mdash;come what may!" she answered, firmly.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I've not come here to fight now," I said to Devinsky.  "I'll meet you
+willingly enough another time, God knows.  But now, I've passed my
+word;" and with that I raised my voice and shouted with all my strength
+to Prince Bilbassoff's servant, who was below, to come to my assistance.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+For answer Devinsky called on a couple of men who until then had been
+hidden, and with drawn swords and a loud shout the three rushed forward
+to throw themselves upon me.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR><BR>
+
+<A NAME="chap21"></A>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+CHAPTER XXI.
+</H3>
+
+<H4 ALIGN="center">
+THREE TO ONE.
+</H4>
+
+<P>
+A glance round told me the attack had been shrewdly planned indeed.
+The spot in which we all were was a large square anteroom or landing
+place, lighted from above.  Four or five doors opened from it into the
+rooms on either side, and the narrow stairway was the only means of
+communication with the rest of the house.  I was caught like a rat in a
+trap, and unless I could beat off the men who were thus attacking me
+at such dangerous odds, I was as good as a dead man.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+I whipped out my sword and pushed Olga back into the room we had left,
+just in time to parry the first wild lunges Devinsky made at me; and at
+the first touch of the steel all my coolness came to me.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Everything must turn on the first minute or two; and knowing my man I
+set all my skill to work to keep him so engaged as to hamper the
+attempts of the other two to get to close quarters with me.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+I worked back into a corner of the place, close to the door of the
+room, and then as I darted out lunge after lunge with the swiftest
+dexterity, my three opponents were compelled to get into each other's
+way in their hurried manoeuvres to avoid my strokes.  By this means I
+hampered their fighting strength and lessened it by at least one man,
+since all three could not possibly get to strike at me at the same
+time.  But even thus the odds were too heavy.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Devinsky was nothing like my equal with the sword, and his rage and mad
+hate now rendered him less deadly than usual: but with two others to
+help him, I could hardly hope to win in the end.  For this reason as I
+fought I uttered shout after shout to the man below to come to my
+assistance.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+These cries had also the effect of disconcerting my opponents.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Then a lucky chance happened.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+One of the men in jumping back out of the way of one of my thrusts
+stumbled over the second, and sent this one for a moment into
+Devinsky's way.  I saw my chance and seized it in an instant.  In a
+trice I rushed at the half prostrate man and disdaining to kill him
+when his guard was down, I kicked him with my heavy riding boot with
+all my force in the face, and sent him reeling back, groaning and half
+choked with the blood that came gushing out of his nose and mouth,
+while his sword, went rattling across the floor to where Olga stood,
+looking on aghast, breathless and open mouthed in her fear.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+But the chance nearly cost me dear, for the man's companion turned on
+me and thrust at me with such directness and rapidity as all but ended
+the fight; for his sword went through the fleshy part of my arm, just
+above the elbow.  An inch or so nearer the body would have sent it
+right through my heart.  It was the last thrust he ever made, however.
+The next instant my blade had found his heart, and with a groan he
+dropped.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Before I could withdraw it, however, Devinsky uttered a cry of hate,
+and dashing at me thrust at my heart with all his strength.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+He must have killed me but for Olga.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+That splendid girl had picked up the fallen man's sword and now, seeing
+my plight, she sprang forward, at the hazard of her life, crying out
+"Coward!" and struck down Devinsky's sword with all her force.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Good," I cried; and the next instant, I had wrenched my weapon free
+and held the man.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Take care.  Back to the room, or behind me, child," I cried, when I
+heard my opponent curse in his foiled attempt to kill me and saw him
+turn as if to attack Olga.  "Now, you butcher, it's you and I alone;
+and you or I, to live."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"As you will," he said, and I saw him clench his teeth and set his face
+in the way men do who know that they are face to face with a risk where
+failure means death.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+My blood was up now, and I meant death too.  He had given up all right
+to expect anything else, and I had no mind to let him off.  If ever a
+man had earned death he had.  He had heaped on me every indignity that
+one man could put on another, and to crown it all he had just tried to
+murder me.  I would kill him with less compunction than one kills a
+dog; and I set about the task with the coolest deliberation and purpose.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The scene was a grim and ghastly one enough.  The floor was all
+slippery in places with the blood of the man I had killed, whose body
+lay huddled up against the wall, as well as of the other who sat on the
+ground still spitting and coughing and mumbling and cursing from the
+fearful effects of my kick.  In the middle we two stood fighting to the
+death, watching one another with the fire of hate and blood lust in our
+eyes and on our set faces: while Olga, all eagerness excitement and
+tension, stood in the doorway watching us with white drawn face and
+dilated eyes; the deeply drawn breath coming in spasms through her
+distended nostrils and slightly parted lips.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+I forced the fight with all my power, and my blade flashed about my
+antagonist until all his skill was useless even to defend himself
+against my point, while any offensive tactic was out of the question.
+I wounded him three times, once so close to the heart that Olga cried
+out: and at length recalling the knack with which I had disarmed him in
+our former encounter, I used it now; and after a few more swift and
+cunning passes I whipped his sword from his grasp and sent it rattling
+to the other end of the place.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+My eye flashed as I drew back my arm for the death thrust.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Ah, don't, Alexis," cried Olga, in a sort of whisper of horror.
+"Don't kill him!"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+It stopped me instantly, and my arm fell.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"As you will," I answered readily; "but he doesn't deserve it.  You owe
+your life to the woman you've tried to wrong, not to me," I said to
+him, shortly.  "Stand out of the way and let us pass."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+He moved aside doggedly, eyeing us with surly sullen hate, as Olga,
+trembling violently now that the excitement was over, went on first,
+and I followed her through the stairway and down and out of the house.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+When we reached the courtyard, the postchaise which I had ordered to
+follow us from the inn had arrived, and Olga and I entered it at once.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Thank God, we are out of the house," was my companion's fervent
+exclamation, as the carriage turned into the road and we left the
+gloomy place behind us.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Would to God we were out of Russia!" said I, speaking from my heart.
+"Then..."  I paused and looked into her face.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"All may yet come right," answered Olga, meeting my eyes and putting
+her hand in mine.  My clasp closed on it, and we sat thus for some
+moments, just hand in hand, each silently happy in the knowledge of the
+other's love.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Then I bent toward her and gradually drew her to me, my eyes all the
+time lighted with the light from hers.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"It is love, Olga; lovers' love?" I asked in a passionate whisper.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+For answer she smiled and whispered back:
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"It has always been, Alexis;" and she met my betrothal kisses with
+warmth equal to mine.  And after that we did not care to say a word,
+but leant back in the carriage as it flew through the country in the
+gathering gloom of the evening, bumping, jolting, rolling, and
+creaking.  What cared we for that?  Olga was fast in my arms her head
+on my breast and her face close to mine, so close that we were tempted
+ever and again to let the story of our love tell itself over and over
+again in our kisses; and neither Olga nor I had a thought of resisting
+the temptation.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+This would have gone on for hours, so far as I was concerned; I was in
+a veritable Palace of Delight with freshly avowed love as my one
+thought.  But Olga roused herself suddenly with a start and a little
+cry.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Oh, Alexis, what have you made me do?  Your wound."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+I had forgotten all about it, but now when she mentioned it my left arm
+felt a little stiff.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I am ashamed of myself," she cried.  "What a love must mine be, that I
+want to dream of it with selfish pleasure when you are wounded.  You
+make me drink oblivion with your kisses."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Love is a fine narcotic," replied I, laughing.  "I felt no wound while
+you looked at me.  But now that you bring me down to earth with a rush,
+I begin to remember it.  But it is nothing much, and will best wait
+till we are in Moscow."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Do you think I will let anyone see that wound before I do?  Why, it
+was gained for my sake.  And you love me?  And now"&mdash;"now" was a long
+loving kiss and a lingering look into my face as she held it between
+her hands, while her eyes were radiant with delight.  Then she
+sighed&mdash;"Now, I am all sister again."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+I was looking my doubts of this and meant to test them, shaking my head
+in strong disbelief, when the carriage stopped suddenly.  Looking out I
+saw that we were at the inn, and must therefore have been driving long
+over two hours.  It had seemed scarce a minute.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Will you get out while we change horses, sir?" asked the Prince's
+servant, who had come with the carriage on horseback.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"My brother is wounded and must have attendance at once," said Olga, in
+so self-possessed a tone that I smiled.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Only a scratch," said I, as if impatiently.  "But my sister is always
+fidgety."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+We went into the house then, and Olga insisted upon examining the
+wound, and when she saw the blood I had lost, not much, but making
+brave shew on my white linen, she was all solicitude, and anxiety.  She
+sent the maids flying this way and that, one to fetch hot water,
+another bandages, a third lint, and altogether made such a commotion in
+the place that one would have thought I had been brought there to die.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+She bathed the little spot so tenderly and delicately too, asking every
+moment if her touch hurt me; and she washed it and then covered it, and
+bandaged it and bound it up, and did everything with such infinite care
+that I was almost glad I had been wounded.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+And the whole process she accompanied with a running fire of would-be
+scolding comment upon the trouble that brothers gave, the obstinate
+creatures they were, the rash and foolish things they did, how much
+more bother they were than sisters, and a great deal more to the same
+effect&mdash;till I thought the people would see through the acting as
+clearly as I did, assisted as I was by the thousand little glints and
+glances she threw to me when the others were not looking our way.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Then she held a long consultation with the landlady&mdash;a large woman who
+seemed as kindly in heart as she was portly in body&mdash;whether it would
+be safe for me to go on to the city that night, or whether a doctor had
+not better be brought out to me there: and it took the persuasion and
+assurances of us all to win her consent to my going on.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+I tried to punish her for this when we were in the carriage again, by
+telling her I supposed she was unwilling to travel on with me.  But I
+wasted my breath and my effort, as she was all the way in the highest
+spirits.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I don't quite know which I like best," she said, laughing.  "Being
+sister with a knowledge of&mdash;of something else, as I was just now at the
+inn, or&mdash;or..."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Or what?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Or riding with Hamylton Tregethner," she answered, laughing again,
+gleefully.  "Do you notice how easily I can say that dreadful name?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I notice I like it better from your lips than from any others."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I've practised it&mdash;and it was so difficult.  But I might even get to
+like it in time, you know."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"By the way, I remember you once told me you didn't like Hamylton
+Tregethner."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Ah, yes.  That was my brother's old friend.  A very disagreeable
+person.  He wanted to take my brother away from Moscow.  A person must
+be very unpleasant who wishes to divide brother and sister.  Don't you
+think so?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"That depends on the rate of exchange," said I.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Perhaps; but at that time there was no talk of exchange at all."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"And no thought of it?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Ah!"  And for answer she nestled to me again and merged the sister in
+the lover with a readiness and pleasure that shewed what she thought of
+that particular exchange.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+And with these little intervals of particularly sweet and pleasant
+light and shade we travelled the miles to Moscow, in what seemed to us
+both an incredibly short time.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR><BR>
+
+<A NAME="chap22"></A>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+CHAPTER XXII.
+</H3>
+
+<H4 ALIGN="center">
+THE BEGINNING OF THE END.
+</H4>
+
+<P>
+It was not until a night's rest had somewhat redressed the balance of
+my emotions and had rendered me again subject to the pressure of
+actualities that I fully realised how the avowal of my love had rather
+increased than diminished the difficulties of our position.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Despite my fatigue and wound I was stirring in good time, and had had
+the doctor's report and seen the Colonel to get leave from regimental
+work, in time to get round to see Olga pretty early.  I wished to see
+her and discuss the whole position before going to report to Prince
+Bilbassoff the result of things with Devinsky.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The manner in which Olga met me was one of the sweetest things
+imaginable and the presence of the good aunt, Countess Palitzin, added
+to its effect.  They were sitting together when I entered.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"It is Alexis, aunt," said Olga rising.  She was a mixture of laughing
+love and sisterly indifference.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Alexis, you are a good lad, a dear lad," said the old lady, usually
+very stately and punctilious.  "Come here, boy, and kiss me and let me
+kiss you.  You have done splendidly and bravely in this matter of Olga.
+She has told me all about it."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"All?" I echoed, looking at Olga, who tried to keep the smile that was
+dancing in her eyes from travelling to her lips.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"All that a sister need tell," she said.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Olga, I have no patience with you," exclaimed the aunt.  "You have a
+brother in a thousand&mdash;in ten thousand, and yet you speak in that way.
+And I see you never kiss him now.  I should like to know why.  Are you
+ashamed of him?  Here he has saved you from all this trouble, and you
+give him the points of your finger nails to touch.  Yet you are not
+cold and feelingless in other things."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I am glad that you speak to her like this," I said, gravely.  "She
+seems to think that a sister should never kiss such a brother as I am."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Do you mean to say you think I have given you no reason to believe I
+am thankful for what you have done?" she retorted, fencing cleverly.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I don't echo our aunt's words, that you are cold and feelingless,
+Olga&mdash;she is not that, Aunt Palitzin.  But I do find that as a sister
+she places a strong reserve on her feelings."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"To hear you speak," said Olga, laughing lightly, "one might think I
+had two characters: in one of which I was all warmth and affection; in
+the other all coldness and reserve."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"And I believe that would be about right, child," said the Countess.
+"For when the boy is not here your tongue never tires of praising him;
+and yet the moment he comes, he might be a stranger instead of your own
+nearest and dearest."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Olga blushed crimson at this.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Brothers have to be treated judiciously," she said.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"'Judiciously,' Olga.  Why, what on earth do you mean?  How could you
+love a brave fellow like Alexis injudiciously?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Love is often best when it is most injudicious," said I,
+sententiously, coming to Olga's rescue; but she betrayed me shamefully.
+Looking innocently at me she asked:&mdash;
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Would you like us to be a pair of injudicious lovers, then, Alexis?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"If I never shew more lack of judgment than in my love for you, I shall
+get well through life, Olga," I retorted.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"You are certainly a most unusual brother, I can tell you," she said,
+smiling slily.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"If every brother had such a sister, the tie that binds us two would be
+a much more usual one," I answered.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"You are incorrigible," she laughed and turned away.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I am glad you speak so seriously, Alexis," said my aunt.  "I'll be no
+party to any deception.  She does love you, boy, however much she may
+try to hide it when you are here;" and with this, which set us both
+laughing again, the old lady went away.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Does she?" I asked; and the question brought Olga with a happy look
+into my arms.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+But I had not come to make love, sweet though it was to have the girl's
+arms about me; and as soon as I could, I began in talk seriously about
+the position.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+In the first place I told her everything that had happened; and there
+was one thing that amused her, despite the tremendously critical state
+of our affairs.  It was about the great suitor the Prince had promised
+for her.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"What, another?" she said, with a comical crinkling of her forehead.
+"Upon my word what with brothers and lovers, I am sorely plagued.  This
+makes the..." she stopped.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"How many?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I don't think I know.  Either two or three, according as we reckon
+you.  While you're my brother, two I suppose.  Otherwise three."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"'Otherwise' is a good deal shaky, I'm afraid," said I, shaking my
+head.  "And I begin to question whether he'll ever count."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"He may not; but in that case no other ever will," returned Olga
+earnestly.  "Did you say that on purpose to get another assurance from
+me?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"No, indeed.  I only spoke out of the reality of my doubts;" and then
+we went on threshing the thing out.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"There is but one possible chance," said I, after I had told her all.
+"It's a remote one, perhaps, but such as it is, we must use it.  You
+must go...."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I won't leave Moscow unless you go," she broke in.  "I wouldn't have
+done it before when you wanted, but now...." she paused and blushed and
+her eyes brightened&mdash;"wild horses shan't tear me away."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"There are stronger things than wild horses, child; and I shall appeal
+to one in your case.  You must go in order to try and get me out of the
+muddle here."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Yes, I'll go for that, if it's necessary," she declared as readily as
+a moment before she had declined.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"It is necessary.  Shortly, my idea is this.  We can't get away
+together at the same time.  We are shut in here in the very centre of
+Russia; and if we left together we could not hope to reach the frontier
+for many hours after we had been missed from here; while if we were
+missed only ten minutes before we got to the barrier, it would be long
+enough for us to be stopped.  Besides, there are ten thousand things
+that come in the way.  But that doesn't apply to your travelling alone;
+and if I can get a passport or a permit for you, I believe you will be
+able to get across the frontier before anyone has an idea that you have
+even left the city.  In my case that would be impossible.  There are
+three separate sets of lynx eyes on me.  The Prince's police&mdash;the most
+vigilant of all; the Nihilists&mdash;the most dangerous; and Paula
+Tueski's&mdash;the most vengeful.  I shall have the most difficult task to
+evade them, and I believe it will be only possible, if at all, by a
+sort of double cunning.  But there is one way you can help."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"What is that?" asked Olga, whose interest was breathless.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I have a friend, Balestier; you've heard of him&mdash;the Hon. Rupert
+Balestier.  He saw your brother in Paris and believes that some
+devilment is on foot.  If you can find him and tell him all that has
+happened and the mess that things are in, I believe, in fact I know,
+that he would exhaust every possible means of helping me.  It is
+possible that our Foreign Office might be moved by the influence he
+could bring to bear; and I know that in such a task he'd stir up every
+friend and relative he has in the world.  My plan is simply this.  You
+must go with all possible speed to Paris: find him, tell him all, and
+get him to do what he thinks best and use what efforts he can.  In the
+meantime if I can't escape I shall either have to feign consent with
+this wretched duel and marriage business and wait on events: or if I
+get a chance of leaving, slip off in an altogether different direction."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"It is a terrible trouble I have brought you to, Alexis," said the girl
+sadly.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I would pay a far bigger price for this trouble," I answered, taking
+her hand and kissing it.  "And when we are once out of this too
+hospitable land of yours, we shall laugh at it all together."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Yes, when?" she said; and her tone suggested a hopelessness which
+responded only too well with that which I felt secretly.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+While we were together, however, it was impossible for us to feel
+downcast for long.  There was such infinite pleasure in mere
+companionship, that the grim troubles which surrounded us were shut out
+of our thoughts.  The present was so bright that it seemed impossible
+the gloom could soon close in on us.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+But when I had left her and was alone in my rooms, I was gloomy enough;
+and my spirits were certainly not raised when my new servant ushered in
+Paula Tueski.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"You would not come to me, Alexis, so I have to come to you," was her
+greeting.  "You neglect me.  I suppose because of the great friends you
+have made."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Great friends?"  For the moment not understanding her.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Yes.  I hear that you are finding great pleasure in the society of a
+certain great lady."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Oh, you mean the Princess Weletsky?" I laughed as I spoke.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"It does not make me laugh," she said, frowning.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"You are in mourning, and laughter sounds ill with tears," I returned.
+I hated the woman worse every time I saw her.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"If I am in mourning it is you who are the cause," she cried, stamping
+her foot, angrily.  "I want to know what this new&mdash;new friendship,
+shall I call it?&mdash;means."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"You may call it what you like.  The Princess is nothing to me," said
+I, thinking more of my affections than of the facts.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"And never will be?" said my companion abruptly.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"And never will be, I hope," I agreed, with the accents of unmistakable
+sincerity.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+But my visitor was suspicious and did not believe me.  She got up and
+came close to me, and stared hard into my eyes as if searching there
+for the truth.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Then why are you so cold to me?  Not a kindly word, not a gesture, not
+a glance that you mightn't have thrown to the veriest beggar in the
+street have you given me.  You, who used always to brighten when I came
+near you.  I have seen your eyes light up a hundred times, Alexis, when
+you have let them rest on me, praising, pleasing, and loving me.  And
+now you are as cold as a tombstone.  Will you swear to me you have no
+love for this other woman&mdash;this Princess?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Most certainly I will."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Ah, what is the use of an oath in which there is no fire, no life,
+nothing but dead cold ashes!  What has changed you?  Are you thinking
+of marrying this woman?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"If she waits till I wish to marry her, she'll die unmated," I returned.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Why can't you say yes or no to my questions?" she cried, stamping her
+foot again, irritated by the little evasion.  "Are you thinking of
+marrying her?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"No.  Is that answer blunt enough for you?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"It sounds like a forced lie more than anything else.  Do you know what
+I would do, Alexis, if I thought you meant to try and deceive me?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I can pretty well guess," I answered, calmly.  "Probably go round and
+have afternoon tea with her and tell her that little fable which you
+told me the other day.  You weary me with these constant threats,
+Paula.  They get like a musket that's held so long at one's head that
+it rusts at the lock and the trigger can't be pulled.  It would be so
+much more interesting if you'd go and do something."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+With that I turned away and lighted a cigarette, almost wishing in my
+heart that I could offend her sufficiently to drive her away; and yet
+sick at the knowledge of her power over Olga and me.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I like that tone better," she said, with a laugh.  "At least it shews
+some kind of feeling.  I hate a log.  You will find I can 'do
+something,' as you say, when the time comes, if you drive me.  My
+muskets don't miss fire."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"No, nor your daggers blunt their points.  I admit you can be deadly
+enough where you hate."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Don't make me hate you, then," she retorted, quickly.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Is that possible, Paula?" I replied, turning to her with a smile.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The instant change in this most remarkable woman at this one slight
+touch of tenderness was wonderful.  She was hungering for the love I
+could no more give her than I could have given her the Crown of Russia,
+and at this little accent of kindness she turned all softness and
+smiling love.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Ah, God!  You can do as you like with me, Alexis," she cried,
+excitedly.  "Just then you were rousing all the devil there is in me;
+and now no more than a smile drives out of my heart every thought save
+of my love for you.  If it is so easy to make me happy why kill me with
+your coldness?  Kiss me, Alexis."  She came to throw her arms round me
+but wishing to avoid this caress, I remembered my wound and stepping
+back, kept her off.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Mind, I have a little hurt here;" and I pointed to the place.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Little did I think of the consequences of that most simple action, or
+of the price I should have to pay for shirking a few distasteful
+kisses.  She was at once all anxiety.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"A hurt?  A wound?  Tell me what it is.  Have you&mdash;was it in
+consequence of rescuing your sister?  Have you had some fight or other?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+I told her in as few words as I could, glad to turn her thoughts from
+the wish to caress me.  When I had to admit that it was a slight sword
+thrust, however, she insisted upon seeing the wound as well as the
+places where I had torn my arm in the efforts to get rid of my bonds.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+No one could fail to see her care was prompted by deep feeling.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+I took off my coat and just turned up my sleeve to satisfy her
+curiosity, and held out my arm for her to see, laughing half
+shamefacedly as I did so, to assure her there was no cause for real
+anxiety, and that she was making much of nothing.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+But the effect it had on her was startling indeed.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+After glancing at the marks which were fast dying away, for my skin
+always heals very rapidly, she smoothed them gently and kissed them.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"It is the left arm, Alexis, always the left arm," she said, glancing
+up with a smile, and speaking as if there were some special
+significance in the fact&mdash;though what that could be I could not even
+guess, of course.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The chief mark was on the lower part of the upper arm, just above the
+elbow, and when she had kissed it and had turned it round so that the
+front part of the forearm, where the muscles are broadest was in full
+view, I felt her start violently, and heard her catch her breath
+quickly, as if with a gasp of surprise.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+She stared at it for fully a minute without raising her eyes, her only
+gesture being to pass her fingers across the muscles twice.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+When she raised her eyes and looked at me, there was an astounding
+change in her face.  She was as white as death, and trembled so
+violently that even her face quivered, while her eyes were fixed on me
+with an expression of wildness and mingled emotions such as I could not
+read or even guess at.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Are you ill?" I asked.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+She started again as I spoke; and her lips merely moved very slightly
+as she moistened them with her tongue.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+And all the time she kept the same staring, strained, frowning,
+questioning look fixed on me.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"What's the matter?" I cried again.  "Are you ill?"  I thought she was
+in for a fit of some kind.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+But all she did was to continue to stare with the same indescribable
+intensity, the heavy brows closing together as the frown deepened on
+her forehead.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"My God!"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The exclamation seemed to be wrung from her in sheer pain of thought.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+She took hold of my arm again and examined the same place once more
+with briefer but no less fierce scrutiny.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Then looking up again into my face she let the arm fall.  She seemed to
+shrink from me as she drew in one long deep shivering breath that
+sounded between her teeth.  Next she turned away and sat down, pressing
+both her hands to her face.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Every vestige of feeling and passion had passed, leaving only the
+close, concentrated, strained tension.  The colour had left her cheeks:
+and the roundness and beauty of her face appeared to have been
+transformed in a moment into a veritable presentment of lean, haggard,
+vigilant doubt.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Many minutes passed before either of us spoke.  Then she got up and
+again came quite close to me and staring right into my eyes, asked in a
+voice all changed and unmusical&mdash;a sort of keen piercing whisper, that
+seemed to send a chill through me&mdash;while she pointed to my arm:&mdash;
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"What does it mean?  Who are you?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+I returned the look steadily, but bit my lip nearly through as I
+guessed well enough the discovery she had made.  I answered lightly:&mdash;
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Excellently acted.  But what is it all about?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Who are you?  That tells me who you are not."  She spoke in the same
+hard discordant whisper, and pointed to my arm again.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Are you mad?" I cried sternly.  "What do you mean by this pretence?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Her only answer was to stare with the same stony intensity right into
+my eyes.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Shall I send for my own sister to identify me?" I cried, with what I
+intended as sarcastic emphasis.  But the effect of my question quite
+disconcerted me.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+It broke her down and with a cry that was almost a scream, she threw
+herself into a chair and gave vent to emotions that were no longer
+controllable.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+For an hour she was in this semi-hysterical condition; and I could
+guess the leading thought of her frenzy.  If I was not the man she had
+believed, she would jump to the thought that Olga and I were lovers,
+and not brother and sister.  Her jealousy made her a madwoman.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+By the time she had recovered from her frenzy I had resolved on my
+course.  The only thing possible was to hold strenuously to the old
+deception.  What had shaken her belief in me, I could not, of course,
+even guess.  If by any means she could make her words good, it was
+clear she carried my life in her hands.  Strong as the story which she
+had concocted as to my supposed crime would have been against the real
+Alexis, it was a hundred times stronger as told against someone
+impersonating Alexis for what she would of course declare were Nihilist
+purposes.  The mere fact of the impersonation would be accepted as
+proof of guilt in everything: while Olga's share in the conspiracy
+would render her liable to a punishment only less in extent than mine.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+As I thought of all this, my rage against the woman passed almost
+beyond control; but I forced it back and listened when she
+spoke&mdash;telling me of all the things which had made me seem so
+different.  My conduct to her; my manner; my lack of love; the
+difference in looks, in gestures, and in what I said and the way I said
+it; the thousand things that had set her wondering at the change in me.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Then she spoke of the change in my sister's conduct; how a word from me
+had made her friendly where a thousand words before had failed.  And
+when she spoke and thought of Olga, she seemed to lose again all
+self-control; declaring she had been made a tool and a dupe of for some
+purposes of our own.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+My protestations were of no avail.  She brushed them aside with abrupt
+contempt, and when I tried to find out indirectly what her proof was,
+she laughed angrily and would not tell me.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I will tell you when I bid you good-bye for Siberia, or see you for
+the last time in the condemned cell.  You shall not die in ignorance,"
+she said: and then she went on to dwell with horrible detail upon the
+punishments that were in store for both Olga and myself.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+But she overdid it all; and shewed me her weak point.  She thus gave me
+a clue to my best tactics.  Her feeling was not hate of me, but
+jealousy of Olga.  This strange and most impulsive woman had had her
+love tricked as well as her judgment; and the love which she had had
+for Olga's brother was now transferred to me.  Her chief fear was lest
+Olga was really to come between us.  When she stopped, I tested her.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"You have found a ridiculous mare's nest," I said, with a short laugh.
+"And I have something more important to do than to listen to your
+fictions.  If you think there is any truth in the thing, by all means
+tell all you know.  But I warn you beforehand you will fail&mdash;fail
+ignominiously: and what is more, lose all you have said you wish to
+gain.  My great object now is to get Olga out of the country, so that I
+may be free to carry out my plans."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+She looked up as I spoke, and I saw the light of hope in her eyes.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"That you may follow her, I suppose you mean?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"You can suppose what you please," I answered, shortly.  "If you wish
+to break off all between us by this ridiculous story, do so.  But bear
+in mind, it is your act, not mine; and when once done, done
+irrevocably."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+She wrung her hands in indecision.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Can I trust you?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Can you get me a permit for Olga to leave the country?  That's more to
+the point."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Yes&mdash;alone."  There was a world of meaning in that single word.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Then get it; and as soon as a railway engine can drag her across the
+frontier, she will be out of Russia, and out of my way, much to my
+relief."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+She sat silent in perplexity.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"You can't go!  You shan't go!" she cried.  "You have made me do these
+things, whoever you are, and you must stay&mdash;for me."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+I smiled.  I had won.  Then I changed as it were to a rather fanatical
+Nihilist, and cried warmly:&mdash;
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"The ties that keep me here, Paula, are ties of death and blood; and
+such as no woman's hand can either fashion or destroy."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+She looked at me long and intently and put her hands on my arms and her
+face close up to mine and said in a soft seductive tone:&mdash;
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"If I get that permit, all shall be as it was?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"All shall be as it was, Paula," I answered, adopting her equivocal
+phrase, and bent and kissed her on the forehead.  But I was playing for
+a big stake: Olga's life probably, and my own certainly: and I could
+not afford the luxury of absolute candour at that crisis of the game.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+But I did not win without conditions.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I will get it," she said; "but you remember what I told you before.  I
+repeat it now.  You are more surely mine than ever; more surely than
+ever in my power, Alexis."  She emphasized the word and a glance shewed
+me her meaning.  "And we must be married secretly within three days
+from now.  I will make the arrangements."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"As you will," I replied; and I felt glad that in a measure her resort
+to this compulsion gave me a sort of justification for misleading her.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+In less than three days' the Czar's visit would be over and I should
+either be dead or out of Russia.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+But Olga would be saved; and that would be much.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR><BR>
+
+<A NAME="chap23"></A>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+CHAPTER XXIII.
+</H3>
+
+<H4 ALIGN="center">
+CHECKMATE!
+</H4>
+
+<P>
+As soon as Paula Tueski left me I went round to Olga to endeavour to
+solve the riddle of the woman's discovery.  Olga was out and would not
+return for an hour.  Leaving word that I wished to see her particularly
+and that she was to wait for me, I went for a walk to try and order my
+thoughts.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Finding myself near the Princess Weletsky's house, and knowing that I
+had to keep up the semblance of attentions there, I called.  She
+received me with marks of the most warm regard and welcome.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I have heard much of what happened at that wretched Devinsky's house.
+Old Fedor who went with you told me much and my brother much also; but
+I would rather hear all from you.  Where is Olga?  You were wounded, I
+hear.  What was it?  Tell me&mdash;tell me.  I have been dying with anxiety
+for you."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+I told her shortly what had happened; and then it occurred to me to try
+and get her help in regard to Olga.  I drew a fancy picture of Olga's
+shattered nerves; that Moscow had become a place of terror to her; and
+that even Russia itself was distasteful to her for a time on Devinsky's
+account.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Do you think that a man like Devinsky would dare to lay so much as a
+finger on one of our family?" she asked, checkmating me quietly with a
+single pronoun.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"It's not what Devinsky dares, but what Olga fears."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"She did not strike me as a girl of nervous fears."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"No; she does not shew it even to me."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Then we can do better than drive the poor child away from home&mdash;punish
+Devinsky.  Tell her that he is already under arrest."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Is that so, indeed?" I asked, in some astonishment.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Certainly; his murderous attack on you when you were on the Emperor's
+special duty is a crime that will cost him dear.  Those who play us
+false, Lieutenant Petrovitch, must beware of us.  But our friends find
+the ways made easy for them.  Did not my brother tell you that Olga was
+to be protected as one of us, and therefore avenged, if wronged?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"She will be glad to feel safe," I replied quietly.  I knew what she
+meant; and with a look that seemed to imply much, I added:&mdash;"I am glad
+to be one of your friends."  I was getting such an adept in the
+suggestion of a lie, that much more practice would make it difficult
+for me to tell the plain truth.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+My companion flushed with pleasure.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I always felt I should not count on you in vain," she said.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"No woman has ever done that, I trust," was my answer.  "No woman ever
+could for whom I felt as I feel for you."  And with that, and a little
+more to the same effect, I left her.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+I went round to Olga's at once.  It was a blessing that with her there
+need be no secret meanings and insinuations.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+She received me, of course, with a smile.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Is this a pretence to see me, or really something?" she asked with a
+laugh.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I think it is really something or I should not have dared to be back
+so quickly.  Even brothers may be bores."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Her answer was a pretty one, such as might be expected from a lover,
+but I need not repeat it.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"First, I will tell you the news," I said, after a pause; and I told
+her about the arrest of Devinsky.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"These people strike swiftly and secretly, Alexis," she said,
+thoughtfully.  "They frighten me.  Their power is almost limitless.
+How hard they will hit and how far the blow will reach, if they ever
+find we are fooling them!"  She sighed.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"The frontier is their limit: and we must pass it."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I have been out to-day to make the preparations for flight.  I suppose
+I must go?"&mdash;she smiled a sad little note of interrogation at me&mdash;"and
+if so, the sooner the better.  I have a disguise, and shall start
+to-night.  My difficulty will be of course at the frontier.  I am going
+to stop short of that by one station, and then as a peasant girl try to
+get over on foot.  It will take a little longer: but it is the only
+chance."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"No, I have good news for you so far as that is concerned.  Madame
+Tueski will get you a permit in some name or other and then you can
+cross in the train.  Far better."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"You have seen her then to-day?"  A shadow of her old feelings crossed
+Olga's face as she asked this.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Yes, I have seen her, and she is eager now that you shall get out of
+the country."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+She was very quickwitted and read my meaning instantly from my words
+and tone.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Tell me everything.  There is more bad news yet to be told.  Has she
+guessed? ... Ah, I always feared that woman."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Tell me, Olga, ought I to have any special mark on either of my arms.
+Any birth-mark, or anything of that sort?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+She went white instantly.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I had forgotten.  That wretched woman's initials were tattooed in
+small letters just there"&mdash;she put her finger on the place&mdash;"I saw it
+once and Alexis was wild with me.  Has she seen your arm bare?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"My wound," I said, in explanation.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Oh dear, through me again; through me again," cried the girl in
+distress.  I took her in my arms to soothe her, and tried to make her
+understand that after all it was really a good thing that had happened
+and not a bad one, inasmuch as the woman's jealousy was urging her to
+help in getting Olga away.  I told her everything frankly.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+But this was not all a clear course, as may be imagined.  Olga loved me
+very dearly and trusted me, I believe, as implicitly as any woman could
+trust the man she loved.  But she was a woman and not a goddess: and
+she could not bring herself to like the necessity which took her out of
+the country and left me behind in the clutches of such a woman as Paula
+Tueski.  She was a very reasonable little soul, however, as well as a
+brave one; and before I left her I had talked her into a condition of
+compulsory resignation.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+I did not attempt to disguise from myself, though I did from Olga, the
+fact that her flight after my conversation with the Princess would
+certainly tend to bring suspicion upon me, if it should be discovered.
+Any secret step at such a juncture would do that.  I thought I had
+better see the Prince himself, therefore, lest my neglect to do so
+should rouse his suspicions prematurely.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+I went to him from Olga's house, and when I was admitted, after a
+little delay which I did not quite like, I found him as gracious as
+ever.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I am very busy," he said, shaking hands with me; "but have time to
+hear that you have resolved to join us, Lieutenant."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I have come now only to thank you...."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I haven't time to listen to that.  Your sister is again in Moscow; her
+persecutor is in the care of my men; you have only to say a word for
+her to be his judge.  Do you say it?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Seeing me hesitate, he paused only a moment.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"When a man like you doesn't say Yes, directly, he means, No.  I
+understand.  But&mdash;time is beginning to press with much force.  Make up
+your mind; and don't come again till you have decided.  Understand what
+that means.  I can't see you again until you are ready to say Yes or
+No, finally&mdash;finally.  Then come, and if you decide no, make it
+convenient before you come, to arrange any little matters that can best
+be put right personally.  You may find obstacles afterwards.  You
+understand?" and the look which accompanied the words shewed me that he
+meant all this as a pretty strong turn of the screw.  "Oh, and by the
+by," he added, just as I was leaving the room&mdash;"of course you won't
+attempt to get away.  You may if you like, you know, but you'll be
+wiser not to; because I have certain information about you, and any
+attempt at flight at such a juncture as this would give me an excellent
+excuse for dealing very summarily.  Understand&mdash;I shall only see you
+again when you are ready to give me your decision."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+My anxiety for Olga was making me like a silly frightened boy; and I
+went away from the man now with a chilled feeling of fear that set me
+doubting and speculating and anticipating a thousand forms of trouble
+which he could inflict upon her.  I should not have a moment's peace of
+mind while Olga remained in Russia.  That was certain.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+I went back to my rooms and sat there thinking out moodily the
+particulars of the journey which the girl had to take alone, and my
+fears for her multiplied with almost every turn of my thoughts.  Every
+detail of the position seemed to teem with additional menace and cause
+for alarm.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+I had my own escape to think of too.  I resolved, let the risks be what
+they might, that the instant Olga's telegram came telling me she had
+crossed the frontier, I should bolt; and the manner and direction of my
+flight had cost me many an anxious hour.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+I had been looking forward to the possible necessity for a hurried
+flight ever since I had started the venture, and I had had time thus to
+make my plans fairly complete.  For this purpose I had used my Nihilist
+connection, though I had of course kept my whole plans to myself, since
+I had contemplated running away from the Nihilists as much as from
+anyone else.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The chief difficulty was the geographical position of Moscow: the very
+kernel of Russia, and at tremendous distances from all the frontiers.
+My escape must be obviously a matter of the most careful planning,
+seeing that I should probably be many weeks, and perhaps months,
+carrying it out.  From the first I abandoned all thought of making a
+dash straight for the frontier by train.  Every outlet of the kind
+would be watched most jealously, alike by the police and the Nihilists:
+while the fact of Olga slipping through would increase a thousandfold
+the vigilance to prevent my following.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+If Paula Tueski managed to get the permit, Olga would make her escape
+quickly by train, going either north-west to St. Petersburg and away by
+steamer: or west across the German frontier: or south-west down into
+Austria.  Two days would do the business.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+My escape was to be a very different affair.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+I meant to leave Moscow on foot or pony back, disguised as a peasant
+woman, and as soon as I was well clear of the city, some 20 or 30 miles
+out, I intended to change that disguise and play the part of a
+horse-dealer, making for the two big horse fairs that were coming on
+soon at Rostov and Jaroslav&mdash;about 100 and 150 miles north
+respectively.  For this purpose I proposed to buy up enough horses and
+ponies on my way to divert suspicion and sustain my part.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+At Jaroslav I should sell these for what they would fetch and in the
+confusion of the fair time, change my character again.  There I should
+strike the Volga: and my plan was to escape by river; working my way on
+the boats down to Tsaritsin and thence across by train to the Don.  At
+the mouth of the Don, or at Taganrog, I calculated to be able to ship
+on a steamer across the Sea of Azov, and thence across the Black Sea,
+and out through the Bosphorus.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+This was the outline, subject of course to any changes which necessity
+or expediency should suggest; and I preferred it, because if I could
+cut the trail between Moscow and the river, that was about the very
+last place in which I should be looked for; while the time that must be
+occupied on the river would give me the necessary opportunity for
+obtaining such papers as I should require to get away.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+I had perfected the plan, thought out many of its details and
+discounted its risks, and had laid in many of the necessary disguises.
+But I was not destined to use them; for the direction of matters was
+wrested out of my hands by a stroke that checkmated me completely.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+In the afternoon a letter came to me from Olga, vaguely worded, to the
+effect that Paula Tueski had sent for her and had given her what had
+been promised, and that all matters were now complete.  She wished me
+to see her at seven o'clock.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+I scribbled a line saying I would be there at the time.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The messenger, Olga's maid, went off with it: and almost before I
+thought she could have had time to get home and back again, she came
+hurrying in again breathless and excited, and all white with fear.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+I thought at first she had been molested in some way in the
+streets&mdash;Moscow is not Eden&mdash;and I asked her what was the matter.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The reply, uttered in gasps and jerks of terror and with spasmodic sobs
+filled me in my turn with consternation.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Olga had been arrested during the girl's absence, and my aunt, the
+Countess Palitzin was like a mad-woman in her fear.  She was all
+anxiety to see me.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Arrested!" I cried, scarcely believing my own ears.  "By whom?  For
+what?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"By the police; I don't know for what," wailed the girl.  "But the
+Countess&mdash;&mdash;"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I'll go to her at once," I cried, interrupting her; and without
+another word I set off at once for Olga's house, with the greatest
+haste.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+What could it all mean?
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Whose blow was this?  Coming at such a moment, it shattered all my
+plans to fragments.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR><BR>
+
+<A NAME="chap24"></A>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+CHAPTER XXIV.
+</H3>
+
+<H4 ALIGN="center">
+CRISIS.
+</H4>
+
+<P>
+I found matters just as Olga's maid had told me.  The Countess was in
+the deepest distress, and was wringing her hands and crying herself
+blind in agitation and alarm.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Olga had been out in the afternoon, she told me, and had come back
+considerably excited.  She had stayed some time in her room, and the
+maid now said she had been turning over her clothes.  I knew what this
+meant.  Then she had written the letter to me and sent the girl with
+it; but the latter had scarcely left the house before the police had
+arrived, had asked for Olga, and had arrested her, refusing to say a
+single word as to the cause.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Olga had of course gone with them, protesting to the Countess that
+there must be some mistake and that no doubt she would soon be again at
+liberty and return home.  When kissing her aunt the girl had whispered
+to her to tell me at once, with an assurance that she was not in the
+least frightened.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Knowing what I knew about the system of imprisonment in Russia and how
+common a thing it was for a prisoner to be arrested on the flimsiest
+suspicion, to enter a gaol and be kept from all communication with
+friends and family, I did not by any means share the calmness she had
+professed.  The suddenness of the arrest combined with the complete
+overthrow of all my plans incensed me beyond measure.  I put to the two
+women all the questions that occurred to me, but got no further light.
+I could not hide my concern, but I did my best to make the Countess
+Palitzin believe that it would be in my power to help Olga.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+I hurried from the house to Paula Tueski.  I reckoned to get from her
+the best hints as to where my exertions could be most usefully exerted.
+But I did not find her and the news at her house was disconcerting
+somewhat.  She had been called for suddenly and had gone out, leaving
+no word where she was to be found nor when she would return.  All quite
+contrary to her usual custom.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+I went on then to the chief police office.  I was in uniform of course,
+and was received with the greatest politeness, but no information was
+given to me.  The man who gave me an interview was complacency itself.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I am grieved to be able to give you no information, Lieutenant," he
+said, politely.  "But you know how our hands are tied and how one's
+lips are sealed in this office.  In anything but that matter I am your
+most obedient servant: indeed, if in that very affair you can suggest
+how I can be of service, I pray you to command me."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"My sister was arrested by your men?" I asked.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Most arrests are carried out by our men," was the reply.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"What is the charge against her?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I have not an idea."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"By whose orders was the arrest made?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"By those of my superiors.  I have but to obey."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Where is she now?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+For answer he shrugged his shoulders, smiled blandly, and shook his
+head slowly.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Can I see her?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Yes, of course&mdash;with an order."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Whose order?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Anyone who is my superior."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Can you give me an order?"  He repeated his gesture, murmuring an
+expression of regret.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"You have not told me much," I said, and he smiled deprecatingly.  "But
+it is enough to tell me where I must look for information."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+His smile changed to one of congratulation, and, rising, he gave me his
+hand.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Lieutenant, a brave man like you shall always command my sympathies
+and services so far as my duty permits," and with that official
+reservation he bowed me out with the most profuse of polite gestures.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+I thought I saw from where the stroke came, and without any longer
+delay I hurried to the Prince Bilbassoff.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+He was at first said to be out; and for some half hour I cooled my
+heels and warmed my temper and impatience striding up and down in front
+of the building.  Then he was denied to me on the ground that he was
+very busily engaged; and only when I insisted that my business was
+exceptionally urgent and personal, was I admitted to an antechamber and
+left waiting there with some half dozen other.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The servant took my message, but instead of returning instantly, as had
+been my previous experience, to lead me at once to the Prince's room, I
+was left to fume in my impatience for several minutes.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+I rang the bell angrily and when the servant came ordered him to shew
+me to the Prince instantly.  But he would not, saying he dared not
+without orders from his master, and that he had given my message and
+could do no more.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+I augured ill from this reception, but was in no mood to brook delay.
+I had nothing to lose now by boldness, and as soon as the fellow had
+turned his back I went to the door which I knew to be that of the
+Prince's room, and pushing aside the man who stood on guard outside,
+knocked, opened it, and marched in unceremoniously.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The Prince was in close conference with a couple of men and when he saw
+me he jumped up and asked me how I dared to intrude in that way.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I have something urgent and private to say to you," said I, coolly.
+"If these gentlemen will give us five minutes it will be enough."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+A moment's reflection sufficed to change his anger to equanimity,
+forced or genuine, I didn't care which, and he dismissed the men.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"There can be only one reason why you come here," he said, as soon as
+we were alone, speaking in a very sharp tone.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"On the contrary there may be two," I replied, copying his sharpness.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"The only condition on which I can receive you, Lieutenant, is the one
+I told you some hours since.  Have you come to comply with it?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I have come to ask you why you have arrested my sister and where she
+is."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Arrested whom?" he asked, with a sharp look I didn't understand.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"My sister."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Who is that?"  This with a smile of indescribable meaning.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"You knew well enough when I was here this afternoon."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"On the contrary, I knew no more than I know now.  I don't even know
+that you have a sister.  Have you?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Either the man was a lunatic, or he knew everything.  Here was
+obviously the reason of the altered reception.  But I would not betray
+myself by a single word or gesture.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I am speaking of my sister, Olga Petrovitch, whom you rescued from the
+hands of Major Devinsky.  Now, do you know what I mean?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"No," he answered stolidly.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Well, do you know whom I mean?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I know of Olga Petrovitch."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Then what the devil do you mean?" I cried angrily.  "You have arrested
+her, haven't you?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"She has been arrested," he answered quietly.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"What for?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"You seem very anxious on her account."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Would you have a man indifferent when his sister is whisked off to
+gaol by the police devils of yours?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Indifferent?  No, indeed; certainly not.  Even I am not indifferent
+about it.  It has been of the utmost use to me, in fact."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"How long are you going to keep up these riddles, Prince?  I don't
+pretend to be your equal at that kind of fence, and as it's perfectly
+evident to me you think you have a knotted whip for my back I'll wait
+till you're ready to lay it on."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+He laughed at that.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Are you going to accept my conditions?" he asked.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"It will depend absolutely on the result of this interview."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+He paused half a minute and then taking a paper from his pocket tossed
+it to me with a laugh.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Here's the key.  How do you read it?" he asked, lightly.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+It was indeed the key, and the instant my eyes fell on it I saw
+everything.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+It was the permit found on Olga.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The game was up; but I wouldn't play the craven.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+I tossed it back to him and laughed, a more natural and mirthful laugh
+than his, though I scented death in the air.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I understand it pretty well," I said, as lightly as he had spoken.
+"But if you don't mind I think I'll keep my own counsel."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"You know what it means?" he asked.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"To me?"  He nodded.  "I can guess," I said.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"And to her?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"No, I don't know that.  But I know your law is damned hard on women."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"And this Tueski woman&mdash;why did she get this permit for&mdash;your sister?"
+He paused on the word.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Wanted her out of the way, that's all."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Is what she says true&mdash;all true?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"That depends on what she says."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"It's a strange tale.  That you're not what you call yourself; that
+you've taken the place of Lieutenant Alexis Petrovitch; that you're a
+Nihilist of the Nihilists; that you murdered her husband; and that she
+has the proofs of all this."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Why did you arrest her?" I asked, as an idea occurred to me.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"That," he said, pointing to the permit.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Did she volunteer her statement?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+A laugh of diabolical cunning spread over his face.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Yes&mdash;when she believed you had deceived her and had fled with&mdash;your
+sister.  Boy, no one can guard himself against a jealous Russian woman."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Now, I see a little more clearly.  But why did you arrest Olga
+Petrovitch?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Your visit to my sister this afternoon.  You were too solicitous for
+the poor girl's nerves, and we thought it might be better for you to
+know that she was in safe guardianship until you had made your
+decision.  There would at any rate be no pressing need for you to think
+of her leaving the country; or feel it desirable to go with her to take
+care of her in her shattered condition.  And we were right.  But even I
+did not expect a tithe of all that has come from the step.  It is
+indeed seldom that I get so genuine a surprise."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"And what are you going to do&mdash;now?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"How much of this woman's tale is true?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"One third of it.  I am not Alexis Petrovitch; but neither am I a
+Nihilist, nor a murderer."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Who are you!"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"An Englishman&mdash;Hamylton Tregethner."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"But your speech&mdash;your accent&mdash;your Russian?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I was brought up in Moscow for the first sixteen years of my life."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Tregethner, Hamylton Tregethner," he murmured, repeating the name as
+if it were not wholly unfamiliar to him.  Then after a pause he asked
+me where the real Lieutenant Petrovitch was; and questioned me
+searchingly and very shrewdly as to the whole details of my change of
+identity.  I concealed nothing.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"You English are devils," he said, when his questions were nearly
+exhausted.  "I hate the lot of you&mdash;except you.  And you're as big a
+devil as any of them.  But you have the pluck of a hundred."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+I shrugged my shoulders, laughed, lolled back in my chair and lighted a
+cigarette.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I've enjoyed it," I said, "and that's the plain truth.  I didn't like
+the lies I had to tell; but then I never had any training in the
+diplomatic service, and that makes the difference.  But all the same
+I've enjoyed it; and what's more, if it had been possible, I'd have
+fought for the Little Father as keenly as any born Russ in the ranks.
+But it's over, and so far as I'm concerned, you can do what you like
+with me.  I should like to save that girl.  She's one in ten thousand
+for pluck.  And you owe her something too, as she saved my life from a
+treacherous thrust of Devinsky's sword for you to take it.  You might
+let her have her liberty in its place.  It's infernally hard on the
+girl that her cowardly brute of a brother should let her in for all
+this mess; and then that I, with all the good will in the world, should
+thrust her deeper into the mud.  It's damned hard!"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The Prince was watching me closely and thinking hard.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Why did you hesitate to accept my proposal?" he asked, sharply.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"For a very plain reason.  While I appreciated the honour and advantage
+of an alliance with your sister, I loved Olga Petrovitch, and preferred
+to marry her."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I won't tell my sister that," he said, laughing sardonically.  After a
+pause he added:&mdash;"How much does&mdash;your sister know of our matter?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Everything."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Names?" and he stared as if to penetrate right into my brain.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"No&mdash;not of the man to be fought."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"On your honour?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"On my honour."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"If she is released, will you go on with it?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"If she is put across the frontier," I returned grimly.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Don't you trust me?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"You, yes; but your agents, no."  He smiled.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"You should go far with the daring with which you push your fortunes."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Probably I shall go on till my head falls by the wayside," I answered.
+I was utterly reckless now.  But my tactics succeeded when nothing else
+could have won.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+He took a form and wrote.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Here is the permit for her to leave the country.  It is yours&mdash;on
+conditions."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"What are they?  Never mind what they are," I added, quickly.  "I
+accept them in advance.  Save that girl, who is innocent, and do what
+you like with me."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Do you know what I ought to do with you?" he asked.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Yes; better than you do.  Write me a permit also and have me conducted
+to the frontier at the same time.  But I don't know what you think you
+should do."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I ought to write out a very different order and have you both sent
+straight to the Mallovitch yonder; and let things take their course."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Well, it's fortunate for me then," I replied, with a laugh, "that your
+interest and your judgment pull different ways.  You won't do that,
+Prince."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"How do I know that you are not a Nihilist?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Instinct, judgment, knowledge of men, knowledge of me&mdash;everything.
+Besides, if you want proof, no one knows better than yourself that a
+cipher telegram sent to London, and inquiries made in half a dozen
+places that I can mention, will put ample proofs in your hands to shew
+who I am.  So far as I know there's one man in Russia at the present
+moment and actually coming to Moscow, who'll stir up the British
+Legation and every British consulate in the country to the search for
+Hamylton Tregethner.  That's the Hon. Rupert Balestier."  Then I told
+him what had happened in Paris.  At first he smiled, but soon grew
+thoughtful again.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I warn you, too," I added, when he made no answer, "that if you chop
+my head off or stifle me in one of your infernal prisons, or send me
+packing to Siberia, Balestier is just the man to raise a devil of a
+clatter.  And you don't want a row with our Foreign Office just at the
+moment when things are so ticklish with the Sick Man."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+He waved his hand as if to put all such considerations away from him.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"If the girl you call your sister had got away, did you mean to try to
+escape?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Certainly I did," replied I, frankly, and I told him the scheme I had
+formed.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"And now?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"If I give my word I shall keep it.  You Russians never seem to think a
+man will keep his parole to his own disadvantage.  We English think
+differently&mdash;and act as we think."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"If we postpone this talk till to-morrow, have I your word that you'll
+make no attempt to escape?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"No, indeed, you haven't.  Let this girl go at once; then you can have
+it and welcome."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"You seem to forget that I can keep you under guard?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I forget nothing of the kind.  Clap me into a prison and you may
+whistle for anyone to carry out&mdash;to do what you wish.  You can decide
+now, or lose the option.  That's in the rules of a game like this."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"You carry things with a high hand," he cried angrily.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Most probably I shouldn't be here if I didn't," said I, with a laugh.
+"It's my advantage to force the pace at this juncture; and the risk's
+too big to throw away a single chance."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+He made no reply, but pushing back his chair got up and walked about
+the room, in a state of indecision absolutely foreign to his character
+and habits.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+I knew how momentous the decision was.  If I were the dangerous
+Nihilist that Paula Tueski had declared, the risk of letting me free
+and entrusting to me such a task as that we had discussed was critical
+and deadly.  The Russian instinct was to clap me into a gaol and be
+done with me; but the personal feeling pulled him in the other
+direction&mdash;to use me for a tool in the project that was all in all to
+him.  With the Grand Duke once out of his path there was nothing
+between him and almost absolute rule.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+I watched him with an anxiety he little suspected, for my manner was
+studiously careless, indifferent, and reckless.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Did you give this girl any particular task if she escaped?" he asked,
+stopping suddenly in his walk close to me.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Certainly; to find Rupert Balestier, tell him of my position, and get
+him to try and smooth away the difficulties.  I had also arranged how
+she could communicate with and find me if I managed to get away."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+He took the answer as I gave it with perfect frankness, and it seemed
+to help his decision.  He resumed his pacing backwards and forwards.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Two or three minutes later he stopped his walk and taking the permit he
+had written held it out to me.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Will you give me your word as an English gentleman that if I give you
+this and allow the girl to leave Russia, you will make no attempt to
+escape, and will go on with the proposal we have discussed?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+It was my turn to hesitate now.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"No, I cannot," I said after a moment's thought.  "An Englishman cannot
+lend himself out as an assassin, Prince Bilbassoff.  I will do this.  I
+will give you my word of honour not to attempt to leave Russia, and if
+a meeting between the Grand Duke and myself can be arranged without
+dishonour to me, I pledge myself to meet him.  I will never take that
+word back unless you release me; but more I cannot do.  Let Olga
+Petrovitch go, and you shall do as you will with me."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I take your word," he said, quietly.  "Your identity will remain
+unknown.  Your sister will leave for the frontier under escort at
+midnight.  You can take the news to her, and she can leave with you to
+make her arrangements for departure.  I hold you responsible for her;
+and you will explain only what is necessary to her.  You remain a
+Russian."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+And with the permit and the order for her instant release in my hand I
+left him, conscious that I had been brushing my back against a dungeon
+door the whole time and had only just escaped finding myself on the
+wrong side of it.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR><BR>
+
+<A NAME="chap25"></A>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+CHAPTER XXV.
+</H3>
+
+<H4 ALIGN="center">
+COILS THAT NO MAN COULD BREAK.
+</H4>
+
+<P>
+Poor Olga!  I shall not easily forget the effect the news had on her.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+I went out from the interview impregnated with the conviction that I
+was now indeed hopelessly baffled.  I saw how completely the whole
+position had been changed.  The very axis had shifted.  And the
+knowledge that I had to make Olga understand it all before she left
+Russia was more unpalatable and depressing than I can describe.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Up to the present moment there had indeed been the slight off-chance
+that we should both escape, and the knowledge that if we could only do
+so, we might find happiness in another country.  But that hope was as
+dead as a coffin nail.  I was bound to Moscow by a shackle more
+powerful than iron fetters.  I had pledged myself not to attempt to go
+until the Prince himself had given me permission; and I knew that he
+would never think of doing this until the duel had been in some way
+arranged.  On the other hand the Nihilist attack on the Emperor was to
+be made in two days' time.  If it succeeded an ignominious death at the
+hands of the law could be the only result for me; while if it failed,
+death was almost as certain at the hands of the Nihilists who would
+adjudge me their betrayer.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Between the upper and nether millstones I was helpless; certain only of
+being crushed by them.  Thus nothing could make me believe that I
+should ever again set eyes on the woman whose release I had thus
+secured and whom I now loved with all my heart.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Nor could I part from her without allowing her to see something of this.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+She was indeed so quick to appreciate the meaning of what I told her,
+that all the sweet pleasure and gladness she shewed when welcoming me
+changed in a moment to sadness.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I would ten thousand times rather not go," she said.  "I do not care
+what they do to me.  I have brought you into this, and it is me they
+should punish," she said more than once.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"But you can't do what this man wants, Olga," said I with a smile, to
+reassure her.  "If you could, he would probably let me go and hold on
+to you.  If I couldn't, he would hold on to us both.  But you must go
+for this reason.  You must find Balestier and tell him to come here.
+He must stop making a fuss about Hamylton Tregethner, and just come on
+here and see me and let us try together to find out some solution of
+the puzzle.  But he must hold his tongue unless talking to the right
+pair of ears."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I shall know no rest till I find him," replied Olga instantly.  "And
+if I do not, I shall come back here.  I will not leave you like this."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+I kissed her; but did not tell her that so far as I was concerned her
+return would be useless, for the cogent reason that I should not be
+alive.  It was impossible that I could survive by many hours the
+Imperial visit.  This I kept from her, however, for the farewell was
+already more than sufficiently sad and trying; and I doubt if any
+consideration on earth would have induced her to leave if she had
+really known how imminent was my danger.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+I talked much indeed of the help Balestier might be able to render, and
+thus impressed on her strongly the need for her to find him, however
+long it might take her.  This giving her a task and connecting it with
+the work of helping me, kept her hope alive and tended to reconcile her
+to the parting, so that in the end she shook off much of her
+depression.  I could see also she was battling with her feelings to
+distress me as little as possible.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+I loved her the more as I saw this, but the parting was such pain for
+us both, that I was glad when it was over.  I stood and watched the
+train steam out of the station and saw her leaning from the carriage
+window to catch the last glimpse of me.  And I was sad indeed, as I
+turned away with a positively choking sense of loneliness such as I had
+never felt before in all my life.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The departure of my brave little sister, clever-witted counsellor, and
+dearest companion seemed to leave such a void in my life that in the
+first hours which followed her departure I mourned for her as one
+grieves for the dead.  And in truth she was dead to me.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+But the events of the day following left me little time for meditation.
+It was Sunday and a day of brisk action.  Early in the morning there
+were special regimental duties; and on my return to my rooms for
+breakfast I found waiting for me a stranger, whose card, given to my
+servant, described him as "J. W. Junker, St Petersburg Gazette."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+He rose at my entrance and said in a very pleasant voice:&mdash;
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Excuse a journalist's liberty in coming to you.  I am the special
+correspondent of the St Petersburg Gazette and have come to do the
+Czar's visit, and I should very much like a word with you on the
+matter."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I don't see where I can be of any help, but if there's anything I can
+tell you, fire away," I said.  "I've had a couple of hours' drill this
+morning, however, and I have to be on the parade ground in less than an
+hour, so you must excuse me if I have my breakfast while we chat.  But
+perhaps you'll join me?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"With the greatest pleasure," and down he sat, and while the servant
+was in the room for the first few minutes, he chatted away like the
+bright and pleasant fellow he appeared to be.  But as soon as my man
+had left the room, his manner changed suddenly and his voice took a
+direct earnest tone that made me look at him in some astonishment.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Don't have that fellow back again.  Is it all acting, or don't you
+really recognise me?  I knew you in a moment."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Did you?  Well, I certainly don't know you.  I never met a
+journalist&mdash;&mdash;"  He broke in with a short laugh and waved his hand with
+a quick gesture of imperative impatience as he stared at me hard.  His
+manner annoyed me.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Well, if you're not what you said you were, what the devil are you
+doing here?  What do you want?" I felt like pitching him out of the
+place.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Didn't you expect me?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Expect you?  No; how should I?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Instructions were sent to prepare you."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I can only say I haven't the ghost of a notion what you want."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"To complete the arrangements for to-morrow's glorious event," and his
+face lighted with a momentary enthusiasm.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"How am I to know you?" I asked, suspiciously.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I am Gorvas Lassthum; and I saw you twelve months ago when the other
+plan was laid, as you will remember, and failed.  Your memory is
+treacherous, my friend."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"There are some things I train it to forget," I answered, equivocally.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+I was in a fix.  I guessed the man was a Nihilist agent, of course, and
+his air of self-importance suggested that he was high up in the
+leadership.  But on the other hand Moscow was at the moment swarming
+with spies of all kinds; and this might be one.  I assumed an air of
+extreme caution therefore, and after a flash of thought added: "And
+some that I prefer not to know at all.  It pleases me now to hold that
+from my side you and I are strangers.  You know me well; say then just
+what you wish to say.  I on my side don't know you, and prefer to say
+nothing."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Good," he cried; and reaching out offered me his hand and when I gave
+him mine, he pressed it and said earnestly:&mdash;"Would God we had more men
+like you&mdash;so ready in act and so cautious in word."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+I bowed and made no other sign.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"You have the orders for the disposition of the troops to-morrow, and
+at the last minute the whole of them, or the most of them, will be
+changed.  You yourself will be detailed to guard that part of the line
+which runs over the flat stretch by the river on the further side of
+the Vsatesk station.  Guard it well; for a greater life than that of
+the Emperor depends on your vigilance&mdash;the life of the People."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+As he said this another of those little flashes of light that seemed to
+transform him from a pleasant man of the world into an enthusiast leapt
+into his eyes.  A pause followed in which I said nothing.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Your orders will be to station your men at set distances on either
+side of the line&mdash;it being an easy place to guard&mdash;and you will have
+some three miles of the line under your command.  It is good.  Now,
+take thought.  At one point in about the centre of your section, the
+land dips and the line is embanked to a height of some ten feet, for a
+length of about half a mile.  At that spot there are four alder
+trees&mdash;three to the left of the line, and one to the right.  These
+three form an irregular triangle, one side of which is much shorter
+than the others; and if you follow the short line which those two trees
+make, you will find that they form a comparatively straight line with
+the fourth tree on the other side of the railway embankment.  Do you
+follow me?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+He made a rough model on the table-cloth, using some of the breakfast
+things for the purpose of shewing the positions of the railway and the
+trees.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"No one can mistake that," I said.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Well, you are to take up your position here, you yourself, I mean,
+here, in a dead straight line between these two trees"&mdash;demonstrating
+them on the table-cloth&mdash;"for this is where there will be an accident.
+And now, pay close heed to this.  You will go out by train; and when
+your men are paraded at the station they will be joined by five of
+ours.  These will mingle with yours at the very last moment; and if any
+questions are asked they will produce the necessary authority.  These
+five men you will arrange carefully to take the next five positions to
+you on your right hand.  When the train leaves the line, they will
+instantly close round and guard the Emperor's carriage; and you will
+see that nothing prevents them.  That is all you have to do; and if you
+act discreetly you will run no risk.  You will not fail.  They know
+their duties and will do them; and will let no one come between them
+and their noble task.  Five bolder men do not breathe in all Russia.
+Remember, they are to be stationed next to you on your right.  You
+understand?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Every item."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"It is a great day for you, friend," he said.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"It is a great day for Russia," I returned; and soon after he left me.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+I was filled with the most anxious doubt as to what course I ought to
+take to checkmate this horrible plot, of which I was the most unwilling
+depository and was marked out as the forced agent.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+During the whole day I was turning the problem over and over in my
+thoughts: and I could see no course that would be at all effective in
+thwarting the plot without at the same time exposing myself to all the
+hazard of being punished as a Nihilist.  I could, of course, tell the
+police or Prince Bilbassoff, but this meant a double danger for me.
+They would take measures to alter the arrangements as to the visit; the
+reason for this would have to be told to the Czar; it would certainly
+leak out to the Nihilists, and I should be a mark for their assassins
+at once.  On the other hand the story told by Paula Tueski would seem
+to have the corroboration which my acquaintance with Nihilist matters
+would give to it, and I should be in peril there.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+One consideration there was that gave some reassurance.  I had already
+had the orders for the distribution of the troops, and I knew that I
+was to be miles away from those cursed alder trees at the moment when
+the Czar would be passing.  I knew too that if the plot went wrong in
+that main feature, it would fail altogether.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The Nihilists were not such fools as to draw down on themselves all the
+sensational punishments which would inevitably follow the discovery of
+an organised attempt on the life of the Czar, for the mere empty
+purpose of sending the Imperial train off the line.  Unless therefore,
+they had some emissary so highly placed as to be in possession of the
+information long before any of us in Moscow knew about it, the whole
+machinery was likely to be stopped for the one flaw.  And though I had
+had some proofs of the extraordinary accuracy of their information, I
+could not believe their power to be such as this necessitated.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+But in the afternoon, when according to arrangement I went again to the
+Prince Bilbassoff, startling news awaited me, that redoubled all these
+doubts and difficulties, and set them buzzing and rushing through my
+brain, threatening to muddle my wits altogether.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+There was a distinct change in the manner of his reception of me, and
+it pleased me to set this down to the fact that his opinion of me was
+raised by the knowledge that the black past of Alexis Petrovitch was
+mine only by adoption, and that in reality I had the clean antecedents
+of an English gentleman.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I can't give you more than a few minutes," he said, "and I must
+therefore squeeze as much as possible into them.  I have taken your
+suggestion and have wired to London to find out about you.  The result
+is what I am bound to say I hoped; and the consequences are I am going
+to trust you."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"That's as you please," said I, quietly.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"It does please me, because I don't want this duel to fall through.
+Now you want some cause for fighting that will satisfy your honour.
+Will you fight this man if he insults you?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I'll fight any man who does that," I replied.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Now, whose officer are you?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"The Czar's, while I am in Russia."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Will you risk your life in his service?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"My sword is absolutely at his service."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"If you should hear His Majesty insulted in your presence would you
+face the man who did it?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"As surely as effect follows cause."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Then this man's whole life is an insult to the Czar."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"In what way?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"He is a Nihilist to his finger-tips.  His presence near the throne is
+a standing menace to the Emperor; his hand is ever raised to seek his
+Majesty's life; and his whole life is that of a traitor who learns the
+highest secrets only to betray them to these enemies of God and the
+Emperor."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"What proof have you?" I asked in the profoundest astonishment.  I
+began to see now how the most secret information leaked out.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"None, boy.  Or do you think he would be where he is for an hour?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Then how do you know it?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"If a secret is known to three people, two of whom you know to be as
+staunch as steel, and yet it gets out&mdash;how do you think it happens?  If
+this happens not only once but two or three times, what do you think of
+the man?  This man is a traitor; and as surely as there is a God in
+Heaven, the Crown is not firmly on my master's head while the man
+remains alive.  Now, will you fight him?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"The matter is a public, not personal, one: Russian not English.  My
+sword is not a bravo's to be hired for that sort of work."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+He swore a deep oath under his breath at this, and then changed it to a
+laugh with an ugly ring in it.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"If you mean to climb, my young cockerel, we must see more of your
+spurs and hear less of your scruples.  Personal!  Good God, what more
+do you want?  Aren't you the Emperor's own property?  Isn't the Little
+Father in danger?  Isn't that enough?  Personal!  Ugh.  Well, is this
+personal enough for you?  His Highness has already done you the honour
+to pick you out for the favour of his ill will.  This is a letter which
+by one of those little accidents that do sometimes happen in my office,
+has fallen into my hands.  He is writing to an agent of his here in
+Moscow.  Listen: 'There is a young lieutenant of the Moscow Infantry
+Regiment, named Petrovitch, about whom I want all the possible
+information.  He is a dishonourable scoundrel, I understand&mdash;a dicing,
+gambling, drinking fellow, who thinks he can crow and strut on the
+crest of his dunghill with impunity because he had the luck to beat a
+better man than himself in a duel, and the insolence to insult another
+officer&mdash;one of my friends&mdash;and then hide himself under official
+protection.  I hear now that he is meditating another and a greater
+coup.  I know much about him, but want you to get me as much more
+information as possible.  Such swash-buckling knaves are a disgrace and
+danger to everything they touch.  He is not to be trusted in anything
+and all reasons make his overthrow necessary.'"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+As he finished reading the extract, the Prince paused and lowering the
+letter looked at me over the top.  Then without giving me time to
+answer, he continued:&mdash;
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Your 'butcher Durescq' was this man's close friend and tool&mdash;doing his
+work for him.  It was through this patron's influence that Durescq
+escaped being turned out of the army altogether.  Now, you can see two
+things&mdash;why this man hates you, and how it was I heard of you.  Is that
+personal enough, Lieutenant?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"By God, I should think it is," cried I, on fire with rage.  "What does
+he dare to interfere with me for?"  As I asked the question the reason
+flashed upon me as by inspiration.  He had heard of my being associated
+with Prince Bilbassoff and was afraid that as I knew so much about
+Nihilism, I should get to learn of his connection with it, and he thus
+deemed it best to have me put out of the way.  He meant to have me
+"removed."  When I looked up, the Prince's keen subtle eyes were fixed
+on me with calculating intentness.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"It is curious that this man should fix on you as the object of his
+resentment&mdash;even though he is a Nihilist.  Take care, my friend.  I
+know you have inherited a Nihilist black cloak and dagger with your
+other undesirable possessions; beware how you use them."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I believe the real Alexis had dealings with them," I said.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"If this Tueski woman manages to let them understand the truth, then,
+you will need the wariest wits in the world to avoid stumbling."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"You have maddened me," I cried, as if impetuously, and in the highest
+excitement.  "Get me a meeting with that villain and were he twenty
+times the swordsman he is, and covered in iron mail from head to foot,
+my sword should find a chink to let the life out of him.  I am on fire."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Then I rushed away; for in truth I dared not stay to be any longer
+questioned about my relations with the Nihilists.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+It all seemed clear to me now.  They meant to use me for the horrible
+business of the following day; and then under some pretext get rid of
+me&mdash;murder me if necessary&mdash;or denounce me.  This man held that I knew
+too much for his safety.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+All this was supposing, of course, that I escaped the danger of the
+plot itself.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR><BR>
+
+<A NAME="chap26"></A>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+CHAPTER XXVI.
+</H3>
+
+<H4 ALIGN="center">
+MY DECISION.
+</H4>
+
+<P>
+The news I heard from Prince Bilbassoff wrought me to a higher pitch of
+excitement than anything that had ever happened in my life.  I was in a
+very highly strung condition, and my nerves were no doubt greatly
+wrought upon as the result of the stirring events of the previous few
+days.  That may have rendered me unduly susceptible to this new
+development.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Be that as it may, I went out of the Prince's presence filled with a
+spurring desire to kill the man who as it seemed to me was planning my
+ruin in this most treacherous manner.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The view I took was that this Grand Duke was moved by the double motive
+of personal anger on the score of my affair with Alexandre Durescq and
+of a feeling of insecurity on account of the knowledge I had of his
+Nihilism.  I knew too much to be trusted.  The issues were so
+tremendous, the decision I had to make so full of moment, and the time
+for me to choose my course so short, that my wits had need to be at
+their sharpest.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+I had out my horse and went for a hard gallop&mdash;one of the best
+prescriptions I know of to clear a tangled judgment.  It acted now.  As
+I rode at hot speed my thoughts began to settle; and then gradually a
+scheme occurred to me, wild, desperate, and hazardous at best, and
+fraught with fearful risks to others beside myself; but yet if
+successful, offering me what I wanted above all&mdash;complete deliverance
+from the whole of my present difficulties.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+My first thought in all was for myself.  Not for the Emperor, nor the
+army, nor Russia, nor any big interests&mdash;for myself and for my escape
+from the country whose most unwilling guest and compulsory servant I
+was.  Had I been a Russian officer in reality, I could have taken but
+one course&mdash;disclosed the Nihilist plot, or so much of it as I knew,
+and thus have checkmated the whole devilish business at once.  Had I
+ever received any particular mark of favour at the hands of the
+Government or the country, gratitude would have urged me to take the
+same course.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+But I owed nothing to a soul in all Russia.  Everyone had tried to use
+me as a tool.  The Colonel of the regiment had begun by making use of
+my quarrel with Durescq to humiliate Devinsky.  The officers, almost
+without exception, had swaggered over me contemptuously until my skill
+as a swordsman shewed them the price of contempt might be death.  The
+Nihilists had first tried to assassinate me, and only when I had seemed
+to serve their ends with more daring and secrecy than any other man
+among them, had they turned with a demand for more sacrifices; while
+this Grand Duke, apparently one of the chief of them, was even now
+planning to get rid of me.  Prince Bilbassoff was in the same list; and
+without a doubt would have shut up both Olga and myself on Paula
+Tueski's accusation, had he not wished to hire me as an assassin.
+Everywhere I turned it was the same.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+What then did I owe to Russia that I should think of any single
+consideration except my own safety and welfare?
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The question which I asked myself therefore, was whether I could plunge
+my hand into this seething cauldron of intrigue and murder and pluck
+out my own safety.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+A word from me would foil the whole Nihilist plot, and the Czar would
+make his entry into Moscow in due form and time.  But how should I
+profit?  Supposing the Nihilist calculations were correct, and I was
+appointed to the section of the line where the "accident" was to
+happen, I should have to contrive obstacles and make difficulties which
+would in all probability draw down on me the suspicions of the whole
+Nihilist crew.  Add that element of suspicion to the feeling which the
+Grand Duke already entertained and was inculcating into others, and
+what chance was there of my escaping either open ruin or assassination?
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Assuming that I did escape even, what should I gain?  I was tied to
+Russia by the word I had passed to the Prince, and could not hope to be
+set free from it until I had either fought the Grand Duke, or until the
+Prince was convinced that the duel was impossible.  But as the Duke
+looked on me as nothing less than a pestilential traitor to the
+Nihilist cause, was it likely that he would consent to meet me?
+Certainly not.  Even if we added the cause which the Prince had
+suggested&mdash;the spurious betrothal to the Princess&mdash;I should get no
+benefit.  The Grand Duke would merely regard that as an additional
+reason for having me removed secretly from his path.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+All this meant therefore, that even if I thwarted the plot in this way,
+I should be kept in Russia and apart from Olga, until the Grand Duke
+consented to fight me; or, in other words, until his emissaries had
+convinced themselves that they could not manage to assassinate me.  Nor
+was it probable that that conviction would come until they had made a
+series of unsuccessful efforts.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+A pleasant prospect, truly!
+</P>
+
+<P>
+On the other hand, if I did nothing and allowed the infernal plot to be
+carried through and the Emperor murdered, it would mean death to me;
+certain death.  As the officer placed in charge of the section of the
+line where the deed would be done, who had allowed the murderers
+disguised as soldiers to mix with my troops; who had actually posted
+them at the very spot where the train was to be derailed; and who above
+all was already suspected of Nihilist intrigue; I was certain of
+conviction, even without the Grand Duke's special animosity.  Add that,
+however, and the result was as dead certain as that night alternates
+with day.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+If I was to escape, therefore, it must be by a shrewd stroke dealt by
+myself alone and for myself alone.  And such a stroke it was that
+suggested itself in the course of that ride.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Briefly, it was to allow everything to go forward right to the very
+supreme moment, and then by personal effort to save the Emperor's life
+by my own hand in such a way as to draw the Imperial attention directly
+on myself.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+I thought I saw how it could be done: and when I turned my horse's head
+homeward I rode at a slower pace, meditating all the details of the
+plan with the closest attention.  The Nihilists had told me enough to
+shew me how to act; and my sense of fair play urged me to use the
+knowledge for my sole advantage, and without involving a single
+Nihilist in danger by open denunciation.  I was a Nihilist against my
+will; and though I had been forced into the plot, I was altogether
+opposed to telling what had been told to me in this spirit of
+confidence.  At the same time I was a Russian officer, almost equally
+against my own seeking, and so long as I preserved the Emperor's life I
+need not regard other matters as a Russian officer would.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+By the time I reached my rooms I had my plans shaped, and my scheme
+developed; and my accustomed mood of calm, wary self-possession had
+returned.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+I changed and went to the club.  The place was crammed with the
+officers stationed in Moscow and their friends who had been sent into
+the city on special duty in connection with the Czar's visit on the
+following day.  Everyone was in the noisiest spirits.  Good news had
+come of the prospects of war.  All believed that on the next day the
+Little Father would make a ringing war speech that would render peace
+impossible; and many of the men were talking as though the sword had
+already leapt from the scabbard, and a million men, tramping warwards,
+were already driving the scared Turks before them, like husks before
+the winnowing fan.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+I lounged about the place, exchanging a word now and then with one or
+another of my acquaintances, and I saw some of the youngsters stop
+their war babble as I passed and whisper to their companions, and the
+latter would turn and look in my direction.  I was fool enough to be
+pleased at these little indications of the changed feelings with which
+in scarcely more than a month I had made my fellow-officers think and
+speak of "that devil Alexis."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+More than once I smiled to myself as I thought what a bomb-shell would
+be exploded in the room if they were all told the hazardous secret
+which filled my thoughts just at that moment.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"To hell with the Turk, Alexis," cried Essaieff, catching sight of me
+and stopping me as I moved past.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"May the Sick Man never recover!" I returned, answering in the form
+that was then in vogue with us all.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Drink, man, drink," he cried, excitedly, thrusting a glass of some
+kind of liquor to me.  It was evident he had been toasting the war
+pretty freely.  "Sit here with us.  Take it easy, man, now while we
+can.  We've a long march ahead before we catch a glimpse of the
+minarets of Constantinople.  Gentlemen, here is a Russian of whom you
+will hear much when the war comes.  Lieutenant Petrovitch of ours,
+gentlemen, my particular friend, and as good a fellow as ever held a
+commission.  You can do anything with him, except quarrel; then, damme,
+you must look out for yourself, for there isn't a man in Moscow, nor I
+believe in Russia, can get through his guard; and as for shooting, God!
+I believe if a single devil of a Turk shews only the shadow of an
+eyelash round the corner of a fortification, he'll hit him with a
+ricochet.  'That devil Alexis,' he is to us; and if the devil's only
+half as good a fellow as this, I'll be content for one to serve him."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I've heard of Lieutenant Petrovitch," said one of the men, as he bowed
+to me ceremoniously and lifted his glass in response to Essaieff's
+toast.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Then you will know how to discount the exaggerations of my good friend
+Essaieff," said I, quietly.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"On the contrary, I knew Durescq."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Is Lieutenant Petrovitch the officer who was in that matter?" asked
+another, shewing great interest in me at once.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I should think he is," cried Essaieff, noisily enthusiastic.  "It was
+in this very room that the thing occurred.  I'll tell you...."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Essaieff, my dear fellow, I'd much rather not," I interrupted; and
+turning to one of the officers I asked:&mdash;"Do you really think the war
+will come now?"  But Essaieff would not let me change the subject.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"War come? of course it will; but this is something much better than
+war just now," he burst in.  "Several of us thought there was mischief
+in the air when we saw Devinsky and Durescq together, and I was
+standing there, waiting for...."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Excuse me," I interrupted, rising.  "I wish to speak to a man I see
+over there; and really I can't stand Essaieff when he gets on this
+theme," and with that excuse I left.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Wherever I went there were the same signs of revelry, excitement and
+pleasure.  All were anticipating a really splendid gala day on the
+morrow, with gaieties, festivities, balls, receptions, concerts,
+levees, everything that society deems life worth living for to follow.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+I went away very early.  I had to keep my nerves as firm as cold steel,
+and the noisy ruffled atmosphere of this place with its crowd of
+gesticulating, laughing, excited men, and the drink that was
+circulating so freely, formed the worst of all preparations for such a
+day as the morrow would be for me and the task I had to perform.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Before going home I strolled through one or two of the broader streets;
+and everywhere I went I could not fail to observe that while the
+unusual throngs of people in the streets reflected the feelings of
+rejoicing that had animated the officers whom I had just left, and that
+all Moscow was slowly going mad with anticipative excitement, the
+number of police agents was multiplied many times over.  The leaven of
+suspicion embittered everything; and, as no one knew better than I,
+with what terrible cause.  As I mingled with the great, jostling,
+bantering crowd I found myself speculating how the majority of them
+would decide such an issue as that which had been bewildering me; and
+the wild task I had for the morrow made me feel like a thing apart from
+everyone of them&mdash;an alien not only in race, but in every attribute and
+aspiration.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The contact with the crowd helped in a way to strengthen the decision I
+had made.  I was one against all these thousands; fighting by myself
+for my own hand against desperate odds, and with none to help me in a
+single detail.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+When I reached my rooms I went at once to bed, knowing that every
+minute of rest had its value as a preparation for the work of the
+following day.  I had made my resolution, formed my plans, thought out
+even the details.  I had gauged the risk and knew full well that the
+probabilities were all against my being alive on the following night.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+But this at least was equally certain&mdash;if I lived and was free I would
+have won my way out of Russia.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+These were the thoughts that filled me; and so occupied was I with them
+that it was not until I purposely put them away from me in order to get
+to sleep, that I recalled how little I had thought of Olga during the
+whole of that eventful day.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+She was in my thoughts when I fell asleep, however: and her face
+cheered me in my dreams.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR><BR>
+
+<A NAME="chap27"></A>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+CHAPTER XXVII.
+</H3>
+
+<H4 ALIGN="center">
+THE FOUR ALDER TREES.
+</H4>
+
+<P>
+I was up very early on the morning of the Czar's visit.  We had a
+parade at 6.30 to receive final instructions; and as I walked to the
+barracks I was in high spirits, buoyant, self-confident, and
+alert&mdash;much as I had felt on the morning of my duel with Devinsky.  I
+could not have been in better tone.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The morning air was very fresh and clear and the sunlight fell
+everywhere upon flags, decorations, triumphal arches, and the rest of
+the festal preparations for the great holiday to which work people were
+busy putting the final touches.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Everybody seemed in the highest spirits.  Laughter and jest and a
+pleasant interchange of greetings rang on the air on all sides of me;
+and the whole city seemed to be already wreathed in smiles.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+My brother officers came straggling up after I had reached the ground,
+and more than one of them shewed abundant signs of the previous night's
+carouse; looking as though a couple more hours' sleep were sadly
+wanted.  Headaches abounded among them, and more than one regarded me
+with a sort of comical envy because I was not dull-eyed, pale, nor
+unrested.  They took it for granted that I had drunk as deeply as they,
+and set down my steady head as one more proof of my prowess.  Some men
+can always see something of a hero in the man who can drink heavily and
+yet shew no signs of his dissipation.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+When the Colonel came and we fell in, there was a disappointment for
+me.  My new plan was based on the correctness of the Nihilist
+information&mdash;that I should have the command of the troops guarding the
+section of the line where were four alder trees; and I reckoned
+confidently upon hearing from the Colonel of the alteration in the
+original plans.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+But no announcement of the sort was made.  On the contrary, as soon as
+the troops had fallen in, the arrangements which had been announced on
+the previous day were repeated; and I found that instead of being told
+off to take charge of the railway to the north of the city, I had to
+pass the whole day in guarding the Western Gate and the road for some
+distance on either side of it.  I was ordered to parade my men at eight
+o'clock and to march straight to the place of guard.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+I went home to breakfast, disappointed and disgusted.  I didn't care a
+jot about missing the sightseeing, but I was angry that the plan on
+which I had now set my heart had failed; and that instead of being able
+to strike a vigorous blow for my own freedom I should have to pass the
+hours dawdling about doing nothing more than a sort of police work in
+keeping order among a crowd of gaping, staring, gawky, country yokels.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+I was in an exceedingly ill temper therefore when I returned to the
+parade ground to start on my most unwelcome and unpalatable task.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+But I found the whole place in complete confusion and uproar, and the
+first words I heard were that the whole plan of the day's work had been
+altered; that the troops had been changed and interchanged in a most
+perplexing manner; that regiments and companies and even odd files of
+men had been mixed up in the greatest apparent confusion; and that not
+one of the original commands remained unaltered.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+I hurried to the Colonel for my orders, and found him cursing volubly
+and with tremendous energy at the infinite confusion the alterations
+had caused.  But he found me my orders readily&mdash;he was a splendid
+disciplinarian&mdash;and when I read them I marvelled indeed at the
+extraordinary exactness with which the Nihilists had been able to
+anticipate matters.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+My command was changed to the guarding of the three mile stretch of
+line outside the Vsatesk station, commencing a thousand yards to the
+north of that point.  I was to train out at once; post my men at 25
+yards distance; and allow no one to approach the line for two hours
+before the coming of the Imperial train, and until half an hour after
+it had passed; the time of its passing being given confidentially as
+2.45&mdash;two hours later than had been originally fixed for the actual
+arrival in Moscow.  More than that, the men under my command were not
+to be drawn solely from my own regiment, but from no less than three
+others, all specified, who were to meet me at the station.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+As I read these instructions I saw in them the influence of someone who
+must be both near to the Throne and intimately acquainted with the
+whole Nihilist plot.  The object of classing together under one command
+men taken suddenly from different regiments was a master-stroke of
+treachery for this particular work.  Apparently it prevented any
+collusion among any disaffected regiments, but in reality it opened the
+way for the five assassins to get into the ranks without the least
+suspicion; while the meeting at the railway station, probably urged as
+a necessity to save time at the moment when the plans had been all
+changed, must have been in fact designed solely for the purpose of the
+plot.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+He who was secretly behind all this was no ordinary man.  That was
+clear.  And I saw that in pitting my wits against his, seeing that he
+already had the Imperial ear, I should have to be wary indeed, if I
+wished to avoid a fall.  But I did not shirk the contest: and now that
+I knew I was really to have the chance, I clenched my teeth in
+desperate resolve.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+After incalculable trouble and much irritating delay, I got together
+the small company that came from my own regiment and marched them to
+the railway station.  I halted them and looked round for the
+detachments that were to join me.  I posted my men in a place that
+would lend itself well to the Nihilists joining them.  The three
+detachments of men reported soon after my arrival, each in charge of a
+sergeant; and when I had ascertained the train by which we were to
+travel&mdash;a matter of no small difficulty in the indescribable confusion
+that prevailed, I moved the whole two hundred to the platforms.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+I had seen nothing of the Nihilists, so far, and this caused me some
+surprise.  But on the platforms the order of the ranks could not be
+maintained and when about half of my command were entrained, I was
+addressed by one of a file of five men who reported that he and his
+comrades had been told off to accompany me; and he produced written
+instructions to that effect.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+I glanced at the order and saw that it was sufficiently in form to
+enable me to take the men with me, and while pretending to study the
+paper I looked searchingly at each of the men.  They were a daredevil
+set, in all truth, but they stood in their uniforms with as much
+military air as the average Russian rankers.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+I assumed an air of great vexation, and rapping out an oath, loud
+enough for all about me to hear, I called up the sergeant of my own
+regiment and telling him the men had been sent to join me, and cursing
+them and everybody in general for the interruption, told him to find
+places in the train for them.  In this way everything went smoothly,
+and we were soon gliding out of Moscow for the short run, while I sat
+back alone in the first-class compartment which I had had reserved for
+myself.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+I had still some slight preparations to make, and wished to be alone to
+think.  First I examined my arms carefully.  I looked to every chamber
+of my revolver.  Each bullet might mean a life before the day was three
+hours older.  Next, I looked to my sword.  It was the same that had
+seen me through my trouble with Devinsky and I knew it as a man learns
+to know the feel of his walking stick.  Lastly, I had a long deadly
+looking dagger; the sheath fastened to the right hip of my trousers
+where it could be drawn with the greatest ease.  As a final reserve I
+had in a small secret pocket a couple of pills&mdash;poison enough to kill
+half a dozen men.  I meant to make a quick end of things if they went
+wrong with me.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Satisfied that everything was in order, I lay back and mapped out again
+the exact disposition of the men in my charge: and the precise course I
+meant to take at the critical moment.  I was still occupied in this
+when the train drew up at the little station, Vsatesk; and in less than
+half an hour later, I had reached my section and begun to post my men
+and was looking about me for the four alder trees and the exact spot
+where I had been warned to take my post.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Knowing what I did about the Nihilist intentions, it was obviously
+unnecessary to pay much heed to any part of the line except that where
+I knew the "accident" would happen.  So I sent out a couple of
+sergeants to dispose the men on that part of the line which lay to the
+north of the four trees.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+These were easily found, and I carried out to the letter the Nihilist
+instructions to post the five men who were to kill the Czar,
+immediately to the right, or south, of the line formed by the three
+trees as described to me.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+I did this for the simple reason that it was my cue to deceive everyone
+right up to the last moment.  Had I altered the disposition of these
+men they would have known that I meant treachery to them and to the
+cause; and what the consequences would have been it was impossible to
+foresee.  As it was they took their places with a grim readiness, and a
+significant glance that spoke to me eloquently.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+As soon as all the troops were placed I took my own position and,
+girding up my patience to wait for the coming of the Imperial train and
+with it my opportunity, I scanned every inch of the line for some
+evidence of the Nihilists' preparations.  I could not detect a sign of
+any change in the road or of any preparation of any kind.  The track
+was not very well laid, and in several spots it bore signs of recent
+repairs; but beyond that there was nothing.  This fact may have helped
+to conceal the work of the Nihilists, of course; but although I knew
+almost the very spot where it had been carried out, I could detect
+nothing.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The suspense was trying indeed; and while I was waiting, it was natural
+enough, perhaps, that my imagination should be chiefly busy in
+suggesting many reasons why I was almost bound to fail in my desperate
+venture.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+I did not know in which train the Emperor would travel.  I knew of
+course that there would be first the pilot engine; there would also be
+the baggage train; probably also a special train for the suite and
+servants; and the Imperial train.  But this might be first, second, or
+third of the three.  I had not been told as to this.  So far as my
+Nihilist work was concerned, it was not necessary that I should know
+it.  That work began when the train had left the line; and I had been
+posted near where that must happen.  I concluded therefore, that I had
+not been trusted with a single jot more of information than it was
+deemed necessary for me to have.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+I should have to depend upon the Nihilists who were to move the lever
+being accurately informed on this point.  But this troubled me.  If the
+worst happened, of course the "accident" must take place and the train
+be sent off the line, and I must use my opportunity then.  What I
+wished to do was to stop the train in which the Emperor would travel;
+but if I did not know which that was, I might easily make an ugly
+blunder that would expose me to danger from the Nihilists and not only
+do me no good with the Court, but mark me out as an object for ridicule
+and suspicion.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+This uncertainty did not present itself to disturb me until I was
+actually on the line waiting for the coming of the trains, and face to
+face with the necessity for action.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The point where I stood was about a mile and a half to the north of the
+station and the line was so dead straight, that it could be watched for
+five or six miles farther north, and I should thus have ample notice of
+the approach of the trains.  It was a very clear day moreover; and as
+my sight was exceedingly keen and good, I knew I should be able to
+catch the earliest glimpse of the trains whose passing meant so much to
+me.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+I managed to get the whole of the company under my command posted more
+than two hours before the Emperor was timed to pass; and after I had
+made a show of inspecting those who were guarding that part of the
+section which I knew to be outside the sphere of danger, I did the work
+very thoroughly with those who were in that part where the grim,
+hazardous drama was to be played.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+I had been careful to keep the men of my own regiment close to me and
+on both sides of the five Nihilist spies; and I was glad to see that
+many of them were among my staunchest admirers.  They would have
+followed me to death without a word; and the sergeant, whose name was
+Grostef, the most athletic fellow in the ranks, was my sworn champion,
+on the ground that I was the only man in the regiment who could outrun,
+and outjump him, and beat him with any weapon he liked to pick.  I
+believe the fellow loved me for my strength and skill.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The time dragged a bit for the patient fellows on guard who were not
+near enough to exchange a word without the sergeants being pretty sure
+to hear it; and the eyes of all soon began to be cast longingly
+northward in impatient desire to catch a glimpse of the trains.  Almost
+the only men who shewed no signs of feeling were the five to whom the
+coming of the train meant, as they knew and were content to know, the
+coming of death also.  They stood like stone figures: impassive,
+immovable and stern: the type of men to whom death in the cause of duty
+is welcome.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+An hour before the time, I took up my position finally exactly in the
+line of the three alder trees, and resolved not to move again nor to
+have my attention drawn away from the rails until the work was over;
+and I only lifted my eyes now and then from the track to send a sharp,
+quick glance along the line to see if the train were yet in sight.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The first intimation I had that the trains were getting near came from
+the opposite direction.  Between us and the Vsatesk station about half
+a mile distant, was a signal box, and the light wind which was blowing
+from the south carried to my ears the sharp smack of the signal arm as
+it fell from the danger point, and signalled the line all clear.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+I knew then it was a matter of minutes.  My pulse began to quicken up
+slightly; and my scrutiny of the track and rails increased in
+intentness.  But the minutes dragged on and the announced time came and
+passed.  I knew of the Czar's passion for punctuality, and after this
+delay had lasted some time I began to think a genuine accident must
+have caused it.  In this weary suspense, a quarter of an hour, half an
+hour, three quarters passed, and my watch shewed 3.30, and still not a
+sign of even the pilot engine was visible.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Then a tiny black speck in the far straight distance, topped by a small
+white steam cloud told me the pilot engine was coming at last; and in
+the swift glances spared from my scrutiny of the rails, I saw it grow
+larger and blacker as it covered the intervening space, until it
+thundered up, and crashed and lumbered by us and began to fade in the
+opposite direction disappearing round the slight curve which was
+between us and Vsatesk station.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+What the interval would be between the pilot engine and the first
+train, and what that first train would be, I did not know.  The
+intervals always differed; sometimes five minutes, sometimes ten,
+sometimes as much as twenty minutes were allowed to elapse.  But the
+interval was nothing compared with the question&mdash;which train would
+follow.  On that might turn the whole result of the affair.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+All the men had now straightened up, and even the five on my right
+shewed signs of being interested.  I saw them looking up with stealthy,
+longing, deadly fixedness for the coming of their prey.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+But on the line itself there was no sign of change.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+I had understood that at some point the rails would be shifted so as to
+throw the train off the line.  But search as closely as I would, I
+could not detect the least sign of any preparation for this.  The
+uncertainty which this circumstance caused added to my excitement and
+the suspense became doubly trying.  It quickened up to a climax when I
+saw once again in the distance the growing black speck with the white
+crown, that told me the second train was at hand.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+I kept my eyes glued to the rails and my ears strained to catch the
+first notification either by sight or sound that the trap had been
+laid.  Without such a sign, I dared not do anything.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Yet nothing happened; and the black speck in the distance developed
+into a distinct shape, and increased quickly in size, and a slight hum
+came vibrating along the rails.  The hum grew into the sound of muffled
+drums; then swelled to a heavy threatening rumble; and rapidly climaxed
+to a crashing, rattling, reverberating roar, as the clattering clanging
+jolting baggage train lurched heavily by, and roared away southward.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+It passed safely every point on the line; and the old question which
+would be next recurred with greater strain than before, and drummed
+itself in on my brain like a sharp throbbing shoot of pain.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+When for the third time the little warning speck in the distance told
+me that either the Czar or his suite must now be coming, my excitement
+waxed well nigh out of control; my hand stole on to the hilt of my
+sword and loosened it in the scabbard, my fingers played on the stock
+of my revolver, and my eyes never for an instant left the rails, but
+ran up and down them with swift eager searching glances, hungry for a
+sign.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+As the distance between me and the on-coming train lessened, the
+tension increased and my sense of baffled impotence, when I detected no
+sign anywhere on the rails, was staggering.  By a great effort only
+could I prevent myself from doing something to stop the approach of the
+train and my eagerness was multiplied infinitely when, in a glance
+which I could not keep from straying to the murderous gang on my right,
+I saw them one and all making ready stealthily for their deadly work.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+But no sign on the track gave me my cue for action, and I could only
+wait, full of my resolve to do all that had to be done should this be
+the train to be thrown off the line.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+It came thundering up and passed me without my being able to take a
+step of any sort.  Like the other it passed along the whole section of
+the line in safety, though I saw, with an astonishment that for the
+moment bewildered me, that the Imperial saloon was the central carriage.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Obviously the Czar had passed in safety.  And I jumped instantly to the
+conclusion that for some reason the mechanism, which was to have
+derailed the train, had failed to act.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+But an incident which occurred almost as soon as the train had passed,
+shewed me the falseness of this conclusion.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+I was still staring fixedly at the track, when at a point that was
+exactly opposite me, and thus in a direct line with the three alder
+trees, I saw the two rails swing aside from the track, just enough to
+turn a train off the rails that was travelling over the place.  There
+was scarcely a click of sound: and, after a moment they swung back as
+silently into position.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+I read the whole thing in a moment.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The operator knew that the moment had come for action and wished to
+make quite sure that the mechanism was in due order.  The sight
+increased infinitely the oppressive weight and strain of the suspense.
+I knew now that the Czar was in the third train, and that the Imperial
+carriage had been sent on with the second as a ruse.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+I knew too, that the supreme hour of my struggle was at hand, in all
+grim reality.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+I could now relieve my eyes from the straining task of watching the
+track, and I looked about me.  The five men to my right were also on
+the alert.  They had not been misled by the ruse of the empty court
+carriage, and were waiting in deadly readiness to strike the blow which
+they had come out to deal.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Then I turned my eyes northward along the straight level track, and
+just as I did so I caught in the distance the first glimpse of the
+third train, in which I knew, as certainly as if I could already see
+him, that the Czar was travelling.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+As the train loomed nearer and the moment for action approached, my
+spirits rose also.  Uncertainty was at an end.  A few minutes would
+decide whether I was to live or die.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+I braced myself for the biggest effort of my life.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+I was like a man whose nostrils expand as they breathe in the scent of
+deadly fight.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR><BR>
+
+<A NAME="chap28"></A>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+CHAPTER XXVIII.
+</H3>
+
+<H4 ALIGN="center">
+THE ATTACK ON THE CZAR.
+</H4>
+
+<P>
+Though I did not now care whether the rails were disturbed again or
+not, seeing that I knew where the mechanism was and could point to my
+having discovered, as the reason for what I was about to do, I kept
+glancing at the spot, while I let the train approach unchecked near
+enough to have all eyes drawn to my actions.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+I guessed the distance which the brakes would take to act and when the
+train had reached a point such as I judged necessary, I sprang on the
+track between the rails and waving my arms excitedly, thundered out at
+the top of my voice a warning to stop the train.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+This was taken up by the soldiers who repeated the shouts and cries,
+and a moment later the shrieking whistle of the engine told us the
+warning had been heeded and that the brakes were on at full pressure.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+With a succession of whirring, grating, rasping, grinding jerks the
+train slackened quickly, and in a moment everything was plunged in
+indescribable commotion.  The soldiers on both sides began to close in
+on the fast stopping train.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Close ranks round the whole train," I shouted to Sergeant Grostef: and
+ordered him away to bring up the men as quickly as possible.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+But I had made one miscalculation that was nearly proving fatal to
+everything.  When I sprang on the line to stop the train, the rails had
+not been moved, and even now for some reason they remained in position.
+I had calculated to cause the train to be stopped so that it would
+reach the false points at a slow pace, and thus be derailed close to
+where I stood.  I judged that the jerk with which the train would leave
+the line would be sufficient to bring it to a standstill, but not
+enough to overturn it; and I should thus be able to get at once to the
+presence of the Emperor, and tell my story in person at the moment when
+he would be most affected by the occurrence.  But as the rails remained
+in position&mdash;owing probably to the fact that the man operating them had
+seen that the train had been stopped and deemed it best to do
+nothing&mdash;there was nothing to stay the train's progress, except the
+brakes.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+To my horror I saw it pass me with just about sufficient speed to carry
+it right into the middle of the five men who were waiting there to
+murder the Emperor.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+With a loud shout to the men nearest to me to follow I dashed after it,
+making sure as I ran in which carriage was the Emperor.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The first of the five men planted himself right in my path, and fired
+his revolver point-blank at me when I was only three or four paces from
+him.  He missed and then drew his sword to engage me.  With scarcely a
+second's delay I cut down his sword arm and a second slash at his neck
+as I ran past, sent him reeling down the embankment, all but headless,
+with the blood spurting from the fearful wounds I had inflicted.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+My one thought was now the Emperor; and I saw that the other assassins
+had discovered him in the train as quickly as I.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+One of them stood with a bomb, ready poised in his hand, intending to
+hurl it right into the carriage.  I tore it from him and threw it with
+all my force over the embankment and then plunged my sword into the
+villain's heart.
+</P>
+
+<A NAME="img-305"></A>
+<CENTER>
+<IMG CLASS="imgcenter" SRC="images/img-305.jpg" ALT="I tore it from him." BORDER="2">
+<P CLASS="capcenter">
+I tore it from him.
+</P>
+</CENTER>
+
+<P>
+The bomb exploded the instant it touched the ground below, and the
+effects were perfectly awesome.  There was a prodigious roar; the earth
+reeled as if under a heavy blow, and a number of the soldiers were
+thrown to the ground; the train seemed to be shaken bodily: and before
+the reverberation of the explosion ceased, the splintering of wood and
+the crashing of glass, told of desperate injuries to some of the
+carriages.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The saloon carriage in which the Czar travelled suffered most, and it
+was so violently shaken that the windows were broken, the sides split,
+and the doors jammed.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+It was a moment for strong heads; and, thank God, I was able to keep
+mine.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The three surviving Nihilists were among the first to shake off the
+effects of the shock, and two of them made instantly for the door of
+the Czar's carriage.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+His Majesty had been at the window and must have seen me tear the bomb
+from the man's hand; but the shock had driven him away now.  Glancing
+round I saw Sergeant Grostef and one or two more of my men had
+recovered themselves and were running towards us.  Seconds meant lives
+now; and I dashed forward and sprang upon the steps of the carriage
+after the two who were striving with might and main to tear the door of
+the saloon open.  It was partly jammed by the effects of the explosion,
+and was being defended by two men, who to my surprise were His
+Majesty's only companions in the saloon.  I learnt the reason for this
+afterwards; another instance of the damnable treachery which hedged the
+Emperor round.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Those inside were like children before the maddened Nihilists; and the
+door was wrenched open and the Czar's companions shot down but not
+killed, just as I reached the carriage platform.  I shot one of the
+Nihilists instantly, but I believe the other would have succeeded in
+his deadly purpose had it not been for Sergeant Grostef who entered the
+carriage on my heels.  He dashed forward and threw himself on the
+second man and both went to the ground in a fearful struggle.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The Emperor, though as brave as a man could be, was for a moment in
+complete bewilderment.  Caught weaponless and menaced by what seemed
+certain death, his nerves all unhinged by the explosion, his companions
+struck down before his face, he had rushed away in an effort to escape
+from what looked like a hellish snare, and was seeking to fly by the
+other door, when the fifth of the murderous crew attacked him with
+drawn sword.  Seeing the man in uniform, the Czar believed that the
+whole of the guard had mutinied and meant to murder him.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Is there no one to help me?" he cried, looking round.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Yes, to hell," growled the man, with a grim quip, as he rushed upon
+him.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+I had dropped my sword in entering the saloon, and my revolver had been
+dashed out of my hands, so that I could do nothing but fling myself
+before the Emperor, and give my body to save his.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+I dashed in between them, uttering a loud and violent shout, in the
+hope of attracting the man's attention to me.  But he was too grim a
+devil to be turned from his work; and the only effect of my
+interference was to impel him to greater efforts.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+But he was too late.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Taking a liberty with his Imperial Majesty, which at another time might
+have cost me my freedom and perhaps my life, I pushed the Emperor
+violently on one side, and threw myself upon his murderer.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The thrust that was meant for the Emperor, passed through my neck, and
+I rejoiced as I felt the man's steel run into my flesh.  I had saved
+the Emperor's life, even if I had lost my own.  Then I called to
+Grostef as I felt the villain draw out the steel and saw the light of
+unsated murder lust redden his eyes.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+With a desperate effort I seized his blade, and though it cut and
+gashed my hands through and through as the man tugged and twisted it to
+wrest it from me, I held on till the villain put his foot against my
+chest and dragged the weapon away, despite my most desperate effort.
+Then he drew it back to plunge it into the Czar's heart.  But at that
+moment I saw Grostef's great blade swing in the air with tremendous
+force, and sever the miscreant's head from his body.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+But the Czar was safe: and as I rolled over near his feet, I rallied
+all my strength for a last effort and cried:&mdash;&mdash;
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"God save your Majesty."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+After that I had a dim feeling that good old Grostef and the Emperor
+were both bending over me trying to staunch the blood that came flowing
+from my throat and mouth, choking me, from the wound which the villain
+had meant for the Emperor.  But I had saved him and he had seen I had
+saved him.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Who is it?" I heard the Czar ask.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Lieutenant Petrovitch, your Majesty, of the Moscow Infantry Regiment,"
+answered the old soldier.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Your Majesty, I implore you, take care.  You are in an ambush of
+Nihilist villains," cried some one stepping forward hastily.  "I know
+that man"&mdash;pointing to me&mdash;"he is the most dare-devil rebel of them
+all, and has planned this business for your assassination.  For God's
+sake have a care.  This is the most devilish snare that was ever vainly
+laid."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The Emperor moved away from me quickly and looked in the deepest
+perplexity from one to another of the group who had now crowded into
+the carriage.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"That is a strange thing to hear," said His Majesty.  "The man has just
+saved my life at the infinite hazard of his own.  You see him.  But for
+him and for this good fellow"&mdash;waving a hand toward old Grostef&mdash;"the
+thrust you see there would have been in my heart."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Yet I pledge myself to prove what I say.  You know I do not speak at
+random.  They are probably together in this."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Old Grostef growled out a stiff oath that was lost in his beard and
+then without releasing my head which was supported on his knee, he
+brought his hand to the salute and said gruffly:&mdash;&mdash;
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Nihilist or no Nihilist, your Majesty, the lieutenant will soon be a
+dead man, choked by his own blood if his wounds are not dressed."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"There will be one traitor the less, then," said the man who had
+accused me, accompanying the words with a brutal sneer.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Oh the contrary, Grand Duke," said the Emperor angrily, "his life is
+my special care.  If he be a traitor it seems to me I should pray to
+God to grant me thousands of such traitors in my army."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"God save your Majesty, and Amen to that," cried old Grostef, unable to
+keep his tongue between his teeth at that, and positively trembling in
+his excitement.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Silence," said the Emperor.  "And now let all haste be made to get on
+to the city."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"As your Majesty pleases," said the man whom I guessed was the Grand
+Duke against whom Prince Bilbassoff had warned me.  "I will make good
+my words, and we will save the life to take it."
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR><BR>
+
+<A NAME="chap29"></A>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+CHAPTER XXIX.
+</H3>
+
+<H4 ALIGN="center">
+THE TRUTH OUT AT LAST.
+</H4>
+
+<P>
+While an examination of the train was made to see how much of it could
+proceed, my wounds were roughly dressed, and as soon as it was
+ascertained that only one of the saloons could go on, the Emperor said
+that I should travel in it with himself and his immediate party, and
+instructions were wired to Moscow that a doctor should be sent out to
+the small station just outside the city, where it had been arranged
+already that the Emperor should change into the Imperial train that had
+passed empty.  The object of this was that the entry into the city
+should be made from the royal train, and thus no comment be raised.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+As I was being moved into the other carriage an incident happened which
+I knew might have a very sinister effect upon my fortunes.  My men
+cheered lustily as soon as they caught sight of me; but when the cheers
+had died away a wild and vehement curse greeted me from the only one of
+the five Nihilists who had life enough left in him to grind his teeth
+and hiss out an imprecation.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"He was our leader, damn him," cried the man, "and betrayed us.  To
+hell with such a traitor!" and he poured out his curses with tremendous
+volubility, till a soldier standing by, clapped his hand on his mouth
+and silenced him.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Your Majesty hears that?" said the Grand Duke, and I saw the Emperor
+was greatly impressed and looked at me doubtingly.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+I could not speak then, but I had sense enough left to understand my
+peril; and during the short journey I was thinking busily.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+All the time the Emperor was in close consultation with the Grand Duke,
+and it was easy to see that poison was being poured into the Imperial
+ear to prejudice me.  But I could do nothing until my wounds had been
+properly dressed and the power to speak freely restored.  At present I
+could not utter a word without bringing the blood into my mouth: and I
+lay chafing and fretting and fevering myself, as I watched what I read
+to be the conviction of my treachery stealing over the face of the Czar.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+I knew his character well enough to appreciate my danger fully.  The
+one subject on which his mind was warped and morbid in its
+sensitiveness was the fear of assassination: and under its influence he
+would believe almost anything that was told to him.  The personal
+influence of the Grand Duke was, moreover, enormous.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+As we were nearing the little station where the change of trains was to
+be made, the Emperor crossed the saloon and spoke to me.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Lieutenant Petrovitch, can you hear me?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+I looked at him and tried to raise my bandaged, mangled hand to the
+salute, but could not.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Don't move," he said, hastily, seeing the attempt.  "The charges made
+against you are of the most terrible kind and there certainly seems to
+be much more ground than I at first thought.  But my own eyes saw what
+you did, and you will have the fullest opportunity of explaining
+everything.  For the time you are under arrest, necessarily; but it
+will be my personal charge to see that everything is done for you that
+surgical skill can do.  A few hours and proper treatment will, I hope,
+render you able to give the necessary explanation, and in the mean time
+you will see no one but the doctors.  I myself shall then see and
+question you."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+He was turning to leave me then, when I made a sign that I wished to
+answer, and he bent forward to listen.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Your Majesty will have a care," cried the Grand Duke, who had heard
+and watched everything closely.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Do you think the man breathes poison that I should be afraid of him,
+maimed and bleeding and helpless as he is?" was the reply.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+I made a great effort to speak, but it nearly killed me, and with all
+my struggle I could get only a word at a time, and that with tremendous
+difficulty.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Your&mdash;Majesty&mdash;keep&mdash;my&mdash;men&mdash;watching&mdash;line&mdash;where&mdash;I&mdash;stood&mdash;by&mdash;
+alder&mdash;trees."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"It shall be done," he said; and I saw him exchange looks with the
+Grand Duke and then shrug his shoulders and lift his eyebrows as he
+left the saloon.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Directly he had left, the doctors came round me, and I resigned myself
+cheerfully and completely into their hands.  But the Czar had given me
+the tonic that had done more than all the doctor's efforts to pull me
+round quickly.  I was to have a private audience; and it would not be
+my fault, if I did not win my way to freedom and Olga.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Some three or four hours after the Czar had left me I was moved on to
+Moscow in the saloon where I lay; and my reception there was most
+mingled.  Some garbled accounts of the attempt on the Emperor's life
+had got about, and when I was carried from the saloon and placed in a
+State carriage and then driven away in the midst of a large military
+escort, the people were at a loss to know who I was, and whether I was
+a Nihilist to be hooted or a hero to be cheered.  They were in a noisy
+mood that day, and did both therefore, until the party neared the
+Palace and it was clear I was being taken there.  This decided that I
+must be a hero and the hooting ceased and the cheering shouts rang out
+with a deafening roar.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+I was glad to be done with that part of the business.  I knew well that
+the same throats that had been stretched in shouts of acclamation were
+quite as ready to be strained in yelling for my death.  The populace
+wanted an excuse for a noise; and it was all one to them, so far as
+personal gratification went, whether they yelled in a man's honour, or
+roared for his death.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The day's round of festivities was a particularly full one for the
+Emperor, and it was many hours before he could possibly be at liberty;
+but every hour added to my strength.  The doctors soon ascertained that
+the wound in the neck was not a very dangerous one, though it had been
+a ghastly one enough to look upon.  The thrust had been within an ace
+of killing me; but the man's weapon had missed the arteries and the
+vertebrae, though it had sliced an ugly wound in the windpipe, having
+let the blood into it, and thus nearly choked me.  My hands were badly
+cut, very badly mangled indeed; and the doctors thought more seriously
+of them than of the wound in the neck, so far as after-consequences
+were concerned.  But they soon patched me up sufficiently to enable me
+to speak if necessary.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+With this knowledge I awaited the Emperor's coming with such patience
+as I could command.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+It was past midnight before he came; and then only to ask as to my
+condition.  He seemed pleased that I was so much better: and closely
+questioned the doctor who had remained in constant attendance on me as
+to the exact nature of my wounds and when I should be able to undertake
+the fatigue of a long conversation.  I might do it at once with care,
+was the doctor's report; but it would be better after a night's rest.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Then it shall be to-morrow evening.  Certain matters have yet to be
+investigated," said the Czar, turning to me, "and you will have full
+opportunity of answering all that may be said."  His manner had ceased
+to shew the kindliness I thought I had detected in the earlier
+questions about my condition, and I judged that his mind had received
+further prejudice against me.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+I felt that delay was dangerous to me; but I could not help myself.  I
+said I should prefer to answer all his questions at once and tell him
+all I had to say; but he turned from me somewhat peremptorily with a
+short reply that he had made his decision.  And with that he left the
+room.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+I augured ill from the Emperor's demeanour; but as any change in him
+would only increase my need for the greatest possible amount of
+strength, I thrust all my troubles resolutely out of my thoughts and
+went to sleep.  I slept into the next day when the doctor's report was
+altogether favourable.  My head, too, was clear and my wits vigorous
+for the ordeal that was in store for me.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+In the morning, the Emperor sent to inquire my condition, instead of
+coming in person, and I interpreted this as a sign that the thermometer
+of favour was still going down.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+When he came in the evening the Grand Duke was with him, and I saw by
+the expression of the latter's face that he at any rate was
+anticipating a triumph and my downfall.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Now, Lieutenant, you are well enough to answer questions, tell the
+truth.  I warn you it must be the whole truth; for I have had many
+surprising facts brought to my knowledge, and all your answers can be
+at once tested&mdash;and will be."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Your Majesty, I pledge myself to answer every question.  But before I
+do that there is one communication I should like to make to yourself
+alone."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"You can make any statement you like afterwards.  Now, tell me, are you
+a Nihilist?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I am not," I answered firmly.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Well, what have been&mdash;Stay, you acted bravely yesterday, you are
+charged with this: that you are and have been a Nihilist for years and
+that your sister is one also; that you were concerned twelve months ago
+in the attack upon the Governor of Moscow; that before and since then
+you have been in constant communication with the Nihilist leaders; that
+with your own hand you assassinated Christian Tueski, after having
+yourself volunteered for the work; that you proposed the plot which by
+the mercy of God failed yesterday; that you were privy to the whole
+matter and went out to assist in the deadly work."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Who are my accusers, Sire?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"It is the accusation, not the accuser you have to answer," replied the
+Emperor, sternly.  "You are to answer, not question."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I have a complete answer, which happily I can support with ample
+proof.  Until less than two months ago, I had never exchanged a word
+with a Nihilist..."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"He is a liar," burst out the Grand Duke, vehemently.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+A hot answer rose to my lips, but I checked it.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Then, Sire, a band of them set upon me in the street and would have
+assassinated me, had I not beaten them off with my sword.  One of them
+I took prisoner to my rooms, and from him I learnt that I was supposed
+to have...."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Supposed!" exclaimed the Grand Duke.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Supposed to have incurred their wrath.  They had sentenced me to
+death, it appeared, and that was the first attempt at my execution.  I
+then took a course which I am well aware will seem peculiar.  I went to
+a meeting at which the death of Christian Tueski was resolved, and I
+was selected to kill him."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"You confess this?" cried the Emperor, harshly.  "You, my officer?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Sire, I beg your patience.  I did this because I did not think I
+should be in Russia many hours; and because I thought I could gain the
+time I needed by pretending to be at the head of the conspiracy.  Not
+for a moment did I intend to lay a finger on him.  I am no assassin."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"But he was assassinated by you Nihilists," cried the Emperor, with
+bitter indignation.  "The whole land has rung with the news."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"The man is a madman, or takes us for fools," said the Grand Duke.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I am as innocent of his death, Sire, as a child, except, I fear,
+indirectly.  He died by the hand of his wife, whom on the very day of
+his death I had warned of the plot to kill him."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Your proofs, man, your proofs," cried the Emperor impatiently.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"That most unfortunate woman had been under the impression that there
+had been an intrigue between myself and her and...."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Half Moscow knew of it," interrupted the Duke.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Until less than two months ago, I had never seen her in all my life,"
+I returned.  "She thought by this deed to coil such a web round me that
+I could not escape from marrying her.  Had I wished to kill the man, I
+had ample opportunity on the very afternoon of the day he was murdered,
+for I was closeted alone with him for two hours.  He, too, had set his
+bullies on to me and I went to settle things with him and to get
+permits to leave the country for myself and Olga Petrovitch.  I got
+them, and that night his wife thrust into his heart a dagger she
+believed was mine, added the Nihilist motto, and then hid the sheath,
+with the name 'Alexis Petrovitch' on it, intending to use it as a means
+to force me to marry her under the threat of charging me with the
+crime."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Your repute does not belie you," growled the Duke.  "You're the most
+callous dare-devil I ever heard of to tell a tale of that kind.  To
+choose a woman's petticoats!"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The Emperor turned to him and held up a hand in protest.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"In that way I got the credit for that crime; and I was then approached
+about the attempt of yesterday."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Ah!"  The Emperor drew in a sharp breath.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I listened to what was said, believing still that I should be out of
+the country before the time, and intending in any event to make the
+success of the scheme impossible.  A series of extraordinary events
+prevented my leaving, and when more details were told me, I saw there
+must be someone in the matter very near your Majesty's throne.  I
+thought I could perhaps discover who that was and thus, by remaining,
+serve your Majesty most effectively.  I think I know now who it is, or
+at least have the means of obtaining proof.  Up to nine o'clock
+yesterday morning the pivot on which everything was to turn was yet
+unsettled.  A part was assigned to me days ago, on the understanding
+that certain military duties would be confided to me; that a change in
+the whole plans would be made at the very last moment; that all the
+commands would be altered; and that I should find myself in charge of a
+certain section of the line.  I was told this in general terms more
+than a week ago; and everything was confirmed to me in detail on Sunday
+morning&mdash;twenty-four hours before the change was announced by the
+Colonel of the regiment."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"'Fore God, Sir, what are you saying?" cried the Emperor in a loud
+voice.  He had turned white and was pressing his hand to his forehead
+with every sign of great agitation.  "Do you hear this?" he asked the
+man who had been so loud in accusing me, and who himself was now
+fighting hard for self-possession.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+I had struck home indeed.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+A dead silence followed, lasting more than a minute; and to give it
+full weight I affected to be unable to speak.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I'm not surprised such a tale overcomes him in the telling.  It is
+wild enough to listen to, let alone to invent," said the Grand Duke,
+recovering himself with a sneer.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Proceed, when you can, Lieutenant," said the Emperor, shortly.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I have nearly finished, Sire," I answered weakly.  "But there is one
+point where I can give you the highest corroboration of the key to all
+this seeming mystery.  Will your Majesty send for Prince Bilbassoff?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The Duke started as I mentioned the name and glanced keenly at me as it
+seemed to me in much discomposure.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I was told, Sire," I resumed, when the Emperor had complied with my
+request.  "That there was one, or at most two persons beside your
+Majesty who knew the real order of matters for yesterday; and that it
+was from that one, or from one of those two persons, that the
+information was given to the Nihilists which formed the basis of this
+plot.  I did not believe it possible, Sire, and I did not think
+therefore that any attempt could be made.  But yesterday morning to my
+intense astonishment, I found myself appointed to command exactly the
+section of the line of which I had been told by the Nihilists, many
+hours, indeed days in advance."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The consternation of both my hearers as I dwelt on this was so great
+that I emphasized it; and I saw then that I could safely slur over the
+only point that I really feared in the whole story&mdash;the episode of the
+five men whom I had posted in accordance with the Nihilist orders.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+I had struck such a blow at the Grand Duke that he said no more; and he
+was much more busy thinking of how to defend himself than of how to
+accuse me.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+I next told of the secret mechanism; how I had seen it work; how it
+proved that the operator must have had exact knowledge of the train in
+which the Emperor would travel, and then how I had sprung on the line
+to stop the train.  I left my actions after that to speak for
+themselves.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The impression created by my story was profound; due of course to the
+terrible and daring accusation I had levelled at the man who had
+accused me.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The Emperor remained wrapped in deep thought; and in the silence that
+followed, Prince Bilbassoff entered.  I could tell by the quick glance
+he gave round the room and particularly at me, that he did not at all
+like the look of matters.  He had heard something of the facts about
+me, and I believe he thought I had perhaps denounced him in the matter
+of the proposed duel with the Grand Duke.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Lieutenant Petrovitch has asked for you to be present, Prince, to
+support some part of the explanation he has given of certain charges
+brought against him."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"As your Majesty pleases," replied the Prince bowing.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The Emperor resumed his attitude of intense thought, and then after
+some moments, he regarded me with a heavy frown and said very sternly
+and harshly:
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"The story you tell is incredible, sir.  It is a mass of
+contradictions.  You say the Nihilists attempted to kill you, having
+decreed your death; and yet that you had never spoken to one until the
+night of the attempt.  You say this woman whom you accuse of the murder
+of her husband did this horrible deed for your sake as the result of an
+intrigue&mdash;and yet that you had never seen her until almost the very
+hour when she sinned thus for your sake.  You say that you listened to
+these Nihilist intrigues in the belief that you would be out of the
+country&mdash;yet you hold and have held for years a commission in my army.
+It is monstrous, incredible, impossible."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"There is another contradiction which your Majesty has forgotten," said
+I daringly.  "That I, being as my enemies tell your Majesty, a Nihilist
+of the Nihilists and a leader among them, should yet have slain three
+of them with my own hand in defence of your Majesty's life and have
+turned the sword of the fourth into my own body.  As your Majesty said
+yesterday, traitors of that kind should rather be welcome.  But if your
+Majesty thinks that that is an additional proof of my guilt, my life is
+at your service still."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+He looked at me as if in doubt whether to rebuke me for this daring
+presumption, or to admit his own doubt.  But I did not give him time to
+speak.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I have deceived your Majesty, however, though I wished to speak openly
+at the outset.  I told you there was a key to all this of a most
+extraordinary fashion.  There is; and I throw myself humbly on your
+mercy, Sire.  The tales you have been told about me are all true to a
+point, and false afterwards.  To a point all these horrible charges
+against Alexis Petrovitch are true; but what I have told you is true
+also.  The key is&mdash;that I have only been Alexis Petrovitch for seven
+weeks.  I am not a Russian, Sire, but an Englishman; and Prince
+Bilbassoff here has within the last few hours had proof of this."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"An Englishman!" exclaimed the Czar, in a tone that revealed his
+complete bewilderment.  "I don't understand."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I wish to tell your Majesty everything," and then I told him almost
+everything as I have set it down here.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+As I told the story, ending with my wish to be allowed to leave the
+country at once, I saw his interest deepening and quickening, and
+perceived that he was coming round to my side.  He listened with
+scarcely a break or interruption, and at the close remained thinking
+most earnestly.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"What confirmation have you, Prince?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Prince Bilbassoff was so relieved to find that I had said nothing
+indiscreet about him that he spoke in the strongest way for me.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I know much of this to be true, your Majesty.  I have had telegrams
+from England confirming Mr. Tregethner's story; and there is now in
+Moscow a certain Hon. Rupert Balestier, who has been making the most
+energetic inquiries for him; and&mdash;the weirdest of all&mdash;the wretched
+woman, Paula Tueski, has killed herself and left a confession of her
+crime."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The Emperor's decision was taken at once.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I owe you deep reparation, Mr. Tregethner.  I ought to have trusted my
+instinct and my eyesight, and have known that no man would have done
+what you did yesterday to save my life, and be anything but my firm
+friend.  May God never send Russia or me a greater enemy than you.  May
+you never lack as firm a friend as I will be to you.  God bless you!"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+My heart was too full for speech, and I could only falter out the words:
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I would die for your Majesty."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"You will do better than that&mdash;you will live for me; and when you are
+well, we will speak of your future."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+With that he turned to leave the room and said to the Grand Duke, who
+was quite broken and unstrung:&mdash;
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Now, we will find that strange leakage."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+As soon as they had left, Prince Bilbassoff questioned me closely, and
+when he heard about the accusation I had by inference brought against
+the man who had tried to ruin me and had so nearly succeeded, words
+could not express his delight.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR><BR>
+
+<A NAME="chap30"></A>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+CHAPTER XXX.
+</H3>
+
+<H4 ALIGN="center">
+AFTERWARDS.
+</H4>
+
+<P>
+It was nearly a month before the doctors would consent to my being
+moved, and even then they grudged their permission.  All the time I lay
+like a Royal Prince in the Palace with all the world ready to do my
+lightest wish.  Had I been in a hospital, I believe the doctors would
+have sent me packing a full fortnight earlier; but wounds heal slowly
+when the State has to pay the doctors' fees.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The time was pleasant enough, however, save for one thing.  I was full
+of anxiety on Olga's account.  Prince Bilbassoff brought my friend
+Balestier to me and he stayed all the time, and used all his efforts to
+find some trace of her whereabouts.  The Emperor, too, promised that
+all in his power should be done to find her; and whenever I saw Prince
+Bilbassoff I importuned him also on the same quest; and his promises
+were as ripe as the Czar's.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+She was not found, however, and I fretted and worried until Balestier
+drove home the conviction that the best thing I could do was to hurry
+and get well, and then set out to search for her myself.  This pacified
+me, and I did all that was possible to help the doctors.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+But this failure to find her was a never-ending subject of thought, as
+well as of somewhat angry satire when the opportunity offered.  One day
+when the Prince came I rallied him strongly on the matter, thinking to
+gibe him into greater activity.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Your agents are poor hounds, Prince," I said.  "They bay loudly enough
+on the trail, but they don't find."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"They have found the brother," he answered quietly.  "And the girl
+can't be far off."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"The brother be hanged," cried I.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Not by the Russian hangman.  He doesn't mean to return here; but he
+has dropped your name and probably by this time has left Paris
+altogether.  He knows the facts&mdash;or some of them; our agent told him
+them; and he means to put as great a distance between himself and
+Russia as the limitations of the globe will permit."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"He's a poor creature.  How was he found?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"As usual&mdash;a woman."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Well, I owe him no grudge.  He has given me a better part than I ever
+thought to play in life.  And a good wife too&mdash;if we can only find her."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"We shall find her.  The woman's not born that can hide herself from
+us, when we are in earnest."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Well, I wish you'd be thoroughly in earnest now.  If you were only as
+much in earnest as you were about that duel...."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I am; for I owe you more than if you had fought the duel."  I looked
+at him in some astonishment.  "I have only to-day heard the definite
+decision," he continued.  "You gave me the clue, and I did not fail to
+follow it up.  You say my men are not sleuth hounds.  Give them a blood
+scent like that and try."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"All of which is unintelligible to me," I replied, noting with surprise
+his excitement and exultation.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Heavens, lad, I'm more sorry than ever you're not going to join us.
+And now that that hindrance is out of the path, the path is brighter
+than ever.  What fools you young fellows are to go tumbling into what
+you call love, and playing the devil with a career for the sake of
+muslin and silks and pretty cheeks.  I suppose..." he looked
+questioningly, and waited as if for me to speak.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Suppose what?"  I knew what he meant well enough, but liked to make
+him speak out.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"That you've really made up your mind or whatever you call it, not to
+stop in Russia?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Absolutely.  I'm going to commit social suicide and marry for
+love&mdash;that is, if I can only find my sweetheart; or rather if you can
+find her for me."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I wish I couldn't," he returned; and then fearing I should
+misunderstand him, added:&mdash;"I don't mean that.  I mean, I'm sorry I'm
+not to have your help."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"At one time it looked as though you were going to have it whether I
+would or no, and I'm afraid I may have misled you and&mdash;and others
+somewhat.  I'm sorry for this."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Save your vanity, youngster," he said with a short laugh,
+understanding me.  "My sister is no love-sick maiden with her head full
+of a silly fancy that any one man is necessary to her."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+I flushed a little at the rebuke; and bit my lip.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"We wanted you for Russia, not for ourselves," he added, after a pause.
+"You have already done the Empire a splendid service; and that's why
+you're regretted.  Though, mark me, I don't say, now that things have
+turned out as they have, I should not have been a bit proud of you as a
+member of my family."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"What service do you mean?  Saving my own skin?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"No.  Overthrowing the Grand Duke.  He is completely broken.  No trap
+could have snared him half so well.  It has now come out that the
+disposition of the troops was his sole work; he himself arranged the
+very order of the trains; and the minute details which he executed were
+known to him alone.  He laid his plans splendidly for his infernal
+purpose, and had you been the man he anticipated&mdash;the dare-devil who
+had killed Tueski&mdash;nothing could have saved the Emperor's life.  But
+God in His mercy willed the overthrow of as clever a villain as was
+ever shielded by high rank.  That particular slip no man could have
+possibly foreseen; but he made another which surprised me.  Only a
+little thing, but enough.  When I came to look closely into the
+business I found that he had worked out in the greatest detail all the
+arrangements for the last journey and the disposition of the troops,
+and had committed them to paper in a number of sealed orders.  These he
+dated back to the previous Saturday; but only gave them out the last
+thing on Sunday night.  His object was of course that when inquiries
+came to be made the dates on the papers should tell their own story and
+prove, apparently, that, as they had been given out on the Saturday,
+there would have been plenty of time for it to have leaked out to the
+Nihilists through some one of the many officials who would be in
+possession of it, at the time you proved it was known to the Nihilists.
+On that supposition there were a hundred channels through which it
+would have got out, and the Duke would have been only one among many in
+a position to divulge the secret.  Like a fool he thus drew the coil
+close round his own body; and as soon as the Emperor knew that, my men
+made a search.  That did the rest effectually."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"And what has happened to him?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"What should happen to such a man?" answered the Prince, sternly.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Death."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Right.  But the Emperor would not.  He's as soft as a pudding.  The
+man is imprisoned, that's all.  For life, of course.  But rats have an
+ugly trick of slipping out as well as into a dungeon.  And if he ever
+does get out, boy, you will have one enemy powerful enough to make even
+you cautious."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Keep him safe, then," I laughed.  "For when I leave Russia, I want to
+leave all this behind me."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"You may look for trouble of some kind from the Nihilists, however."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"They are not taken very seriously by us English, Prince," I replied.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Maybe; but remember you have been a Russian for a couple of months,
+and have dealt them a stroke that they will never forget."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+He left me soon after that, but I did not pay any serious heed to his
+warning.  I pondered his news, however.  I was glad that Alexis
+Petrovitch had ceased to masquerade in my name; but I could not
+understand how it was that if the Russian agents could so easily find
+the brother, they should be baffled in their search for Olga.  But it
+spurred my anxiety to go a-hunting on my own account; and I was
+heartily glad therefore, when the doctors agreed to release me, and my
+marching orders for St. Petersburg came.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+By the Emperor's commands I was taken straight to his Palace; and his
+Majesty's reception could not have been more gracious than it was.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+He loaded me with signs of his favour; with his own hands pinned to my
+breast the highest Order he could confer on a foreigner; and did
+everything except press me to enter his service.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Your sojourn in Russia is associated in my mind with so painful and
+terrible an event, and you are personally connected with it so closely,
+that in my service you would always serve to keep open a wound that
+bleeds at the mere reference.  I am like a man who has given
+unrestrainedly the kisses of love and received in return the poison of
+the asp.  Moreover, Prince Bilbassoff tells me that you have made up
+your mind to go to your own country; and while you will, I hope, always
+be my friend, and I, with God's help, will always be yours, I shall not
+seek to detain you."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I am even now impatient to be away, your Majesty," I replied, "and
+crave your leave to go at once.  I hope to leave St Petersburg
+immediately."  I spoke with the eagerness of a lover; and his reply
+surprised, and indeed, dismayed me.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"No, Mr. Tregethner, that I cannot suffer.  I should feel an ingrate if
+I permitted you to leave without accepting my hospitality.  I do not
+like an unwilling guest; but for a fortnight more at least you must
+remain here."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+I looked at him quickly in my amazement, and then with a bow said:&mdash;
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Your Majesty has promised me the gracious distinction of your
+friendship; and as a friend I appeal to you to permit me to be your
+guest at another time.  The matter I have in hand is very urgent."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I am not accustomed to have my wishes in these matters questioned,"
+returned the Emperor; and at that moment I wished the Imperial
+friendship at the bottom of the Baltic.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+It meant that just when I was well and strong, and in every way able to
+start on the task that was more to me than anything else on earth, I
+had to cool my heels dangling attendance on this well meaning Imperial
+Marplot in this prison-palace of his.  But I smothered my feelings like
+a courtier and murmured an assent&mdash;that compliance with his wishes
+would be a pleasure.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+He laughed, and then in a most un-Emperor-like manner clapped me on the
+shoulder and said:&mdash;
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"You'd soon learn the humbug of the courtier, friend.  But you must not
+put all this down to me.  You stay by the special desire of the Prince
+Bilbassoff's beautiful but rather imperious sister, in whose favour you
+stand high&mdash;though you have not always treated her very well, it seems.
+She has now a great desire for some more of your company, and has set
+her heart on your remaining to be present at a Court marriage which she
+has planned."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I shall know how to thank the Princess when I see her," I answered,
+drily enough to make my meaning clear; for the Emperor laughed and said
+that might be true and that the Princess was even now anxious to see me
+to thank me for past services.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+My gratitude to the latter may be imagined; and when the Emperor
+dismissed me, I thought of the pleasure it would afford me to express
+it to her.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The opportunity came at once, for I was shewn straight to a saloon
+where she appeared to have been awaiting me.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"We meet, under changed circumstances, Mr. Tregethner&mdash;my inclination
+to call you Lieutenant is almost irresistible."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"His Majesty has told me, Princess, that it is to you I owe the
+pleasure of being compelled to stay here at the present time."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I am glad to have been able to secure you so high a mark of the
+Imperial favour," she answered, her eyes laughing at me, but the rest
+of her features serious.  "I am always glad to help those who are
+candid and frank with me."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"As glad as you are to be candid and frank with those you help,
+Princess?  Is there another duel in prospect?  Or more wrongs to be
+avenged?  In connection with this marriage I hear of, for instance?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"A fair question," she answered, smiling.  She was certainly a very
+beautiful woman when she smiled.  "There is&mdash;but only very indirectly.
+By the way, do you not wonder that I content myself with giving you no
+more than a fortnight's imprisonment?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"If you knew the punishment it is likely to be to me you would not wish
+to inflict a heavier."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"You mean, you are so eager to be searching for this girl who
+masqueraded as your sister, that you cannot spare a fortnight for the
+Russian Court.  Excuse me; I cannot think that even Englishmen can be
+so impolite and phlegmatic."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"My 'sister' is very dear to me, Princess," I said, emphasizing the
+word.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Oh, yes, we know the value of a lover's sighs and a lover's vows and a
+lover's impatience and a lover's constancy and a lover's everything
+else.  And you Englishmen are but like other men in these things."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+I didn't understand her, so I held my tongue.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I dare believe that though you are now so eager to be away on this
+romantic search of yours, and are fretting and fuming at the delay
+which I have caused, so that you may have the opportunity of witnessing
+the grandeur of the Court marriage I have arranged, you will cool in
+your ardour long before the fortnight is out.  There are women about
+the Russian Court, Sir, to the full as fair and witching and sweet as
+Olga Petrovitch."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I have the evidence of that before my eyes, Princess," I said, looking
+at her and bowing to hide my chagrin at her words.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"You are angry that I hold you fickle.  You should not be," she said,
+with a swift glance reading my mood.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I have confidence in my faith."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"And I confidence in your lack of it," she retorted, with a touch of
+irritation in her tone.  "I dare wager heavily that we have here many a
+young girl in whose smiles the fire of your eagerness to leave Russia
+in this search would be quickly quenched.  Nay, I will do more, for I
+love a challenge, and love especially to see a man who vaunts himself
+on his strength of purpose and strong will and fidelity overthrown and
+proved a braggart&mdash;but perhaps you dare not be put to a test?"  She
+asked this in a tone that made every fibre of purpose in my body thrill
+with loyalty to Olga in reply to the taunt.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Name your test," I answered, shortly.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I wager you that I will find one among my maidens here who will turn
+you from your purpose of leaving us; lure you into more than content to
+abandon your search; and make you pour into her own pretty ears a
+confession that you are glad I caused you to dally here&mdash;and all this
+within three days."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"It is not possible, Princess.  I take up your challenge readily, if
+only to while away the hanging time."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+She looked at me as if triumphantly.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"You dare say that?  Then you are half conquered already.  Now I know
+you will&mdash;&mdash;What is it?" she broke off to a servant who came in.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Then after hearing the servant's message, she made an excuse and left
+me.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+I was more than angry with her.  The jest which had for its foundation
+the possibility that I should change in half a week and, instead of
+fretting and fuming to begin my search, be reconciled to this mummery
+of a flirtation with some Court hack or other, annoyed and disturbed
+me; and I turned away and gazed out of one of the tall bayed windows
+into the wide courtyard below, and felt ready to consign the whole
+world to destruction, with the exception of that part where Olga might
+be and such a strip as might be necessary for me to get to her.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Against the Princess I was particularly enraged.  To hold me for an
+empty whirligig fool to turn like a magnetised needle in any direction
+that any chance magnet might choose to draw me!  Stop contentedly?
+Bosh!  Give up the search?  Rot!  I was so angry when I heard her come
+back into the room, that I affected not to know that she was present.
+And I stared resolutely out of the window pretending to be vastly
+interested in the antics of a couple of big young hounds that were
+gambolling together.  I laughed hugely, and uttered a few exclamations
+to myself but loud enough for the Princess to hear.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The Princess took it very coolly, however.  She said nothing, and for a
+couple of minutes the farce went on.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+I expected a tirade at my rudeness; but instead I heard the frou-frou
+of her dress as she crossed the room toward me.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+I increased my affected gestures and muttered exclamations, and had a
+mind to let fly an oath, just a little one, to shock her, when she put
+her face so close to mine that I could feel its warmth, and she
+whispered right into my ear:&mdash;
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Bad acting.  Too self-conscious, Alexis!"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The Princess had won easily.  I surrendered without an effort; gave up
+all thought of the search and was suddenly filled with a glad content
+to stop.  For the voice was Olga's, and the merry laugh was hers, and
+the blush was hers, and the love light was hers too; and the next
+moment I held her in my arms close pressed to my heart.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The Princess had indeed won anyhow, and in much less than three days;
+and I stopped for that wedding with all the delight in the world&mdash;in
+fact nothing could have induced me to miss it.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+For the bride was Olga, and the bridegroom myself, once&mdash;"that devil
+Alexis!"
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR><BR>
+
+<P CLASS="finis">
+THE END.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR><BR>
+
+<HR>
+
+<BR><BR><BR>
+
+<A NAME="chap31"></A>
+
+<P CLASS="t2">
+NEW AMSTERDAM BOOK COMPANY'S LIST
+<BR>
+156 FIFTH AVE., NEW YORK
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<P CLASS="t2">
+Biography
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<P CLASS="t3b">
+Moltke's Letters to His Wife
+</P>
+
+<P>
+<I>The only Complete Edition published in any language</I>.  With an
+Introduction by SIDNEY WHITMAN, author of "Imperial Germany."
+Portraits of Moltke and his wife never before published.  An Account of
+Countess von Moltke's Family, supplied by the Family.  And a
+genealogical tree, in fac-simile of the Field-Marshal's handwriting.
+Two volumes.  Demy 8vo, cloth, $10.00; 3/4 calf, $20.00; 3/4 levant,
+$22.50.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Beginning in 1841, the year before his marriage, these letters extend
+to within a short time of his death.  Travels on the Continent, three
+visits to England and one to Russia, military manoeuvres, and three
+campaigns are covered by this period, during which Captain Von Moltke,
+known only as the author of the "Letters from the East," grew into the
+greatest director of war since Napoleon.  These most interesting
+volumes contain the record of a life singularly pure and noble,
+unspoiled by dazzling successes.&mdash;The Times (London).
+</P>
+
+<P>
+This book will be chiefly valued on account of the insight it affords
+into the real disposition of Moltke.  Indeed, it will surprise many,
+for it shows that the eminent soldier was very different from what he
+was ordinarily conceived to be.  He is supposed to have been dry and
+stern, reticent, almost devoid of human sympathies, and little better
+than a strategical machine.  As a matter of fact, such an estimate is
+somewhat of a caricature.  To the public and strangers Moltke was cold
+and silent, but to his family and friends he was affectionate, open,
+and full of kindly forethought...  As he was a keen and minute
+observer, his opinion of the people, countries, and sights which in the
+course of his life he saw, is of interest and value.&mdash;The Athenaeum
+(London).
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<P CLASS="t3b">
+Lady Hamilton and Lord Nelson
+</P>
+
+<P>
+An Historical Biography based on letters and other documents in the
+Morrison collection.  By JOHN CORDY JEAFFRESON, author of "The Real
+Lord Byron," etc.  New and Revised Edition, containing additional
+facts, letters, and other material.  Large crown 8vo, cloth, $2.25; 3/4
+calf, $5.00; 3/4 levant,$6.50.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<P CLASS="t3b">
+Women Novelists of Queen Victoria's Reign
+</P>
+
+<P>
+A Book of Appreciations.  By MRS. OLIPHANT, MRS. LYNN LINTON, MRS.
+ALEXANDER, MRS. MACQUOID, MRS. PARR, MRS. MARSHALL, CHARLOTTE M. YONGE,
+ADELINE SERGEANT, AND EDNA LYALL.  Square 4to, cloth, $3,50.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Contents: The Sisters Bronte, George Eliot, Mrs. Gaskell, Mrs. Crowe,
+Mrs. Archer Clive, Mrs. Henry Wood, Lady Georgiana Fullerton, Mrs.
+Stretton, Anne Manning, Dinah Mulock (Mrs. Craik), Julia Kavanagh,
+Amelia Blandford Edwards, Mrs Norton, "A.L.O.E." (Miss Tucker), and
+Mrs. Ewing.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<P CLASS="t3b">
+Life of Percy Bysshe Shelley
+</P>
+
+<P>
+By PROF. EDWARD DOWDEN, author of "Studies in Literature," "Shakspere:
+His Mind and Art," etc.  New and cheaper edition.  With Portrait.  One
+vol., post 8vo, $4.50; 3/4 calf, $9.00; 3/4 levant, $10.00.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+This, the standard Life of Shelley, is now presented in a form
+convenient to the individual student.  It has been revised by the
+author, and contains an exhaustive index.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<P CLASS="t3b">
+The Crimean Diary of the Late General Sir Charles A. Windham, K.C.B.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+With an Introduction by SIR W. H. RUSSELL.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Edited by MAJOR HUGH PEARSE.  With an added chapter on the Defence of
+Cawnpore, by LIEUT-COL. JOHN ADYE, C.B.  Demy 8vo, $3.00.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+This interesting diary, supported and amplified by a number of intimate
+letters, will be found to reveal much that has hitherto been hidden
+concerning the mismanagement of the Crimean campaign.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<P CLASS="t3b">
+From "The Bells" to "King Arthur"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+By CLEMENT SCOTT.  Fully illustrated, with portraits of Mr. Irving in
+character, scenes from several plays, and copies of the play-bills.
+Demy 8vo, $3.50.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+From the memorable, never-to-be-forgotten evening when Irving startled
+all London with his Mathias, in "The Bells," down to his latest play,
+"King Arthur."  A critical record of the first-night productions at the
+Lyceum Theatre, London.  Not the least interesting feature of this book
+is the superb frontispiece&mdash;a photograph of Mr. Irving, with autograph
+in fac-simile.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<P CLASS="t3b">
+Reminiscences of a Yorkshire Naturalist
+</P>
+
+<P>
+By the late WILLIAM CRAWFORD WILLIAMSON, LL.D., F.R.S., Professor of
+Botany in Owens College, Manchester.  Edited by his Wife.  Crown 8vo.
+Cloth, gilt top, $2.25 net.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+This autobiography gives us an epitome of the advance of scientific
+thought during the present century, with the added charm and freshness
+of a personal history of the almost ideal scientific career of a
+genuine naturalist.&mdash;Nature (London).
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<P CLASS="t3b">
+Anna Kingsford
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Her Life, Letters, Diary, and Work.  By her Collaborator, EDWARD
+MAITLAND.  Illustrated with Portraits, Views, and Fac-similes.  Two
+volumes.  Demy 8vo, 896 pp.  Cloth, $15.00 net.  Second Edition.
+(Scarce).
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Reviewed as "The Book of the Month" in Mr. Stead's Review of Reviews.
+The notice occupies ten pages of the Review, and is entitled "Mr.
+Maitland's Life of Anna Kingsford, Apostle and Avenger."  Mr. Stead
+concludes as follows: "Here I must conclude my notice of one of the
+weirdest and most bewildering books that I have read for many a long
+day."
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<P CLASS="t3b">
+My Reminiscences
+</P>
+
+<P>
+By LORD RONALD GOWER.  With Etched Portrait.  New Edition.  Post 8vo.
+$2.50.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<P CLASS="t3b">
+Rupert of the Rhine
+</P>
+
+<P>
+A Biographical Sketch of the Life of Prince Rupert, by LORD RONALD
+GOWER.  With three Portraits in photogravure.  Crown 8vo, buckram,
+$1.75.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<P CLASS="t3b">
+Major General, the Earl of Stirling
+</P>
+
+<P>
+An Essay in Biography by LUDWIG SCHUMACHER.  <I>Edition limited to 130
+copies</I>.  Cloth, $1.00.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+A book so pretty that it might be welcomed, even if it were not as
+carefully done as it is.&mdash;Book Buyer (New York).
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<P CLASS="t3b">
+Four Generations of a Literary Family
+</P>
+
+<P>
+By W. CAREW HAZLITT.  With photogravure portraits, facsimiles, &amp;c.  2
+vols., Demy 8vo.  (Scarce.)
+</P>
+
+<P>
+These volumes deal with the Hazlitts in England, Ireland, and America,
+and give a picture of Ireland in 1780 and of America in 1783-7.  They
+contain a store of theatrical anecdotes, sketches of celebrated book
+collectors, an account of old Brompton, and a good deal of matter
+relating to auction rooms and sales by auction.  The history of the
+origin of "Our Club," founded by Douglas Jerrold, is also given.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Note.&mdash;This work was suppressed in England, the author having been
+threatened with libel suits by the relatives of many persons mentioned
+in the text.  A limited American edition was secured by the New
+Amsterdam Book Company, and the work now ranks among scarce books.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<P CLASS="t3b">
+Gordon in China and the Soudan
+</P>
+
+<P>
+By E. EGMONT HOKE.  Demy 8vo, cloth, $2.25.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+This work is practically a reprint of "The Story of Chinese Gordon,"
+which ran through twelve editions within eighteen months of its
+appearance.  The book has been out of print for a considerable time,
+but in view of recent events, it is now greatly in demand.  To meet
+that demand, it has been decided to re-issue it with such minor changes
+as were necessary.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<P CLASS="t2">
+Bibliography
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<P CLASS="t3b">
+A Bibliography of Gilbert White of Selborne
+</P>
+
+<P>
+By EDWARD A. MARTIN, F.G.S., author of "Amidst Nature's Realms," "The
+Story of a Piece of Coal," Etc.  $1.50.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Gilbert White's remarkable book, "The Natural History of Selborne," has
+perhaps been published in a greater number of editions than any other
+book of the kind in the world.  The work mentioned above gives a very
+interesting account of both the man and his book, and as an essay in
+bibliography, ranks with the very best works of its class.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<P CLASS="t2">
+Fiction
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<P CLASS="t3b">
+The Devil-Tree of El Dorado
+</P>
+
+<P>
+By FRANK AUBREY.  With Illustrations by LEIGH ELLIS AND FRED HYLAND.
+Thick 12mo, cloth, stamped in fire bronze and gold, $1.50.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The book should find as many readers as "King Solomon's Mines."&mdash;New
+York Sun.  (2/3 column review.)
+</P>
+
+<P>
+We have often wondered why the famous legend of El Dorado had never
+found its way into romance.  Though the novel of adventure is once more
+in vogue, and although the cry is general that all possible themes have
+long ago been exhausted this still was left untouched; the story
+tellers seemed to have thought the quest as hopeless as the adventurers
+found it.  The omission has now been made good; the hidden city has
+been found.&mdash;Macmillan's Magazine, London.&mdash;(Extract from a
+thirteen-page review.)
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Is an exceptionally fascinating book. * * * We know well that the
+scenes and characters are all ideal&mdash;nay, we feel that some are utterly
+impossible&mdash;but none the less they enthrall us.&mdash;New York Herald,
+(3/4-column review.)
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The book is recommended to the perusal of all.&mdash;Boston Times.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Here we have a book that is deserving of success.&mdash;Waverley Magazine,
+(Boston.)
+</P>
+
+<P>
+This is one of the best books of adventure that has appeared in the
+last year or so.&mdash;Hartford Post.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+<I>The first edition in England was sold in advance of publication!  The
+second did not last a week!</I>
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<P CLASS="t3b">
+Mr. Paul's Translation of Huysmans' last great novel.
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="t3b">
+En Route
+</P>
+
+<P>
+By J. K. HUYSMANS.  Translated, with a prefatory note, by C. KEGAN
+PAUL.  Second edition.  Crown 8vo, $1.50.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+We are inclined to think it not only the greatest novel of the day, but
+one of the most important books of our quarter of the century.&mdash;The
+Bookman (extract from five-page review).
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The Rt. Hon. W. E. Gladstone, in a letter to the translator, says: "It
+places the claim of the 'Route' through mysticism higher, I think, than
+any other book I have read; and by this fact alone it imposes modesty
+and reserve upon all critics from outside and from a distance."
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<P CLASS="t3b">
+Opals From a Mexican Mine
+</P>
+
+<P>
+By GEORGE DE VALLIÈRE.  i2mo, cloth, richly bound, $1.25.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Are indeed literary gems. * * * We are glad to have found these Mexican
+opals; they are to us gems of value and we thank the author.&mdash;Boston
+Times.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Now and then a tale flames like a field of poppies in windless
+sunshine&mdash;such, for instance, as these Mexican tales which have just
+appeared bearing an unfamiliar name.&mdash;The Bookman, New York.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+In them all, no worse local solecism than the dropping of a few
+accents.  The like hardly happens twice in a decade.  * * * Are
+unmistakably interesting.&mdash;Critic (New York).
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<P CLASS="t3b">
+The Lure of Fame
+</P>
+
+<P>
+By CLIVE HOLLAND, author of "My Japanese Wife," etc., etc.  With a
+drawing and decoration by GEORGE WHARTON EDWARDS.  Large l6mo, square,
+handsomely embossed cover, $1.00; paper, 50c.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Charles Dexter Allen writes as follows in the Hartford Post: "Before
+one gets to the story itself, he must stop and admire the handsome
+setting the book has received.  Bound in dark blue, with a bold cover
+design in gold, it has an especially designed title page by George
+Wharton Edwards, and an excellent frontispiece by the same artist.  Its
+title, 'The Lure of Fame,' will suggest something of the thread of the
+story, but one is not thereby prepared for so tender and sympathetic a
+picture as those pages reveal, or so close an analysis of human
+feelings and experiences."
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<P CLASS="t3b">
+Nephelé
+</P>
+
+<P>
+A Novel.  By FRANCIS WILLIAM BOURDILLON.  12mo, artistically bound,
+$1.00.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+We urge so rare a treat as its pages impart on the attention of our
+readers.&mdash;The Bookman (New York).
+</P>
+
+<P>
+At the very first sentence the reader realizes that he is breathing a
+rarer air than usually emanates from the printed page, and at the very
+last sentence he realizes how he has kept on the heights. * * *
+Whatever the cause, the achievement is the sort that revives one's
+faith in that quality which, for want of a better word, we know as
+inspiration.&mdash;New York Sun.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The story is so delightful that to attempt to describe it seems to
+indicate a lack of appreciation.  It must be read to be
+understood.&mdash;Hartford Post.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<P CLASS="t3b">
+Pacific Tales
+</P>
+
+<P>
+By LOUIS BECKE, author of "By Reef and Palm," etc.  With frontispiece
+photogravure Portrait of the Author and several illustrations.  Crown
+8vo, green cloth, gilt top, $1.50.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The volume consists of the following: An Island Memory, The South Sea
+Savant, In the Old Beach-Combing Days, Miss Malleson's Rival, Prescott
+of Naura, Chester's "Cross," Hollis's Debt: a tale of the Northwest
+Pacific, The Arm of Luno Capal, In a Samoan Village, the
+"Black-Birdes," In the Evening, The Great Crushing at Mount Sugar-Bag:
+a Queensland Mining Tale, The Shadows of the Dead, "For we were Friends
+Always," Nikoa, The Strange White Woman of Maduro, The Obstinacy of
+Mrs. Tatton, The Treasure of Don Bruno.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<P CLASS="t3b">
+Animal Episodes and Studies in Sensation
+</P>
+
+<P>
+By G. H. POWELL.  8vo, cloth, $1.50 net.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The reader, if he be in sorrow, or even in suspense, is taken out of
+himself and knows nothing of what is going on save what the author
+tells him&mdash;James Payn, in "Illustrated London News."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Thrilling to the point of intensity&mdash;Westminster Gazette.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Breathlessly interesting&mdash;Pall Mall Gazette.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<P CLASS="t3b">
+A Stable for Nightmares
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Or, Weird Tales.  By J. SHERIDAN LE FANU, author of "Uncle Silas,"
+"House by the Churchyard," etc.; SIR CHARLES YOUNG, Bart., and others.
+Bound in brimstone yellow cloth, and appropriately illustrated, 75
+cents.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The Commercial Advertiser, New York, under the title of "A Revel in
+Spookdom," writes in part as follows: "What is there better for a real,
+clammy, irresponsible thrill than a volume of ghost stories?  You open
+the book anywhere and the breath of chilly, graveyard air that comes
+from the pages prepares you at once for the refreshing horrors you are
+about to enjoy.  At least that was my experience when I opened 'A
+Stable for Nightmares,' by J. Sheridan Le Fanu.  The cover is of the
+hue of cold 'Welsh rabbit,' suggestive of awful indigestion and gaunt
+nightmares that serve to make any ghost stories probable.  The tales
+are of various complexions, but all imbued with the 'pobbiness' of
+new-made corpses that it so useful an element in making effective
+preternatural narratives... Everyone of the eleven stories is a
+splendid example of weirdness...  If you want ghost stories fresh from
+the charnel house, buy this book for 75 cents and you will find it a
+profitable investment."
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<P CLASS="t3b">
+The XIth Commandment
+</P>
+
+<P>
+By HALLIWELL SUTCLIFFE.  Handsomely bound in cloth, gilt top, $1.25.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Full of deep thought, tempered with a bright appreciation of the
+ridiculous and invested with delicate sarcasm, is the new novel of
+Halliwell Sutcliffe, called "The XIth Commandment."  Mr. Sutcliffe's
+theme is the diplomatic attitude of a north-country vicar in the Church
+of England, who seeks to maintain an equilibrium in his ministrations
+to the rich and poor in his parish, while favoring the rich.  In
+striking contrast to this attitude, the work of a young curate,
+sincere, broadminded and convincing, is refreshingly shown.&mdash;Buffalo
+Express.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+It is full of stress and emphasis, vibrant and thrilling in places,
+and, for a novel of its character, it holds the interest of the reader
+to a surprising degree.&mdash;Commercial Advertiser (New York).
+</P>
+
+<P>
+As the story progresses one's interest grows continually and the book
+may be called not merely readable, but genuinely interesting.&mdash;Hartford
+Post.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<P CLASS="t3b">
+Seven Frozen Sailors
+</P>
+
+<P>
+By GEORGE MANVILLE FENN, assisted by COMPTON READE, F. ARCHER, and
+others.  Illustrated by A. BURNHAM SHUTE.  Square i6mo, cloth.  75
+cents.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Seven Frozen Sailors" is certainly a title possessing enough
+originality to arouse one's curiosity.  The idea is unique, and the
+seven stories, each by a different author, form an interesting mosaic
+of imaginative literature...  The reading public seems to crave
+something new, and here is a volume, not cumbersome, but of modest
+size, that will, no doubt, prove attractive.&mdash;Every Saturday (Elgin,
+Ill.).
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The old saying, "too many cooks spoil the broth," does not hold true in
+this instance, for the little book is really enjoyable.&mdash;Boston
+Transcript.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<P CLASS="t3b">
+The Copsford Mystery
+</P>
+
+<P>
+(<I>Eighth edition, completing seventeenth thousand</I>).  By W. CLARK
+RUSSELL, author of "An Ocean Free Lance," "The Wreck of the Grosvenor,"
+etc.  Handsomely illustrated by A. BURNHAM SHUTE, and others.  Cloth,
+$1.25; paper, 50 cents.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"The Copsford Mystery; or, Is He the Man?" is by W. Clark Russell,
+whose name at once suggests rolling billows and dashing spray.  But
+this is not a sea tale and is the only story not of the sea that he has
+written.  Save in the first chapter, when we are introduced to a girl
+who is in the habit of rowing, off Broadstairs, and who gets carried
+out to sea by the tide, and is rescued by a dark-browed, sunburnt, but
+handsome man, there is nothing of the sea in it.  The construction of
+the story is more like Doyle than Russell, but it resembles the
+latter's sea stories in its careful attention to detail.  There is also
+careful delineation of character.  In an introduction is an interesting
+sketch of Russell and his writings, and the book has full page
+illustrations by A. Burnham Shute and others.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<P CLASS="t3b">
+An Ocean Free Lance
+</P>
+
+<P>
+(<I>Fifth edition, completing thirteenth thousand</I>).  By W. CLARK
+RUSSELL.  New edition, illustrated by HARRY L. V. PARKHURST.  Cloth,
+superbly bound, $1.25; paper, 50 cents.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+This dashing romance of the sea is held by some readers to contain Mr.
+Russell's best work.  In it will be found the oft-quoted description of
+a naval engagement.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<P CLASS="t3b">
+A Noble Haul
+</P>
+
+<P>
+By W. CLARK RUSSELL, author of "The Wreck of the Grosvenor," "The
+Copsford Mystery," "An Ocean Free Lance," etc.  <I>5th thousand</I>.  Cloth,
+50 cents.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Of this work, we need only say that it is an old-fashioned "Clark
+Russell story."
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<P CLASS="t3b">
+A Sailor's Sweetheart
+</P>
+
+<P>
+By W. CLARK RUSSELL, author of "An Ocean Free Lance," etc.  Illustrated
+by J. STEEPLE DAVIS.  12mo, cloth, $1.25; paper, 50 cents.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+We have given this superb sea classic a handsome dress, in keeping with
+its character, and recommend it to the public as an unusually
+interesting story.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<P CLASS="t3b">
+Basile the Jester
+</P>
+
+<P>
+(<I>Second Edition</I>).  A Romance of the Days of Mary Queen of Scots.
+12mo, Netherland Library, paper, 50 cents; cloth, $1.25.  By J. E.
+MUDDOCK, author of "The Dead Man's Secret," "Maid Marian and Robin
+Hood," "For God and The Czar," "Lochinvar," etc.  Illustrations by
+STANLEY WOOD and others.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The author has taken pains to represent truthfully and effectively the
+life and times of Mary, Queen of Scots, the Court intrigues of the
+period, the plots and counterplots of the nobles.  The book is not a
+prosy history with a little conversation added, but a stirring novel
+full of action, and will undoubtedly rank as one of Mr. Muddock's most
+popular works.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<P CLASS="t3b">
+A Bride's Experiment
+</P>
+
+<P>
+(Second edition).  By CHAS. J. MANSFORD, author of "Shafts from an
+Eastern Quiver," "Bully, Fag and Hero," etc.  Holland Library, paper,
+50 cents; cloth, $1.00.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+This strong story will prove to be a welcome addition to our dainty
+Holland Library.  Mr. Mansford is one of the best known contributors to
+the Strand Magazine.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR><BR><BR>
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+<pre>
+
+
+
+
+
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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of By Right of Sword, by Arthur W. Marchmont
+
+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: By Right of Sword
+
+Author: Arthur W. Marchmont
+
+Release Date: December 20, 2011 [EBook #38357]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BY RIGHT OF SWORD ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Al Haines
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: Cover art]
+
+
+
+
+
+
+[Frontispiece: I raised my sword and struck him with the flat side of
+it across the face.--_Frontispiece, Page 42_.]
+
+
+
+
+
+By Right of Sword
+
+
+BY
+
+ARTHUR W. MARCHMONT
+
+
+AUTHOR OF
+
+"Sir Jaffray's Wife," "Parson Thring's Secret," Etc., Etc.
+
+
+
+
+NEW AMSTERDAM BOOK COMPANY
+
+156 : FIFTH : AVENUE : NEW : YORK
+
+HUTCHINSON & COMPANY, LONDON
+
+
+
+
+Copyright 1897
+
+BY
+
+ARTHUR W. MARCHMONT
+
+
+
+
+LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
+
+
+I Raised My Sword and Struck Him with the Flat
+  Side of it across the Face . . . . . . . . . . . . . . _Frontispiece_
+
+"I Know that You are My Brother, Alexis"
+
+A Swinging Cut Made Another Drop His Knife with a Great Cry of Pain
+
+"Here, Strike," I Cried
+
+"Alexis, Did You Bring That Proposal to Me Deliberately?"
+
+"Take Another Two Grains, Mouse"
+
+I Darted Forward into the Doorway
+
+I Tore It from Him
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+
+CHAPTER
+
+      I. THE MEETING
+     II. I AM A NIHILIST
+    III. MY SECONDS
+     IV. THE DUEL
+      V. GETTING DEEPER
+     VI. A LEGACY OF LOVE
+    VII. A LESSON IN NIHILISM
+   VIII. THE RIVERSIDE MEETING
+     IX. DEVINSKY AGAIN
+      X. "THAT BUTCHER, DURESCQ"
+     XI. DANGER FROM A FRESH SOURCE
+    XII. CHRISTIAN TUESKI
+   XIII. OLGA IN A NEW LIGHT
+    XIV. THE DEED WHICH RANG THROUGH RUSSIA
+     XV. A SHE DEVIL
+    XVI. THE NEXT NIHILIST PLOT
+   XVII. AN EXTRAORDINARY ADVENTURE
+  XVIII. THE REASON OF THE INTRIGUE
+    XIX. OLGA'S ABDUCTION
+     XX. THE RESCUE
+    XXI. THREE TO ONE
+   XXII. THE BEGINNING OF THE END
+  XXIII. CHECKMATE!
+   XXIV. CRISIS
+    XXV. COILS THAT NO MAN COULD BREAK
+   XXVI. MY DECISION
+  XXVII. THE FOUR ALDER TREES
+ XXVIII. THE ATTACK ON THE CZAR
+   XXIX. THE TRUTH OUT AT LAST
+    XXX. AFTERWARDS
+
+
+
+
+BY RIGHT OF SWORD.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+THE MEETING.
+
+
+Moscow.
+
+"MY DEAR RUPERT.
+
+"Don't worry your head about me.  I shall be all right.  I did not see
+you before leaving because of the scene with your sister and Cargill,
+which they may perhaps tell you about.  I have done with England: and
+as the auspices are all for war, I mean to have a shy in.  I went to
+Vienna, thinking to offer myself to the Turks: but my sixteen years in
+Russia have made too much of a Russ of me to let me tolerate those lazy
+cruel beggars.  So I turned this way.  I'm going on to St Petersburg
+to-day, for I find all the people I knew here as a lad have gone north.
+I have made such a mess of things that I shall never set foot in
+England again.  If Russia will have me, I shall volunteer, and I hope
+with all my soul that a Turkish bullet will find its billet in my body.
+It shan't be my fault if it doesn't.  If I hadn't been afraid of being
+thought afraid, I'd have taken a shorter way half a score of times.  My
+life is an inexpressible burden, and I only wish to God someone would
+think it worth while to take it.  I don't want to be hard on your
+sister, but whatever was left in my heart or life, she has emptied, and
+I only wish she'd ended it at the same time.  You'll know I'm pretty
+bad when not even the thought of our old friendship gives me a moment's
+pleasure.  Good-bye.  Don't come out after me.  You won't find me if
+you do.
+
+Your friend,
+  HAMYLTON TREGETHNER."
+
+
+The letter was wretchedly inconsequential.  When I sat down to write I
+hadn't meant to tell Rupert Balestier that his sister's treatment had
+made such a mess of things for me; but my pen ran away with me as it
+always does, and I wasn't inclined to write the letter all over again.
+I hate letter writing.  I was to leave Moscow, moreover, in an hour or
+two, and when I had had my things sent to the railway station and
+followed them, I dropped the letter into the box without altering a
+word.
+
+It had made me thoughtful, however; and I stood on the platform looking
+moodily about me, wondering whether I should find the end I wished most
+speedily by joining the army or the Nihilists; and which course would
+bring me the most exciting and quickest death.
+
+I had three or four hours to wait before my train left, and I walked up
+and down the platform trying to force myself to feel an interest in
+what was going on about me.
+
+Presently I noticed that I was the object of the close vigilance of a
+small group of soldiers such as will generally be seen hanging about
+the big stations in Russia.  They looked at me very intently; I noticed
+them whisper one to another evidently about me; and as I passed they
+drew themselves up to attention and saluted me.  I returned the salute,
+amused at their mistake, and entered one of the large waiting saloons.
+
+It was empty save for one occupant, who was standing by the big stove
+looking out of a window near.  This was a girl, and a glimpse I caught
+of her face shewed me she was pretty, while her attitude seemed to
+suggest grief.
+
+As I entered and went to another part of the room, she started and
+glanced at me and then looked away.  A few seconds later, however, she
+looked round furtively, and then to my abundant surprise, came across
+and said in a low, confidential tone:
+
+"It is not enough, Alexis.  I knew you in a minute.  But you acted the
+stranger to perfection."
+
+She was not only pretty, but very pretty, I thought, as she stood with
+her face raised toward mine, a light of some kind of emotion shining in
+her eyes where I saw traces of tears.  But my recent experiences of
+Edith Balestier had toughened me a lot, and I was suspicious of this
+young woman.
+
+"Pardon me, Madam, you have made a mistake."
+
+Then she smiled, rather sadly; and her teeth shone salt white between
+her full curved lips.
+
+"Your voice would betray you, even if your dear handsome eyes did not.
+Do you think the mere shaving of your beard and moustache can hide your
+eyes.  Just look into mine and see if the shade is not exact?"
+
+I did look into them: and very beautiful eyes hers were.  Little
+shining blue heavens all radiant with the light of infinite capacity to
+feel.  Fascinating eyes, very.  But I had not lived the first sixteen
+years of my life in Russia without getting to know that in that big
+land all is not snow that looks white; and that a very awkward intrigue
+may lurk beneath a very fair seeming surface.
+
+"Madam, I am charmed, but I have not the honour of knowing you."
+
+A passing cloud of irritation shewed and a little gesture of
+impatience, sufficient to remind me that the gloved hands were very
+small.
+
+"Ah, why keep this up now?  There is no need, and no time.  Is not the
+train starting in less than an hour--and by the way, what madness is it
+that makes you loiter about here in this public way, out of uniform and
+as if there were no danger and you were merely taking a week's holiday,
+instead of flying for...."
+
+"Madam," I broke in again.  "I must repeat, I am a stranger.  You must
+not tell me these things.  My name is Hamylton Tregethner, an
+Englishman, and...."
+
+"Yes, yes, I know you are: or at least I know you are going to call
+yourself English, though you haven't told me what your name is to be.
+But I know that you are my brother Alexis, going to leave me perhaps
+for ever, and that when I want to scold you for running this risk--for
+you know there are police, and soldiers, and spies in plenty to
+identify you--you...." here she made as if to throw herself into my
+arms.  But suspecting some trick, I stepped back.
+
+[Illustration: "I know that you are my brother, Alexis."]
+
+"Madam, I must ask you to be good enough not to play this comedy any
+farther."  I spoke rather sternly.
+
+"If your disguise were only as good as your acting, Alexis, not a soul
+in Russia would suspect you.  Oh, I see what you mean," she cried, a
+look of intelligence breaking over her features.  "I forgot.  Of
+course, I am compromising your disguise by thus speaking to you.  I am
+sorry.  It was my love for you made me thoughtless, when I should have
+been thoughtful.  I will go away."  She turned on me such a look of
+genuine grief that it melted my scepticism.
+
+"There is really some strange mistake," I said, speaking much more
+gently.  "At first I thought you were intentionally mistaking me for
+someone else; for what object I knew not.  But I see now the error was
+involuntary.  I give you my honour, Madam, that you are under a
+complete mistake if you take me for any relative of your own.  I am an
+Englishman, as I say, and I arrived in Moscow only last night, and am
+leaving for St Petersburg by the next express train.  I am afraid, if
+you persist in your mistake, it may have unpleasant consequences for
+you.  Hence my plain speech.  But I am what I say."
+
+As I finished, I raised my hat and stood that she might convince
+herself of her blunder.
+
+She looked at me with the most careful scrutiny, even walking round to
+get a view of my figure.  Then she came back and looked into my face
+again; and I could see that she was still unconvinced.
+
+"It is impossible," she said, under her breath.  "If I allow for the
+difference your beard and moustache would make, you are my brother."
+
+"I am Hamylton Tregethner," I said, and I took out my pocket-book and
+shewed her my passport to Paris, Vienna, Moscow, "and travelling on the
+Continent."
+
+"These things can be bought--or made," she said.  Then she seemed to
+understand how she had committed herself with me, if I were really a
+stranger, and I saw her look at me with fear, doubt, and speculation on
+her pretty expressive face.
+
+She sighed and lifted her hands as if in half despair.
+
+"Madam, you have my word as an Englishman that not a syllable of what
+you have said shall pass my lips."  The bright glance of gratitude she
+threw me inspired me to add:--"If I can be of any help in this matter,
+you may command me absolutely."
+
+She gave me a little stiff look, and I thought I had offended her: but
+the next moment a light of eagerness took its place.
+
+"When are you leaving?" she asked with an indifference I could see was
+assumed.
+
+"By the St Petersburg express at 6 o'clock."
+
+"That is two hours after the Smolensk train."  She paused to think and
+glanced at me once, as if weighing whether she dare ask me something.
+Then she said quickly:--"Will you give me a couple of hours of your
+company on this platform and in the station this afternoon?"
+
+It was a strange sort of request and when I saw how anxiously she
+awaited my reply I could perceive she had a strong motive: and one that
+had certainly nothing to do with any desire for my company.
+
+Then suddenly I guessed her motive.  The cunning little woman!  Her
+brother was obviously going to fly from Moscow.  She saw that inasmuch
+as she herself had mistaken me for him, others would certainly do so;
+and thus, if she and I were together, the brother would get away
+unsuspected and would be flying from Moscow while he would be thought
+to be still walking about the station with his sister.  I liked the
+idea, and the girl's pluck on behalf of her brother.
+
+"I will give you not only two hours," I said, "but two days, or two
+weeks, if you like--if you will tell me candidly what your reason is."
+
+She started at this and saw by my expression that I had guessed her
+very open secret.
+
+"If you will walk with me outside, I will do that," she said.  "I am a
+very poor diplomatist."  With that we went out on to the platform and
+commenced a conversation that had momentous results for us all.
+
+She told me quite frankly that she wished me to act as a cover for her
+brother's flight.
+
+"No harm can come to you.  You will only have to prove your
+identity--otherwise I should not have asked this," she said,
+apologetically.  And then to excuse herself, she added, "And I should
+have told you, even if you had not asked me."
+
+I believed in her sincerity now, and I told her so in a roundabout way.
+Then I said:--"I am in earnest in saying that I will stay on in Moscow
+for a day or two if you wish.  I have nothing whatever to do, and if
+the affair should bring me in conflict with anyone, I should like it.
+I can't tell you all my reasons, as that would mean telling you a
+biggish slice of my life; but feel assured that if there's likely to be
+any adventure in it from which some men might shrink, it would rather
+attract me than otherwise.  But if you care to tell me the reasons of
+your brother's flight, I will breathe no word of them to a soul, and I
+may be of help."  I began to scent an adventure in it, and the perfume
+pleased me.
+
+My words set her thinking deeply, and we took two or three turns up and
+down before she answered.
+
+"No, you mustn't stop over to-day," she said, slowly.  Then she added
+thoughtfully:--"I don't know what Alexis would say to my confiding in
+you; but I should dearly like to."  She turned her face to me and
+looked long and searchingly into my eyes.  Then smiled slightly--a
+smile of confidence.  "I feel I can trust you.  I will risk it and tell
+you.  My brother is flying because a man in his regiment"--here her
+eyes shone and her cheeks coloured to a deep red--"has fastened a
+quarrel on him.  He has--has tried to--well, he has worried me and I
+don't like him"--the blush was of indignation now--"and because of this
+he has picked a quarrel with Alexis; and to-morrow--means to kill him
+in that form of barbarous assassination you men call duelling.  He
+knows he is infinitely more skilful than poor Alexis, and that my dear
+brother is no match for him with either sword or pistol; and he will
+drag him out to-morrow, and either shoot or stab him."
+
+The tears overflowed here, and made the eyes look more bright and
+beautiful than ever.
+
+"Why didn't your brother refuse to fight?"
+
+"How could he?" she asked despairingly.  "He would have been a marked
+man--a coward.  And this wretch would have triumphed over him.  And he
+knows this, because he offered to let Alexis off, if I--if I--Oh, would
+that I were a man!" she cried, changing the note of indignant grief for
+anger.
+
+"Do you mean he has made such an offer as this since the challenge
+passed?"
+
+"Yes, my brother came and told me.  But I could not do it.  And now
+this has come."
+
+I didn't think very highly of the brother, but he had evidently talked
+his sister round.  What I thought of most was the chance of a real
+adventure which the thing promised.
+
+The man must be a bully and a scoundrel, and it would serve him right
+to give him a lesson.  If this girl had not recognised me, perhaps he
+would not.  I felt that I should like to try.  There was no reason why
+I should not.  I could easily spare a couple of days for the little
+drama, and go on to St Petersburg afterwards.
+
+"You are very anxious for your brother's safety?" I asked.
+
+"He is my only protector in the world.  If he gets away now to Berlin
+or Paris, I shall follow and go to him."
+
+"But is he likely to get away when he will be missed in a few hours.  A
+single telegram from Moscow will close every frontier barrier in Russia
+upon him."
+
+"We know that;" and she wrung her hands.
+
+"If he could have two clear days he could reach the frontier and pass
+unquestioned," I said, significantly.
+
+She was a quick-witted little thing and saw my point with all a woman's
+sharpness.
+
+"Your life is not ours to give away.  This man is noted for his great
+skill."
+
+"Would everyone be likely to make the same mistake about me that you
+have made this afternoon?" I asked in reply.
+
+She looked at me again.  She was trembling a little in her earnestness.
+
+"Now that I know, I can see differences--especially in your expression;
+but in all Moscow there is not a man or woman who would not take you
+for my brother."
+
+"Then I decide for the two days here.  And if it will make you more
+comfortable, I can assure you I am quite as able to take care of myself
+with either sword or pistol as this bully you speak of.  But it is for
+you to decide."
+
+There came a pause, at the end of which she said, her face wearing a
+more frightened look:--
+
+"No, it must not be.  There are other reasons.  My brother is mixed up
+with..."
+
+"Excuse me, can you tell me which is the train for Smolensk?" asked a
+man who came up and interrupted us, speaking in a mixture of Russian,
+English and German.
+
+The girl started violently, and I guessed the man was her brother.  A
+glance at his eyes confirmed this.  They were a weak rendering of the
+glorious blue eyes that had been inspiring me to all sorts of impulses
+for the last hour.
+
+"That disguise is too palpable," I said, quietly.  He had shaved and
+was wearing false hair that could deceive no one.  In a few minutes the
+whole situation was explained to him by his quick sister.
+
+"I've only consented to go in order that Olga here may not be robbed of
+her only protector," he said, thinking apparently to explain away his
+cowardice.  "She has no one in the world to look after her but me, you
+know.  If you'll help her in this matter, she will be very much
+obliged; and so shall I.  You needn't go out to-morrow and fight
+Devinsky--that's the major's name: Loris Devinsky.  My regiment's the
+Moscow Infantry Regiment, you know.  If you'll go to my rooms and sham
+ill, no one will know you, and as soon as I'm over the frontier I'll
+wire Olga, and you can get away."  He was cunning enough as well as a
+coward, evidently.
+
+"Very well," said I.  "But you'll get over no frontier if you wear a
+beard which everyone with eyes can see is false, and talk in a language
+that no one ever spoke on this earth.  Pull off the beard: the little
+black moustache may stay.  Speak English, or your own tongue, and play
+my part to the frontier; and here take my passport; but post it back to
+your sister to be given to me as soon as you're safe over.  And for
+Heaven's sake don't walk as if you were a thief looking out for arrest.
+No one suspects; so carry yourself as if no one had cause to."
+
+It was a good thing for him I had seen his sister first.  He would
+never have got me to personate him even for a couple of hours.
+
+But we got him off all right, and his sister was so pleased that I
+could not help feeling pleased also.  First in his assumed character he
+made such arrangements for my luggage as I wished, and then we hurried
+up to the train just before it started.  As we reached the barrier
+where the papers had to be examined, he turned and bade his sister
+good-bye, and then said to me aloud in Russian, hiding his voice a
+little:--
+
+"Well, good-bye, Alexis;" and he shook hands with me.
+
+"Good-bye," I answered with a laugh: and he waved an adieu to us from
+the other side of the barrier.
+
+As we turned away together, Olga was a little pale.
+
+Three soldiers saluted me, and I acknowledged the salute gravely,
+glancing at them as I passed.
+
+Then I noticed a couple of men who had been standing together and
+watching the girl and myself for some time, leave their places and
+follow us.  I told my companion and presently I saw her turn and look
+at them, and then start and shiver.
+
+"Do you know them?" I asked.
+
+"Alas, yes.  They are Nihilist spies, watching us."
+
+"Ah, then there is a little more in this than I have understood so
+far," I said.
+
+"You shall know everything," she replied as we left the station
+together.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+I AM A NIHILIST.
+
+"I think if you don't mind we will go back to the station," said my
+companion, stopping after we had gone a little way without speaking.
+"It is very convenient for talking.  Besides, you have to decide
+whether this thing shall be carried any farther."
+
+"I have already decided," I replied, quietly.  "I am going through with
+it, if it is at all possible.  But I have thought of many difficulties."
+
+"You must know all that I can tell you, please, before you decide, or I
+shall be very uncomfortable."  She said this very firmly.
+
+"Certainly you must tell me everything that will help me to know what
+manner of man I am now."  I smiled as I said this to reassure her; but
+she was very earnest and a little pale.
+
+She waited a while until there was no one near us, and then said in a
+low tone:--
+
+"My brother is mixed up with the Nihilists in some way.  I don't know
+how, quite: but I believe they suspect him of having played them false,
+and I think his life is threatened.  Those two men you saw at the
+station were spies, sent either to stop him, or, if he got away, to
+follow him."
+
+"But they didn't attempt to stop him."
+
+"No, they mistook you for him, thinking they could see through the
+disguise of a clean shaven face.  Had you entered the train, they would
+very likely have told you openly not to go, or have warned you of the
+consequences."
+
+"And what would be the consequences?"
+
+"Surely you know what it means for a Nihilist to disobey orders?  It is
+death."  She was white now and agitated.  "I am so ashamed at not
+having told you before you took the first step."
+
+"It would have made no difference in my decision," I replied promptly.
+I thought more of clearing her clouded face than of any possible
+consequences to me.  "But tell me, are you also mixed up with them in
+any way?"
+
+"I am putting my liberty and perhaps my life into your hands," she
+said, in the same very earnest tone and manner.  "My brother has drawn
+me in with him to a certain extent.  You know they like to have many
+women in the ranks."
+
+"I am sorry for you.  I have rarely known a Nihilist who was capable of
+getting much pleasure out of life."  A cold touch of fear seemed to
+contract her features, as she glanced at me and shrank a little from me.
+
+"You!  What--how come you to know anything of this?  You said you
+were--an Englishman?"
+
+"I am an Englishman: but I lived the first sixteen years of my life in
+Russia: the last six of them in Moscow here; and I know much of Russian
+life.  I have made only one visit to Russia since I left; and this time
+I arrived only last night, and intended to go on to St Petersburg as I
+told you to-day.  It will save time in this matter if you can make up
+your mind to believe absolutely in my good faith."
+
+I looked into her face as I said this, and I held out my hand.  She
+laid hers in it, and we clasped hands in a strong firm grip as a token
+of mutual faith and friendship.  I believed in the little soul, and
+meant to stand by her.
+
+"I will trust you now," she said, simply, after a pause.
+
+"As for what you have told me, it can make no difference to me," I
+declared.  "If I go out and meet this fellow Devinsky to-morrow, and he
+beats me, it will be all the same to me whether I am a Nihilist or an
+Englishman.  There is only one soul in all the world who will care; and
+I shall give you a letter to be posted to him--if things go wrong."
+
+I stopped to give her an opportunity of promising to do this; but she
+remained silent, and walked with her head bent low.  I felt rather a
+clumsy fool.  She was such a sensitive little body, that the thought of
+my being killed, as the result of her having got me to help her brother
+away, naturally upset her.  She couldn't know how gladly I should
+welcome the other man's sword-point between my ribs.
+
+After a pause of considerable constraint she said:--
+
+"There is no need whatever for you to go out and meet Major Devinsky.
+You can do as Alexis said; be ill in bed until the passport comes back,
+and then leave."
+
+"Oh, I'm not one to play the coward in that way," said I, lightly, when
+a look of reproach from those most expressive eyes of hers made me
+curse myself for a clumsy fool for this reflection on her brother's
+want of pluck.  "I mean this.  If I take up a part in anything I must
+play it my own way; but there's more than that behind.  I don't want to
+look like bragging before you; but I have come out here to Russia to
+volunteer for the war which everyone says must come with Turkey.  I've
+done it because--well, you may guess that a man has a pretty strong
+reason when he wants to volunteer to fight another country's battles.
+It's the sort of thing in which he can expect plenty of the kicks,
+while others get all the ha'pence.  I've not been a success in England
+and I've had a stroke lately that's made me sick of things.  I can't
+explain all this in detail: but the long and short of it is that if
+anything were to happen to me to-morrow morning, it would be the most
+welcome thing imaginable for me.  Now, you'll understand what I mean
+when I tell you that nothing you can say as to the danger of the
+business can do anything but attract me.  If I could only feel my blood
+tingling again in a rush of excitement, I'd give anything."
+
+My companion listened carefully to this, and her tell-tale face was all
+sympathy when I finished.  Obviously she was deeply interested.
+
+"Have you no mother or sister?" she asked.
+
+"No--fortunately for them."
+
+"Have you never had anyone to lean on you and trust to you for guidance
+and protection?  That helps a good man."
+
+"No.  But I've had those who've taken good care to break my trust in
+them--and everything else."  This with a bitter little reminiscent
+sneer and a shrug of the shoulders.  "Still, it has its advantages.
+Any new part I might wish to play could not be more barren than the
+old."
+
+My companion shot a glance up in my face as I said this, but made no
+answer.  It was I who broke the silence.
+
+"Time is flying," I said, in a lighter tone: "and I have much to learn
+if I am to be your brother for the next two or three days.  I want to
+know where I live, where you live, all that you can tell me about my
+brother officers and my duties--everything.  Indeed that is necessary
+to prevent my being at once discovered."
+
+After some further expostulation she told me that she and her brother
+were orphans; that they had come about a year or so before to Moscow on
+her brother being transferred to this regiment; and that the brother
+had private quarters in the Square of St. Mark, while she lived with an
+aunt, their only relative, in a suite of rooms close to the Cathedral.
+They were of a very old family, neither rich nor poor, but having
+enough to live comfortably and mix in some amount of society.
+
+I gathered, however, that Alexis had been the source of much trouble.
+He had embarrassed his money affairs; lived a fast life, become
+involved with the Nihilists; dragged in his sister; and had ended by
+compromising himself in many quarters.  She told me the story, so much
+as she knew of it, very deftly, intending no doubt to screen her
+brother; but I could read enough between the lines to understand that
+his life had been anything but saintly.  Moreover, I was very much
+mistaken if he were not as arrant a coward as ever crowed on a
+dung-hill and ran away when the time came for fighting.
+
+All this gave me plenty of food for thought--some of it disagreeable
+enough.  It was no pleasant thing to take up the part of a coward and a
+scape-grace.  Scapegrace I had been all my life in a way: but no man
+ever thought me a coward.
+
+I take no credit to myself for not being a coward; and I am quite ready
+to believe that there are sound physiological reasons for it.  Nature
+may have forgotten to give me those nerves by which men feel fear; but
+it is the case that never in my life have I experienced even a passing
+sensation of fear.  I would just as soon die as go to sleep.  I have
+seen men--much better men than I, and quite as truly brave--shudder at
+the idea of death and shrink with dread from the thought of pain.  But
+at no time in my life have I cared for either; and I have come to
+regard this as due to Nature's considerate omissions in my creation.
+Certain other omissions of hers have not been so considerate.
+
+This will explain, however, why the thought of the danger which
+troubled my new "sister" so much did not cause me even a passing
+uneasiness, especially at such a time.  What I was anxious to do was to
+get hold of as much detail as possible of my new character; and I was
+sufficiently interested by it to wish to play it successfully.
+
+To this end I questioned my companion very closely indeed about the
+names and appearance of the brother's friends and fellow officers,
+about the habits of military life, and in short about everything I
+deemed likely to help me not to stumble.
+
+At the close of the examination I said:----
+
+"At any rate we two must begin to rehearse.  You must call me Alexis
+and must allow me to call you Olga; and we must do it always to avoid
+slips."
+
+She saw the need but blushed a bit when I added:---"And now, Olga,
+we'll make our first practical experiment.  We'll go together to my
+rooms and you must shew me what sailors call my bearings."
+
+"Shall we walk--Alexis?" she asked, her eyes bright and her cheeks
+ruddy with pretty confusion.
+
+"By all means--Olga," I answered, returning her smile, and imitating
+her emphasis on the Christian name.  "Do you know that my sister's name
+has a very quaint sound in my ears, and comes very trippingly to a
+brother's tongue?"
+
+"But you don't like it and you think it common," she returned.
+
+"I?"
+
+"Yes, you have often said so, Alexis.  Surely you remember.  Why, only
+this morning you said how silly you had always thought it," she
+replied, demurely.
+
+"Oh, I see," I laughed.  "Ah, I've changed that opinion.  A good many
+other things have changed too, since this morning," I added drily; and
+we both laughed then, and, considering the circumstances, were in
+extremely good spirits.
+
+"Alexis," she cried, with a sudden warning, as we turned a corner into
+the Square of St. Gregory.  "Don't you see who is coming toward us?
+Major Devinsky and Lieutenants Trackso and Weisswich.  The major will
+pass next you.  What will you do?"  She asked this in a quick hurried
+voice.
+
+"Cut him as dead as a door nail," said I, instantly, drawing myself up.
+"And the other fellows too; are they friends of mine, by the way?"
+
+"No, they are his toadies," she whispered.
+
+Olga bent her face down and would not see them; but I squared my
+shoulders and held my head aloft, fixing my eyes steadily on the three
+men as they approached.  At first they did not recognise me.  Then I
+saw one of them start, and making a rapid motion of his hand across his
+chin, he whispered to his companion, both of whom started in their turn
+and laughed.
+
+As we passed the major made an effusive bow to my "sister" which the
+other two copied, while all three sneered with an air of insolent
+braggadocio and simultaneously put their hands to their chins as their
+eyes fell on me.
+
+My blood seethed with anger at the insult.  Nothing could have fired my
+eagerness more effectively to begin the drama of my new life.  If I
+didn't punish each of those three for that insult, it should be because
+death stepped in to stop me.
+
+"I am glad we met them," said I, smiling.  "I shall know now which is
+my adversary to-morrow, and shan't pink the wrong man by mistake.  But
+you look a bit scared, Olga."--I saw she was very pale.
+
+"I am afraid of that man," she answered.  "He is a man of good family
+and great wealth, and has a lot of influence in certain circles.  He is
+an ugly enemy."
+
+"Ugly, he certainly is," said I, lightly, speaking of his face.
+
+"I mean dangerous," replied the girl seriously.
+
+"I know you do, child," I answered, as naturally as if she were really
+my sister.  "But we'll wait till we talk this over after to-morrow
+morning.  I tell you what I'll promise you as a treat.  You shall
+breakfast with me, or rather I'll breakfast with you to-morrow, and
+tell you at first hand all about the meeting.  You have been a little
+too anxious about me."
+
+"I am afraid that might occasion remark," she replied with the demure
+look I had noticed once or twice before.  "You know that you have not
+always been an attentive brother, Alexis: and it is not good acting to
+overdo the part:" and she threw me a little smile and a glance.
+
+I laughed and answered:--"That may be: but I've changed since the
+morning, as I told you before."
+
+"Very well, then.  You remember of course that aunt never gets up early
+enough to have breakfast with me--but you shall come if"--and here the
+light died right out of her face and her underlip trembled so that she
+had to bite it to keep it steady--"if all goes well, as I pray it may."
+
+"You are a good sister, and need have no fear.  I am not made of the
+stuff to go down before that bully's sword.  So get ready my favourite
+dish--whatever that may be--and I'll promise to do justice to it."
+
+"Here are your rooms," she said, a moment later, as she stopped before
+a large wide house.  "They are on the ground floor with those windows.
+But before we go in, remember your manservant's name is Vosk, and he is
+a very sharp fellow.  And please let me give you a word of warning.
+Alexis has not only not been attentive to me, but his manner has often
+been very brusque and--oh, if you had had sisters you would know how
+brothers behave.  They don't mind turning their backs on one; they
+contradict, and interrupt and laugh at one; treat one as a convenience,
+and are rude.  They don't in the least mind hiding their affection
+under the garb of indifference and contempt, and all that."
+
+"Am I to treat you with contempt, then?" I asked with a grin.
+
+"I think you should be a little more brusque," she replied, laughing
+and blushing.  She was really a very jolly little sister.
+
+"I shall get into it all in a day or two, perhaps."
+
+"You had better try.  Vosk is very sharp indeed."
+
+"All right, I'll find means somehow to dull his wits."
+
+We went in and I then tried to put a little more bluntness into my
+manner and to play the brother.
+
+The man was in his room when I entered and started when he saw the
+change in my appearance.  I caught his vigilant eye glance sharply at
+the pattern and cut of my clothes.
+
+"Does your face hurt you now, Alexis?" asked Olga.
+
+I understood her and answered in a somewhat surly tone, putting my hand
+to my left cheek.  "No, not so much now; but it was an infernally silly
+joke to play.  It's cost me my beard and a suit of clothes.  A good
+thing it wasn't a uniform.  Put out something for me to wear, Vosk," I
+said sharply to the man.
+
+He looked at me again very keenly, but went at once to do what I
+ordered.  Olga and I went into the chief sitting room--there were two
+leading one out of the other--and sat down.  The man's manner had
+reminded me of several things.  Very soon I made an excuse and sent him
+out.
+
+"You must tell me all about the clothes I have to wear at different
+functions," I said.  "Vosk saw that these were not out of my wardrobe
+proper, and while he's out, I'll hurry and change them, and we'll see
+how the uniforms fit me.  A mistake may spoil everything at the last
+moment."
+
+I ran into the bedroom and slipped into the undress uniform the man had
+laid ready.  To my supreme satisfaction I found that they fitted me
+fairly well; and though they required some touches here and there, they
+would pass muster as my own.  I tried on also some of the other
+uniforms I saw in the room; and wearing one of them, I went back to my
+"sister."
+
+She cried out in her astonishment:--"My brother Alexis to the life."
+
+"Your brother Alexis to the death," I answered so earnestly that she
+coloured as I took her hand and kissed it.  Then in a lighter tone I
+added, "Uniforms make all men of anything like the same figure look
+alike.  It's fortunate that your brother's an army man."  Then we
+chatted for some minutes until I thought it prudent to change back
+again into the undress uniform that Vosk had put out.
+
+Then I took a lesson in uniforms and questioned Olga until she had told
+me all that she herself knew about them.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+MY SECONDS.
+
+I walked with my sister to her home, and then returned to my rooms and
+sat down to think out seriously and in detail the extraordinary
+position into which I had fallen.
+
+The more I considered it the more I liked it, and I am bound to add the
+more dangerous it seemed.  Obviously it was one thing to be mistaken
+for a man and to pass for him for a few minutes or hours: but it was
+quite another to take up his life where he had dropped it and play the
+part day by day and week after week.  There must be a thousand threads
+of the existence of which no one but himself could know, yet each would
+have to be laid correctly in continuation of the due pattern of his
+life; or discovery would follow.
+
+Here lay my difficulty, and for a time I did not see a way round it or
+through it or under it.  So far as I could judge by all that my sister
+had told me, the resemblance between the real Alexis and myself was
+strictly limited to physical qualities.  A freak of nature had made us
+counterparts of one another in size, look, complexion, voice, and
+certain gestures.  But it stopped there.  My other self was a subtle,
+cunning, intriguing, traitorous conspirator, and very much of a coward:
+while I--well, I was not that.
+
+I come of a very old Cornish family with many of the Celtic
+characteristics most strongly developed.  I believe that I have a
+certain amount of mother wit or shrewdness, but no process that was
+ever known or tried with me was sufficient to drive into me even
+sufficient learning to enable me to scrape through a career.  I was the
+despair first of the Russian schoolmasters for over ten years, and next
+of all the English tutors who took me in hand during the next ten.  I
+went to a large English school, and was expelled, after a hundred
+scrapes, because I learnt nothing.  I tried to cram for Oxford, but
+never could get through Smalls; and the good old Master, who loved a
+strong man, almost cried when, after two years of ploughs, he had to
+send me down, when I was the best oar in the eight, the smartest field
+and hardest hitter in the eleven, the fastest mile and half-mile in the
+Varsity, and one of the three strongest men in all Oxford.
+
+But I had to go, and I went to an army crammer to try and be stuffed
+for the service.  I never had a chance with the books; but I carried
+all before me in every possible form of sport.  It was there I picked
+up my fencing and revolver shooting.  It became a sort of passion with
+me.  I could use the revolver like a trickster and shoot to a hair's
+breadth; while with either broadsword or rapier I could beat the
+fencing master all over the school.  However, I was beaten by the
+examiners and my couple of years' work succeeded only in giving my
+muscles the hardness of steel and flexibility of whipcord.  I am not a
+big man, nearly two inches under 6ft, but at that time I had never met
+anyone who could beat me in any trial where strength, endurance, or
+agility was needed.  But these would not satisfy the examiners, so I
+gave up all thought of getting into the army that way.
+
+I tried the ranks, therefore, and joined a regiment in which a couple
+of brainless family men had enlisted, as a step toward a commission.
+But I was only in for six months: and my surprise is that I stopped so
+long.  There was a beast of a sergeant--a strong fellow in his way who
+had been cock of the dunghill until I came--and after I'd thrashed him
+first with the single-sticks, and then with the gloves, and in a
+wrestling bout had given him a taste of our Cornish methods, he marked
+me out for special petty illtreatment.  It came to a climax one day
+when a couple of dozen of us were sent off on a train journey.  I left
+on the platform some bit of the gear.  He noticed it and bringing it to
+the carriage window, flung it in at me and, with a sneer and a big
+coarse oath, cried:--"D'ye think I'm here to wet-nurse you, you
+damnation great baby?"  And he waited a moment with the sneer still on
+his face: and he didn't wait in vain, either.  Forgetting all about
+discipline and thinking only of his insult, I flung out my left and hit
+him fair on the mouth, sending him down like a ninepin.  Then I picked
+up my things and went straight away to report myself to the officer in
+charge of us.  There was a big row, with the result that the sergeant
+was reduced to the ranks, and I was allowed to buy myself out, being
+given plainly to understand that if I stayed in, my chance of a
+commission was as good as lost.  This closed my army career.
+
+For a few years I was at a loose end altogether--a man of action
+without a sphere.  Then the natural result followed.  I fell madly in
+love with my best friend's sister, Edith Balestier.  I cursed my folly
+in having wasted my life, and filled the air with vows that I would set
+to work to increase my income of L250 a year to an amount such as would
+let me give her a home worthy of her.  She loved me.  I know that.  But
+her mother didn't; and in the end, the mother won.  Edith tossed me
+over ruthlessly, while I was away for a couple of months; and all in a
+hurry she married another man for his title and money.
+
+It was only the old tale.  I knew that well enough; but it seemed to
+break my last hope.  Everything I'd ever really wanted, I'd always
+failed to get.  I was like a lunatic; and vowed I'd kill myself after
+I'd punished the woman who'd done worse than kill me.
+
+I thought out a scheme and played it shrewdly enough.  I shut the
+resolve out of sight, and laughed and jibed as though I felt no wound.
+And I waited.  The chance came surely enough.  I went down to a dance
+at a place a bit out of town and took my revolver with me.  After a
+waltz I led my Lady Cargill out into the shrubbery and when she least
+suspected what I was about, whipped out the weapon and told her what I
+was going to do.  She knew me well enough to feel I was in deadly
+earnest; but she made no scene, such as another woman might.  Her white
+beauty held my hand an instant, and in that time her husband, Sir
+Philip, came up.  Then I had a flash of genius.  I knew he was as
+jealous as a man could be and as he had known nothing of my relations
+with Edith, like many another self-sufficient idiot, he imagined she
+had loved him and no one else.  I opened his eyes that night.  Keeping
+him in control with the pistol, I made him hear the whole passionful
+story of her love for me from her own lips; and I shall never forget
+how the white of his craven fear changed to the dull grey of a sickened
+heart as he heard.  At a stroke it killed my desire to kill.  I had had
+a revenge a thousand times more powerful.  I had made the wife see the
+husband's craven poltroonery, and the husband the wife's heart
+infidelity; and I let them live for their mutual distrust and
+punishment.
+
+A month later I stood on the Moscow platform, my back turned on England
+for ever, my face turned war-wards, and my heart ready for any
+devilment that might offer, when my fate was tossed topsy-turvy into a
+cauldron of welcome dangers, promising death and certainly calculated
+to give me that distraction from my own troubles which I desired so
+keenly.
+
+I was thus ready enough to take up my new character in earnest and play
+it to the end.  If I were discovered, it could not mean more than
+death; while there were possibilities in it which might have very
+different results.  War with Turkey was a certainty, and at such a time
+I should be able to find my sphere, and might be able to carve for
+myself a position.
+
+It was clear that Alexis had so far been known as a very different man
+from the kind that produces good soldiers: but men sometimes reform
+suddenly, and the new Alexis would be cast in a quite different mould.
+The difficulty was to invent a pretext for the sudden change; and in
+regard to this a good idea occurred to me.
+
+I resolved to say that I had had an ugly accident and a great fright,
+and to connect this with the shaving of my beard and moustache.  To
+pretend that the mishap had effected as complete a change in my nature
+as in my appearance: as if my brain had been in some way affected.  I
+mapped out a very boldly defined course of eccentric conduct which
+would be not altogether inconsistent with some such mental disturbance.
+I would be moody, silent, reserved, and yet subject to gusts and fits
+of uncontrollable passion and anger: desperate in all matters touching
+courage, and contemptuously intolerant of any kind of interference.  I
+knew that my skill with the sword and pistol would soon win me respect
+and a reputation, while any mistakes I made would be set down to
+eccentricity.  I was drawing from life--a French officer whom I had
+known stationed at Rouen: evidently a man with a past which no one even
+dared to question.  I calculated that in this way I should make time to
+choose my permanent course.
+
+I soon had an opportunity of setting to work.
+
+The officer who, as Olga had told me, was to be my chief second in the
+morning, Lieutenant Essaieff, came to see me.  He was immensely
+surprised at the change in my appearance, scanned me very curiously and
+indeed suspiciously, and asked the cause.
+
+"Drink or madness?" he put it laconically, in that tone of contempt
+with which one speaks to a distrusted servant or a disliked
+acquaintance.
+
+Even my friends held me cheap, it seemed.
+
+"Neither drink nor madness, if you please," said I, very sternly,
+eyeing him closely.  "But a miracle."
+
+"And which of the devils is it this time, Petrovitch?" he asked,
+laughing lightly.  "Gad, he must have been hard put to it.  Or is it
+one of the she-devils, eh?  You know plenty of those.  Let's have the
+tale."  He laughed again; but the mirth was not so genuine that time,
+and I could see that the effect of the fixed stare with which I
+regarded him began to tell.
+
+"I'm in no mood for this folly," said I, very curtly.  "Save for a
+miracle, I should now be a dead man.  That's all.  And I'll thank you
+not to jest about it."
+
+He was serious now and asked:--"How did it happen?"
+
+I made no answer, but sat staring moodily out in front of me, and yet
+contriving to watch him as he eyed me furtively now and again, in
+surprise at the change in me.
+
+"Are you ill, Petrovitch?" he asked at length.
+
+"Hell!" I burst out with the utmost violence, springing to my feet.
+"What is it to you?"  And then with complete inconsequence I added:--"I
+was praying, and in answer a light flashed on me and would have
+consumed me wholly, but for a miracle.  Half my clothes and my
+face-hair were consumed--and I was changed."
+
+"Ah, prayer's a dangerous thing when you've a lot of arrears to make
+up," he said with a sneer.
+
+I turned and looked at him coldly and threateningly.
+
+"Lieutenant Essaieff, you have been good enough to lend me your
+services for this business to-morrow morning, but that gives you no
+title to insult me.  After to-morrow you will be good enough to give me
+an explanation of your words."
+
+He had risen and stood looking at me so earnestly that I half thought
+he suspected the change.  But he did not.
+
+"You will not be alive to demand it," he said, at length,
+contemptuously, clipping the words short in a manner that shewed me how
+angry he was and how much he despised me.  "I'm only sorry I was fool
+enough to be persuaded to act for you," he added as he swung out of the
+room.
+
+I laughed to myself when he had gone, for I saw that I had imposed on
+him.  He thought I was half beside myself with fear.  Evidently I had
+an evil-smelling reputation.  But I would soon change all that, I
+thought, as I set to work to examine all the papers and possessions in
+the rooms.  I was engaged in this work when my other second arrived.
+He was named Ugo Gradinsk, and was a very different kind of man, and
+had been a much more intimate friend.  He had heard of my accident and
+had come for news.
+
+A glance at him filled me with instinctive disgust.
+
+"What's up, Alexis?" was his greeting.  "That prig Essaieff, has just
+told me you're in a devil of a funny mood, and thinks you're about out
+of your mind with fear.  What the devil have you done to yourself?"  He
+touched his chin as he spoke.
+
+"Can't I be shaved without setting you all cackling with curiosity?  I
+had half my hair burnt off and shaved the other half."  He started at
+my surly tone and I saw in his eyes a reflection of the other man's
+thoughts.
+
+"D'ye think you'll be a smaller mark for Devinsky's sword?  It's made a
+devil of a difference in your looks, I must say.  And in your manners
+too."  I heard him mutter this last sentence into his moustache.
+
+"Do you think I mean for an instant to allow that bully's sword to
+touch me?" I asked scowling angrily.
+
+"Well, you thought so last night when I was giving you that wrinkle
+with the foils--and that was certainly why you got this infernal duel
+put off for a day."
+
+"Ah, well, I've been fooling you, that's all," said I, shortly.  "I've
+played the fool long enough too, and I mean business.  I've taken out a
+patent."  I laughed grimly.
+
+"What the devil d'ye mean?  What patent?"
+
+"A new sword stroke.  The sabre stroke, I call it.  Every first-rank
+swordsman has one," I cried boastfully.
+
+"First-rank swordsman be hanged.  Why, you can't hold a candle to me.
+And I would not stand before Devinsky's weapon for the promise of a
+colonelcy.  Don't be an ass."
+
+"My cut's with the flat of the sword across the face directly I've
+disarmed my man."
+
+"And a devilish effective cut too no doubt--when you have disarmed him.
+But you'd better be making your will and putting your things in order,
+instead of talking this sort of swaggering rubbish to keep your courage
+up.  You know jolly well that Devinsky means mischief; and what always
+happens when he does.  I don't want to frighten you, but hang it all,
+you know what he is."
+
+"I'm going to pass the night in prayer," said I: and my visitor laughed
+boisterously at this.
+
+"If you confess all we've done together, old man, you'll want a full
+night," he said.
+
+"The prayers are for him, not for me," and at that he laughed more
+boisterously than before: and he began to talk of a hundred dissipated
+experiences we had had together.  I let him talk freely as it was part
+of my education, and he rattled on about such a number of shameful
+things that I was disgusted alike with him and with the beast I was
+supposed to be.  At length to my relief he stopped and asked me to go
+across to the club for the last night.
+
+I resolved to go, thinking that if I were in his company it would seem
+appropriate, and I wished to paint in more of the garish colours of my
+new character among my fellow-officers.  I made myself very offensive
+the moment I was inside the place.  I swaggered about the rooms with an
+assumption of insufferable insolence.  Whenever I found a man looking
+askance at me--and this was frequent enough--I picked him out for some
+special insult.  I spoke freely of the "miracle" that had happened to
+me, and the change that had been effected.  I repeated my coarse silly
+jest about praying all night for my antagonist: and I so behaved that
+before I had been in the place an hour, I had laid the foundations of
+enough quarrels to last me a month if I wished to have a meeting every
+morning.
+
+"Ah, he knows well enough he's going to die to-morrow morning," said
+one man in my hearing.  "It's no good challenging a man under sentence
+of death," said another; while a number of others held to Essaieff's
+view--that I was beside myself with fear, or drink, or both combined.
+I placed myself at the disposal of every man who had a word to say; but
+the main answer I received was an expression of thanks that after that
+night I should trouble them no more.
+
+I left the place, hugely pleased with the result of the night's work.
+I had created at a stroke a new part for Alexis Petrovitch: and
+prepared everyone to expect and think nothing of any fresh
+eccentricities or further change they might observe in me in the future.
+
+I reached my rooms in high spirits, and sat down to overhaul the place
+for papers, and to learn something more of myself than I at present
+knew.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+THE DUEL.
+
+The discoveries I made were more varied and interesting than agreeable:
+and I found plenty of evidence to more than justify my first ill
+impressions of Olga's real brother.
+
+It was time indeed that there should be a change.
+
+The man must have gone off without even waiting to sort his papers.
+
+Rummaging in some locked drawers, the keys of which I found in a little
+cabinet that I broke open, I came across a diary with a number of
+entries with long gaps between them, which seemed to throw a good deal
+of light on my past.
+
+There were indications of three separate intrigues which I was
+apparently carrying on at that very time; the initials of the women
+being "P.T.," "A.P.," and "B.G."  The last-named, I may say at once, I
+never heard of or discovered: though in some correspondence I read
+afterwards, I came across some undated letters signed with the
+initials, making and accepting and declining certain appointments.  But
+both "P.T." and "A.P." were the cause of trouble afterwards.
+
+I found that a number of appointments of all kinds were fixed for the
+following afternoon.  The initials of the persons only were given, but
+enough particulars were added to shew the nature of the business.  Thus
+someone was coming for a bet of 1,000 roubles; a money lender was due
+who had seemingly declared that he would wait no longer; and quite a
+number of tradesmen for their bills.
+
+I soon saw the reason for all this.  I was evidently a fellow with a
+turn for a certain kind of humour; and I had obviously made the
+appointments in the full assurance either that Devinsky's sword would
+have squared all earthly accounts in full for me, or that I should be
+safe across the frontier and out of my creditors' way.
+
+I recalled with a chuckle my words to Olga--that if I were to play the
+part I must play it thoroughly.  This meant that not only must I fight
+the beggar's duel for him, but if I were not killed, fence with his
+creditors also or pay their claims.
+
+I swept everything at length into one of the biggest and strongest
+drawers, locked them up, and sat down to think for a few minutes before
+going to bed.
+
+If I fell in the morning I wished Rupert Balestier to hear of it; and
+the only means by which that could be done would be for me to write a
+note and get Olga to post it.  Half a dozen words would be enough:
+
+
+"MY DEAR RUPERT,
+
+"The end has come much sooner than I hoped when writing you this
+afternoon.  A queer adventure has landed me in a duel for to-morrow
+morning with a man who is known as a good swordsman.  He may prove too
+much for me.  If so, good-bye old friend, and so much the better.  It
+will save an awful lot of trouble; and the world and I are quite ready
+to be quit of one another.  The receipt of this letter posted by a
+friendly hand will be a sign to you that I have fallen.  Again,
+good-bye, old fellow.  H.T."
+
+
+I did not put my name in full, to lessen the chance of complication
+should the letter go astray.  I addressed it, and then put it under a
+separate cover.  Next I wrote a short note to my sister; and this had
+to be ambiguously worded, lest it also should get into the wrong hands.
+
+
+"MY DEAR SISTER,
+
+"You know of my duel with Major Devinsky and that it is in honour
+unavoidable.  Should I fall, I have one or two last words.  I have many
+debts; but had arranged to pay them to-morrow; and I have more than
+enough money in English bank notes for the purpose.  Pay everything and
+keep for yourself the balance, or do with it what you think best.  My
+money could be used in no better way than to clear up entirely this
+part of my life.  I ask you to post the enclosed letter to England; and
+please do so, without even reading the address.  This is my one request.
+
+"God bless you, Olga, and find you a better protector than I have been
+able to be.
+
+Your brother,
+  "ALEXIS."
+
+
+This I sealed up and then enclosed the whole in an envelope together
+with about L2,000 in bank notes which I had brought with me from
+England.  The envelope I addressed to my "sister" and determined to ask
+my chief second, Lieutenant Essaieff, to give it to Olga, should I fall.
+
+One other little task I had.  I went through my clothes and my own few
+papers and carefully destroyed every trace of connection with Hamylton
+Tregethner, so that there should be nothing to complicate the matter of
+identity in the event of my death.
+
+So far so good--if Devinsky killed me.  But what if I could beat him?
+
+The quarrel was none of mine.  I had no right to go out and even fight
+a man in an assumed character, to say nothing of killing him.  Look at
+the thing as I would I could make nothing else than murder of it; and
+very treacherous murder, to boot.
+
+The man was doubtless a bully, and he seemed willing to use his
+superior skill to fix a quarrel on Olga's brother and kill him, in
+order to leave the girl without protection.  But his blackguardism was
+no excuse for my killing him.  I had no right to interfere.  I had
+never seen her or him until the last few hours; and however much Major
+Devinsky deserved punishment, I had no authority to administer it.
+
+Probably if the man knew how I could use the sword he would never have
+dreamt of challenging me; and I could not substitute my exceptional
+skill for Olga's brother's lack of it and so kill the man, without
+being in fact, whatever I might seem in appearance, an assassin.
+
+If I were to warn him before the duel that a great mistake had been
+made as to my skill, I shouldn't be believed.  He and others would only
+think I was keeping up the braggart conduct of that evening at the
+club.  At the same time I liked the idea of the warning.  It would at
+any rate be original, especially if I succeeded in beating the major.
+But it was clear that I could not kill him.
+
+All roads led round to that decision: and as I had come to the end of
+my cigar and there was plenty of reason why I should have as much sleep
+as possible, I went to bed and slept like a top till my man, Vosk,
+called me early in the morning and told me that Lieutenant Gradinsk was
+already waiting for me.
+
+"That beggar, Essaieff, has gone on to the Common"--this was where we
+were to fight--"Told me to tell you.  Suppose he doesn't care to be
+seen in our company.  I hate the snob," he said when I joined him.
+
+"So long as he's there when I want him, it's enough for me," said I, so
+curtly, that my companion looked at me in some astonishment.
+
+"Umph, don't seem over cheerful this morning, Alexis.  Must perk up a
+bit and shew a bold front.  It's an ugly business this, but you won't
+help yourself now by...."
+
+"Silence," I cried sternly.  "When I'm afraid, you may find courage to
+tell me so openly.  At present it's dangerous."
+
+Then I completed my few preparations in absolute silence, both Gradinsk
+and the servant watching me in astonishment.  When I was ready, I
+turned to Vosk.
+
+"What wages are due to you?" I asked sharply.  He told me, and I paid
+him, adding the amount for three months' further.  "You leave my
+service at once.  I have no further need of you."  I was in truth
+anxious to get rid of him.
+
+"My things are here.  I...." he began, obviously making excuses.
+
+"I give you five minutes to take what is absolutely necessary.  The
+rest you can have another time.  You will not return here."
+
+"Do you suspect..."  he began again.
+
+"I only discharge you," I returned curtly.  "Half of one of your
+minutes is gone."  He looked at me a moment, fear mingled with his
+utter astonishment, and then went out of the room.
+
+Five minutes later I locked the doors behind us and put the keys in my
+pocket.
+
+"What has he done, Alexis?  Isn't it rather risky?  You've been so
+intimate...." said Gradinsk, as soon as we were in the droschky.
+
+"It is I who have done this, not he," I answered, sharply.  "It is my
+private affair if you please."
+
+"D---- your private affairs," he cried in a burst of temper.  "Even if
+you are going to die, you needn't behave like a sullen hog."
+
+I stared round at him coldly.
+
+"After the meeting I shall ask you to withdraw that, Lieutenant
+Gradinsk," and we did not exchange another word till the place of
+meeting was reached.
+
+We were the last to arrive: and there appeared to have been some doubt
+as to whether I should dare to turn up, I think; for I caught a
+significant gesture pass between my opponent's seconds.
+
+How I looked I know not; but I felt very dangerous, and I tried to be
+perfectly calm and self-possessed and natural in my manner.
+
+"Lieutenant Essaieff," I said, drawing my chief second on one side
+after I had saluted the others.  "There are two matters to be
+mentioned.  If I should fall, will you give this letter with your own
+hands immediately to my sister?"
+
+"You have my word on that," he said, bowing gravely.
+
+"One thing more.  I have an explanation to make to my opponent, Major
+Devinsky, which I think should be made in the hearing of all."
+
+"An apology?" he asked, with a slight curl of the lip.
+
+"No, but an explanation without which this duel cannot take place.
+Will you arrange it?"
+
+He went to Devinsky's seconds, and then returning fetched me and
+Gradinsk, who was very nervous.  I went up to the other group and spoke
+very quietly but firmly.
+
+"Before the duel takes place, Major Devinsky, I must make such an
+explanation as will prevent its being fought under a mistake.  I am a
+much more expert swordsman than is currently known.  I have purposely
+concealed my skill during the months I have been in Moscow; but I
+cannot engage with you now, without making the fact known.  I have
+indeed rather drawn you into this affair and I now desire you to join
+with me in declining to carry the dispute further.  After this
+explanation, and at any future time I shall of course be at your
+disposal."
+
+The effect of this short speech was pretty much what might have been
+expected.  All the men thought I was trying to get out of the fight by
+impudent bragging, and Devinsky's seconds laughed sneeringly.
+
+I turned away as I finished speaking, but a minute later, Essaieff
+brought me a message--and the contempt rang in his tone as he delivered
+it.
+
+"Major Devinsky's reply to your extraordinary request is this: The only
+terms on which he will let you off the fight are an unconditional
+compliance with the condition he has already named to you.  What is
+your answer?"
+
+"We will fight," I replied shortly: and forthwith threw off my coat and
+vest and made ready.
+
+I eyed my antagonist with the keenest vigilance during the minute or
+two the seconds took in placing us, and I saw a certain boastful
+confidence in his looks and a swagger in his manner, which were
+eloquent of the cheap contempt in which he held me--a sentiment that
+was shared by all present.
+
+My second, Essaieff, manifestly did not like his task; but he did
+everything in a workmanlike way which shewed me he knew well what he
+was about, and in a very short time our swords were crossed and we had
+the word to engage.
+
+An ugly glint in the major's eyes told me he had come out to kill if he
+could; and the manner in which he pressed the fight from the outset
+shewed me that he thought he could finish it off straight away.
+
+He was a good swordsman: I could tell that the instant our blades
+touched: and he had one or two pretty tricks which wanted watching and
+would be sure to have very ugly consequences for anyone whose eye and
+wrist were less quick than his own.  As he fought I could readily see
+how he had gained his big reputation and had so often left the field
+victorious after only a few minutes' fighting.
+
+But he was not to be compared with me.  In two minutes I knew precisely
+his tactics and at every point I could outfight him.  I had no need
+even to exert myself.  After a few passes, all my old love of the art
+came back to me and all my old skill; and when he made his deadliest
+and trickiest lunges I parried them without an effort, and could have
+countered with fatal effect.
+
+I wished to get the fullest measure of his skill, however, and for this
+reason did not attempt to touch him for some minutes.  Then an idea
+occurred to me.  I would prove to the men with us that I had no real
+wish to avoid the fight.  Intentionally I let my adversary touch my
+left arm, drawing a little blood.
+
+They stopped us instantly; and then came the question whether enough
+had been done to satisfy the demands of honour.  Had I chosen, I could
+without actual cowardice have declared the thing finished: but I
+intended them all to understand that I had to the full as keen an
+appetite as my opponent for the business.  I was peremptory therefore
+in my demand to go on.
+
+In the pause I made my plan.  I would cover my adversary with ridicule
+by outfencing him at all points: play with him, in fact; and give him a
+hundred little skin wounds to shew him and the rest how completely he
+had been at my mercy.
+
+I did it with consummate ease.  My sword point played round him as an
+electric spark will dart about a magnet, and he was like a child in his
+feeble efforts to follow its dazzling swiftness.  Scarcely had we
+engaged before I had flicked a piece of skin from his cheek.  The next
+time it was from his sword arm.  Then from his neck, and after that
+from his other cheek; until there was no part of his flesh in view
+which had not a drop of blood to mark that my sword point had been
+there.  The man was mad with baffled and impotent rage.
+
+Then I put an end to it.  After the last rest I put the whole of my
+energy and skill into my play, and pressed him so hard that any one of
+the onlookers could see I could have run him through the heart half a
+dozen times: and at the end of it I disarmed him with a wrench that was
+like to break his wrist.
+
+To do the man justice, he had pluck.  He made sure I meant to kill him,
+but he faced me resolutely enough when I raised my sword and put the
+point right at his heart.
+
+"One word," said I, sternly.  "I have put this indignity on you because
+of the insolent message you sent to me by Lieutenant Essaieff.  But for
+that I would simply have disarmed you at once and made an end of the
+thing.  Now, remember me by this...."  I raised my sword and struck him
+with the flat side of it across the face, leaving an ugly red trail.
+
+Then I turned on my heel and went to where my seconds stood, lost in
+staring amazement at what I had done.  I put on my clothes in silence;
+and as I glanced about me I saw that the scene had created a powerful
+impression upon everybody present.
+
+All men are irresistibly influenced by skill such as I had shewn under
+circumstances of the kind; and the utter humbling of a bully who had
+ridden rough-shod over the whole regiment was agreeable enough now that
+it had been accomplished.  My own evil character was forgotten in the
+fact that I had beaten the man who had beaten everybody else and traded
+on his deadly reputation.
+
+Lieutenant Essaieff came to me as I was turning to leave the place
+alone.  He gave me back the letter I had entrusted to him, and after a
+momentary hesitation, said:--
+
+"Petrovitch, I did you an injustice, and I am sorry for it.  I thought
+you were afraid, and I had no idea that you had anything like such
+pluck and skill.  I believed you were blustering; and I apologise to
+you for the way in which I brought Devinsky's message.  But for what
+happened last night in your rooms"--and he drew himself up as he
+spoke--"I am at your service if you desire it."
+
+"I'd much rather breakfast than fight with you to-morrow morning,
+Essaieff, if you won't think me a coward for crying off the encounter."
+
+"After this morning no one will ever call you a coward;" said he; and I
+think he was a good deal relieved at not having to stand in front of a
+sword which could do what mine had just done.  "Shall we drive back
+together?"
+
+We saluted the others ceremoniously, my late antagonist scowling very
+angrily as he made an abrupt and formal gesture.  Then I snubbed
+Gradinsk, who looked very white, remembering what I had said to him
+when driving to the ground; and Lieutenant Essaieff and I left together.
+
+"How is it we have all been so mistaken in you, Petrovitch?" asked my
+companion when we had lighted our cigarettes.
+
+"How is it that I have been so mistaken in you?" I retorted.  "I chose
+to take my own way, that's all.  I wished to know the relish of the
+reputation for cowardice, if you like.  I have never been out before in
+Moscow, as you know; and have never had to shew what I could do with
+either sword or pistol.  Nor did I seek this quarrel.  But because I
+have never fought till I was compelled, that does not mean that I can't
+fight when I am compelled.  But the truth's out now, and it may as well
+all be known.  Come to my rooms for five minutes before breakfast--I am
+going to my sister's to breakfast--and I'll shew you what I can do with
+the pistols.  It may prevent anyone making the mistake of choosing
+those should there be any more of this morning's work to do."
+
+"I hope you can keep your head," he said, after a pause.  "You'll be
+about the most popular man in the whole regiment after to-day's
+business.  I don't believe there's a more hated man in the whole city
+than Devinsky; and everyone's sure to love you for making him bite the
+dust.  I suppose you're coming to the ball at the Zemliczka Palace
+to-night.  You'll be the lion."
+
+There was a touch of envy in his voice, I think, and he smiled when I
+answered indifferently that I had not decided.  As a fact I didn't know
+whether I had any invitation or not, so that my indifference was by no
+means feigned.
+
+When we reached my rooms I took him in and as I wished to noise abroad
+so far as possible the fact of my skill with weapons, I shewed him some
+of the trick shots I had learnt.  Pistol shooting had been with me, as
+I have said, quite a passion at one time and I had practised until I
+could hit anything within range, either stationary or moving.  More
+than that, I was an expert in the reflection shot--shooting over my
+shoulder at a mark I could see reflected in a mirror held in front of
+me.  Indeed there was scarcely a trick with the pistol which I did not
+know and had not practised.
+
+The lieutenant had not words enough to express his amazement and
+admiration; and when I sent him away after about a quarter of an hour's
+shooting such as he had never seen, he was reduced to a condition of
+speechless wonder.
+
+Then I dressed carefully, having bathed and attended to the light wound
+on my arm, and set out to relieve my "sister's" suspense and keep my
+appointment for breakfast.  I found myself thinking pleasantly of the
+pretty, kindly little face of the girl, and when I saw a light of
+infinite relief and gladness sparkle in her eyes at sight of me safe
+and sound and punctual, I experienced a much more gratifying sensation
+than I had expected.
+
+Her face was somewhat white and drawn and her eyes hollow, telling of a
+sleepless, anxious night; and she grasped my hand so warmly and was so
+moved, that I could not fail to see that she had been worrying lest
+trouble had come to me through her action of the previous day.
+
+"You haven't had so much sleep as I have, Olga," I said, lightly.
+
+"Are you really safe, quite safe, and unhurt?  And have you really been
+mad enough to go out and fight that man?  Oh, I could not sleep a wink
+all night for thinking of you and of the cruel gleam I have seen in his
+eyes."  And she covered her face with her hands and shivered.
+
+"Getting up early in the morning always gives me an unconscionable
+appetite, Olga.  I thought you knew that," said I lightly and with a
+laugh.  "But I see no breakfast; and that's hardly sisterly, you know."
+
+"It's all in the next room ready," she answered, leading the way.  "But
+tell me the news:" and her face was all aglow with eager inquiry.
+
+"I had no difficulty with Major Devinsky.  As I anticipated he was no
+sort of a match for me at that business.  I'm not bragging, but I've
+been trained in a totally different school, and--well, the beggar never
+had a chance."
+
+She smiled then, and her eyes danced in gladness, but as suddenly grew
+grave again.  Wonderfully tell-tale eyes they were!
+
+"What about--I mean--is he hurt?"
+
+"No, not much.  Nothing serious.  His quarrel wasn't with me, you see,
+so I couldn't kill him or wound him seriously.  But you'll hear
+probably from others what happened."
+
+"I want to hear from you, please.  You promised the news at first hand
+remember."
+
+"Well, I played rather a melodrama, I fear.  I managed to snick him in
+a number of places till he's pitted a good deal.  I gave him a lesson
+for having treated you in that way and also for his insolence to me.
+Besides I wished to make a bit of an impression on the other men there.
+He won't trouble us again, I fancy."
+
+"He's dangerous, Alexis: mind that.  Very dangerous.  But oh, I'm so
+glad it's all over and you're safe and sound--And here's your favourite
+dish--though you don't know what it is."
+
+"I don't care what it is.  I'll take whatever you give me on trust."
+At that she glanced at me and coloured, and hung her head.
+
+She was very pretty indeed when the colour glowed in her cheeks, and as
+a rather long silence followed I had plenty of time to observe her.
+She made a most captivating little hostess, too; and I began to feel
+that if I had had a sister of my own like her, I should have been
+remarkably fond of her, and perhaps--who can tell?--a very different
+man myself.
+
+"By the way, there's one thing you must be careful to say," I said,
+breaking a long pause that was getting embarrassing.  "You will
+probably be asked whether you knew that I was an expert with the sword
+and pistol and was purposely concealing my skill from the men here in
+Moscow.  That's what I've said, and it may be as well that you should
+seem to have known it.  A brother and sister should have no secrets
+from each other, you know."
+
+She shook her head at me and, with a smile and in a tone of mock
+reproach, said:
+
+"You haven't always thought that, Alexis."
+
+"It's never too late to mend," returned I.  "And I'll promise for the
+future, if you like--so long as the relationship lasts, that is."
+
+To that she made no answer, and when she spoke again she had changed
+the subject.
+
+We chatted very pleasantly during breakfast, and I asked her presently
+about the dance at the Zemliczka Palace.  She was going to it, she
+said, and told me that I had also accepted.
+
+"Can a brother and sister dance together, Olga," I asked.
+
+"I don't know," she replied, playing with the point as though it were
+some grave matter of diplomacy.  "I have never had to consider the
+question practically because you have never asked me, Alexis.  But I
+think they might sit out together," and with the laugh that accompanied
+that sentence ringing in my ears, like the refrain of a sweet song, we
+parted to meet again at the ball.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V.
+
+GETTING DEEPER.
+
+The news that I had beaten Devinsky, had played with him like a cat
+with a bird, spread like a forest fire.  Essaieff was right enough in
+his forecast that everyone would be delighted at the major's overthrow.
+But the notoriety which the achievement brought me was not at all
+unlikely to prove a source of embarrassment.
+
+I should be a marked man, and everything I did would be sure to be
+closely observed.  Any gross blunder made in my new character would be
+the more certainly seen, and would thus be all the more likely to lead
+to my discovery.
+
+There were of course a thousand things I ought to know; hundreds of
+acts that I had no doubt been in the habit of doing regularly--and thus
+any number of pitfalls lay gaping right under my feet.
+
+My difficulties began at once with my regimental duties.  I did not
+know even my brother officers by sight, to say nothing of the men.  The
+fact that the real Alexis had not been very long with the regiment
+would of course help me somewhat in regard to this; as it was quite
+conceivable that having been very indifferent to my duties and anything
+but a zealous officer, I might not have got to know the men.  But I was
+just as ignorant of the regimental routine which ought to be a matter
+of course.  I had questioned Olga on every detail and drawn from her
+all that she knew--and she was surprisingly quickwitted and well
+informed on the subject--and I had of course my own limited military
+experience to back me; but I lacked completely that familiarity which
+only actual practice could give.  This difficulty gave me much thought
+and I am bound to say amused me immensely.  The way out that I chose
+was a mixture of impudence and eccentricity; and I relied on the
+reputation I had suddenly made for myself as a swordsman being
+sufficient to silence criticism.
+
+I went back to my rooms, and while there a manservant whom Essaieff had
+promised to send to me, arrived.  I would not have one from the ranks,
+but chose a civilian that had been a soldier; and under the guise of
+questioning his present knowledge of military matters, dress, etc., I
+drew out of him particulars of the uniforms I ought to wear on
+different occasions, the places and times of all regimental duties,
+and--what was of even more importance--a rough idea of the actual
+duties which fell to the share of Lieutenant Alexis Petrovitch.
+
+That was enough for me.  I dressed and went to head-quarters, resolved
+to see the Colonel, and on the plea of indisposition ask to be excused
+from duty on that and the following day.  To my surprise--for I had
+heard from Olga that I stood very low down in Colonel Kapriste's
+estimation--I was received with especial cordiality and favour.  His
+greeting was indeed effusive.  He granted my request at once, said I
+could take a week if I liked, after my hard work, and declared that I
+must take great care of myself for the sake of the regiment.  Then he
+pressed me to wait until he had finished his regimental work as he
+wished to talk to me.
+
+What he wanted was an account of the duel, and a very few minutes
+shewed me that if he was no friend of mine, he was a strong enemy of
+the man I had fought.  He questioned me also as to the change in my
+appearance, why I had shaved my beard and moustache, what excuse I had
+to give for having been out without my uniform on the previous day; and
+my blunt reply that I had had an accident and hoped I was master of my
+own features, and that if my uniform was burnt it was more becoming for
+an officer to be in mufti than naked, drew from him nothing more than
+the significant retort that he hoped I had changed as much in other
+respects.  Then he turned curious to know where I had learnt to use the
+sword, and who was the fencing master that had taught me; and I turned
+the point with a laugh--that Major Devinsky's evil genie conferred the
+gift on me, as they were not ready yet below to take charge of the
+major's soul.
+
+He was so delighted with my success over the man whom he evidently
+hated, that he let my impertinence pass; but I could see that the two
+aides who were present, were as much astonished at my conduct as at the
+Colonel's reception of it.
+
+But it was of great service to me.  It emphasized the complete change
+in me; and I left with a feeling of intense satisfaction that the
+difficulties of the position were proving much less formidable when
+faced than they had seemed in anticipation.
+
+I went next to the exercise ground and watched with the closest
+scrutiny everything that took place.  Now and again one or other of the
+officers came up to me; and to all alike I adopted an attitude of cold
+and stolid impassiveness.  This was my safe course.  I knew that Alexis
+had hitherto been unpopular with the whole regiment, except perhaps one
+or two of the worst and wildest fellows; and I judged that any
+approaches made now were rather out of deference to the dangerous skill
+I had suddenly developed than to any old familiarity.  In most cases I
+could therefore quite safely appear to resent old neglect and so
+repulse any present advances.
+
+"You're not at drill, this morning, Petrovitch," said one.
+
+I gave him a stony, stolid stare.
+
+"On the contrary, I am here," I answered, turning away.
+
+"I mean, you're not drilling," he said, with a feeble laugh.
+
+"I have already been out this morning," I returned giving him another
+most unpleasant look.  "Do you mean that you want to drill with me?"  I
+stared him out of countenance until the feeble laugh which he repeated
+had passed from his face, and with a muttered excuse he went back to
+his men.
+
+This sort of thing with variations in my hard unpleasantness happened
+several times while I remained on the ground; and before I left I had
+managed to stamp the impression pretty clearly on my fellow-officers
+generally, that it would be best not to interfere with me.  This was
+just what I wished.
+
+At the club, where I went after leaving the exercise ground, there were
+several of the men whom I had so insulted on the previous night.  I was
+in truth rather sorry that I had made such a cad of myself; since that
+was not the sort of character I saw now I could construct out of the
+composite materials of the two very different careers and persons that
+were now to be blended.
+
+My reputation was made already and I found everywhere some evidences of
+the advantages it carried.  More than one of those who on the night
+before had been most profuse in their expressions of contempt for me
+were now obviously very ill at ease; and some of them were
+unquestionably expecting me to take a strong course.  But I spoke to no
+one; and merely returned a curt and formal acknowledgment of any
+greetings made to me.
+
+After a time Lieutenant Essaieff came in, and I noticed not without
+satisfaction that as soon as he saw I was in the place he came across
+to me.
+
+"I hear you have made a remarkable conversion, Petrovitch."
+
+"Yes?"
+
+"Old Saltpetre, I mean.  Cruladoff told me and said he could scarcely
+believe his own eyes and ears when you and that old martinet were
+chumming together like a couple of young subs.  He swears that a man
+has been cashiered before now for saying a good deal less than you
+said."  I saw he was referring to the Chief, so I made a shot.
+
+"It's not much of a secret what he thinks of Devinsky."
+
+"Do you really know the story, then?  Why, you told me last week that
+you didn't."
+
+"I didn't know a good deal then that I know now," I returned drily.
+
+"Neither did we," he answered significantly.  "Any way the old boy
+swears by you now; and after you'd left this morning went on in a fine
+strain to the two aides, praising you sky high.  By Gad, if the war
+really comes you'll be in luck, and get every bit of daredevil work the
+old Salamander can thrust your way.  Hullo, Cruladoff!" he broke off as
+one of the men I had seen that morning with the Chief came up.  "I was
+just telling Petrovitch what you told me."
+
+Some others joined us then, and though I held myself in the strongest
+reserve, I exchanged a few words with one or two.  What was of great
+importance, moreover, I learnt to know a number of my comrades by sight
+and name.
+
+My actions were all carefully studied.  I spoke very little indeed;
+never dropped a word that had even a suggestion of boastfulness in it,
+and only answered when any man chose to address me.  I knew from what
+Olga had told me that I was with some of the best men in the
+regiment--those who hitherto had held me in the poorest esteem--and I
+was scrupulously careful that in my outward demeanour there should now
+be nothing whatever to cause offence.  I would allow no man to
+interfere with or even criticise me--but on my side I would interfere
+with none.  The eccentricity that was to cover my ignorance should be
+defensive armour only.
+
+In this manner I carried myself through the difficulties of that day;
+and it was indeed easy enough.  I found most of my comrades only too
+ready to be civil rather than suspicious; and the extraordinary success
+of the morning set them on the look out for further eccentricities and
+peculiarities.  A man who could successfully conceal the possession of
+such extraordinary skill with sword and pistol, might be expected to
+have any number of surprises in store; and no one was in any hurry to
+ask the reason for the concealment.
+
+The fame of my achievement affected even the men who came to have their
+debts paid that afternoon and evening; and the money lender--a scurvy
+wretch of the lowest type--was so frightened and trembled so violently
+when I asked him how he dared to send me threatening letters, that he
+could scarcely sign his receipt.  The whole of them were certainly
+profoundly astonished at getting their money; and probably I should not
+have paid a kopeck, but for a change in my intentions that had begun to
+affect me.
+
+I liked the promise of the new life for which I had exchanged my old
+and empty career; and I had begun to consider whether, instead of
+leaving when my passport came, I should not remain where I was and
+continue to be Lieutenant Alexis Petrovitch of the Moscow Infantry
+Regiment.
+
+I had already done much to earn a title to the position.  I had saved
+the real man's body by helping him over the frontier; I had saved his
+honour by fighting his duel for him; I had made his sister pretty safe
+from further molestation at Devinsky's hands; I had created quite a new
+Alexis Petrovitch in the regiment; and now I had paid the beggar's
+debts.
+
+Obviously I could play the part a good deal better than he could, and
+therefore--why not continue to play it?  There was plenty of danger in
+it.  Siberia at least, if it was discovered that I had been personating
+a Russian officer and fighting duels in his name.  But I cared nothing
+for that.  If it threatened me, it had its compensations; since it made
+it quite impossible for the real Alexis ever to return and claim his
+position, even if he wished.
+
+I had intended to fight for Russia in any event, supposing the war
+came; and if I fell in some battle it would not matter in the least how
+my grave was ticketed.  It might save me no end of trouble, moreover,
+if I took the good the gods gave me without bothering any more about
+volunteering.
+
+The more I thought of it as I sat and smoked by myself, the firmer
+became my resolve just to float with the stream and remain what I was,
+till chance discovered me, if ever it did.
+
+I had probably got over the worst danger by my impudence, my knack of
+fighting, and the extraordinary resemblance to my other self; and
+already I could see my way through many of the difficulties, so far as
+the regiment was concerned.
+
+Moreover, I am bound to admit I liked the part.  I had never had such a
+chance before; and if all the truth must be told, my vanity was not
+altogether proof against the sensation I was creating.  I had had such
+a run of bad luck for the past few years, that a change was welcome.
+
+By the time my reverie was finished, therefore, I had more than half
+resolved to be Hamylton Tregethner no more.  Then it was time to dress
+for the ball at the Zemliczka Palace; and I was snob enough--I can call
+it nothing but sheer snobbery--so to time my entrance into the rooms as
+to cause as much sensation as possible.  Though outwardly calm and
+quite impassive, I am positively ashamed to say I enjoyed the ripple of
+comment which I saw pass from lip to lip, and the evident interest
+which I awakened.
+
+At the same time matters were within an ace of being very awkward.  Any
+number of people came forward to speak to me, all of whom manifestly
+expected I should know them both by name and by sight.  I had one
+greeting for all: cold, impassive, uninterested, though there were a
+number of very handsome women with whom I should have been glad to
+chat, if I could have done so safely.  But I dared not.
+
+Indeed the women worried me more than enough.  The men I could stave
+off and keep at a distance easily; for in truth they all seemed shy of
+forcing themselves on me;--but the women wanted to compel me to take
+notice of them and were not to be put off by any excuse or shift.  How
+many I ought to have known; with how many I had had flirtations, I of
+course had not the remotest idea.  I was thus very glad when a chance
+of escape came with the entrance of Olga, who arrived with her aunt.
+The latter was rather a good looking woman, I thought; and I got away
+from the other people on the plea of having to go and speak to the two.
+
+"Well, aunt, what do you think...."
+
+"Aunt?" exclaimed Olga's companion, looking at me with unmistakable
+anger.
+
+My sister flashed a quick danger signal at me.  I had blundered badly.
+
+"Alexis, your joke is very ill-timed," she said, severely.  "You should
+know the Countess Krapotine better than to suppose that your
+barrack-yard jibes would be welcome."
+
+"I hope the Countess Krapotine knows there is no one in all Moscow
+whose good will I prize more highly and would lose more unwillingly
+than hers.  It was a silly jest: and was prompted only by a desire to
+claim even a passing relationship with one whom Moscow delights to
+honour.  Her kindness to you, Olga, makes her kin to me."
+
+"You are always a little hard on your brother, Olga," said the
+Countess, whom I had mistaken for an aunt many years older and
+infinitely ugly.  But the matter passed, and as I did not care to stop
+and talk with them for too long, I left them after arranging which
+dances I was to sit out with my sister.
+
+I did not dance with anyone: but contented myself with lounging about
+observing what was going on.  I had more than one little adventure: but
+one in particular impressed me.  I was leaning against the wall near an
+archway between two of the ball rooms when I noticed an exceedingly
+handsome woman making eyes and signs secretly to some one near me.  She
+was a remarkably striking woman, tall, dark, handsome, and passionate
+looking; and after a minute I glanced round about me to see who the
+fortunate man might be.  Just then there was no man at all near me: and
+looking furtively at her, I noticed that the signs ceased when I was
+apparently not observing her.
+
+I looked at her openly and they recommenced immediately.  It seemed
+therefore that they were meant for me.  I tested this, until there was
+no room for doubt: and I looked at her with a little more interest,
+speculating who she might be, and what she was to me.  But I made no
+sign that I knew her; as of course I did not; and after a minute or two
+I moved away, as it was time for me to go to Olga.
+
+There was just then a little difficulty in getting through the rooms
+owing to the crush of people, and presently to my intense surprise a
+very angry voice whispered close in my ear:--
+
+"Beware!"
+
+I turned at once and found it was the handsome woman who had been
+signalling to me.  The crowd had brought us close together, and she was
+staring hard at me, her face expressive of both agitation and ill
+temper.  I was amused and without relaxing my features bowed as I
+muttered:
+
+"I will."
+
+This answer seemed to increase her anger, but at that instant another
+movement of the throng separated us, and I went away to find Olga.
+
+We sat and chatted and laughed together--especially at my mistake with
+the countess--and presently glancing up I saw opposite to us the woman
+who had acted the little bit of melodrama with me.  She was eyeing us
+both now angrily.
+
+"Who's that?" I asked, pointing her out to my sister.  The girl shook
+her head gravely.
+
+"I wish you didn't know, Alexis."
+
+"Oh, do I know?  I've put my foot in it then, I expect;" and I told her
+what had happened.  She smiled, and then shook her head again, more
+gravely than before.
+
+"All Moscow knows that you and Madame Paula Tueski are thick friends;
+and you ought to know that you have set many scandalous tongues
+wagging."
+
+"Well, she's a very handsome woman," said I, glancing across at her.
+
+"Your favourite style of beauty was always somewhat masculine and
+fleshly," said Olga in a very sisterly and very severe tone.
+
+"Yes, I'm afraid I've not always admired those things I ought to have
+admired."
+
+"Say, rather, you have often admired those things which you ought not.
+_Com_mission, not _o_mission."
+
+"Well, I've a new commission now, and you gave it me," said I, playing
+on her word and looking closely at her.  I took rather a pleasure in
+watching the colour ebb and flow in her bright expressive face.
+
+She looked up now, very steadily, right into my eyes, as if to read my
+thoughts; and then looked down again and was silent.  And in some way
+the look made me sorry I had jested.  After a pause she said in her
+usual direct way:--
+
+"We are wasting time.  There is so much I must yet tell you, and some
+of it is very disagreeable.  You and I have quarrelled more than once
+about that woman, Paula Tueski.  You wished me to know her, and I would
+not; I wished you to give her up, and you would not."
+
+"I'll do it at once," I said, readily.  "I shall not feel the pang----"
+
+"Do, please, be serious," she interrupted in her turn, with a little
+foot tap of impatience, while a frown struggled with a smile for the
+mastery in her expression.  The smile had the best of it at first, but
+the frown won in the end.  "Paula Tueski, you have often told me, is a
+dangerous woman.  As wife of the Chief of the Secret Police she has
+considerable power and influence; though to be candid I never could
+tell whether you said this as an excuse for continuing your friendship
+with her, or because you were really afraid of her.  You are not very
+brave, Alexis, you know."
+
+"No, I'm afraid I'm not," I admitted.  "But at any rate I won't try to
+force her on you for the future.  I think I can promise that."
+
+"She's an exceedingly ambitious woman, and means you no good, Alexis,"
+said Olga, very energetically.  "If you can give her up safely I hope
+you will."  She was very earnest about this, and I was going to
+question her more closely when someone came up to claim her for a dance.
+
+Very soon after this I left, taking care to keep out of the way of the
+woman who seemed so anxious that I should speak to her.  I remembered
+the "P.T." of the diary and of the correspondence; and I saw that there
+might easily be some ugly complications unless I was very careful.
+
+I walked home to my rooms and was very thoughtful on the way.  This
+legacy of old sweethearts was the most unpleasant feature of my new
+inheritance as well as possibly the most dangerous.  It was just the
+kind of knot, too, that a sword could not cut; and before the night
+closed, I had a very jarring reminder of this.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+
+A LEGACY OF LOVE.
+
+As I approached the broad deep doorway of my house I saw a tall man
+muffled up, standing half concealed in the shadow of one of the pillars.
+
+"Who are you, and what are you doing there?" I asked peremptorily,
+stopping and looking at him.
+
+"What should I be doing, but waiting for Lieutenant Petrovitch?"
+answered the fellow, stepping forward.
+
+"Well, I am Lieutenant Petrovitch.  What do you want?"
+
+"You are not the lieutenant."
+
+"Then you are not looking for Lieutenant Petrovitch," I returned, as I
+opened my door.  "Be off with you."  I spoke firmly, but his reply had
+rather disconcerted me.
+
+Instead of going he advanced toward me when he saw me open the door,
+and shot a glance of surprise at me.
+
+"I beg you honour's pardon.  I didn't recognise you; and when you
+pretended not to know me, I thought it was someone else.  You've
+disguised yourself by that change in your face, sir."
+
+There was a mixture of servility and impudence in the man's manner
+which galled me.  He spoke like a fawning sponger: and yet with just
+such a suggestion of threat and familiarity in his manner as might come
+from a low associate in some dirty work which he thought gave him a
+hold over me.
+
+"What is it you want?" I spoke as sternly as before; and the fellow
+cringed and bowed as he answered with the same suggestion of familiar
+insolence.
+
+"What have I waited here five hours for but to speak to your lordship
+privately--waited, as I always do, patiently.  It's safer inside,
+lieutenant."
+
+"Come in, then."  It was clearly best for me to know all he had to say.
+
+As soon as we were inside and I had turned up the lights I placed him
+close to the biggest of them; and a more villainous, hangdog looking
+rascal I never wish to see.  A redhaired, dirty, cunning, drinking Jew
+of the lowest class; with lies and treachery and deceit written on
+every feature and gesture.  The only thing truthful about him was the
+evidence of character stamped on his self-convicting appearance.
+
+"I wonder what you are to me," I thought as I scanned him closely, his
+flinty shifting eyes darting everywhere to escape my gaze.
+
+"Well, what do you want?  I'm about sick of you."  A quick lifting of
+the head and eyebrows let a questioning glance of mingled malice, hate,
+and menace dart up into my face.
+
+"Lieutenant, your child is starving and his mother also; and I, her
+father, am tired of working my fingers to the bone to maintain them
+both."
+
+"What are you working at now?" I asked with a sneer.  I spoke in this
+way to hide my unpleasant surprise at the unsavoury news that lay
+behind his words.  The more I looked at him the more was I impressed
+with a conviction of his rascality: but the fact that he was a
+scoundrel did not at all exclude the possibility that some ugly episode
+concerning me lay behind.  On the contrary it increased the probability.
+
+"I've not come to talk about my work, but to get money," said my
+visitor in a surly tone.  "And money I must have."
+
+"Blackmail," was my instant conclusion: and my line of conduct was as
+promptly taken.  There is but one way to take with blackmailers--crush
+them.
+
+"Did you understand what I said just now?  I am sick of you and your
+ways, and I have done with you."
+
+The man shifted about uneasily and nervously without replying at once,
+and then in a sly, muttering tone, and with an indescribable suggestion
+of menace said:--
+
+"There are some ugly stories afloat, Lieutenant."
+
+"Yes: and in Russia, those who tell them smell the atmosphere of a gaol
+as often as those against whom they are told.  A word from me and you
+know where you will be within half a dozen hours."  This was a safe
+shot with such a rascal.
+
+"But you'll never speak that word," he said sullenly.  "We've talked
+all this over before.  You can't shake me off.  I know too much."
+
+Obviously my former self had handled this man badly: probably through
+weakness: and had allowed him to get an ugly hold.  He was presuming on
+this now.
+
+I took two rapid turns up and down the room in thought.  Then I made a
+decision.  Taking ink and paper I sat down to the table and wrote,
+repeating the words aloud:--
+
+"To the Chief of Police.--The Bearer of this----"
+
+"How do you spell your rascally name?" I cried, interrupting the
+writing and looking across at him.
+
+"You know.  You've written it often enough to Anna."
+
+Good.  I had got the daughter's name at any rate.
+
+"Yes, but this is for the police, and must be accurate."  The start he
+gave was an unmistakable start of fear.
+
+"Everyone knows how to spell Peter, I suppose.  And you ought to know
+how to spell Prashil, seeing your own child has to bear the name."
+
+"The Bearer of this, Peter Prashil, declares that he has some
+information to give to you which incriminates me.  Take his statement
+in writing and have it investigated.  Hold him prisoner, meanwhile, for
+he has been attempting to blackmail me.  You, or your agents will know
+him well.
+
+Signed, ALEXIS PETROVITCH.
+  Lieutenant, Moscow Infantry Regiment."
+
+"Now," I cried, rising, giving him the paper, and throwing open the
+door.  "Take that paper and go straight to the Police.  Tell them all
+you know.  Or if you like it better stand to-morrow at midday in the
+Square of the Cathedral and shout it out with all your lungs for the
+whole of Moscow to hear.  Or get it inserted in every newspaper in the
+city.  Go!" and I pointed the way and stared at him sternly and angrily.
+
+"I don't want to harm you."
+
+"Go!" I said.  "Or I'll wake my servant and have the police brought
+here."
+
+For a minute he tried to return my look, and fumbled with the paper
+irresolutely.
+
+"Go!" I repeated, staring at him as intently as before.
+
+He stood another minute scowling at me from under his ragged red brows
+and then seemed to concentrate the fury of a hundred curses into one
+tremendous oath, which he snarled out with baffled rage, as he tore the
+paper into pieces and threw them down on the table.
+
+"You know I can't go to the police, damn you," he cried.
+
+I had beaten him.  I had convinced him of my earnestness.  I shut the
+door then and sitting down again, said calmly:--
+
+"Now you understand me a little better than ever before; and we will
+have the last conversation that will ever pass between us.  Tell me
+plainly and clearly what you want.  Quick."
+
+"Justice for my daughter."
+
+"What else?"
+
+"The money you've always promised me for my services," with a pause
+before the last word.
+
+"What services?"
+
+"You know."
+
+"Answer.  Don't dare to speak like that," I cried sternly.
+
+"For holding my tongue--about Anna--and--the child.  I want my share,
+don't I?" he answered sullenly, scowling at me.  "Is a father to be
+robbed of a child and then cheated?"  He asked this with a burst of
+anger as if, vile as he was, he was compelled to stifle his sense of
+shame with a rush of rage.
+
+"Hush-money, eh?  And payment for your daughter's shame.  Well, what
+else?"  I threw into my manner all the contempt I could.
+
+"My help in other things--with others."  He uttered the sentence with a
+leer of suggestion that sent my blood to boiling point; and he followed
+it up with a recital of mean and despicable tricks of vice and foul
+dissipation until in sheer disgust I was compelled to stop him.
+
+What more the man might have had to say I knew not; but I had heard
+enough.  It was clear that I was indeed a bitter blackguard, and that
+for my purposes I had made use of this scoundrel, who had apparently
+begun by selling me his own daughter.  It was clear also that all this
+must end and some sort of arrangement be made.
+
+At the same time I knew enough of Russian society to be perfectly well
+aware that not one of the acts which this man had suggested would count
+for either crime or wrong against me.  One was expected to keep the
+seamy side of one's life decorously out of sight; but if that were
+done, a few "slips" of the kind were taken as a matter of course.
+
+Personally, I hold old-fashioned notions on these things, and it was
+infinitely painful to me that I should be held guilty of such
+blackguardism.  I would at least do what justice I could.
+
+"I have been thinking much about these things lately," I said, after a
+pause.  "And I have come to a decision.  I shall make provision for
+you..."
+
+"Your honour was always generosity itself," said the fellow squirming
+instantly.
+
+"On condition that you leave Moscow.  You will go to Kursk; and there
+ten roubles will be paid to you weekly for a year; by which time if you
+haven't drunk yourself to death, you will have found the means to earn
+your living."
+
+"And Anna?"
+
+"Your daughter will call to-morrow afternoon on my sister----"
+
+"Your sister?" cried the man in the deepest astonishment.
+
+"My sister," I repeated, "at this address"--I wrote it down--"and the
+course to be taken will depend on what is then decided.  You understand
+that the whole story will be sifted, so she must be careful to tell the
+truth.
+
+"The discreet truth, your honour?" he asked with another leer.
+
+"No, the whole truth, without a single lie of yours.  Mind, one lie by
+either of you, and not a kopeck shall you have."
+
+With that I sent him about his business.  I resolved to have the whole
+story investigated; and it occurred to me that it would be a good test
+of my sister's womanliness to let her deal with the case.  I reflected
+too that it would do her no harm to know a little of the undercurrent
+of her brother's life.
+
+That done, I turned into bed after as full a day as I had ever lived,
+and slept well.
+
+Reflection led me to approve the plan of sending the old Jew's daughter
+to Olga; and after breakfast the next morning I wrote a little note to
+prepare her for the visit.
+
+"This afternoon," I wrote, "you will have a visit from a girl whose
+name is Anna Prashil, and she will tell you something about your
+brother's history which I think your woman's wit will let you deal with
+better than I can.  We will have the story sifted, but you can do two
+things in the matter better than I--judge whether the girl is an
+impostor; and if not, what is the best thing to do for her.  I will see
+you afterwards."
+
+I sat smoking and thinking over this business when my servant, Borlas,
+announced that a lady wished to see me; and ushered in a tall woman
+closely veiled.
+
+I was prepared now for anything that could happen.
+
+I rose and bowed to her; but she stood without a word until Borlas had
+gone out.
+
+"Don't pretend that you don't know me," she said, in a voice naturally
+sweet and full and musical, but now resonant with agitation and anger.
+
+It was a very awkward position.  Obviously I ought to know her, so I
+thought it best to speak as if I did.
+
+"I make no attempt at pretence with you," I said, equivocally.  "But
+aren't you going to sit down?"
+
+"No attempt at pretence?  What was your conduct last night if not
+pretence--maddening, infamous, insulting pretence?"
+
+I knew her now.  It was the handsome angry woman whose signals at the
+ball I had ignored--Paula Tueski.  She had probably come to upbraid me
+for my coldness and neglect.  "Hell holds no fury like a woman
+scorned," thought I; and this was a woman with a very generous capacity
+for rage.  If she recognised me....
+
+"Won't you take off that thick veil, which prevents my seeing your very
+angry eyes.  You know I always admire you in a passion, Paula."  I did
+not know how I ought to address her so I made the plunge with her
+Christian name.
+
+"Why dared you insult me by not speaking to me at the ball last night?
+Why dared you break your word?  You pledged me your honour"--this with
+quite glorious scorn--"that you would introduce your impudent chit of a
+sister to me at the ball.  And instead, my God, that I am alive to say
+it!--you dared to sit with her laughing, and jibing and flouting at me.
+Pretending--you, you of all men on this earth--that you did not know
+me!  Do you think I will endure that?  Do you think----"  Here rage
+choked her speech, and she ended in incoherency, half laugh, half sob,
+and all hysterical.
+
+I was sorry she stopped at that point.  The more she told me the easier
+would be my choice of policy.  From what she said I gathered this was
+another of the pledges made under the fear of Devinsky's sword.
+
+"You know perfectly well that Olga is exceedingly difficult to coerce--
+
+"Bah!  Don't talk to me of difficulties.  You would be frightened by a
+fool's bladder and call it difficulties.  I suppose you shaved your
+beard and moustache because they were difficulties, eh?  Difficulties,
+perhaps, in the way of getting out of Moscow unrecognised on the eve of
+a fight?  You know what I mean, eh?"
+
+For a moment I half thought she, or the police agents of her husband
+might have guessed the truth, and this made me hesitate in my reply.
+
+"Did you think I was afraid to kill Major Devinsky, or ashamed to let
+it be known that I am the best swordsman in the regiment?"
+
+"Why have you never told me that?" she cried with feminine
+inconsequence.  "I don't understand you, Alexis.  You want me one day
+to get this man assassinated because you say you know he can run you
+through the body just as he pleases, and you promise me the friendship
+of your sister if I will do it; and yet the very next, you go out and
+meet him and he has not a chance with you.  But why did you do it?  I
+have heard of it all.  Did you want to try me?"
+
+I thanked her mentally for that cue.
+
+"At all events two things are clear now," I said.  "I did not want to
+get out of Moscow for fear of Devinsky, and you would not do that which
+I told you could alone save my life.  You did not think my life worth
+saving."  I spoke very coldly and deliberately.
+
+"So that is it?" she cried, with a quick return of her rage.  "You
+insult me before all Moscow because I will not be a murderess--your
+hired assassin."
+
+It was an excellent situation.  If I had devised it myself, I could not
+have arranged it more deftly, I thought.
+
+I shrugged my shoulders and said nothing; but the silence and the
+gesture were more expressive than many words.
+
+My visitor tore off the veil she had worn till now, and throwing
+herself into a chair looked at me as though trying to read my innermost
+thoughts: while I was trying to read hers and was more than half
+suspicious that she might see enough to let her jump at the truth.
+
+But a rapid reflection shewed me I should be wise to use the means she
+herself had supplied, as an excuse for the change in me toward her.  It
+was dangerous, of course, to set at defiance a woman of her manifest
+force of character and in her position; but in attempting to continue
+even an innocent intrigue with her there was equal danger.
+
+She remained silent a long time, considering as it seemed to me, how
+she should prevent my breaking away from her.  She was a clever woman,
+and now that the first outburst of emotion was over, she abandoned all
+hysterical display and resolved, as her words soon proved, to appeal to
+my fears rather than to any old love.
+
+She laughed very softly and musically when she spoke next.
+
+"So you think you can do as you will with me, Alexis?"
+
+"On the contrary," I replied, quite as gently and with an answering
+smile.  "I have no wish to have anything at all to do with you."
+
+"Yet you loved me once," she murmured, the involuntary closing of her
+eyelids being the only sign of the pain my brutal words caused.
+
+"The sweetest things in life are the memories of the past, Paula.  If
+you really loved me as you said, it will be something for you to
+remember that while you prized my life, you held my love."
+
+"A man would starve on the memory of yesterday's dinner."
+
+"True; or hope that somebody else will give him even a more satisfying
+meal."
+
+"You could always turn a woman's phrases, Alexis."
+
+"And you a man's head, Paula."
+
+"Bah!  I have not come here to cap phrases."
+
+"Yet there can be little else than phrases between us for the future.
+You have shewn me what store you set on my life."
+
+"Did you think I could love you if you were such a coward that you
+dared not fight a duel?"
+
+"You thought I dared not when you refused to help me."
+
+"You said you dared not.  But do you think I believed you?  Could I
+believe so meanly of the man I loved?"
+
+"You discussed the matter as if you believed it," said I; making a leap
+in the dark and blundering badly.
+
+"Discussed it?  What do you mean?  With whom?  Do you think I am mad?
+I sat down at once and answered your mad letter in the only way it
+could be answered."
+
+Great Heavens!  I had apparently been fool enough in my desperate
+cowardice to actually write the proposal.  The letter itself, if she
+dared to use it, spelt certain ruin.
+
+"Well, you answered the test your own way, and...."  I shrugged my
+shoulders as a suggestive end to the sentence.
+
+She paused a moment looking thoughtfully at me.  Then knitting her
+brows, she asked:
+
+"What is the real meaning of this change, Alexis?  Do try for once to
+be frank.  You have always half a dozen secret meanings.  You have
+boasted of this in regard to others--perhaps because you were afraid to
+do anything else."
+
+"Are you a judge of my fears?  I think I have already shewn you that
+that which I led you to believe frightened me most had in reality no
+terrors at all for me."
+
+"One thing I know you are afraid of--to break with me."  This came with
+a flash of impetuous anger, bursting out in spite of her efforts at
+self-restraint.
+
+I smiled.
+
+"We shall see.  I have not broken with you.  It is you who have broken
+with me.  How often have you not sworn to me," I cried passionately,
+making another shot--"that there was nothing upon this earth that you
+would not do if I only asked you?  What value should I now set on a
+broken love-vow?"
+
+"Had I thought you were even in danger, I would have dared even that,
+Alexis, dangerous and desperate as you know such a hazard must be."
+She spoke now with a depth of tone that was eloquent of feeling.  "What
+I told you is true--and you know it.  There is nothing I will not do
+for you.  Bid me do it now to shew you my earnestness.  Shall I leave
+my husband?--I will do it.  Shall I tell the world of Moscow the tale
+of my love?--I will do it.  Nay, bid me strip myself and walk naked
+through the streets of the city, calling on your name and proclaiming
+my love--and I will do it with a smile, glorying in my shame because it
+brings you to me and me to you--never to part again."
+
+This flood of passion spoken with such earnestness as I had never heard
+from the lips of woman before was almost more than I could endure to
+hear without telling the truth to her.  It abashed me, and the story of
+the deception I was practising on her rose to my lips: but before I
+could speak she had resumed, and her wonderful voice had a power such
+as I cannot describe.  It seemed to compel sympathy; and as it became
+the vehicle for every varying phase of feeling it almost raised an echo
+of feeling in me.
+
+"You don't know the fire you have kindled; you don't dream of its
+volcanic fierceness.  I do not think I myself knew it until last night
+when you turned from me in silence and coldness, as though, my God! as
+though your lips had never rested on mine, or mine on yours, in pledge
+of delirious passion.  Ah me!  You cannot act like this, Alexis.  It
+was you who warmed into life the love that burns in me, and it is not
+yours to quench.  You must not, cannot, aye--and dare not do it.  You
+know this.  Come, say that all this is just your pique, your temper,
+your whim, your test, your anything; and that all is still between us
+as it must always be--always, Alexis, always."
+
+If I had been the man she thought I was, I cannot but believe she would
+have prevailed with me.  The seductiveness of her manner, her absolute
+self abandonment, and the plain and unmistakable proof of her love,
+were enough to touch any man placed as he would have been.
+
+But I had nothing to prompt my kinder impulses.  She was only a
+stranger: infinitely beautiful, passionate, and melting: but yet
+nothing more than a stranger.  And I had no answering passion to be
+fired by her glances, her pleas, and her love.  She was a hindrance to
+me; and I was only conscious that I was in a way compelled to act the
+part of a cad in listening to her and cheating her.  And I could only
+remain silent.
+
+She read my silence for obstinacy, and then began to shew the nature of
+the power she held over me.  I was glad of this; as it seemed to give
+me a sort of justification for my action.  It was an attack; and I had
+to defend myself.
+
+"You do not answer me.  You are cold, moody, silent--and yet not
+unmoved.  I wonder of what you are thinking.  Yet there can be but one
+burden of your thoughts.  You are mine, Alexis, mine; always, till
+death--as you have sworn often enough.  And after your bravery I love
+you more than ever.  I love a brave man, Alexis.  Every brave man.  I
+would give them the kiss of honour.  And that you are the bravest of
+them all is to me the sweetest of knowledge.  Yesterday, when I heard
+how you had humbled that bully, I could do naught but thrill with pride
+every time I thought of it.  It was my Alexis who had done it.  Won't
+you kiss me once as I kissed you a thousand times in thought yesterday?
+No?  Well, you will before I go.  And then I began to think how glad I
+was that I had made it impossible for you ever to think of giving me
+up.  I know you are brave;--but even the bravest men shudder at the
+whisper of Siberia."
+
+She paused to give this time to work its effect.
+
+"I wonder how other women love; whether, like me, they think it fair to
+weave a net round the man they love, strong enough to hold the
+strongest, wide enough to reach to the Poles, and yet fine enough to be
+unseen?"  She laughed.  "I have done this with you, sweetheart.  You
+know how often you have asked me for information and I have got it for
+you--you have wanted it for the Nihilists.  Knowing this I have given
+it and--you have used it.  Once or twice you have told them what was
+not true, and now you are suspected and in some danger of your life.
+But you are guarded also and watched.  Two days ago you were at the
+railway station in private clothes and with your dear face shaven; you
+were trying to leave Moscow.  But you probably saw the uselessness of
+the attempt and gave it up.  Had you really tried, you would have been
+stopped.  Do you think you can hope to escape from me?  Do you think
+you can break through the net-work of the most wonderful police system
+the world ever knew?  Psh!  Do not dream of it.  Moscow is a fine,
+large, splendid city.  But Moscow is also a prison; and the man who
+would seek to break out of it, but dashes his breast against the drawn
+sword of implacable authority."
+
+"You have a pleasant humour, and a light touch in your methods of
+wooing," said I, bitterly.  She had made a great impression on me.
+
+"The wooing is complete, Alexis.  It was your work.  I do but guard
+against being deceived.  Escape from Moscow being hopeless for you, you
+have only to remember that a word from me in my husband's ear will open
+for you the dumb horrid mouth of a Russian dungeon which will either
+close on you for ever, or let you out branded, disgraced, and manacled
+to start on the long hopeless march to Siberia."
+
+I had rather admired the woman before; now I began to hate her.  I
+could not fail to see the truth behind her words; and a flash of
+inspiration shewed me now that the safest course I could take was to
+shake off the character I had so lightly assumed.  But her next words
+bared the impossibility of that.
+
+"Do you think now it is safe to break away from me?  But that is not
+all.  There is another consideration.  You have drawn your sister into
+these Nihilist snares.  You know how she is compromised.  I know it
+too.  There are more dungeons than one in Russia.  If you were in one,
+I would see to it that she, who has scorned and flouted and insulted
+me, was in another; with her chance also of a jaunt across the plains."
+The flippancy of this last phrase was a measure of her hate.
+
+The thought of the poor girl's danger beat me.  What this woman said
+was all true--damnably, horribly, sickeningly true.
+
+"Have you planned all this?" I asked, when I could bring myself to
+speak calmly.
+
+"No, no, Heaven forbid.  I had not a thought of it in all my heart; not
+a thought, save of love and a desire to shield you from any real danger
+that threatened you, till,"--and her voice changed
+suddenly--"yesterday, when you loosed all the torrents that can flow
+from a jealous woman's heart.  I am a woman; but I am a Russian."
+
+She was lying now, for she was contradicting what she had said just
+before.
+
+"My sister's fate is nothing to me," I said, callously.  "She has made
+her bed, let her lie on it.  But as for myself"--I had but one possible
+to seem to yield--"I care nothing.  I am not the coward you once
+thought me, and my meeting with Devinsky shews you that clearly enough.
+But I doubted your love when I found you did not answer to the test I
+made."
+
+"You do not doubt it now.  I am here at the risk of my life; at the
+risk of both our lives," she said, her eyes aflame with feeling as she
+hung on my deliberately spoken words.
+
+"This morning has been a further test, and I should not be a sane man
+if I doubted you now, or ever again."
+
+"Then kiss me, Alexis."
+
+She sprang from her chair and threw herself into my arms, loading me
+with wild tempestuous caresses, like a woman distraught with passion.
+
+I hated myself even while I endured it; and nothing would have made me
+play so loathesome and repugnant a part but the thought that Olga's
+safety demanded it.
+
+She was still clinging about me, calling me by my name, caressing me,
+upbraiding me for my coldness, and chiding me for having put her to
+such a test, when a loud knock at the door of the room disturbed us
+both.
+
+It was my discreet servant Borlas; the loudness of his knock being the
+measure of his discretion.
+
+He said that my sister was waiting to see me.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII.
+
+A LESSON IN NIHILISM.
+
+I was not a little annoyed that so soon after Olga had warned me
+against the wiles of Paula Tueski, she should come just when my most
+unwelcome lover was in my rooms--and at such a moment.  But I thrust
+aside my irritation--which was not against Olga--and went to her,
+curious to learn what had brought her to visit me.
+
+She told me in a few sentences.  A friend had been to warn her that I
+was in danger from the Nihilists and that unless I took the greatest
+care, I should be assassinated.  The poor girl was all pale and
+agitated with alarm on my account, and had rushed off to hand the
+warning on to me.  She was half hysterical.  She wanted me to fly at
+once, to claim the protection of the British Consulate; to proclaim my
+identity and get away even before my passport came from her brother.
+
+"There is not the danger you fear, Olga," I said, reassuringly.  "I
+shall find means to avoid it.  But I want to speak to you about another
+matter.  Paula Tueski is here"--my sister shrank back and looked at me
+with a hard expression on her face such as I had not seen there in all
+our talks.  Evidently she hated the woman cordially.  "You are right in
+your estimate of her in one respect, and for the moment she has beaten
+me.  Much as I dislike the business, we must manage to blind her eyes
+and tie her hands for the moment--or I for one see none but bad
+business ahead."
+
+"How comes she to be here?" asked Olga, in a voice of suppressed anger.
+
+"I will tell you all that another time," I answered, speaking hurriedly
+and in a very low tone.  "Another point has occurred to me.  She is
+very bitter against you and has been urging your brother to get you to
+receive her.  This was to have been done last night.  My apparent
+refusal to speak to her at all came as a crowning insult, and she was
+mad.  There is one way in which I think we might the more easily
+deceive her, if you can bring yourself to do it.  Come in now and let
+me present her to you: or let me go and tell her that you will call on
+her."
+
+"Will it make things safer for you?" she asked, always thinking of the
+trouble into which she would persist in saying she had brought me.
+
+"It would make them safer for you, I think."
+
+"I care nothing for myself.  She can't harm me.  Do you wish it?  Do
+you think it desirable?  I will do it if you say yes."  She spoke so
+earnestly that I smiled...  Then she added:--"Ah, it is so good to have
+someone that I can trust.  That's why I leave it to you."
+
+"I don't wish it," I answered, gravely, "because she is the reverse of
+a good woman, but I do think it would be prudent."
+
+"Let's go to her at once," cried the girl, getting up from her chair
+readily.  "We can talk afterwards.  That's the one privilege...." she
+checked herself and then coloured slightly.  I pretended not to notice
+it; but this absolute confidence pleased me not a little.
+
+"Bear in mind, we are only playing a part with this woman," I whispered.
+
+"I know.  She is too dangerous for me ever to forget that, or to play
+badly."  She dashed a glance of quick understanding at me and then
+seemed to change suddenly into a Russian grande dame.  An indescribable
+air of distinction manifested itself in a hundred little signs, and she
+carried herself like a stately duchess, as we entered the room where
+Paula Tueski sat waiting impatiently.
+
+A great glad light of triumph leapt into the latter's eyes as she saw
+Olga was with me, and she, too, drew herself up as I made the two
+formally known to each other.  It was a delightful bit of comedy.  Olga
+was full of quite stately regrets that she had not had the pleasure of
+knowing the other long before: said that her brother's friends were, of
+course, her friends; and that she hoped to call that week on Madame
+Tueski and that Madame would find an opportunity of returning the visit
+speedily.  She made such an appearance of unbending to the other, that
+the difference between them was all the more pronounced.
+
+Madame Tueski on her side was too full of the seeming triumph over us
+to be able to be natural with my sister; and she alternately gushed and
+froze as she first tried to captivate and then would remember that Olga
+was only consenting through compulsion to know her.  The result was as
+ridiculous as an episode could be beneath which lurked such
+possibilities of tragedy.
+
+It lasted only a few minutes when I suggested, and I had a purpose,
+that the two should leave the house together.  I wished to get rid of
+Paula Tueski without further love-making: and desired in addition that
+if there were any spies about the house they should see the two
+together, so that if any tales were carried to the Chief of the Police
+they should be innocent ones.
+
+"I will call later in the day if possible," I promised Olga, as she
+left.
+
+"Ugh, how I hate her;" was the whispered reply, inconsequential but
+very feminine.  And I shut the door on the two and went back to my room
+to think out this new set of most complicated problems.
+
+Paula Tueski's visit had changed everything; and I saw it would be
+foolish not to look that fact straight in the face.  I could not see
+how things would end; but certainly flight, for the time, was simply
+impossible.  For myself, I did not much care.  I had had a few hours of
+excitement which had completely drawn me out of the morbid mood in
+which I had arrived in Moscow; and nothing had happened to make me much
+more anxious to live than I had been then.
+
+Life might have been endurable enough, if I could have gone on with my
+army career as Lieutenant Petrovitch; but not if the abominable and
+disgraceful intrigue were to be added as a necessary condition.  That
+would be unendurable: and had I been a free agent, I would have ended
+the whole thing there and then, by admitting the deception and putting
+up with the results.  Indeed, it occurred to me that in a country like
+Russia, where I knew that courage stood for much and military skill for
+more, the reputation I had managed to make would be likely enough to
+tell in my favour if I told the truth and asked leave to volunteer.
+
+But was I a free agent?
+
+Look at the thing as I would I could see no means by which I could get
+out of the mess, even taking my punishment, without leaving my sister
+in deep trouble.  If Paula Tueski found that I had humbugged her and
+that Olga was in the plot, it was as plain as a gallows that she would
+be simply mad and would wreak her spite on the girl.
+
+Could I leave Olga to this?  The words of confidence she had spoken
+were still echoing in my ears--and very pleasant music they made--and
+could I quietly save my own skin and leave her in the lurch?  It was
+not likely that I should do anything of the sort; and I didn't
+entertain it for a moment as a possibility.  The girl had trusted to
+me; and I must make her safety the first consideration of any plan I
+formed.
+
+But how?
+
+I could see only one way.  It was that she should get out of Moscow,
+and indeed out of Russia altogether.  It was not probable that the
+woman Tueski would place any obstacle in the way, provided I did not
+attempt to leave as well; and I came to the conclusion that the best
+possible course would be for Olga to take her departure at once.  She
+could go and join her brother in Paris, or wherever he had gone; and
+then I could carry on alone the play, farce, burlesque, comedy, or
+tragedy, as it might prove.
+
+It was early evening before I could get round to see Olga, and then I
+had to spend some time with her aunt, the Countess Palitzin, an ugly,
+garrulous and dyspeptic old lady, who wanted to hear all about the
+Devinsky business over again: and then went on to tell me of some
+famous duels that had happened in her young days.
+
+I observed that Olga was very thoughtful during the interview with the
+aunt, but as soon as we were alone she put her hand into mine and with
+a look that spoke deep feeling and pleasure, said:--
+
+"You could have done nothing that would have better pleased me--nothing
+could shew so clearly that you understand me better than anyone ever
+did before.  I have seen the girl and listened to her story and
+questioned her.  I think there is yet good in her and I am convinced
+she tells the truth.  She longs to be separated from her dreadful
+father...."
+
+"He leaves for Kursk to-morrow," I said.
+
+"Good.  Then I will make the care of the others my charge.  I don't do
+much that is useful; and if I can make that life happier and give the
+child the chance of growing up to be a good Russian, I shall have done
+something.  What say you?"
+
+She seemed more admirable than ever in my eyes for this; but I
+hesitated a moment what to say; and she, quick to read my looks, added,
+her own features taking a reflection of my doubts:--
+
+"But of course that is all subject to your opinion.  Is there anything
+else you think better?  But I should like this very much:" and a smile
+broke over her face.
+
+"The plan is excellent; but there is a difficulty, unless you can make
+your arrangements at once and permanently, or at any rate for a
+considerable time ahead.  Or you might perhaps better arrange for the
+mother and child to leave Russia."
+
+The girl looked perplexed; and fifty little notes of interrogation
+crinkled in her forehead and shot from her eyes.
+
+"There is something behind that, of course," she said.  "What is it?"
+
+"I think it would be the best plan if you yourself were to go away on a
+little tour.  You have had the idea of leaving Russia, you know, and
+going to your brother as soon as he has made a home in Paris, or
+wherever he stops."
+
+"Well?" when I paused.
+
+"Bluntly, I think you would be safer across the frontier;" and I told
+her at some length my reasons.
+
+"But what of you?  Do you think I do not wish to share the success
+which my brother is enjoying here?  Or are you thinking of leaving
+Russia also?"  By a swift turn of the head she prevented me from seeing
+her face as she asked this.
+
+I laughed as I answered lightly:--"No.  The state of my health,
+combined with regimental duties, social engagements, Nihilistic
+contracts, and other complications render it a little difficult to
+leave at present."
+
+The girl did not laugh, however, but kept her face turned from me; and
+I could not help admiring the poise of the head and the graceful
+outline it made against the grey evening light falling on her from the
+window.
+
+She seemed so much more womanly than the laughing girl I had met first
+on the Moscow platform, and it was difficult to think that so short a
+time had passed since then.  I filled up the long pause during which
+she appeared to be making up her mind what answer to give me, by
+thinking what a pleasant sister she was and how sorry I should be to
+lose her.
+
+"Well?" I asked, when the pause had lasted a very long time.
+
+"I am very much obliged to you for your advice," she said, turning
+round and looking coldly at me, and speaking in a formal precise tone;
+"but I find myself unable to take advantage of it.  I cannot
+conveniently leave Moscow just now."  Then just when I was at a loss to
+know how I had offended her, she changed suddenly.  She stamped her
+foot quite angrily, a flush of indignation reddened her cheeks and her
+eyes flashed as she looked at me and cried:--"And I thought you
+understood me!  Do you think we Petrovitch's are all cowards?  And that
+I am like Alexis, having got you into this fearful trouble would run
+away and leave you to get out of it alone?"  For an instant she
+struggled with her emotion.  Then she exclaimed: "It is an insult!" and
+bursting into tears she rushed out of the room.
+
+I stared in blank amazement at the door after it had closed behind her,
+and wondering what it was all about, left the house in a medley of
+confused thoughts, in which regret for having in some clumsy way
+worried her and the consciousness that she was really a plucky girl
+intermingled themselves with the memory of how pretty she had looked in
+her emotional indignation.  The thought of her tears, and that I had
+caused them, gave me the worst twinges, however; and this kept
+recurring and bothering me during the whole evening.
+
+At the club, where I went from Olga's house, I was careful to maintain
+the same part as on the previous day: the character of a stern,
+reserved, observant man, moody but very resolute and determined.  Not a
+sign of the bully nor a symptom of braggadocio: but just the kind of
+man who, while quite willing to let others take their own way in life,
+means to take his.  Unready to force a quarrel, but equally unready to
+pass over a slight; and relentless if involved.
+
+This was pretty much my own character, with some of the dash and life
+pressed out of it; and it was easy enough for me to maintain it.  That
+night I played a little.  I knew I had formerly been a pretty heavy
+gambler; but to-night I purposely stopped short in the full tide of
+winning.  I had lost at first, and the luck turned with a rush, as it
+will, and as soon as I had pulled back my losses I stopped, to the
+astonishment of all who had been accustomed to find in me a heavy
+plunger.
+
+"You'll be donning the cowl, next, Petrovitch, and preaching
+self-denial," said one, a handsome laughing youngster who had been
+bemoaning his own losses a minute before.
+
+"A good thing for the Turks, if he does it before the war," said
+another subaltern.
+
+Some others chimed in, and it was easy to see from the drift of the
+talk how genuine was the turn in the tide of opinion about me.
+
+I left the club and wanting fresh air while I thought over matters I
+went for a short walk.  I knew the City pretty well, of course, owing
+to my long residence there; and the changes since I had left were not
+very considerable.
+
+Walking thoughtfully down one of the broad streets I became conscious
+that I was being followed.  I had had a similar sensation before; but
+what Paula Tueski had told me about being watched and guarded, and the
+warning that Olga had given me now caused me to attach more importance
+to the matter.
+
+It is one of the most hateful sensations I know, to feel that one's
+footsteps are being dogged by a spy.  I turned round sharply several
+times, and each time noticed a man at some distance behind me trying to
+slip out of sight.  He was clever at his business, and several feints I
+made in the attempt to shake him off failed.  But I escaped him at
+length in the great Church of St Martin.  Everyone knows the many
+outlets of that enormous pile.  It has as many entrances as a rabbit
+warren, and most of them are nearly always open.  I went in by one door
+and left instantly by another, and running off at top speed, I was out
+of sight before the spy could well know I had left the building.  I
+seemed to breathe more freely as soon as I had shaken the fellow off.
+
+I stayed out some time, renewing my acquaintance with several parts of
+the city; and it was late when I reached home--so late that the streets
+were deserted.
+
+This fact nearly cost me my life.
+
+I was passing a narrow street when, without the slightest
+warning--though I cannot doubt that in some way my approach had been
+signalled--four men rushed out on me with drawn knives.  By mere chance
+their first rush did not prove fatal; for two of them who struck at me
+came so close, that the knives gashed my clothes.
+
+But when they missed their chance, I did not give them another.  I
+sprang aside, whipped out my sword, sent up a lusty cry for help that
+made the houses ring again, and set my back against the wall to sell my
+life as dearly as I could.  They closed round me and attacked
+instantly; a swift lunge sent my blade through one of them, a swinging
+cut made another drop his knife with a great cry of pain, and an
+unexpected, but tremendously violent back-handed blow with the hilt of
+my sword right in the face sent a third down reeling and half senseless.
+
+[Illustration: A swinging cut made another drop his knife with a great
+cry of pain.]
+
+This sort of reception was by no means what they had expected; and as a
+shout in answer to my cry for help came from a distance, the unwounded
+man and the two who could get away rushed off at top speed; while the
+fourth who had only been dazed, struggled to his feet and would have
+staggered off as well had I let him.  But I stopped him, made him give
+up his knife, and then I drove him before me to my rooms--only a very
+short distance off--without waiting for the man to come up who had
+replied to my shout for help.  I did not want any help now.  No one man
+was at all likely to do me any harm, and I might thus get to know the
+cause of the attack, without being troubled with any outside
+interference.
+
+"Now, why did you seek to kill me?" I asked sternly, as soon as the man
+was in my room.  "You're not a thief; your dress and style shew that.
+Why, then, do you turn assassin?"
+
+"There should be no need for me to tell you that," said he, speaking
+with vehemence.
+
+"Nevertheless, I ask it," I returned, with even more sternness.
+Evidently I was going to make another discovery; and when the man
+waited a long time before answering, I scanned him closely to see if I
+could guess his object.  Clearly he was no thief.  He was fairly well
+dressed in the style of an ordinary tradesman or a superior mechanic;
+his appearance betokened rather a sedentary life and his muscles had
+certainly not been hardened by any physical training.  As certainly he
+was no police spy.  He was the last man in the world to have been
+picked out for such a job as that of the attempt on my life.  There was
+no probability of there being any private feud against me; that seemed
+ridiculous.
+
+I could only conclude, therefore, that the attack was from the
+Nihilists.  The man looked much more like an emissary of that
+kind--able to give a sudden thrust with a sharp knife; but incapable of
+doing more.  The instant I had come to this conclusion, and I came to
+it much more quickly than I can write it, I resolved what to do.
+
+"I am glad this encounter has taken place--not omitting the result, of
+course," I added grimly.  "There is no cause whatever for this decree."
+
+The man's lip curled somewhat contemptuously, as I made this protest.
+He seemed to have formed the average low estimate of the value of my
+word.  Everywhere I turned I was met by the worthlessness of the scamp
+whose name I now bore.  The contempt silenced, even while it angered,
+me.
+
+"You did not attend," he said curtly.  "A man's absence is poor proof
+of either innocence or courage.  You are not only a traitor but a
+coward."
+
+"What!" I turned on him as if he had struck me.
+
+This puny, pale, insignificant weakling faced me as dauntlessly as if
+the positions were reversed and I was in his power, not he in mine.
+
+"You are brave enough here now, no doubt--you armed against me
+unarmed."  He threw this sneering taunt at me with deliberate insolence.
+
+I stared at him first in amazement, and then in admiration.
+
+I had but to raise my hand to kill him with a stroke.  He read my
+thoughts.
+
+"What do I care for my life, do you think?  Take it, if you like.  One
+murder more--even in cold blood--is a little matter to a soldier."
+
+A couple of turns up and down the room cooled me.
+
+"I don't want your life," said I, calmly.  "Though it's dangerous to
+call me a coward, and were you other than what you are, I'd ram the
+word down your throat.  With you, however, I'll deal differently.  You
+say I was afraid to attend your last meeting.  I'll do better than
+merely call that a lie, I'll prove it one.  Call another meeting in as
+big a place as you can, pack it with all the deadliest cut-throats you
+can find, resolve to shoot me down as I enter the door, and if I dare
+not attend it, then call me coward--but not till then."  My blood was
+up now, and I spoke as hotly as I felt.
+
+"Will you come?" asked the man.
+
+"Call the meeting and see.  Nay, more.  Between now and the time of the
+meeting think of the wildest and most dangerous scheme that you can to
+test what a desperate man can do for the cause, and give me the lead in
+it.  And when I've failed, write me down traitor, and not till then.
+And now, go, or by God I may forget myself and lay hands on you."
+
+My voice rang out in such sharp stern tones that the man's antagonism
+was beaten down by my earnestness.  My fierceness seemed to fire him,
+and when I threw open the door for him to go, he stood a moment and
+stared into my face, his own all eagerness, light and wildness.  Then
+he exclaimed in a tone of intense excitement:---
+
+"By God, I believe you're true after all."  And with that he went.
+
+It was not until the man had been gone some time and I was pacing up
+and down my room, still excited, and revolving the chances of this,
+perhaps the most desperate of all the complications which threatened
+me, that I saw a letter on tinted paper, lying on my table.  I took it
+up and found it was from Olga, and my thoughts went back with a rush to
+her and to the circumstances under which I had left her that evening.
+
+The letter was not very long.
+
+
+MY DEAR BROTHER,
+
+"I have not ceased to regret the hasty words I spoke to you this
+evening.  Forgive me.  Of course you do not think me a coward; and I
+can see now that you must have some other motive for wishing me to
+leave Moscow and Russia, while you remain here alone to face--what may
+have to be faced.  But whatever your reason is, I cannot do it.  Do you
+understand that?  I cannot.  That is stronger than I will not.  I think
+you know me.  If so, you know that I will not.  If I thought you
+believed me capable of leaving you in the lurch after having brought
+all this on you, I should wish I had never had--such a brother.  I will
+never even let you mention the matter to me again.
+
+Your sister,
+  OLGA."
+
+
+I read this letter through two or three times, each time with a higher
+opinion of the staunch-hearted little writer.  And at the end I
+surprised myself considerably by pressing the letter involuntarily to
+my lips.
+
+She was a girl worth a good tough fight.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+THE RIVERSIDE MEETING
+
+The Nihilists were not long in taking up my challenge; and on the
+following afternoon, the man whom I had interviewed in my rooms met me
+in the street and told me I was to meet him on the south side of the
+Cathedral Square at nine o'clock the next night.  There was a
+peremptory ring in the message which I didn't care for, but I promised
+to keep the appointment.
+
+I had thought out my plans and had come to see that the impulse under
+which I had spoken was as shrewd as the proposal itself was risky.  If
+I was not to be a perpetual mark for their attacks, I must make an
+impression on them; and I saw at once that the safest thing that could
+happen was at the same time the most daring--I must take the lead.  If
+some desperate scheme were placed in my hands for execution, I should
+certainly be allowed a free hand to carry it out, and as certainly have
+time in which to do it.  That was what I needed.
+
+I did not place the danger of attending the meeting very high.  If I
+were not murdered on my way to the place, wherever it might be--and
+that was highly improbable--I did not think they would venture to kill
+me at the meeting itself.  Moreover I reckoned somewhat on the effect I
+believed I had created on the man in my rooms.
+
+I took a revolver with me as a precaution; but I had little doubt about
+getting through the night safely.
+
+It turned out to be a very different affair from anything I had
+anticipated, however, and taken on the whole it was perhaps one of the
+most thrilling experiences I have ever passed through.  Whether I was
+really in danger of death at any time, or whether the whole business
+was merely intended to try and scare me, I don't know.  But I believe
+that if I had shewn any signs of fear, they would have murdered me
+there and then.  Certainly they had all the means at hand.
+
+I met the man by the Cathedral, and muttering to me to follow him at
+twenty paces distance, he walked on and presently plunged into a
+labyrinth of streets, leading from the Cathedral down to the river in
+the lowest quarter of the town.  The place was ill lit and worse
+drained, and the noisome atmosphere of some of the alleys which we
+passed and the mess through which we trudged, were horribly repulsive.
+
+In the lowest and darkest and dirtiest of the streets the man stopped
+and with a sign to me not to speak, pointed to a dark tumbling doorway.
+As I entered it, I saw it was about the aptest scene for a murder that
+could have been chosen.
+
+The place was almost pitch dark, and as we had stepped out of a very
+bright moonlight, I had to stand a moment to let my eyes accustom
+themselves to the change.  Then I made out a broken, rambling stairway
+just ahead of us.  Taking it for granted that I was to go up these,
+ignorant whether I was supposed to know the place, and quite unwilling
+even to appear to wish to hang back, I stumbled up the stairs as
+quickly as the gloom would let me.  When I reached the top I found
+myself in a long, low shed that ran on some distance in front of me to
+a point there I thought I could discern a faint light.
+
+I groped my way forward, the boards giving ominously under my feet,
+when suddenly a voice said in a loud whisper out of the gloom and as if
+at my very ear:--
+
+"Stand, if you value your life."
+
+I stopped readily enough, as may be imagined; and then the silence was
+broken by the swishing, rushing swirl of the swiftly flowing river,
+while currents of cold air caused by the moving water, were wafted up
+full in my face.  I strained my ears to listen and my eyes to see and
+craning forward, I could make out a huge gap in the floor wider than a
+man could have leapt, which opened right to my very feet.
+
+What happened I don't know; it was too dark to see.  But after a time
+there was a sound of a heavily moving body close at my feet, the noise
+of the water grew faint, and I was told to go forward.  I went on until
+I was again called to a halt; and after a minute the sound of the
+rushing water came again clear and distinct, this time from behind me.
+Then a flaring light was kindled all suddenly and thrown down into the
+wide gap until with a hiss it was extinguished in the river below.
+
+I knew what that meant.  It was a signal that all hope of retreat was
+cut off, and the signal was given in this dramatic fashion to frighten
+me if my nerves should be unsteady.  As a matter of fact it had rather
+the opposite effect.  I have generally found that when men are really
+dangerous they are least demonstrative.  These things--the darkness,
+the silence, the rushing water, the means of secret murder--were all
+calculated to frighten weak nerves no doubt, but they did not frighten
+me.
+
+At the same time I saw that if the men wished to murder me, they had
+ample means of doing it safely, and that the situation might easily
+become a very ugly one.
+
+Without wasting time I went forward again, and passing through a door
+which was opened at my approach, I found myself in the end room of a
+disused and tumbling riverside warehouse; the side next the river being
+quite open and over-hanging the waters.  The place was unlighted save
+for the bright moonlight which came slanting in from the open end, and
+down through some chinks and gaps in the roof.
+
+Scattered round the place were some thirty or forty men, their faces
+undistinguishable in the gloom, though care was taken to let me see
+that each man carried a knife: and when I entered, five or six of them
+closed round the door, as if to guard against the possibility of my
+retreat.
+
+I glanced about me to see whom to address, or who would speak to me.
+
+For a couple of minutes or more, not a soul moved and not a word was
+spoken.  The only sounds audible were these which came from the river
+without; the hushed burr of night life from the dim city beyond.
+
+"You plea has been considered," said a voice at length in a tone
+scarcely above a whisper; but I thought I could recognise it as that of
+the man who had been in my rooms.  "It has been resolved not to accept
+it.  You have been brought here to-night to die."
+
+"As you will; I am ready," I answered promptly.  "I am as ready to lose
+my life as you are to take it."
+
+"Kneel down," said the man.
+
+"Not I," I cried, resolutely.  "If I am to die, I prefer to stand.  But
+here, I'll make it easier for you.  Here's the only weapon I have.
+Take it, someone."  I laid my revolver on the floor in a little spot
+where a glint of moonlight fell on it.  Then I threw off my coat and
+waistcoat and turning back my shirt bared the heart side of my breast.
+If they could be dramatic, so could I, I thought.  "Here, strike," I
+cried.  "And all I ask is for a clean quick thrust right to the heart."
+I was growing excited.
+
+[Illustration: "Here, strike," I cried.]
+
+"No 13," said the man, after a long pause.
+
+A tall, broad, huge man loomed up out of a dark corner and stood
+between me and the light from the river.  As he laid his hands on me,
+the clasp was like a clamp of iron, and his enormous strength made me
+as a child in his clutch.
+
+With a trick that seemed to tell of much practice, he seized me
+suddenly by the right arm, holding it in a grip I thought no man on
+earth could possess, and bending me backwards held me so that either my
+throat or my heart were at the mercy of the long knife he held aloft.
+
+I let no sound escape me and did not move a muscle.  The next instant
+my left hand was seized and a finger pressed on my pulse.  In this
+position I stayed for a full minute.  I do not believe that my pulse
+quickened, save for the physical strain, by so much as one beat.
+
+"It is enough," said the man who had before spoken; and I was released.
+
+"You are no coward," he said, addressing me.  "I withdraw that.  You
+can have your life, on one condition."
+
+"And that?"
+
+"That you swear..."
+
+"I will swear nothing," I interposed.
+
+"You have taken the oath of fealty."
+
+"I will swear nothing.  Take my life if you like, but swear I will not.
+If I had meant treachery, I should have had the police round us
+to-night like a swarm of bees.  You have had a proof whether I'm true
+or not; and when I turn traitor, you can run a blade into my heart or
+lodge a bullet in my brain.  But oaths are nothing to a man who means
+either to keep or break his word.  What is the condition?  I told you
+mine before."
+
+"Yours is accepted.  Your task is"--here he sunk his voice and
+whispered right into my ear--"the death of Christian Tueski."
+
+"I accept," I answered readily.  I would have accepted, had they told
+me to kill the Czar himself.  "But it will take time.  I will have no
+other hand in it than mine.  It is a glorious commission.  Mine alone
+the honour of success, and mine alone the danger, or mine alone the
+disgrace of failure."  I looked on the whole thing now as more or less
+of a burlesque; but I played the part I had chosen as well as I could.
+And when the little puny rebel put out his hand in the darkness and
+clasped mine, I gripped his with a force that made his bones crack, as
+if to convey to him the intensity of my resolve and my enthusiastic
+pleasure at the grim work they had allotted me.
+
+Then I was told to leave; and in a few minutes I was once more in the
+open air, quite as undecided then as I have always remained, as to what
+had been the real intentions in regard to myself.  One of my chief
+regrets was not to be able to see the burly giant who had twisted me
+about on his knee as easily as I should a fowl whose neck I meant to
+wring.  He was a man indeed to admire; and I would have given much for
+a sight of him.
+
+But my guide hurried me back through the labyrinth of streets into
+respectable Moscow once more, and I was soon busy with my thoughts as
+to how long a shrift I should have before my new "comrades" would grow
+impatient for me to act.
+
+Certainly they would have plenty of time for their patience to grow
+very cold before I should turn murderer to further their schemes.  But
+I could not foresee the strange chain of events which was fated to
+fasten on me this new character that I had assumed so lightly and
+dramatically--the character of a desperate, bloodthirsty, and
+absolutely reckless Nihilist.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX.
+
+DEVINSKY AGAIN.
+
+It will be readily understood that I now found life exciting enough
+even to satisfy me.  The complications multiplied so fast, without any
+act of mine, that I had no time to think of the old troubles and
+disappointments which had so soured Hamylton Tregethner, and emptied
+life for him.  They had already faded into little more than memories,
+associated with a life that I had once lived but had now done with
+altogether.  I was getting rapidly absorbed by the dangers and
+incidents of the new life.
+
+How completely I had changed the current of opinion about Alexis
+Petrovitch I had abundant evidence during the next few days, in the
+form of invitations to houses which had hitherto been closed to me.
+People also began to remember Olga, and she shared in this way in the
+altered condition of things.
+
+I did not tell her any particulars of my night with the Nihilists, nor
+of the mission with which I was charged.  It would probably distress
+her, and could do no good; unless I might find it necessary to use it
+to compel her to leave Moscow.  I questioned her as to her own
+connections with the Nihilists, and from what she told me I saw that
+though they were slight in themselves, they were enough to put her in
+the power of a woman such as Paula Tueski; and decidedly much more than
+sufficient to make her arrest a certainty if I were to be arrested, or
+if anything should happen to throw increased suspicion on me.
+
+Our meeting after her letter to me was a very pleasant one.  She met me
+with a smile and begged me again to forgive her.  That was not
+difficult.
+
+"I can speak frankly to my brother, now.  I couldn't always, you know,
+Alexis"--she glanced with roguish severity into my face--"because a few
+days ago you used to get very bad tempered and even swear a little.
+But I'll admit you are improving--in that respect; though I am afraid
+you are as dogged as ever.  But I can be dogged, too: and if I speak
+frankly now, it is to tell you that nothing you can do will make me go
+out of Russia until you are safe.  You may form what opinion you like
+of me--though I don't want that to be very bad--but a coward you shall
+never find me."
+
+"I didn't think you a coward.  You know that; you said it in your
+letter; and I shall not forgive that rudeness of yours, if you persist
+in this attitude."
+
+"What is the use of a brother if one can't be rude to him, pray?  As
+for your forgiveness, you can't help that now.  You've given it.
+Besides, on reflection, I should not be frightened of you.  Will you
+make me a promise?"
+
+"Yes, if it has nothing to do with your going away."
+
+"It has."
+
+"Then I won't make it.  But I'll make a truce.  I will not press you to
+go away, unless I think it necessary for my own safety.  Will that do?"
+
+"Yes, I'll go then," she answered readily, holding out her hand to make
+a bargain of it, as she added:--"Mind, if it's necessary for your
+safety."
+
+"You're as precise as a lawyer," said I, laughing, as I pressed her
+hand and saw a flush of colour tinge her face a moment.
+
+"Now," she said, after a pause.  "I have a surprise for you.  I have a
+letter from an old friend of yours--a very old friend."
+
+"An old friend of mine.  Oh, I see.  And old friend of your brother's,
+you mean.  Well, who is it now?  Is there another complication?"
+
+"No, no.  An old friend of my new brother's.  From Mr. Hamylton
+Tregethner."  She laughed merrily as she stumbled over the old Cornish
+syllables.  "I don't like that Englishman," she said, gravely.  "Do you
+know why?"
+
+"Not for the life of me."
+
+"Well, I do not; but I can't say why."  Her manner was peculiar.  "See,
+here is the passport.  Mr. Tregethner has sent it and he seems to have
+crossed the Russian frontier without the least difficulty.  He has gone
+to Paris by way of Austria.  When shall you go?"  She did not look up
+as she asked this, but stood rummaging among the papers on the table.
+I took the passport, unfolded and read it mechanically; then without
+thinking, folded it up again and put it away in my pocket.
+
+Evidently she meant it as my dismissal; and it was very awkward for me
+to explain that I could not be dismissed in this way because of the
+difficulties in the road of my leaving.  I did not wish to appear to
+force myself upon her as a brother; but I could not go without first
+seeing her in safety.  And there was the crux.
+
+"I'll make my arrangements as soon as I can," I replied, after a
+longish pause; and I was conscious of being a little stiff in my
+manner.  "But of course I can't manage things quite as I please.  You
+see, I didn't come into this--I mean, I took up the part and--well, I'm
+hanged if I know what I do mean; except that of course I'm sorry to
+seem to force myself on you longer than you like, but I can't get away
+quite so easily as you seem to think.  I know it puts you in an awkward
+position, but for the moment I don't for the life of me see how it's to
+be helped."
+
+As I finished she lifted her head, and her expression was at first
+grave, until the light of a smile in her blue eyes began to spread over
+her face, and the corners of her mouth twitched.
+
+"Then you won't be able to go yet?  Of course, it's very awkward, as
+you say: but I must manage to put up with it as best I can.  In the
+meantime as we have to continue the parts, we had better play them so
+as to mystify people.  Don't you agree with this?
+
+"Yes, I think that, certainly," I answered, catching her drift, and
+smiling in my turn.
+
+"Then I am riding this afternoon at three o'clock; and as it might
+occasion remark if our afternoon rides were broken off quite suddenly,
+don't you think it would be very diplomatic if you were to come with
+me?"
+
+"Yes, very diplomatic," I assented, readily.  "But you never told me
+before," said I, rising to go and get ready, "that we were in the habit
+of riding out together every day."
+
+"It hasn't been exactly every afternoon," answered Olga, laughing.  "In
+fact, it's more than a year since the last ride, but the principle of
+the thing is the same.  We ought not to break the continuity."
+
+"No, we ought not to break the continuity," I assented, laughing.
+"I'll soon be back."  I was, and an exceedingly jolly ride we had.
+Olga was a splendid horsewoman--a seat like a circus rider--and as soon
+as we were free of the city we had two or three rattling spins.  As we
+rode back we discussed the question of the best course for us to take.
+We were both too much exhilarated by the ride to take any but a
+sanguine view; and so far as I am concerned, I think I talked about it
+rather as a sort of link between us two than in any serious sense.
+
+When I got to my rooms I was surprised to learn from my servant Borlas
+that my old opponent, Major Devinsky, had called to see me.  I did not
+know he was back in Moscow, though I knew he had been away.  I had been
+at drill that morning--I had quickly fallen into the routine of the
+work--and had heard nothing of his return.  Certainly there was no
+reason why he should come to me; though there were many why he should
+keep away.
+
+He may have watched me into my rooms; for almost before I had changed
+my riding things, he was announced.  He came in smiling, impudent, self
+assertive, and disposed to be friendly.
+
+"What can you want with me that can induce you to come here?" I asked
+coldly.
+
+"I want an understanding, Petrovitch...."
+
+"Lieutenant Petrovitch, if you please," I interposed.
+
+"Oh, I beg your pardon, Lieutenant Petrovitch, I'm sure," he answered
+lightly.  "But there's really no need for this kind of reception.  I
+want to be friends with you."
+
+I bowed as he paused.
+
+"You and I have not quite understood each other in the past."
+
+"Not until within the last few days," I returned, significantly.
+
+"I'm not referring to that," he said, flushing.  "Though as you've
+started it I'll pay you the compliment of saying you're devilish neat
+and clever in your workmanship.  I had no idea of it, either, nor
+anyone less...."
+
+"What do you want with me?" I interrupted, with a wave of the hand to
+stop his compliment.
+
+"I want to talk quietly over with you my suit for your sister's hand.
+I want to know where we stand, you and I."
+
+"My sister's hand is not mine to give."  This very curtly.
+
+"I don't ask you to give it, man; I only want to win it.  I am as good
+a match for her as any man in Moscow..."  and with that he launched out
+into a long account of his wealth, position, and prospects, and of the
+position his wife would occupy.  I let him talk as long as he would,
+quite understanding that this was only the preface to something
+else--the real purpose of his visit.  Gradually he drew nearer and
+nearer to the point, and I saw him eyeing me furtively to note the
+effect of his words, which he weighed very carefully.  He spoke of his
+family influence; how he could advance my interests; what an advantage
+it was to have command of wealth when making an army career: and much
+more, until he shewed me that what he really intended was to presume on
+my old evil reputation and bribe me with money down if necessary, and
+with promises of future help, if I would agree to let Olga marry him.
+
+"Your proposal put in plain terms means," I said, bluntly, when he had
+exhausted his circuitous suggestions, "that you want to buy my consent
+and assistance.  I told you at the start that my sister's hand was not
+mine to give; neither is it mine to sell, Major Devinsky."
+
+He bent a sharp, calculating look on me as if to judge whether I was in
+earnest, or merely raising my terms.
+
+"I am not a man easily baulked," he said.
+
+"Nor I one easily bribed," I retorted.
+
+"You will have a fortune, and more than a fortune behind you.  With
+skill like yours you can climb to any height you please."
+
+"Sink to any depth you please, you should say," I answered sternly.
+"But my sister declines absolutely to be your wife.  She dislikes you
+cordially--as cordially as I do: and no plea that you could offer would
+induce her to change her mind."
+
+"You weren't always very solicitous about her wishes," he muttered,
+with an angry sneer.  I didn't understand this allusion: but it made me
+very angry.
+
+"You are under my roof," I cried hotly.  "But even here you will be
+good enough to put some guard on your speech.  It may clear your
+thoughts to know what my present feelings are."  I now spoke with
+crisp, cutting emphasis.  "If my sister could by any art or persuasion
+be induced to be your wife, I would never consent to exchange another
+word with her in all my life.  As for the veiled bribe you have
+offered, I allowed you to make it, that I might see how low you would
+descend.  Sooner than accept it, I would break my sword across my knee
+and turn cabman for a living.  But your visit shall have one result--I
+will tell my sister all that has passed..."
+
+"By Heaven, if you dare."
+
+"All that has passed now, and if she would rather marry you than retain
+her relationship to me, I will retire in your favour.  But you will do
+well not to be hopeful."  I could not resist this rather petty little
+sneer.
+
+"You will live to repent this, Lieutenant Petrovitch."
+
+"At your service," I replied, quietly with a bow.  He was white to the
+lips with anger when he rose to go, and he seemed as if fighting to
+keep back the utterance of some hot insult that rose to his tongue.
+But his rage got no farther than ugly looks, and he was still wrestling
+with his agitation when he left the room.
+
+I could understand his chagrin.  He would have dearly liked to force me
+at the point of the sword to consent, and the knowledge that this was
+no longer possible, that in some way which of course he could not
+understand I had broken his influence and was no longer afraid of him,
+galled and maddened him almost beyond endurance.  He looked the baffled
+bully to the life.
+
+It was two days before I had an opportunity of speaking to Olga about
+it.  I had made a rule of seeing her daily if possible, lest anything
+should happen that needed explanation by her; but she was away the next
+day and our daily "business conference," did not take place.
+
+She took the matter very curiously when I did mention it, however.  She
+was a creature of changing moods, indeed.
+
+"I have a serious matter to speak to you about; something that may
+perhaps surprise you," I said, when we were riding.  "I am the bearer
+of a message to you."
+
+"To me?" her face wrinkling with curiosity.
+
+"Yes, to you.  I have to be very much the brother in this; in fact the
+head of the family," and then without much beating about the bush I
+told her of Devinsky's visit and of his desire to make her his wife.
+
+She listened to me very seriously, scanning my face the while; but did
+not interrupt me.  I had expected a contemptuous and passionate
+refusal.  But her attitude was simply a conundrum.  She heard me out to
+the end with gravity, and when I had finished, reined in her horse and
+for a full minute stared point-blank into my eyes.
+
+Then she laughed lightly, and asked as she sent her horse forward
+again:--
+
+"Do you think I ought to marry him--brother?"
+
+Frankly, I was a good deal disappointed at her conduct.  I did not see
+that there could be a moment's hesitation about her answer, especially
+after all she had said to me about the man.  And this feeling may
+perhaps have shewn in my manner.
+
+"I could do no less than tell you of the proposal, considering that
+Devinsky believes in the relationship between us," I said.  "But I
+don't see how you, knowing everything, can look to me for the judgment
+I should have had to give were that relationship real and I actually
+head of the family."
+
+This stilted reply seemed to please her, for she glanced curiously at
+me and then smiled, as I thought almost merrily, or even mischievously,
+as she replied:--
+
+"A proposal of marriage is a very serious thing, Alexis."
+
+"Yes, and so people often find it."
+
+"Major Devinsky is very rich, and very influential.  He is right when
+he says that his wife would have a very good position in one way in
+Moscow."
+
+"I wish her much happiness with him," I retorted, grimly.
+
+"He is very handsome, too."
+
+I said nothing.  She disappointed and vexed me.
+
+"Ah, you men never see other men's good looks.  You're very moody," she
+added, after a pause when she found me still silent.
+
+"I don't admire Major Devinsky," I said rather sullenly.
+
+She laughed so heartily at this and seemed evidently so pleased that I
+wished I had found the laugh less musical.  Next, she looked at me
+again thoughtfully before she spoke, as if to weigh the effect of her
+words.
+
+"It would be greatly to your advantage, too, Alexis, to have Major
+Devinsky...."
+
+"Thank you," I cut in shortly.  "I do not seek Major Devinsky's
+patronage.  When I cannot climb or stand without it, I'll fall, and
+quite contentedly, even if I break my neck.  Shall we get on?"  And I
+urged my horse to a quick trot.
+
+My evident irritation at her suggestion--for I could not hear the
+matter without shewing my resentment--seemed to please her as much as
+anything, for she smiled as her nag cantered easily at my side.  But I
+would not look at her.  If she meant to marry Devinsky I meant what I
+had said to him.  I would have no more to do with the business, and I
+would get out of Russia as soon as possible the best way I could.
+
+A sidelong glimpse that I caught of Olga's face after a while shewed me
+that the look of laughing pleasure had died away and had given place to
+a thoughtful and rather stern expression.  "Making up her mind," was my
+thought; and then having a stretch of road ahead, I quickened up my
+horse's speed to a hard gallop and we had a quick burst at a rattling
+pace.
+
+When we pulled up and stood to breathe our horses before turning their
+heads homewards, the girl's cheeks were all aglow with ruddy colour and
+her eyes dancing with the excitement of the gallop.  She made such a
+picture of beautiful womanhood that I was forced to gaze at her in
+sheer admiration.
+
+We had not spoken since I had closed the last bit of dialogue, and now
+she manoeuvred her horse quite close to me and said:--
+
+"Alexis, did you bring that proposal to me deliberately?"
+
+[Illustration: "Alexis, did you bring that proposal to me
+deliberately?"]
+
+"Yes.  It was scarcely a question I could answer for you."
+
+"Couldn't you?"  Her eyes rested on mine with an expression that at
+another time I should have read as reproach.  "Did you think there
+could be any but one answer?"
+
+"No, I didn't.  But one never knows," I said, remembering what she had
+said just before the gallop.
+
+"Don't you?  Well, you must think we Russian women are poor stuff!  One
+day, ready to sneak off in disgraceful cowardice: and the next, willing
+to marry an utterly despicable wretch because he has money and
+influence and position.  Do you mean to tell me that you, acting as my
+brother, actually let this man make this proposition in cold blood, and
+did not hurl him out of your rooms?  You!"
+
+I stared at her in sheer amazement at the change, and could find not a
+word to say.  Nor was there any need.  Now that her real feelings had
+forced themselves to words she had plenty: and for some minutes she did
+nothing but utter protestation after protestation of her hatred and
+contempt of Devinsky: while her hits at me for having been the
+mouthpiece of the man were many and hard.  What angered her was, she
+said, to feel that the smallest doubt of her intention had been left in
+Devinsky's mind; and it was not till I told her much more particularly
+and exactly all that had passed on this point that she was satisfied.
+
+We had ridden some way homewards when her mood changed again, and
+laughter once more prevailed.
+
+"So you told him I must choose between him and--my brother; or rather
+my present relationship to you?"
+
+"I told him I would never speak to you again if you married him."
+
+"Well, I have chosen," she replied at once.  "I shall not give up--my
+brother," and with that she pricked up her nag and we rattled along
+fast, her cheeks growing ruddier and ruddier than ever with the
+exercise.
+
+I couldn't follow her change of mood; but I was heartily glad she had
+decided to have nothing to do with Devinsky.  She was far too good a
+girl to be wasted on him.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X.
+
+"THAT BUTCHER, DURESCQ."
+
+We were not by any means done with Devinsky yet, however, and I was to
+have striking proof of this a couple of days later.  I met him in the
+interval as men in the same regiment are bound to meet; and I deemed it
+best to avoid all open rupture, seeing that he was my superior officer,
+and unpleasant consequences to others beside myself might result.
+
+I told him shortly that Olga declined his offer and that it must never
+be renewed.  He took it coolly enough, replying only that his feelings
+for her would never change, nor should he abandon the resolve to make
+her his wife.  Then he made overtures of peace and apologised for what
+he had said.  I thought it discreet to patch up a sort of treaty of
+mutual tolerance.
+
+I was speaking of this to Essaieff, to whom, in common with all the
+mess, Devinsky's infatuation for Olga was perfectly well known, and my
+former second seemed particularly impressed by it.  Since the duel I
+had seen more of him than of any other man, and I liked him.  I could
+be with him more safely than with others, moreover, because he had seen
+so little of the unregenerate Alexis.  Every man who had been at all
+intimate with my former self I now avoided altogether, because of the
+risk of detection--although this risk was of course diminishing with
+every day that passed.
+
+"I don't like what you say, Petrovitch," said Essaieff, after he had
+thought it over.  "I'm convinced Devinsky's a dangerous man; and if he
+attempts to make things up with you, depend upon it he's got some ugly
+reason behind."
+
+"A reason in petticoats," said I, lightly.  "A brother's a charming
+fellow to a man in love with the sister."
+
+"No doubt; but he thought he was going to kill the 'charming fellow' in
+that duel.  Why did he go away; and where did he go?"
+
+"He didn't tell me his private business, naturally."
+
+"Yet I'm much mistaken if it didn't in some way concern you."
+
+"I don't see how."
+
+"We don't see the sun at midnight, man; but that's only because there's
+something in the line of sight.  Other people can see it clearly
+enough."
+
+"Well, I don't see this sun, any way; and I'm not going to worry about
+it."
+
+"Have you ever heard of Durescq?  Alexandre Durescq?" he asked after a
+pause.
+
+"No, never," I answered promptly, making one of those slips which it
+was impossible for me to avoid in my private chats.  Essaieff's next
+words shewed me my blunder.
+
+"My dear fellow, you must have heard of him.  Durescq, the duellist.
+The man who has the reputation of being the best swordsman in the
+Russian army.  The French fellow who naturalised, and clapped a 'c'
+into his name and cut off the tail of it to make Duresque into Durescq.
+Why, he was here last year, and dined with us at the mess.  Devinsky
+brought him.  You had joined us then, surely and must have been
+introduced by Devinsky?  You must remember him."
+
+"Oh, that Durescq!" I exclaimed, as if recalling the incident.
+
+"'That Durescq!'  There's no other for the whole Russian army," said
+Essaieff drily.  "And if he heard you say it, he'd want an explanation
+quickly enough."
+
+"I was thinking for a minute of another Duresque, Essaieff, whom I knew
+much better.  Different sex, whose killing of men was done in a
+different way."  I smiled as I made the equivocation.
+
+"I met him this morning," said my companion, not noticing my remark and
+looking more thoughtful than before.  "I wonder if Devinsky's absence
+has anything to do with Durescq's presence; and whether..." he paused
+and looked at me.  "It would be a damnably ugly business; but
+Devinsky's not incapable of it; and so far as I know, the other man's
+worse than he is.  Moreover, I know that they have been together in
+more than one very dirty affair.  There are ugly items enough standing
+to both their debits.  But this would be murder--sheer, deliberate,
+damnable murder, and nothing else."
+
+I had rarely seen him so excited as he was now.
+
+"You think Devinsky has brought this man here to do what he couldn't do
+himself the other morning?"
+
+"I don't say I think it," replied Essaieff, cautiously.  "I shouldn't
+like to think it of any man: but if I were you I'd be a bit cautious
+about getting into a quarrel."
+
+"Caution be hanged," I cried.  "If that's their game I'll force the
+pace for them.  We'll have a real fight next time, Essaieff, and we'll
+make the thing such that one of us is bound to go under.  But I'll have
+one condition, and one only--that Devinsky meets me first.  And if I
+don't send him first to hell to wait for his friend or act as my _avant
+courier_, may I have the palsy."
+
+"What a fire-devil you've turned, Alexis," said Essaief,
+enthusiastically.  It was the first time he had used my Christian name,
+and it pleased me.  "Even the rankers have found you out now.  'That
+devil Alexis,' is what they call you one to the other, since you beat
+their best men in leaping, and running, and staff playing.  If the war
+comes, as like good Russians we pray it may, what a time you'll have.
+They'll follow you anywhere.  Yes, there's shrewdness enough in your
+last devilment.  If you insist on first killing Devinsky, Durescq will
+probably take back a bloodless sword to the capital."
+
+His pithy reference to the feeling in the regiment touched my vanity on
+its weak spot, and gave me quite disproportionate pleasure.  As we
+talked over this possible plan of Devinsky's I tried to get him to
+speak of the feeling again.  It is rather a paltry confession to make;
+but the nick-name, 'That devil Alexis,' was exactly what I would have
+wished to bear.
+
+Although Essaieff had suggested this action on the part of Devinsky, I
+scarcely thought it possible that he would do what we had discussed;
+but I had not been many minutes in the club that evening before the
+thing seemed not only probable, but certain; and I saw that I had a
+very ugly corner to turn.
+
+Alexandre Durescq was there and I eyed him curiously.  He was taller
+than I by an inch, but not so broad.  His figure was well knit and
+lithe, and he moved with the air which a man gets whose sinews are of
+steel and are kept in perfect condition by constant and severe
+training.  He was the type of a sinewy athlete.
+
+His face was a most unpleasant one.  The features were thin and all
+very long; and the thinness added to the apparent abnormal length from
+brow to chin.  His complexion was almost Mongolian in its sallowness;
+his hair coal black, and his eyes, set close to his large and very
+prominent aquiline nose, were small but brilliant in expression and
+seemingly coal black in colour.  Altogether a most remarkable looking
+man; and I was not astonished that Essaieff had been surprised when I
+said I had forgotten him.  He was not a man to be forgotten.  The
+expression of his face was sardonic and saturnine, and his manners and
+gestures were all saturated with intense self-assertiveness.  He moved,
+looked, and spoke as though he felt that everyone was at once beneath
+him and afraid of him.
+
+He was at the far end of the room when I entered, and I saw Devinsky
+stoop and whisper to him immediately he caught sight of me.  The man
+turned slightly and glanced in my direction, and my instincts warned me
+of danger.
+
+I would not baulk the pair; but I would not provoke the quarrel.  I
+moved quietly about the room, chatting with one man and another; but
+keeping a wary eye disengaged for the two at the other end.  Gradually
+I worked my way round to where they were, and both rose as I
+approached.  I saw too, that Devinsky's old seconds and toadies were
+near and were watching me and smirking.  They formed a group of three
+or four men who seemed to me to have intimation what was coming.  They
+were waiting to see me "jumped."
+
+I knew, however, that if I kept quiet, I should make the task more
+difficult for the pair, and thus compel Devinsky to shew his hand; and
+so give me the pretext I needed to force the first fight on him.
+
+"Good evening, Petrovitch, or Lieutenant Petrovitch, I suppose I should
+say," said Devinsky, and the instant he spoke I could tell he had been
+drinking.  "I think you've met my friend Captain Durescq?"
+
+"Not yet," I said, looking straight into Devinsky's eyes with a meaning
+he read and didn't like.
+
+"Is this the gentleman who is so particular in asserting his
+lieutenancy?  Good evening, Lieutenant Petrovitch."  He said this in a
+tone that was insufferably insolent; and as if to point the insult, the
+two toadies when they heard it, sniggered audibly.
+
+Nothing could have played better into my hands.  All four made an
+extraordinary blunder, since they shewed, before I had opened my lips,
+that the object was to force a quarrel; and thus the sympathies of
+every decent man in the place were on my side.  I kept cool.  I was too
+wary to take fire yet.
+
+"I thought you knew Captain Durescq when he was here last year," said
+Devinsky.  "But you may have forgotten."
+
+"Good evening, Captain Durescq," said I, ignoring Devinsky and
+returning the other man's greeting.  "What is the latest war news in St
+Petersburg?"
+
+"Bad for those who do not like fighting," he said, looking at me in a
+way that turned this to a personal insult.
+
+"But good perhaps, for those soldiers whose swords are to hire," I
+returned, with a smile which did not make my point less plain.
+
+The man's eyes flashed.
+
+"They will take the place of your friends who do not like the
+fighting," I added; and at this all about us grew suddenly silent.
+
+"My friends?  How do you mean?" asked Durescq stiffly.
+
+"Those you mentioned in your first sentence.  Whom else should I mean?"
+and I let my eye rest as if by accident on Devinsky.
+
+"You have a singular manner of expressing yourself, Lieutenant."
+
+"We provincials do not always copy the manners of the capital, you
+know," I returned in my pleasantest manner.  "I think the provinces are
+growing more and more independent every year.  We arrange our own
+affairs in our own way, have our own etiquette, form our own
+associations, and settle our own quarrels without aid from the capital."
+
+I heard Devinsky swear softly into his moustache at this; but there was
+nothing for them to take hold of, though every man in the room
+understood what I meant; and nearly all were now listening.
+
+"Yes, I have heard you have singular manners in the provinces.  My
+friend here, Devinsky, has told me several curious things.  I heard of
+one provincial for instance, who allowed himself to be insulted and
+browbeaten till his cowardice was almost a by-word, and it became
+really impossible for him to remain in the army unless he accepted the
+challenge he had so often refused.  And then he begged, almost with
+tears, to get terms made; and when this was not done, he deadened his
+fears with drink and came to the club here like a witless fool,
+behaving like a drunken clown; and then at last actually went out and
+fought in a condition of seeming delirium.  We do not have that in the
+capital.  In St Petersburg we should have such a scabby rascal whipped
+on a gun."
+
+A movement among the group of toadies shewed me how this burlesque of
+my conduct was appreciated there, while Devinsky was grinning
+boastfully.
+
+"Did Major Devinsky tell you that?" I asked; my voice down at least two
+tones in my excitement, while my pulses thrilled at the insult.  But
+outwardly I was calm.
+
+"Yes, I think that's a pretty fair description, isn't it, Devinsky?"
+replied Durescq, turning coolly to the latter for confirmation.  Then
+he turned again to me and asked:--"Why, do you recognise the
+description, Lieutenant Petrovitch?"
+
+"You have not heard the whole of the story," I answered, getting the
+words out with difficulty between teeth I had to clench hard to keep my
+passion under control.  "The man who was beaten in the duel left Moscow
+in a panic and went to St Petersburg for a purpose--that you may
+perhaps approve."  There was now dead silence in all the room and the
+eyes of every man in it were rivetted on me.  "The first object of the
+duel was that he might kill in it the man whose skill was thought to be
+inferior to his own, so that he might persecute with his disgusting
+attentions the sister of him on whom he had fixed the quarrel.
+Failing, he went to fetch a cleverer sword than his own to do his dirty
+work; and he fetched----"  I paused and then my rage burst out like a
+volcano--"He fetched a butcher named Durescq to do butcher's work; and
+I, by God! won't baulk him."
+
+With this I lost all control, and springing upon him I seized his nose
+and wrung it and twisted it, dragging his head from side to side in my
+ungovernable fury, until I nearly broke my teeth with the straining
+force with which I clenched them.  Then raising my hand I slapped his
+face with a force and loudness that resounded right through the room
+and made every man start and wonder what would come next.
+
+"That is from the man you say dare not fight.  One last word.  Before I
+meet the butcher, I insist on meeting the man who hired him.
+Lieutenant Essaieff will act for me."
+
+With that I left the room, feeling that although I was now all but
+certain to be killed by Durescq I should at least die as became "that
+devil Alexis."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI.
+
+DANGER FROM A FRESH SOURCE.
+
+I walked home with a feeling of rare exhilaration.  Whatever happened,
+this was my own quarrel, and I had so acted as to secure the sympathy
+of all who knew the facts.  The quarrel had been fixed on me in public
+in a manner peculiarly disgraceful to both my opponents, and if they
+killed me, it would be murder.
+
+If on the other hand I could kill either or both, the world would be
+the sweeter and purer for their riddance.  Moreover I had so arranged
+matters that I saw how I should have at least an equal chance of my
+life.  I should have the choice of weapons and I would fight Devinsky
+with swords and the "butcher" with pistols.
+
+I thought much about Durescq's skill.  He had a huge reputation both as
+a swordsman and a shot; but I was very confident in my own skill with
+the sword, and inclined to doubt whether he could beat me even with
+that.  In the end, however, I decided not to run that risk.  The issue
+should be left to chance.  The duel should be fought with pistols.  One
+should be loaded, and one unloaded; and a toss should settle which each
+should have.  We would then stand at arm's length, the barrel of one
+man's weapon touching the other's forehead.  The man to whom Fortune
+gave the loaded weapon would thus be bound to blow the other's brains
+out, whether he had any skill or not.  Both would stand equal before
+Fortune.
+
+About an hour later, Essaieff came to me and told me that the whole
+regiment was in a state of excitement about the fight and that feeling
+against Devinsky had reached a positively dangerous pitch, especially
+when it was known that he had practically refused to meet me.  That
+point was still unsettled, and Essaieff had come to get my final
+decision.
+
+"My advice is, stand firm," he said.  "You're in the right.  There
+isn't an unprejudiced man in the whole army who wouldn't say you were
+acting well within your rights; just as, I must say, my dear fellow,
+you've acted splendidly throughout."
+
+I told him what I had been thinking.
+
+"It seems a ghastly thing to put a life in the spin of a coin," he
+commented.
+
+"Better than to have it ended without a chance, by the thrust of a
+butcher's knife."
+
+"That name will stick to Durescq for always," he said, with a slow
+smile.  "It was splendid.  Do you know you made me hold my breath while
+you were at him.  Damn him, so he is a butcher!"
+
+"Do you say Devinsky won't meet me?" I asked.
+
+"No, not that he won't; but he raises the excuse that as Durescq's
+challenge was given first--as it was indeed--the order of the fight
+must follow the order of the challenges.  But they arranged the
+challenges purposely in that order."
+
+"I shan't hold to the point," I said, after a moment's consideration.
+"If they insist I shall give way and meet Durescq first.  But this will
+only make it the more easy for us to insist on our plan of fighting.
+Don't give way on that.  I am resolved that one of us shall fall: and
+chance shall settle which."
+
+Essaieff tried to persuade me to insist on meeting Devinsky first; but
+I would not.
+
+"No.  He shan't carry back to St Petersburg the tale that we in Moscow
+are ready to bluster in words, and then daren't make them good in our
+acts."
+
+"I hope he'll carry back no tale at all to St Petersburg," answered my
+friend, grimly: and then he left me.
+
+I completed what few preparations I had to make in view of the very
+probably fatal issue of the fight: wrote a letter to Olga and enclosed
+one to Balestier as I had done before; and was just getting off to bed,
+when Essaieff came back to report.
+
+My message had added to the already great excitement and there had been
+at first the most strenuous opposition to our plan of fighting.  But he
+had forced his way, and the meetings--with the "butcher" first and, if
+I did not fall, with Devinsky afterwards--were fixed for eight o'clock.
+He promised to come for me half an hour before that time: and he urged
+me to get to bed and to have as much sleep as possible to steady my
+nerves.
+
+They were steady enough already.  I gloated over the affair; and I
+meant so to use it as to set the seal to my reputation as "that devil
+Alexis," whether I lived or died.
+
+But after all I was baulked.
+
+I slept soundly enough till Borlas called me early in the morning and
+told me strange news.  A file of soldiers were in my room, and the
+sergeant had requested me to be called at once as he had an important
+message.
+
+I called the man into my bedroom and asked him what he wanted.
+
+"You are to consider yourself under arrest, Lieutenant," he said
+saluting, and drawing himself up stiffly.  "And in my charge."
+
+"What for?"
+
+"I don't know, Lieutenant.  I had my orders from the Colonel himself
+first thing; and, if you please, I am to prevent you leaving the house.
+You'll understand my position, sir.  Will you give me your word not to
+attempt to leave?"
+
+"Where are your written orders?"  I knew the man well and he liked me.
+
+"My orders are verbal, Lieutenant; but very strict and imperative."
+
+"Privately, do you know anything of the cause of this?"
+
+"You'll have a letter from the Colonel, I think, Lieutenant, within an
+hour, requiring you to go to him.  Major Devinsky is also confined to
+his quarters, sir; and also, I think, Captain Durescq.  We've heard in
+the regiment, sir, what happened at the officers' club last night."  A
+certain look on his lined bearded face and in his eyes as he saluted me
+when he said this, told me much.
+
+I chafed at the interference, and cursed the Colonel for having
+apparently taken a hand in the matter.  This butcher would now be able
+to go back to St Petersburg with a lying garbled tale that we in Moscow
+got out of quarrels by clinging to the coat tails of our commanding
+officer; and it made me mad.  I tried to persuade the sergeant to let
+me out to go to the place of meeting; promising to be back within an
+hour; but he was immovable.
+
+"I would, if I dared, Lieutenant; but I dare not.  I'm not the man to
+stop a fair fight, and I hate this work.  But duty's duty."
+
+When Essaieff came, he threw new light on the matter.  The affair had
+caused a huge commotion.  In the early hours of the morning he had been
+summoned to the Colonel, who had in some way got wind of the matter; a
+very ugly version having been told him.  My friend had had to tell the
+plain truth and there had been the devil to pay.  The wires to St
+Petersburg had been kept going through the night; the whole thing had
+been laid before Head-Quarters at the Ministry for War; and the arrest
+of the three principals had been ordered from the capital.
+
+Soon afterwards a peremptory summons came for me from the Colonel and
+when I got to him I found both Devinsky and Durescq there, together
+with two or three of the highest officers then stationed in Moscow.  A
+sort of informal examination took place, out of which I am bound to say
+both the other men came very badly; and in the end we were all three
+ordered off to stay in our quarters under arrest.  I found that not
+only were we not allowed to go out--sentries being posted in my rooms
+all the time--but no one was permitted to enter: nor could I
+communicate with a single individual for two days.
+
+At the end of that time the order came for me to resume duty; and as
+soon as the morning's drill was over, the Colonel sent for me and told
+me what had happened.  The military authorities at St Petersburg had
+taken the harshest view of the conduct of my two antagonists.  It was
+regarded as a deliberate plot to kill.  Devinsky had been cashiered;
+and only Durescq's great influence had prevented him from sharing the
+same fate.  As it was, he had had all his seniority struck off, been
+reduced to the rank of a subaltern, and sent off there and then under
+quasi arrest with heavy military escort, to a regiment stationed right
+away on the most southern Turkestan frontier.
+
+"As for Devinsky, the regiment's well rid of him," said the Colonel,
+with such emphasis and earnestness that I saw his own personal
+animosity had had quite as much to do with the man's overthrow as the
+latter's own conduct.  But it pleased the old man to put it all down to
+me, and when we were parting, he shook hands cordially and said:--"The
+Regiment owes you a vote of thanks, my boy; and I'll see that it's paid
+in full."
+
+"One question I should like to ask," said I.  "How did you get to hear
+of it all?"
+
+"The news was everybody's property, lad, and--don't ask questions," he
+replied with dry inconsequence.  And would say no more.
+
+But I was soon to learn, and the news surprised me as much as any part
+of the whole strange incident.
+
+The first use I made of my liberty was to go and see Olga and explain
+my absence and all that had happened.  She had heard a somewhat garbled
+account of it in which the part I played had been greatly exaggerated,
+and she received me with the greatest tenderness and sympathy; and
+tears of what seemed pleasure, but she explained as cold, glistened in
+her eyes.  We had a long and closely confidential chat; and she made me
+feel more by her trustful manner and gentle attitude than by her actual
+words, how much she had missed me during the days of our separation and
+how thankful she was to be free of Devinsky for good, and how much she
+felt she owed to me on that account.
+
+For myself I was sorry when I had to leave her.  She was the only
+person in Moscow to whom I could speak without restraint; a fact that
+made our interviews so welcome that I was loath to end this one.
+
+It was getting dusk when I left and as I walked home I was thoughtful
+and preoccupied.  The question of Olga's safety was pressing very
+hardly on me and made me extremely anxious.  The more I saw of her the
+more eager I was to get her out of harm's way; and the consciousness
+that she must share the consequences of any disaster that might happen
+to me, were I discovered, was pressing upon me with increasing
+severity.  I was beginning to anticipate more vividly, moreover, the
+coming of some such disaster.  The time was passing very quickly.  It
+was getting on for nearly three weeks since the Nihilist meeting, and I
+knew that my Nihilist "allies" would be growing anxious for a sign of
+my zeal.  They were probably well aware that I was doing nothing to
+redeem my pledge.
+
+There was also the undeniable danger inseparably connected with the
+distasteful intrigue with Paula Tueski.  I had so neglected her in my
+character of lover that I was hourly expecting some proof of her
+indignation.  I had only seen her twice in the three weeks; and each
+time in public; and though Olga and she had interchanged visits, I knew
+perfectly well that she was not the woman to take neglect passively.
+
+I blamed myself warmly, too, for my own inactivity.  My whole policy
+had been so to try and gain time, and yet I had made no use of it,
+except to get into broils which had increased the already bewildering
+complications.
+
+That this would be the effect of my quarrel with Devinsky and Durescq,
+I could not doubt when I came to think the matter over in cool blood.
+I had been the means of both of them being ruined; and naturally every
+friend they had in Russia would take part against me.  I knew that
+Durescq had friends among the most powerful circles in Russia, and I
+had nothing to oppose to their anger save the poor position of a
+lieutenant in a marching regiment and a past that was full of
+blackguardism and evil repute.  Personally this was all nothing to me;
+but when I thought of the indirect results it might have for Olga it
+troubled and worried me deeply.
+
+Everything pointed to one conclusion--that Olga should leave Russia
+while she could do so in safety.  I was meditating on these things when
+a girl stopped me suddenly, asking if I were Lieutenant Petrovitch.
+She then gave me a scrap of paper; and I glanced at and read it.
+
+"_The old rendezvous, at once.  Urgent.  P.T._"
+
+I questioned the girl as to who gave it to her, and where the person
+was; but getting no satisfactory account, dismissed her with a few
+kopecks.
+
+It beat me.  Obviously it was from Paula Tueski.  Equally obviously it
+was an appointment at which she had apparently something to say of
+importance.  But where the deuce the "old rendezvous" was I knew no
+more than the wind.
+
+I am not one to waste time over the impossible; and as I certainly
+could not go to a place I did not know of, I tore the letter into
+shreds and went on home.
+
+I let myself in and found that my servant was out--a most unusual thing
+at that time of the day; but I had begun to fear that the man was below
+rather than above the average of Russian servants and was already
+contemplating his dismissal.  I did not attach much importance to his
+present absence, however; and throwing myself into a chair sat and
+thought or tried to think of some scheme by which I could induce Olga
+to leave the country, and some means by which her departure could be
+safely arranged.  She must go at once.  She had promised me to go when
+I could tell her it was necessary for my safety; and I could truthfully
+say that now.  If she would go, I would have a dash for liberty myself.
+
+While I was thinking in this strain someone knocked at my outer door,
+and when I opened it, to my surprise, Paula Tueski rushed in quickly.
+
+A glance at her face shewed me she was in an exceedingly ill temper; as
+indeed it appeared to me she generally was.
+
+"Where is your servant?" was her first question hurriedly asked.
+
+"I really don't know.  Out somewhere; but----"
+
+"His absence means danger, Alexis.  Why didn't you come to me when I
+sent a message to you just now.  You read it, questioned the girl, and
+then tore it up and threw it in the gutter; and all this as
+unconcernedly as if you did not know full well that from our window you
+must be in full view of me.  Are you always going to scorn me?"
+
+I took care to shew no surprise; but it was clear I had blundered
+badly, and that the "rendezvous" was close to the spot where the paper
+had been given to me.
+
+"I could not come.  I had to hurry home.  I----"
+
+"Bah!  Don't trifle with me like that.  Haven't you had enough of your
+prison during the last two days?"
+
+"You know the news, then?" said I, following her gladly off the track.
+
+"It is you who do not know the news.  Ah, Alexis, you are giving me
+more trouble in this new character of yours than ever you did in the
+old one--much as you harassed me then.  But I do not mind if only...."
+She stopped and looked at me with beaming eyes.  "You have not kissed
+me; and here I am risking all again and even venturing right here into
+your rooms."
+
+"What do you mean about new character?" I asked.  Her phrase had
+startled me.
+
+"I like it better than the old.  Fifty thousand times better 'That
+devil Alexis,' than 'That roue Petrovitch.'  But whenever I think of
+the change, I can't understand it--I don't understand you.  I could
+almost swear, sometimes, you are not the same man"--she came close up
+to me and putting her hands on my shoulders, stared long and earnestly
+right into my eyes--"and then I wonder how I can have been so blind as
+not to have seen all that lay hidden in you: all that was noble and
+brave and daring.  But I love you, Alexis, twenty thousand times more
+than ever; and to have saved your life now is a thought of infinite
+sweetness to me.  Kiss me, sweetheart."
+
+I started back as if she had stung me.
+
+"Do you mean you had anything to do with..."  I stopped, but she knew
+what I meant.  She smiled and in a voice exquisitely sweet and tender,
+though hateful to me, she answered:
+
+"Your life is mine, Alexis?  Do you think I would let that butcher from
+St Petersburg take it?  Let him keep to his own shambles.  Yes, I set
+the wires in motion, and I did not stop until the one man was utterly
+ruined and the other degraded in the eyes of all Russia.  Your life is
+mine, Alexis"--she seemed to revel in this hateful phrase--"and those
+who would strike at you, must reckon with me as well.  We are destined
+for each other, you and I; and we live or die together."
+
+"You have done me a foul wrong, then," I cried hotly.  "You have
+disgraced me; made me out for a braggart that provokes a fight and then
+shirks it by screening myself behind the law.  Do you suppose I thank
+you for that?"  I spoke as sternly as I felt.  But she only smiled as
+she answered,
+
+"I did not think of your feelings.  This man would have killed you.
+His hands are bloody to the armpits.  Do you think I would let him find
+another victim in you when I could stop him and save you?  Did you not
+reproach me, too when I did not interfere before, and tell me my love
+was cold?  Would I suffer such a reproach again, think you?  No, no.
+Your life is mine, I repeat, and for the future I will protect it
+whether you will or no.  That is how I love; and so it shall be always.
+I have come now to warn you.  Hush!  What is that?"
+
+I listened and heard someone moving in the lobby of my rooms.
+
+"It is Borlas returned," I said, and opening the door called him.
+Getting no answer I called again loudly; and then my visitor whispered
+to me to come back into the room.  But I paid no heed to her, and went
+forward a few steps to go into my servant's room.  As I did so, a
+desperate rush was made and three men disguised, dashed at me
+violently.  They had gained an entrance somehow and were no doubt
+making their way to attack me in my room or were going to lay in wait
+for me, when my quick ears heard them and thus spoiled their plans.
+
+I was unarmed, and saw instantly the foolishness of attempting to fight
+three men, probably armed, while I had not so much as a stick.  Making
+a feint of an attack upon the nearest, therefore, I jumped aside and
+darted back into the room I had just left, closing the door instantly
+behind me, while my companion and I held it shut until I had secured it.
+
+Then I turned to her for an explanation.
+
+"They are my husband's agents," she whispered.  "He suspects us, as you
+know; and he arranged this attack, thinking that if you were killed,
+the act just at this juncture would be set down to Devinsky's revenge.
+I came on purpose to warn you.  If they catch me here now, we are both
+ruined beyond hope."
+
+"Then they shan't catch us," I replied.  "Or if they do, shan't live to
+carry the tale outside the door:" and I proceeded to put in execution a
+plan which had already occurred to me.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII.
+
+CHRISTIAN TUESKI.
+
+While the men were straining and fighting to get admission into the
+room, I loaded my revolver, seized a heavy stick that lay in a corner,
+and opening the window noiselessly and with some little trouble and
+agility, got into the street.  I let myself into the house and then I
+thundered at the outer door of my own rooms as if seeking immediate
+admission.
+
+Instantly there was a great scuffling within, and I knew that the men
+were making off by the back, in the probable belief that they had been
+disturbed by some unexpected caller.  Judging the time as best I could,
+so that I might perhaps catch one of them, I rushed in suddenly.  One
+had fled, the second was in the act of dropping from a window, while a
+third was just clambering out.
+
+I struck this one a blow on the head which laid him down senseless in a
+heap on the floor, and leaning out was in time to give the second a
+whack that must have nearly broken his arm.  Then without wasting a
+moment I bound the man I had knocked down and closely bandaged his eyes.
+
+Telling Paula Tueski that I had scared the rascals away, I dragged the
+fellow to the light, that she might recognise him.  She identified him
+directly, and without a word being spoken except by me, I thrust him
+into a dark closet and turned the key on him while I settled what to do
+next.
+
+"You knew him, I could see," I said, when I joined my visitor again.
+"Is he a police spy?"
+
+"No, not in the ordinary sense.  I have seen him with my husband: but
+exactly what he is, I don't know.  I believe he is one of a small band
+of really villainous men, used for especially ugly work."
+
+"But why am I marked out for a visit from them?"
+
+"I believe my husband has suspected you--on my account.  I know he
+hates you cordially.  You remember that affair in the Opera lobby, when
+you insulted him so grossly."  I nodded: but of course I had not the
+remotest idea what she meant.  "He never forgives.  Since then he has
+been accumulating every jot and tittle of fact against you--and you
+have given him plenty, Alexis--and if he can work your overthrow, he
+will."
+
+"Yes: but why try to get me assassinated.  I'll go at once and ask
+him," I said, readily and impulsively.
+
+"Are you mad?" exclaimed my companion.
+
+"On the contrary, I'll go and shew him the danger of interfering with
+me.  Where is he to be found now?"
+
+"At home.  He will not leave for an hour yet to make his evening visit
+to the Bureau.  But he will never consent to see you."
+
+"At any rate I'll try; and I'm much mistaken if I don't force him.  I
+have a plan," I added, after a minute's thought.  "I will clear us both
+at a stroke.  Go at once to my sister, and tell her from me that I wish
+her to come back here with you and wait for me.  Mind, too, should
+anyone come to fetch away that fellow I've locked up, let Olga say
+enough in his presence to make it clear that she was here with us when
+the attack was first made.  Be quick and careful: for much will depend
+on all this being well done."
+
+I drove rapidly to the place and sending in my card asked for an
+immediate interview with the Chief of the Police, on urgent business.
+The reply came back that M. Tueski could not see me; I was to call at
+his office.  I sent the messenger back with a peremptory reply that I
+must see him, as I had discovered an assassination plot.  I was still
+refused admittance; though a longer wait shewed me he had considered
+the matter carefully.
+
+This time I wrote a brief note:--"One of your hired assassins, has been
+identified, has confessed, and lies at this moment bound and in my
+power.  If you do not see me now I shall communicate direct with the
+Ministry of the Interior."
+
+That proved the 'Open Sesame,' and in a few moments, I was ushered into
+the presence of one of the most hated men in Russia,--the man I had
+been commissioned to kill.
+
+He was a small man with a face that would have been common looking but
+for its extraordinarily hard and cold expression.  It was lined and
+seamed in all directions: and each line might have been drawn by Nature
+with the express object of marking him out as an absolutely merciless,
+calculating, and emotionless man.
+
+His eyes were very bright as they fixed on me, and his voice, harsh,
+high pitched and tuneless.
+
+"Men don't belie your new character when they call you daring," was his
+greeting.
+
+He was standing by the side of a long table with his black clothed
+figure outlined against the colours of luxuriant tapestries with which
+the walls were hung.  He motioned me to a chair, near enough to be
+within the demands of courtesy to an officer bearing the Emperor's
+commission, and far enough removed from him to be safe should the
+visitor turn out to be dangerous.  I noticed, too, that an electric
+bell button was well within reach.  "What do you wish with me,
+Lieutenant?  This visit is unusual."
+
+"I am not accustomed to bother about what is usual where my life is
+concerned," I answered, firmly.  "I want an answer to a plain question.
+Why do you send your bravoes to assassinate me?"
+
+"I have sent no bravoes to assassinate you, Lieutenant.  I don't
+understand you.  We don't hire assassins."  As though the whole thing
+were ridiculous.
+
+"Yet your wife recognised this man instantly."
+
+"My wife!" he exclaimed, with a sufficient change to shew how this had
+touched him.
+
+"Yes.  Your wife.  She was in my rooms when these men came."
+
+He drew in a deep breath while he looked at me with eyes of hate.  I
+had got right between the joints of his armour of impassivity.  It was
+a cruel thrust; but I had an ugly game to play, and was forced to hit
+hard.
+
+He seemed to struggle to repress his private feelings and to remain the
+impassive official.  But human nature and his jealousy beat him, and
+his next question came with a jerk that shewed the effort behind it.
+
+"What was she doing there?"  His tone was the essence of harsh
+bitterness.
+
+"What was she doing there?" I echoed, as if in the greatest
+astonishment.  "Why, what should she be doing but calling with my
+sister?  They are there now, keeping guard over your--assistant."
+
+He turned away for a moment to prevent my seeing in his face the relief
+which I could hear in his voice as he answered:--
+
+"You are an even bolder man than I thought."
+
+"I don't understand you, of course; but I have need to be bold," I
+retorted, "with you against me ready to plan my private execution.
+They're heavy odds.  But now, perhaps, you'll answer my question--Why
+do you do this?"
+
+"There might be many reasons--if it were true," he answered in the same
+curt tone he had first used.
+
+"One's enough for me, if it's true," I replied, copying his sharp
+manner.
+
+He stood a minute looking at me in silence, and then sat down.
+
+"I think I've been doing you an injustice, Lieutenant," he said,
+presently.  "I thought when you forced your way into me you might be
+coming to assassinate me.  But I see now you're not such a fool as to
+try and do anything of that kind when you have left a broad trail
+behind you that would lead to your certain detection.  You are young;
+with all the weaknesses of youth strongly developed--rash, hotheaded,
+sometimes tipsy, a fool with women, and when, necessary, a knave too,
+loose in money matters and unscrupulous, a gambler, a dicer, and a
+bankrupt in morals, religion, and honour.  But you are shrewd--for
+you've deceived everyone about your sword-skill and your courage--and
+under the garb of a worthless fellow you have a cool, calculating, and
+yet dare-devil head that should make your fortune.  Others are more
+right about you than I."
+
+"Others?" I asked, interested and amused by this quiet enumeration of
+the results of the analysis of two very different, but united
+characters.  "Who are the others?"
+
+A faint ghost of what in another man would have been a smile relaxed
+the grim, hard, straight lips for an instant, in mockery of my attempt
+to draw him.
+
+"You are not unknown, Lieutenant, as you may find soon; but you are a
+fool to mix yourself up with the Nihilists."
+
+It was my turn now to be on the defensive.
+
+"That is a charge which a child can make and the wisest man can
+sometimes fail to rebut," I answered, sharply.  "I am not a Nihilist."
+
+He waved his hand as if my repudiation were not worth a serious thought.
+
+"I can make you a career, if you will.  If you will act under me...."
+
+"Thank you," I returned, coldly.  "I know what you can do.  You can put
+me first on the list for some task which will insure my being served as
+you meant me to be served to-day.  One commission is enough for me, and
+I prefer the Emperor's."
+
+"You don't know what you say, nor what you refuse."
+
+"All the more reason for not regretting my refusal," I retorted,
+lightly.  "But this does not answer my question--Why do you seek to
+have me assassinated?"
+
+"Siberia is getting overpopulated," he returned, manifestly angry at my
+refusal.
+
+"You mean it's cheaper to kill than to exile."
+
+"One must have some regard for its morals, too," he sneered, with a
+contempt at which my rage took fire.
+
+I looked at him with a light in my eyes which he could read plainly
+enough.
+
+"You are a coward, M. Tueski," said I, sternly: "because you presume
+upon the office you hold to say things which without the protection
+that guards you, you would not dare to let between your teeth."
+
+"It is useless to talk in that strain to me," he said, shortly.  "I
+know you."
+
+"No--by Heaven, you don't--yet.  But I'll let you know something of me
+now.  Men say you know no fear; that your loves, desires, emotions, are
+all dead--all, save ambition.  I'll test that.  This plot you have laid
+against my life is your own private revenge for some fancied wrong.
+You have sought to carry it out even at the very moment when you had
+had a hint to guard me.  It was cunningly laid, and nearly succeeded;
+and then you would have set the blame down at Devinsky's door."
+
+He listened without making a sign: quite impassively.  But the mere
+fact that he did listen shewed me I was striking the right note, and
+further that he wished to see what I meant to do.
+
+"Go on," he said, contemptuously, when I paused.
+
+"I can prove this: aye, and I will prove it, even if I go to the
+Emperor himself: and prove it--by your own wife."  He could not wholly
+conceal the effect of this.  He knew the strength of the threat.
+
+"More than that," I cried then, quickening my speech and shewing much
+more passion.  "You know what the world says about me and your wife.
+You shewed me you knew it, when I told you just now that she was in my
+rooms when your men came to try and take my life.  You have dared to
+smirch my honour in regard to women: and you have lied.  So far as your
+wife is concerned, there has never been a thought of mine toward her
+tainted with dishonour.  So far as I am concerned she is virgin pure.
+But, by God! beware how you taunt me.  It lies with you to say whether
+I shall change; and if you drive me to it, I'll...."
+
+I left the terrible sentence unfinished; and the change in the man's
+manner shewed me how he was inwardly shrinking and wincing at my
+desperate words.
+
+"Go on.  What do you want?"  He spoke after a great effort and strove
+to keep his voice at the dead level of official lifelessness.  But the
+man was an inward fire of rage and jealousy.
+
+"This duel is not my seeking, but yours, M. Tueski," I continued.  "And
+for my part I would as soon have a truce.  But if we are to fight on, I
+will use every weapon I can lay my hand on,--and use them desperately.
+You can prove the truth of what I say.  Send round someone to my rooms
+and fetch away the scoundrel who is there.  My sister will let him go.
+Your wife, her friend, is staying with her to help in case of need.
+And whatever else I may be, at least I should not give my mistress to
+my sister for a friend."
+
+"You are the devil!"  The words forced themselves through his teeth at
+this word.  I used it deliberately: and it was the shrewdest thing I
+could have done.  He left the room without another word, going through
+a door behind him; and, calling to someone, he whispered some
+instructions.
+
+"You have sent?  You are right," I said, when he returned.  "And now,
+call off these bloodhounds of yours; and so long as you play fair with
+me, my sister and your wife can be friends.  And no longer.  One other
+condition.  Give me two police permits to cross the frontier on special
+business--one for me and one for my sister.  You may not be sorry if I
+decide to take a holiday."
+
+"I cannot give them, and you cannot leave," he answered.
+
+"Write me the permits.  I'll see about using them."
+
+"No; I cannot write them.  If I did, they would be cancelled to-morrow
+by the Ministry of the Interior."
+
+"Why?"
+
+"The fact is what I say.  You cannot leave Russia."
+
+"I care nothing for that.  Write them--or we resume this duel, M.
+Tueski."
+
+He was a changed man.  He was so accustomed to exact implicit obedience
+to his will, and to ride roughshod over everyone about him, that now
+being beaten, his collapse was utter and complete.  He was absolutely
+overcome by the pressure I could threaten and he thought I was
+blackguard enough to apply.
+
+For once at least my old black character did me a good turn.  He acted
+like a weak child now, entirely subjected by my will.  He wrote the
+permits as I directed.
+
+As he was writing it occurred to me there must be some influence behind
+the scenes which told with him.  Else, why did he not forthwith write
+out the order for my imprisonment?  He had done it hundreds of times
+before in the case of men infinitely more influential than myself.  His
+signature would open the door of any prison in Russia.  It suggested
+itself that it was this reason which was at the bottom of the attempt
+to get me killed.  He dared not follow out his own desire.
+
+"One thing puzzles me," I said, coolly, as I took the permits.  "Why
+haven't you, instead of writing these, written an order packing me off
+to gaol?  What is this power behind you?"
+
+"I may live in hope, perhaps," he returned.  "Your sword and your
+shrewdness may carry you far: and some day as far as the gaol you speak
+of.  I shan't fail to write it when the time comes."
+
+I left him with that.
+
+As I left the house a man pressed close to me, and I turned to see what
+he wanted.  There was no one else about.
+
+"Is it done?" he whispered.
+
+I looked at him keenly; but I had never seen him before, I thought.
+
+"What do you mean?" I asked.
+
+"The night in the riverside wharf," he whispered back.
+
+He was a Nihilist; here right in the very eye of the police web.
+
+"The way is laid," I answered, equivocally, as I hurried away.
+
+I had actually forgotten in my eagerness all about my charge to kill
+the man with whom I had been closeted in conference.
+
+But I saw instantly that the Nihilist would probably hold it for an act
+of treachery that I had been in Tueski's house and yet had let him live.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII.
+
+OLGA IN A NEW LIGHT.
+
+I walked back to my rooms as I wished to cool my head and think.  The
+interview with Christian Tueski had excited me, and what was of more
+importance, had kindled a hope that after all I might be able to escape
+the tremendous difficulties that encompassed me.
+
+One thing in particular pleased me, for it was a double-edged knife
+loosening two sets of the complications.  It was the promise I had
+given to the man to respect his wife so long as he kept faith with me.
+This gave me power over him, and what was of infinitely greater value
+to me personally, it was a shrewd defence against the wife also.
+
+I smiled as I thought of the ingenuity of this; but I little thought
+what would be the actual result.  It seemed then the shrewdest and
+cleverest, as well as the most daring thing I had done; but in the end
+the consequences were such as might properly have followed an act of
+the grossest stupidity and villainy possible.  For the moment it
+pleased me, however, and I was in truth finding the keenest pleasure in
+this parrying of the thrusts which the fates were making at me.
+
+There was a problem I could not solve, however, in the question of the
+power which seemed to be behind the Chief of the Police; the power
+which made him apparently afraid to strike me openly though so willing
+to trip me secretly.  I could not imagine what it could be, nor whence
+it could come.
+
+When I reached my rooms my sister and Paula Tueski were waiting for me
+in the greatest anxiety; and both were overjoyed to see me safe and
+apparently in high spirits.  The police agents had been for the fellow
+I had left under lock and key; and Olga had taken care to carry out my
+instructions to the letter.  Her quick instincts had warned her, and
+she had made a parade of almost affectionate friendship for the other
+woman during the time the men had been present.
+
+After I arrived she could scarcely take her eyes off me, and I saw them
+glistening as with tears.
+
+"I will take you home, directly," I said, carelessly, as a brother
+might speak.  "But I have something to say first to Madame Tueski; so
+you must wait for a few minutes."
+
+A look of reproach nearly found expression in hasty words, but
+remembering herself she said hastily, acting the part to the life:--
+
+"Oh, you're always so mysterious, Alexis.  I've no patience with you."
+
+Then I led the other into my second sitting-room and told her much of
+what had passed: and when I came to that part of the interview that
+immediately concerned herself, she was very bitter and angry.
+
+"You think I am a pawn to be moved where you like in your game; of no
+account, and the meanest thing on the board.  You and he are both alike
+in that--but wait.  Your life is mine, Alexis.  I have told you."
+
+"But you must surely see that the first consideration must be all our
+lives--to say nothing of our safety," I answered, rather roughly, I
+fear, and very unsympathetically.  Her heroics rasped me.  "What the
+deuce is the good of your loving me if your husband shuts me up in a
+dungeon, or sends me dancing to Siberia, or causes a dagger to let out
+my life blood?"
+
+"You mean to keep the word you gave him?"
+
+"Certainly, so long as he keeps his."
+
+She fixed her large lustrous eyes on me and let them rest on me during
+a long pause of silence.
+
+"You and he together will drive me to some desperate deed," she said,
+at length, very slowly.  "Then perhaps you will learn what a love like
+mine will dare for your sake.  I cannot and will not bear this
+separation."
+
+She wearied me with these protests, but I said nothing and went on to
+question her as to whether there was any power behind her husband
+influencing him in regard to me.  She knew nothing, but admitted that
+she had her suspicions.
+
+I told her next that while he was trying to assassinate me, she might
+find the tables turned on him, as there was a Nihilist plot on foot to
+assassinate him.  She paid little heed to it at first, saying that
+there had been many such schemes formed, all of which had proved
+abortive, because he was most carefully and continuously guarded.  A
+moment later, however, her manner changed a little, and she questioned
+me somewhat closely concerning the matter.
+
+"They don't choose their agents shrewdly in these things," she said,
+"and we hear too soon of their designs.  They should choose a man like
+you, Alexis."  She seemed to speak with a hidden meaning, and I was
+doubtful whether she knew anything; but I kept my doubts to myself.
+
+"If they had done that, I had a rare chance to-night," I answered.
+
+"A bold man or a reckless woman makes the chance," she retorted in the
+same manner.  "I am going, Alexis:" she added, and then forced on me
+caresses which were vastly repulsive.  But I could not reveal my true
+feelings until I had at any rate placed Olga in safety.  My
+indifference and coldness were apparent to the woman, and she upbraided
+me with a burst of angry passion, till I had to patch up a sort of
+peace.
+
+We went back to Olga and soon afterwards drove away, Olga and I setting
+the other down at her door.
+
+So long as Madame Tueski was with us, Olga maintained the part of the
+impatient sister; but as soon as we were alone her manner changed
+altogether.
+
+"I had to send for you this evening," I said, "And you saved me from a
+situation of great difficulty and hazard by coming so promptly.  I
+thank you for having done so."
+
+No reply.  I glanced at her in the gloomy light in the cab and saw the
+profile set hard and immobile, with the lips pressed closely together.
+
+"Storm signals out," thought I.
+
+"I was saying I thanked you.  You acted with rare discretion and did me
+a great service."
+
+Not a word.
+
+"You were not so silent just now."  I hazarded.
+
+"I was acting--with discretion."  She repeated my word with that relish
+and enjoyment which a well regulated mind always feels about a telling
+sarcasm.
+
+"And what sort of discretion is this?" I retorted, laughing.
+
+She was silent again.
+
+"I have a good deal to tell you in explanation."
+
+"I have no wish to hear anything, thank you," she interposed.  "I can
+trust your discretion"--much emphasis again on the word--"as completely
+as you can mine.  I am glad to have been of _use_ to you and Madame
+Tueski."  She threw the word "use" at me as if it had been a bomb to be
+exploded in my face.
+
+"What have I done that's wrong?  I'm very sorry," I said.
+
+"I beg you not to apologise.  You never used to, and as you appear to
+be slipping back into your old habits it would be out of character to
+apologise--to me.  I am only to be used."
+
+"I don't a bit understand you."
+
+There was a moment's silence, and then she could contain her
+indignation no longer and burst out with the cause of it.
+
+"Why didn't you send me home immediately you returned?  You could
+surely have given me your servant as an escort.  Then you would have
+spared me the shame and humiliation of waiting during your private
+interchange of confidences with that woman."
+
+At that instant we stopped at her house.
+
+"Please not to come in to-night," she said.  "I have had to keep
+certain things waiting here while I was being of _use_ to you, and was
+sitting alone in your rooms; and I have now very much to do."
+
+"I am sorry to trouble you; but I am coming in.  This thing must be
+cleared up at once;" and I followed my very angry sister into the house.
+
+She led the way to a small drawing-room and turning to me said coldly:--
+
+"I am ready to hear what you wish to say."
+
+I had been thinking quickly during the interval, and now changed my
+point of attack.
+
+"I had a very serious thing to say.  You gave me your promise...."
+
+"I would rather you would not remind me of any promises," she
+interrupted.  This was said deliberately; but then she broke through
+her cold formality, and with a little stamp of her foot finished
+angrily:--"I won't keep them.  I won't be reminded of them.  Things are
+altered--altogether altered."
+
+"What I was going to say is..." I began, when she broke in again.
+
+"I won't hear it.  I don't want to hear any more.  I wish you'd go
+away."
+
+"You must hear me," I said quietly, but with some authority in my tone.
+
+"'Must!'  I don't understand you."
+
+"Must--for your own safety."
+
+"Thank you.  I can protect myself.  Your other cares and
+responsibilities have a prior claim on you.  Will you please leave me
+now?"
+
+"No, I can't go, until I've told you...."
+
+"I will not listen!  Didn't I tell you?"  She was vehemence itself.
+
+I shrugged my shoulders in despair.
+
+"This morning..." I began; but the moment I opened my lips she broke
+out again with her vehement interruptions.
+
+"Ah, things were different this morning.  I had not then been insulted.
+Do you forget I am a Russian; and think you can treat me as you
+will--keep me waiting while--bah! it is unbearable.  Will you go away?
+Is there no sense of manliness in you that will make you leave me?
+Must I call for assistance?  I will do that if you do not leave me.
+You can write what you have to say.  But, please, spare me the pain of
+seeing you again."
+
+Her words cut me to the quick; but they roused me also.
+
+"You had better call for assistance," I answered firmly.  Then I
+crossed to the door, locked it, and put the key in my pocket.  "I will
+spare you the pain of another interview; but now that I am here, I
+decline to go until I have explained."
+
+"You cannot explain," she burst in.  The word seemed to madden her.
+
+"Cannot explain what?"
+
+"That woman's kisses!"
+
+The words appeared to leap from her lips involuntarily; and she
+repented them as soon as uttered; and drawing herself up she tried to
+appear cold and stolid.  But this attempt failed completely; and in her
+anger at the thought behind the words and with herself for having given
+it utterance, she stood looking at me, her bosom heaving and tossing
+with agitation and her face and eyes aglow with an emotion, which with
+a strange delight, I saw was jealousy.
+
+There came a long pause, during which I recalled her manner and the way
+she had played with my words, during one of our rides when we had
+spoken of Devinsky's proposal to make her his wife.
+
+I have always been slow to read women's hearts and have generally read
+them wrong; but I began to study this with a sense of new and peculiar
+pleasure.
+
+She was getting very dear to me for a sister.
+
+If my guess was right, my conduct with that infernal women, Paula
+Tueski, must have been gall and wormwood to Olga.
+
+How should I have relished it had the position been reversed, and
+Devinsky been in Paula Tueski's place?
+
+These thoughts which flashed across me in rapid succession produced a
+peculiar frame of mind.  I had stood a minute in silence, not looking
+at her, and when I raised my eyes again I was conscious of sensations
+toward her, that were altogether different from anything I had felt
+before.  She had become more beautiful than ever in my eyes; I, more
+eagerly anxious to please and appease; while at bottom there was a
+dormant fear that I might be mistaken in my new reading of her actions,
+in which was mixed up another fear, not nearly so strong, that her
+anger on account of Paula Tueski might really end in our being
+separated.
+
+My first act shewed the change in me.
+
+I ceased to feel the freedom with which I had hitherto acted the part
+of brother, and I immediately threw open the door and stood aside that
+she might go out if she wished.  Then I said:--
+
+"Perhaps you are right.  My conduct may be inexcusable even to save
+your life."
+
+Whether there was anything in my manner that touched her--I was
+conscious of speaking with much less confidence than usual; or whether
+it was the act of unfastening the door: or whether, again, some subtle
+influence had set her thoughts moving in parallel columns to mine, I do
+not know.  But her own manner changed quite as suddenly as mine; and
+when she caught my eyes on her, she flushed and paled with effects that
+made her radiantly beautiful to me.
+
+She said not a word; and finding this, I continued:--
+
+"I am sorry a cloud has come between us at the last, and through
+something that was not less hateful to me because forced by the needs
+of the case.  We have been such friends; but...." here I handed her the
+permit--"you must use this at once."
+
+She took it and read it slowly in silence, and then asked:--
+
+"How did you get this?"
+
+"Myself, personally, from the Chief of the Police."
+
+"Why did you run the mad risk of going to him yourself?"
+
+"There was no risk--not so much in going to him as in keeping away from
+him.  He had tried to have me murdered, and I went to find out the
+reason."
+
+"I told you I would not leave."
+
+"Unless--and the condition now applies--it was necessary for my safety."
+
+"And you?"  The light of fear was in her eyes as she asked this.
+
+"As soon as you are across the frontier I shall make a dash for my
+liberty also.  I can't go before, because my absence would certainly
+bring you under suspicion."
+
+She looked at me again very intently, her head bent slightly forward
+and her lips parted with the strain of a new thought; while suspicion
+of my motive chased the fear for my safety from her face.
+
+"Is this to get me out of the way?  I won't go!"
+
+"Olga!"
+
+All my honour for myself and my love for her were in that note of
+reproach, and they appeared to waken an echo; for then this most
+strange girl threw herself down on to a couch and burying her face in
+her hands sobbed passionately.
+
+I turned away from the sight of her emotion--the more painful because
+of the strong self-reserve and force of character she had always
+shewn--and paced up and down the room.  I forced back my own feelings
+and the desire to tell her what those feelings were.  To do that would
+be worse than madness.  Till we were out of Russia, we were brother and
+sister and the bar between us was heavier than we could hope to move.
+
+When the storm of her sobs ceased, she remained for some minutes quite
+still: and I would not break the silence, knowing she was fighting her
+way back to self-possession.
+
+Presently, she got up and came to me, holding out her hand.
+
+"I will go, Alexis--we are still firm friends?"--with a little smile of
+wistful interrogation.  "Can you forgive my temper?  I was mad for the
+moment, I think.  But I trust you.  I do indeed, absolutely.  I know
+you had no thought of insulting me.  I know that.  I couldn't think so
+meanly of you.  It's hard to leave--Russia--and--and everything.  And
+you, too--at this time.  Must I really go?"  A half-beseeching glance
+into my eyes and a pause for the answer I could not give.  "Very well.
+I know what your silence means.  Come to-morrow morning--and say"--she
+stopped again and bit her trembling lips to steady them as she framed
+the word--"and say--goodbye to me.  And now, please, let me go--brother
+and truest friend."
+
+She wrung my hand, and then before I could prevent her or even guess
+her intention, she pressed her lips to it and, with the tears again in
+her eyes, she went quickly away, leaving me to stare after her like a
+helpless fool, longing to call her back and tell her everything, and
+yet afraid.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV.
+
+THE DEED WHICH RANG THROUGH RUSSIA.
+
+It was not destined that Olga should leave Russia yet.
+
+A terrible event happened within the next few hours, the report of
+which rang through Russia like a clap of thunder, convulsing the whole
+nation, and shaking for the moment the entire social fabric to its
+lowest foundations.  And one of its smaller consequences was to ruin my
+plans and expose me to infinite personal peril.
+
+Olga was to start at noon, and I proposed to see her an hour before
+then, for what I knew would be a very trying ordeal.  But I was at that
+hour in the midst of a very different kind of interview.
+
+Outside official circles I was one of the first men to learn the news.
+Just before ten o'clock a messenger came with a request for me to go at
+once to the chief Police Bureau.  I started in the full conviction that
+for some cause Tueski had changed his mind and meant to arrest me.  I
+was of course helpless: and could do no more than scribble a hasty line
+to Olga telling her of my appointment, asking her not to wait for me,
+and bidding her good-bye.  But I did not send it.  The police agent
+said with great politeness he would prefer my not doing anything then:
+I could send the note equally well from the Bureau.  I knew what that
+meant, and yielded.
+
+The moment I arrived at the office I could see that some event of
+altogether unusual importance and gravity had occurred.  The air was
+laden with the suggestion of excitement.  There was an absence of that
+orderly, business-like routine always characteristic of Russian public
+offices.  The police agents were present in exceptionally large
+numbers; hurrying through the corridors, thronging the rooms, and
+standing in groups engaged in animated discussion.
+
+I was kept waiting some time, perhaps half an hour, before a word was
+spoken to me by anyone in authority; and then I was ushered into the
+presence of a man I did not know.
+
+"I am sorry to trouble you, Lieutenant Petrovitch, but there are one or
+two questions you can answer--and I need not say that as a Russian
+officer, bearing the Emperor's commission, we shall look to you to
+reply very fully."
+
+I bowed.  It was a fit preface to a conversation which should end as
+such things generally did.  But at any rate I should learn what they
+intended to do with me.  Before he spoke again I asked that the letter
+I had written to Olga might be sent; but he put the question aside,
+with a curt reply that it could wait until the Emperor's business was
+finished; and again I bowed in acquiescence.  I could do nothing.
+
+"Please to tell me exactly what passed between you and M. Tueski
+yesterday," he said.  "And particularly how you obtained the permits
+for yourself and sister.  I invite you to be particularly frank."
+
+The question startled me.  I couldn't understand it.
+
+"Your question surprises me," I replied, to gain a little time to
+think.  "M. Tueski himself knows, and can surely tell you everything."
+
+"I ask my questions in the name of the Emperor, sir," returned my
+examiner, sternly.
+
+"M. Tueski had done me the honour of trying to have me murdered, and I
+went to see him to demand the reason.  He did not deny it.  I persuaded
+him in the end to abandon his private malice and prevailed upon him to
+give me the permits for myself and my sister to leave Russia for a
+while.  When he had given them to me I left him."
+
+"Where are they?"
+
+"Here is one.  The other is with my sister, who leaves Moscow at
+midday."
+
+"You may stop her attempting to leave.  It will be useless.  What else
+passed?"  And he then plunged into a close cross-examination of me, the
+real object of which I could not guess, unless it meant that Tueski had
+in some way got into a mess for letting me have the permits.  I
+answered all the questions as fully as possible, taking care only to
+avoid mentioning Paula Tueski's name in connection with the compact
+with her husband.
+
+To my surprise I seemed to satisfy the man for the time.  When he had
+about turned me inside out, he sat for some minutes looking over my
+answers and comparing them with some of his notes: after which he
+remained thinking closely.
+
+"What did you do after leaving M. Tueski?"
+
+"I went straight to my rooms to my sister and Madame Tueski; together
+we drove Madame Tueski to her house; I then went home with my sister,
+remained there about an hour, or perhaps less; and went home and to
+bed."
+
+"You have told me all you know, Lieutenant?"
+
+"You can ask M. Tueski," I returned.
+
+He fixed his eyes steadily on me while I could have counted twenty, and
+then said slowly and with deep emphasis:--
+
+"M. Tueski is dead."
+
+"Dead!" I repeated in the profoundest surprise.
+
+"Murdered.  Found this morning in the lower part of his own house with
+a dagger thrust through his heart."
+
+"Murdered?"  I could scarcely believe my ears.
+
+"Yes.  'For Freedom's sake'," said the man with a curl of the lip.  "At
+least, so a message on the dagger said.  Now you can understand the
+significance of my questions."
+
+I understood it all well enough: far better than the man himself even
+imagined; and I was completely beaten as to what the inner meaning of
+this most terrible event could be.
+
+One of my first reflections was that if any of the suspicions of my
+Nihilism, which the dead man entertained, were chronicled anywhere, my
+arrest and that of Olga would certainly follow; and we should both be
+doomed.
+
+"I can scarcely realise it," I said.  "It is horrible!"
+
+"So these wretches will find," returned my interlocutor.  "These
+carrion!  But now, in view of this--and I have told you because of the
+candid manner in which you have answered my questions--is there
+anything you noticed in your visit yesterday to help us."
+
+Clearly, he did not suspect me; and no records had been found yet.
+
+"No.  The place seemed alive with inmates--like a rabbit warren.
+Enough to have held it against a regiment.  Good God, what villains!" I
+cried in horror.  Mine was genuine feeling enough, for some of the
+terrible effects to myself were fast crowding into my thoughts.  I
+recalled my encounter with my Nihilist comrade on the very threshold of
+the house.
+
+"Of course, those permits will be withdrawn now, Lieutenant," said the
+official as he dismissed me.  But his manner was much less severe and
+curt than at the outset.  "As a matter of fact they ought never to have
+been granted, though I cannot explain why just now.  But under the
+circumstances you will probably feel personally unwilling to leave
+Russia at such a juncture."
+
+"I should feel myself a traitor," said I, grandiloquently; and in fact
+I did feel very much like one as I left him, rejoicing that I still
+breathed the fresh air of heaven instead of the foetid atmosphere of a
+gaol.
+
+One thing was certain now--neither Olga nor I could hope to escape yet.
+Any attempt would be fatal.  The murder of such a man would mean that
+the lurid search light of suspicion would fall in all directions, on
+the guilty and guiltless alike.  The liberty certainly, and probably
+the life, of every suspected Nihilist in Moscow at the moment were at
+stake: and the slightest trip or false step on our part would amount to
+a direct invitation to ruin.
+
+As I walked back sadly and thoughtfully to my rooms, I had abundant
+proofs of the terrible effects of the assassination.  The police agents
+were everywhere, watching, raiding, arresting; and in my short walk I
+met more than one gloomy party of them, each with its one or two
+prisoners in their midst, hurrying on foot or in hired carriages to the
+police stations.
+
+It is not my business, however, to describe here the scenes that
+followed the most daring, most secret, most thrilling, and save one,
+most terrible assassination that ever convulsed Russia.  The murder of
+the Czar stirred the surface of the world more, because it had more of
+the pageantry of crime about it; but the death of the Chief of the
+Secret Police caused a much deeper sense of insecurity, and spread a
+far greater dread of the secret power of Nihilism.
+
+Who had done it?  To me it was an inscrutable mystery; unless it had
+been the man I had seen near the house.  But what I had to consider was
+not whose hand had driven the dagger home, but rather what the effects
+would be to me and to her for whose safety I now felt more fears and
+concern than I had felt for myself in all my life.
+
+One incident in the interview I had just had impressed me greatly: the
+reference which the official had dropped as to the power behind Tueski
+in dealing with me.  My questioner had seemed to know about it that
+morning: and all this perplexed me.
+
+As soon as I reached my rooms I had to hurry off to the barracks in
+response to an urgent summons; and I joined readily in the excited
+conversation of my comrades about this latest Nihilist stroke.  The
+news was only beginning to leak out, and it assumed the wildest shapes;
+nor did I feel at liberty to reduce the rumours to facts.
+
+Before the morning's work was over orders came that the troops were to
+be paraded for duty in the streets: and we were told off for patrol
+work in different parts of the city to protect the railway stations,
+and other public buildings.  All that day we were kept on duty; and as
+other troops came pouring in from other centres the whole place seemed
+under arms like a beleaguered town.
+
+All day and all night the raids and surprise visits by the police were
+in progress, and hundreds, if not thousands of men and women must have
+been arrested, until the gaols were crowded to suffocation point, and
+every spot where prisoners could be packed was crammed and choked with
+suspects.
+
+The cries and curses of men and the shrieks of women made the air
+stifling.
+
+We were not relieved until late at night, having been all day without
+food; and even then we were kept in the barracks in readiness for any
+disturbance.
+
+The next day's programme was much the same; and I fretted at not being
+able to either see or send to Olga.  Knowing of her brother's Nihilism
+she would surely think I had been arrested; while I on my side was
+afraid for her.
+
+In the afternoon of the third day we got leave from duty and from
+barracks for a few hours; and I went straight off to Olga.  Meanwhile
+not a hint had been obtained as to the identity of the assassin.
+
+I found Olga white and wan and ill on my account; and when we met I was
+on my side almost too moved for speech.  At first I could do no more
+than glance into her eyes as we clasped each the other's hand.
+
+"You are looking frightfully ill, Olga," I said at length.
+
+She returned my look without a word and then her brow contracted, she
+breathed deeply as if in pain, and turning away wrung her hands with a
+gesture of despair.
+
+"What is the matter?  What has happened to you?  There must be
+something..."  I stopped, or rather the sight of the white face all
+drawn and quivering with pain stopped me.
+
+"Oh, it is too horrible, too awful!  God have mercy on us!  God have
+mercy on us!"
+
+Bad as things were so far as I knew them, this dejection seemed
+disproportionate and excessive.  She was like a mad woman distraught
+with fear or grief; and she waved her hands about as if wrestling with
+emotions she could not conquer.
+
+"Oh, it can't be true; it can't be," she moaned; and then came suddenly
+to me, turned my face to the light holding it between her white
+trembling hands, and gazed at me with a look of mingled anguish, fear,
+doubt, wildness, and--love; her lips parted and her bosom rising and
+falling as if with the strain of her passionate feelings.
+
+When her scrutiny was over, her hands seemed to slip down and she fell
+on her knees close to me and I heard her muttering prayers with
+vehement fervour.
+
+"What does this mean, Olga?" I asked gently, bending down and laying my
+hand on her shoulder.  She looked round and up at my touch, and tried
+to smile.  Then she rose and standing opposite to me, put her hands on
+my two shoulders so that her face was close beneath mine.  And all the
+time she was muttering prayers.  Then, in a voice all broken and
+tremulous, she said:--
+
+"Brother, swear as you believe there is a God in Heaven, you will
+answer truly what I ask."
+
+"I will.  I swear it," I answered, wishing to quiet her.
+
+"Did you really do this?"
+
+"Do what?" I asked, not understanding.
+
+"Kill Christian Tueski?"
+
+"Did I kill him?  No, child, certainly not."  I spoke in the greatest
+astonishment.
+
+"Oaths may bind you to secrecy, I know.  But for God's sake, tell me
+the truth--the truth.  You can tell me.  I am...."  I felt her shudder.
+
+"Is it this which has been driving you distracted?  There is no cause.
+I know no more by whose hand that man came by his death than a babe
+unborn."
+
+"Say that again, Alexis.  Say it again.  It is the sweetest music I
+have heard in all my life."
+
+I repeated the assurance, and a smile of genuine relief broke out over
+her face.  Next she cried and laughed and cried again, and then sat
+down as if completely overcome by the rush of relief from a too heavy
+strain.
+
+"What does all this mean?" I asked quietly, after a while.  "Try and
+tell me."
+
+"I have been like a mad thing for two days.  Let me wait awhile.  I
+will tell you presently.  Oh, thank God, thank God for what you have
+said.  It drove me mad to think you should have been driven to this by
+me; and that perhaps for my sake you might have been urged to do such a
+horrible thing.  Waking and sleeping alike I have thought of nothing
+but of your suffering torture and death.  And all through me--through
+me."  She covered her face in horror at the remembrance of her
+thoughts: but a moment later took away her hands to smile at me.
+
+"You have not told me yet what made you think anything of the sort."
+
+"I will tell you.  As soon as I heard the news, I knew of course that
+as I had been mixed up in some old Nihilist troubles, it would be
+hopeless for me to think of leaving Moscow; and when the police agent
+came I let him understand that I had given up all thought of travelling
+yet.  Then I was all anxiety for news of you, and in the afternoon I
+went to your rooms.  I found the door shut and could hear nothing.
+Then I began to fear for you.  I am only a woman."
+
+She stopped and smiled to me before resuming.  Then with a shudder she
+continued:--
+
+"Then a most strange thing happened, Borlas came to me just at dusk;
+and he looked so strange that at first I thought he had been drinking.
+Saying he had a message from you he waited until I had sent the servant
+away.
+
+"'What is it?' I asked.
+
+"For answer he gave me a sign that made my heart sink.  I knew it too
+well, and I looked at him with the keenest scrutiny.  Had the Nihilists
+put a spy on you even in your own servant?  Then I saw--that it was not
+Borlas, but a man so cleverly made up to resemble him that I had been
+at first deceived.
+
+"'What do you want here?' I asked, now with every nerve in my body at
+full tension.
+
+"'Do you know?' and the light in his eyes seemed to flash into mine.
+
+"'Do I know what?'  I could see there was something behind all this.
+
+"He bent close to me, though we were of course alone, and spoke his
+reply in a fierce whisper.
+
+"'Tell your brother that after this proof our hearts beat but for him;
+our plans shall all wait on him; every man of us will go to his death
+silently and cheerfully at his mere bidding.  He leads, we follow.  He
+has nobly kept his pledge for the cause of God and Freedom.'
+
+"As I heard this my heart seemed to stop in pain.  I had to hold to the
+table to save myself from falling."
+
+"'Do you mean,' I gasped, 'that Alexis has murdered....'
+
+"'Silence, sister,' replied the man sternly.  'That is no word for you
+to utter or for me to hear.  Your brother is as true a friend as
+Russian Liberty ever had; and I thank my God that I have ever been
+allowed to even touch the hand that has dealt this vigorous blow and
+done this noble and righteous act.'
+
+"'I will tell him,' I said.
+
+"'Tell him also, he need have no fear.  Not a man who was at the
+meeting is in the city now, save me; and not a single soul of the
+thousands these hell dogs of tyranny can seize knows anything--save
+only me.  And I would to the Almighty God they would take me and
+torture me and tear my flesh off bit by bit with their cursed red-hot
+pincers that I might use my last breath and my latest effort to taunt
+them that I know the hero who has done it, and die with my knowledge a
+secret.'
+
+"Then this terrible man, you may not know his name, but I know him,
+left me, telling me it was 'a glorious day for Russia, and that God
+would smile for ever upon you for this deed.'  And I--I was plunged
+into a maelstrom of agonising fears, racking doubts, and poisoned
+thoughts about you and what I had led you to do."
+
+What Olga said had also immense importance and significance for me.  It
+shewed me a startling view of my situation.  It was clear the Nihilists
+attributed the murder to me, and what effect that would have upon us I
+was at a loss even to conjecture.
+
+"The man's blood is not on my hands, Olga; but I cannot be surprised at
+the mistake.  I will tell you everything;" and I told her then all that
+had passed.
+
+"Who can have done it then?" she asked, when I finished.
+
+"It is as complete a mystery to me as to the police.  The man I saw
+near the house might have done it; but then I suppose it must have been
+the same man who came to you: and in that case he certainly wouldn't
+have set it down to me.  I am beaten.  But I am likely to find the
+wrongful inheritance embarrassing.  I must be more cautious than ever
+to draw down no word of suspicion upon either of us.  We must both be
+scrupulously careful.  And thus it will be impossible for you to think
+of getting away."
+
+"It's a leaden sky that has no silver streak," replied Olga.  "And that
+impossibility is my streak."
+
+I could not but understand this, and even while my judgment condemned
+her, my heart was warmed by her words.  But my judgment spoke.
+
+"If you were away my anxieties would be all but ended."
+
+"If I were away my anxieties would be all but unendurable," she
+retorted, following my words and smiling.  It was not possible to hear
+this with anything but delight; but I had my feelings too well under
+control now to let them be seen easily.
+
+"That may be," I said.  "But my first and chief effort will be to get
+you safe across the frontier."
+
+She made no answer: but her manner told me she would not consent to go
+until it had become a rank impossibility for her to stay.  Presently
+she said with much feeling:--
+
+"If I had been away and the news had come that you had done the thing
+these men assert, how do you think I could have borne it?  I should
+have either come rushing back here or have died of remorse and fear and
+anxiety on your account.  It was through me you commenced all this."
+
+"But of my own choice that I continued," I replied.  "And believe me,
+if all were to come over again I should act in just the same way.  I
+have never had such a glorious time before; and all I want now is to
+see you safe."
+
+Olga paused to look at me steadily.
+
+"You've never told me all the reason why you were so ready to take all
+these desperate risks.  Will you tell me now?"
+
+"I had made a mess of things generally, as I told you before," I
+answered, with a smile and a slight flush at the reminiscences thus
+disturbed by her question.
+
+"Was there a woman in it?" Her eyes were fixed on me as she put the
+question.
+
+"There's a woman in most things," I answered, equivocally.
+
+"Yes, I suppose so."  She turned away and looked down, and asked next:--
+
+"Were you very fond of her, Alexis?"
+
+"Judging by the little ripple that remains on the surface now that
+she's gone out of my life, no: judging by the splash the stone made at
+first, yes.  But she's gone."
+
+"Yet the waters of the pool may be left permanently clouded.  I am
+sorry for you, Alexis: and if you were really my brother, I would try
+and help you two together."
+
+"That's not altogether a very proper thing to say."  I spoke lightly,
+and she looked up to question me.  "Her husband might not thank you, I
+mean: though I'm not quite sure about that;" and then having told her
+so much, I told her the story of my last meeting with Sir Philip
+Cargill and Edith.  But she did not take it as I wished.
+
+"You must have loved her if you meant to kill her," she said.
+
+"And ceased then, if I left her to live a miserable life."
+
+"I should like to see the woman you have ceased to love," she said,
+woman-like in curiosity--and something else.
+
+"You may do that yet, if only Alexis Petrovitch can make a safe way for
+his sister out of Russia;" and then I added, pausing and looking at her
+with a meaning in my eyes which I wished her to understand though I
+dared not put it in plain words:--"But we shall not be brother and
+sister then."
+
+She glanced up hurriedly, her face aglow with a sudden rush of
+thought--pleasurable thought too--and then looked down again and smiled.
+
+"In that case how should we two be together?" she asked.
+
+"Do you mean that such a time as this will be likely to render us ready
+to part?"
+
+To that her only answer was another glance and a deeper blush.  Then I
+made an effort and recovered myself on the very verge.
+
+"But while we are here, we are brother and sister, Olga;" and feeling
+that if I wished to keep other things unsaid I had better go away, I
+left her.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV.
+
+A SHE DEVIL.
+
+The more I contemplated the position the less I liked it, and the more
+urgent appeared the reasons for hurrying Olga out of the country.
+
+All my care was for her.  Before this new feeling of mine for her had
+forced itself upon me, the situation had been really a game of wits
+with my life as the stake; but now Olga's life, or at least her
+liberty, was also at stake.  It was there the crisis pinched me till I
+winced and writhed under it.  Fear had got hold of me at last and I
+tugged restlessly at the chain.
+
+That night and the next day, the day of Christian Tueski's funeral,
+were occupied with heavy duties, because the authorities, both military
+and civil, persisted in believing there was danger of an emeute.  I
+could have counselled them differently if I had dared to open my lips.
+At least I thought I could; although I did not then hold the key to the
+mystery.
+
+I got it from Paula Tueski.
+
+In the afternoon of the day but one after the funeral, I had a brief
+note asking me to call on her.
+
+I went and found her surrounded by all the signs and trappings of the
+deepest mourning.  She received me very gravely, and while there was
+anyone in the room, she played the part of the sorrowing, disconsolate
+widow: but the instant we were alone she shewed a most indecent and
+revolting haste to let me know her mind.
+
+"We are alone, now, Alexis," she said.
+
+"I have called as you asked and because I wished to express my
+sympathy...."
+
+"Psh!  Don't let us be hypocrites, you and I," she exclaimed, half
+angrily, and with great energy.  "I do not pretend to you that I am
+sorry to be free, and don't you pretend to me either."
+
+I didn't answer, and my silence irritated her.
+
+"Would you have me weep, tear my hair, put ashes on my head and grovel
+in the dust because the biggest villain and coward and beast that ever
+lived in human shape is dead?  I hated him living; shall I love him
+dead?"
+
+"At least the dead are dead, and to revile them is mere empty
+brutality," said I, somewhat harshly.
+
+"Then I like empty brutality if it relieves my feelings.  God!  I have
+been a hypocrite long enough.  I should hate myself if I did not speak
+the truth to you."
+
+I shrugged my shoulders.  I had no answer.
+
+"Why didn't you send a wreath of pure white flowers as an emblem of
+your regard?  Why not a message to swell the millions of lies that men
+have uttered in their squalid fear of offending the Government by
+silence?  Ugh!  It makes me sick when I think of it all;" and she
+shuddered as if in disgust.  "He was a devil, and I won't call him by
+any softer name merely because his power to harm is gone.  Didn't he
+try to murder you?  And wasn't it jealousy?  Ah, we have much to be
+thankful to the Nihilists for, you and I."  There was an indescribable
+suggestion of a hidden meaning about this.
+
+I hated the woman.
+
+"You have no clue yet, I suppose?"
+
+"Yes, I have a clue," she replied, with a laugh that sounded like a
+threat.  "I can put my hand on the murderer when I will--and I will, if
+he proves a traitor."
+
+"You are in a dramatic mood," I answered.  "Who is the man?  Why not
+denounce him?  Surely this act is what you must call treachery."
+
+"There was a Nihilist plot to kill the man," she said, speaking with
+contemptuous flippancy of accent of the dead.
+
+"Yes, I told you that myself," I replied.
+
+"It was because of that he died."
+
+"So everybody thinks."
+
+"And how do you account for it?" she asked, looking at me keenly.
+
+"I have no more idea than yourself."
+
+She laughed; and a hard forced laugh it was.  Then she got up from her
+chair and walked twice up and down the room in dead silence.  She
+stopped in front of me and stared down into my eyes.
+
+"Alexis, do you really love me?"
+
+The question was an exceedingly unpleasant one and filled me with
+disgust.
+
+"Surely this is no time for us to speak of such things," I said.
+
+"Do you love me, Alexis," she repeated.
+
+"I will not answer now," I said, rising.
+
+"Why not?  Why should we not speak of love now--now, aye, and always?
+Or is your passion so poor and sickly a thing that a puff from the wind
+of propriety kills it?  Not speak of such things!  I would plight my
+love to you across the very body of the dead man!"  She spoke with
+passionate vehemence.  "Remember what I told you--your life is mine.
+You cannot escape me.  Now, tell me, do you love me?"
+
+"I have given my answer, and if you ask that question again to-day I
+will not stop in the room," I said angrily: the woman's persistency
+increasing my disgust.
+
+She laughed--a half hysterical laugh of anger.
+
+"So you will not stop in the room and will never, I suppose, return.
+Be careful," she cried, with one of her quick passionate changes.  "Or
+I will send you away and never let you come back except begging for
+mercy on your knees for yourself and your sister."  She turned away and
+stood by the window; and I could see by her movements that she was
+struggling with violent emotions.
+
+She came back at length, the face paler and the voice not so steady.
+
+"I will ask you if you love me," she said.  "And I dare you to go away
+from the room."
+
+I accepted the challenge without an instant's hesitation.
+
+"I am going.  I will see you when you are cooler," and I went to the
+door.
+
+With a quick rush she prevented my opening it, and putting her back to
+it stared at me in the most violent passion, which thickened her voice
+as she spoke.
+
+"You shall go directly--if you wish to.  You will make me hate you, one
+day, Alexis, and then--I will kill you."
+
+"It will be far better for me to come some other time," I said, anxious
+to leave.
+
+"You will have plenty of opportunities, never fear," she retorted, with
+a very angry sneering laugh.  "And what is more, you will not dare not
+to use them.  Listen--it is love for you drives me to this--a love that
+you can never escape now, Alexis, even if you had the will."
+
+She paused; but I said nothing.  I had nothing to say.  All I wished
+was to get away.
+
+"Do you think there is anything I would not do for your love, Alexis?
+I have told you there is nothing--told you so scores of times.  Now, I
+have proved it.  Do you hear--proved it.  I proved it a few nights ago
+when this hand plunged the dagger hilt deep into my husband's
+heart--for your sake."
+
+I started back and looked at the woman in horror.
+
+"Yes, this hand"--she held it out--"so white, smooth, deft, and
+shapely.  Don't start from it.  There is no blood shewing on it now.
+And never was.  I know how to thrust a dagger home too cleverly to
+leave a trace of either blood or guilt on me.  In all this Moscow of
+ours the one person who is deemed above all others guiltless--is
+myself.  Had it been in reality the Nihilist deadly secret stroke that
+men deem it, it could not have been more cunningly contrived, more
+secretly planned, more fatally executed.  Yet the motive was not hate
+of a Government, but love for a man.  For you, Alexis: you and you
+only.  Now do you wish to go?"
+
+She moved away from the door; but I made no attempt to go.  The horror
+of her story had fascinated me.
+
+"There was a tinge of hate in it, too, mark you, and more than a tinge.
+But I'll tell you all.  You ought to know, since you were in reality
+the cause of all.  You gave me the motive, suggested the occasion, and
+provoked that which led to it.  More than that, too, you can by a
+single word from me be made to bear the brunt.  Now, will you go?"
+
+Was the woman mad that she spoke in this way?  If so, there was a
+devilish method in her madness, as the story she told quickly shewed me.
+
+"I knew the day would come when either I should kill him or he would
+kill me; for he was a devil.  Well, you roused all that was most evil,
+vicious, and fiendish in him in that interview; and when I saw him he
+was like a man bereft of his wits.  Every form of reproach he could
+heap on me in cold, contemptuous, galling sneers he uttered with all
+the calculated aggravation that could make a taunt unbearable.  He
+threatened me in every tone of menace: and when I answered, turned
+suddenly furious and struck me violent blows and vowed to kill me.  It
+was then I recalled your words, that there was a Nihilist plot against
+his life; and I vowed I would be the means of carrying it out; for I
+knew I could easily put suspicion away from me.  I lured him cunningly
+to that part of the house where he was found, plunged the dagger into
+his breast, put into his pocket the forged warning of a Nihilist
+attack, opened the house at a point where a man could have entered,
+fastened to the dagger the Nihilist watchword, and then crept away to
+my own rooms."
+
+"It was a hellish plot," I exclaimed, hotly.
+
+"It was inspired by love for you, Alexis.  It was truly 'For Freedom's
+sake.'  Freedom that should unite us for ever."
+
+"Do you think I could ever be anything to a woman whose hand is red
+with murder?" I cried, in indignant horror.
+
+"It was done for you--for love of you, Alexis."
+
+"Love has no kin with murder," I exclaimed, bitterly.
+
+"Your life is mine, remember," she answered, firmly.  Her determination
+and strength were inexhaustible.  "This makes you ten thousand times
+more surely mine than ever.  I told you you were the cause--and also,
+that you could be made to bear the brunt.  Listen!  You know well
+enough what chance a Nihilist has on whom the fangs of suspicion have
+fastened.  You are a Nihilist.  Your sister is one also.  I know this.
+Well, what chance, think you, would that Nihilist have of his life
+whose dagger it was that found its way between my husband's ribs.  What
+then, if I had found the sheath of it and secreted it to save the man?
+Suppose too, that I had kept back the discovery because of my guilty
+love for him.  And further that he had come at the time to tempt my
+honour and that he was leaving the house when my husband, roused by the
+noise I made, met him; and that I saw the deed done?"  She paused and
+changed her tone to one of fierce directness, as she continued:--"The
+dagger that killed Christian Tueski is your own weapon, known by its
+sheath to a hundred people: and that sheath, with your name on it, is
+in my possession.  What chance of life would there be for you and yours
+if these things were made known.  Now, do you wish to go?"
+
+A hot and passionate reply rose to my lips, but was checked before
+uttered.  I thought of Olga, and I knew that every word this woman said
+was true--that no power in Russia could save my life or Olga's liberty
+if the tale were told now.
+
+Delay I must have at any cost.  Time in which to meet this woman's
+horrible cunning and daring plot.  If I had hated her before, she was
+now loathsome; while the fears she had stirred on Olga's account
+intensified and embittered a thousandfold my resentment.  Yet hateful
+as the task was, I was prepared to continue my part with her.
+
+"You think this love?" I said, after a pause in which she had been
+waiting breathlessly for me to speak.  "Do women love the men they hold
+to them by the tether rope of threats?"
+
+"Do women kill for the sake of men they do not love?"
+
+"Do you think to keep my love by threatening me with death?"
+
+"Have I not inflicted death to keep you?  Why do you wish to bandy
+phrases?  My deeds speak for themselves.  They shew you well enough
+what I will dare to keep you true to me.  You are mine, Alexis, and no
+power shall ever part us.  I have told you this often before.  It was
+you who sought me, who proffered me your love, who poured on me your
+caresses and roused the love in me, and roused it never to cease.  Do
+you think me a silly simple fool to be wooed and won and, when
+deserted, willing to do no more than wring my feeble hands and shed
+silly tears, and prate and maunder between my stupid sobs, that my
+heart is broken and that I fain would die--Bah!  I am not of that sort.
+I am a woman who can will and act, and fashion my own ends in my own
+way.  It is not the stream that carries me, but I who turn the stream
+even though it be mingled with blood.  No, no.  If you play me false,
+Alexis, it is you, and not I, who shall die because my heart is broken."
+
+She shewed this determination in every line of her beautiful face and
+movement of her magnificent figure, as she stood before me a lovely
+hateful type of a vengeful woman.  She changed her mood, however, with
+astonishing suddenness and turned all softness and tenderness.
+
+"But under all this lies my love," she said.  "It was love drove me to
+everything.  Your pledge, too, that made me feel, as nothing else could
+have done, the wall of separation between us while he lived; and my
+love could not endure it.  Ah, how I love you!" and then in words
+burning with the fever of passion, she spoke of her love for me,
+lingering over the terms as if the mere utterance of them were an
+ecstatic delight.  She laid all to the account of this love, and then
+went on to name her terms--that I must marry her.
+
+While she was speaking, I was thinking; trying to see some flaw in the
+devilish coil she had spread round me.  But I could see none.  Time
+might find a way: but even time she grudged, and did not mean to give.
+
+"But we can't be married now at the moment when your husband is
+scarcely lying cold in his grave," I said, aghast at her cold-blooded
+proposition.  "Every man and woman in Moscow would immediately think we
+had murdered him together in order to marry."
+
+"Every man and woman will not know," she answered calmly.  "Do you
+think there is no such thing as a secret marriage possible in this Holy
+Russia of ours, or that gold cannot buy silence here just as anywhere
+else in the world?"
+
+"I know that a secret marriage under these circumstances would put the
+lives of us both into the keeping of anyone who knew of it, however
+well you paid them.  The more you paid, indeed, the more certain the
+inference."
+
+"I care nothing for that; nor will you if you love me as you have often
+sworn you do."  She uttered this with the energy and passion which
+always were shewn when she was crossed.  But in this I was naturally as
+resolute as she.
+
+"I will not do it," I said very firmly.  "Understand me.  I will not do
+it.  It is nothing to do with love in any way at all: but simply
+self-protection.  It would be sheer suicide, and that I can do much
+more simply in other ways.  I refuse absolutely to put both our lives
+into the keeping of any man in Russia, however holy and however well
+bribed.  When we are married, it must be openly, in the light of day
+and before men's faces; and that most certainly cannot be until all
+this excitement about your husband's death has died down, and the
+marriage can take place without causing suspicion.  That must be at
+least six months hence--and probably a year or even two years."
+
+"I won't wait," she cried instantly and angrily.  "You want to break
+with me.  I am no fool."
+
+"As you will.  Then instead of marrying me you can denounce me and come
+and see me beheaded or strangled.  If you threaten me much longer," I
+said bitterly, "you will make me prefer one of the latter fates."
+
+She bent close to me, trying to read my thoughts.
+
+"And meanwhile?" she asked,
+
+"Are you such a mad woman that you would have us placard the walls of
+the city with our secrets?  Haven't we all Russia to hoodwink?  Do you
+suppose your police agents and secret agents are all fools, to see
+nothing, think nothing, infer nothing?  It may be hard for us to be
+apart, but what else is possible?  Even this visit is fool-hardiness
+itself and may set a thousand tongues clacking.  Heaven knows, if ever
+a pair of lovers had need of caution we have now!  Have you dared so
+much for our marriage only to toss it all away now just for the lack of
+a little self-control?  We must see very little of one another.  That
+is the only possible course."
+
+"I'll not consent," she cried again, vehemently, and broke out into a
+fresh storm of protests and reproaches.  But I held to my decision,
+confident that she would see she must give way.
+
+We parted without coming to any definite decision; and I was glad,
+because it spared me the infliction of those outward signs of affection
+in which she delighted to indulge and which now would have been more
+than ever repulsive.
+
+But the knowledge of the increased peril and embarrassment overwhelmed
+me with a feeling of anxious doubt and most painful and galling
+impotence.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI.
+
+THE NEXT NIHILIST PLOT.
+
+It seemed to me when I thought over my interview with Paula Tueski,
+that the complications which surrounded me could not possibly be
+increased.  It was of course hopeless to think of leaving Russia except
+by some stratagem, or in disguise; and this would be all the more
+difficult because Olga must leave first, and her flight would
+undoubtedly turn attention on me.
+
+A positively baffling set of conditions faced me therefore, whichever
+way I turned.  If I stayed on, Paula Tueski would insist on the
+marriage, and the crisis would come that way.  If I attempted to go,
+she herself would join with the police in following me, and the mere
+endeavour to fly would give just that colour to her story which would
+make all the world ready to believe it.
+
+Again, if I tried the remaining alternative of proclaiming my identity,
+I had so egregiously compromised myself that I could not hope to escape
+heavy punishment of some kind; while it would certainly implicate Olga
+and at the same time have no effect against the direct lies Paula
+Tueski was ready to swear.
+
+Above all, a great change had come over me.  I wished to live and keep
+my freedom.  The old indifference and apathy were gone.  My object now
+was to get both Olga and myself out of the country in safety; and thus
+I took diametrically opposite views of difficulties which a few days
+previously--before I had made the discovery of my love for Olga--would
+have caused me little more than a laugh of amused perplexity.
+
+Baffling as the puzzle was, however, it became infinitely more involved
+and perilous a few days later.  Two fresh complications came to kill
+even every forlorn hope.
+
+My Nihilist friends were responsible for the first.
+
+The belief that I had struck down the Chief of the Secret Police and
+had done it in a manner so secret, mysterious, and impenetrable that it
+staggered the most ingenious police spies and defied the efforts of the
+astutest detectives, surrounded me with a glamour of wholly undeserved
+and undesired reputation.
+
+The first intimation of this had reached me through Olga, and was
+followed by several others; and I received clear proof that I was now
+regarded as a sort of leader of the forlorn hopes of these wild and
+desperate men.  A man who could alone and unaided achieve what I was
+believed to have accomplished was held capable of the greatest deeds.
+So they appeared to argue; and I was accordingly picked out next for a
+task of infinite danger and hazard in a plot of even more tremendous
+consequences than that of the recent murder.
+
+It was nothing less than the assassination of the Czar.
+
+It was resolved, by whom and in what centre of the Empire I never knew,
+to follow up the murder of Christian Tueski by the greater blow, and to
+strike this with the utmost possible despatch: as a proof of the
+desperate courage and daring of the Nihilists.
+
+I was chosen to play one of the chief parts.  I had no option to
+refuse.  There was no choice given me.  The task was committed to me;
+just as a command might have been given me by my military superior
+officer.  When I attempted to decline, I was given to understand that
+refusal meant death.
+
+I was thus placed in a position of cruel difficulty and I pondered with
+close self-searching what I ought to do.  Looking back I think I made a
+blunder in not disclosing all I knew to the authorities, leaving them
+to take what steps they pleased; but in forming my decision at the time
+I was swayed by a number of considerations most difficult to weigh.
+
+One of my chief reasons for holding my tongue was that as the plot
+followed so soon after the Tueski murder--for the plans were all made
+within a week--the fact that I knew so much of Nihilist plots at such a
+time, would bring both Olga and myself under suspicion of having been
+privy to the former one.  In such a case everything I wished to win
+would be jeopardised.  A single breath of suspicion would have been
+enough to sweep us both into a gaol; and once there, no one could say
+when, if ever, we should come out; for the whole country was red-hot
+against the Nihilists, and men of the highest rank and wealth were
+rotting in gaol side by side with the most abject and destitute paupers.
+
+I was also much concerned as to my supposed past.  I knew that the old
+Alexis was gravely compromised; but what he had actually done, I did
+not know.  If any old offences were raked up I should be certain to be
+called to account for them now, while Olga would inevitably suffer with
+me.
+
+For those reasons I decided to hold my tongue and to seek my own means
+for causing the infernal scheme to miss its aim.  I reckoned that, as I
+was to have a principal part assigned to me, I could by my own effort,
+either through apparent stupidity or by wilful design, wreck the whole
+project; and with this object I thought carefully over every detail of
+it which was entrusted to me.
+
+The scheme was ingenious and, save in one respect, simple enough.  A
+fortnight later the Emperor was to pay a visit to Moscow, and already
+preparations had commenced for his reception.  At one time it was
+thought he would refuse to come because of the Tueski murder; but with
+that unerring accuracy that always made me marvel, till I ascertained
+the cause, the Nihilist leaders learnt the Imperial intentions before
+they were known in some of even the closest official circles.
+
+What the Czar decided to do was to have all the preparations continued
+as though the original arrangements for the visit were to be carried
+out; but at the last moment to make a change which would baffle any
+plots.  He meant to alter the arrangement of the train by which he
+would travel: and this at the very last moment.
+
+The object of this was, of course, to thwart any plot that might be
+laid to attack the train in which he travelled, so that thus the
+plotters might be discovered.
+
+But the double cunning of the Nihilists was quite equal to this change:
+and the plot was indeed exactly what the officials had anticipated--to
+wreck the train in which the Czar travelled--and I think it was chosen
+for the very reason of its apparent obviousness.  Given precise
+information of the Imperial movements and a little double cunning in
+the plans, it was likely enough that the authorities would be
+especially vulnerable in just that spot in which they believed they had
+most effectively guarded themselves.
+
+The official reasoning was that if the train in which the Czar was
+publicly but erroneously believed to be travelling could pass safely,
+then that in which His Majesty would actually be, would be sure to get
+by without mishap.  The Nihilist plans were laid in full knowledge of
+the official theory.
+
+A part of the line about ten miles from the city where the rails ran in
+a dead straight course over a comparatively flat country for some five
+or six miles was chosen for the attack; and it was chosen because it
+was that which the authorities would the least suspect, since it was
+most easy to watch and guard.  A man standing at either end of the
+long, flat, straight stretch could with a glass watch, not only the
+line itself, but also the land adjoining the line.  Of all the spots
+the train would pass this was by far the unlikeliest to be selected for
+any Nihilist attack.
+
+The most prominent and conspicuous spot of all was that, moreover,
+which was picked out for the actual attempt.  At that particular point
+a shallow dip in the fields caused the line to be embanked to a height
+of some ten or twelve feet; and the key of the plan was to fix levers
+to two of the rails so that they could be moved at the very last
+moment, just when the train was within a few yards of them.  In this
+way the train would be turned off the metals and sent over the
+embankment into the field.
+
+The levers, worked by electric motive power, were of course out of
+sight under the wooden sleepers: and the wires were trailed in tubes
+down inside the embankment and away through field-drains to a house
+more than half a mile distant from the line, where the operators were
+to remain until after the "accident."
+
+Personally, I did not dislike the scheme: because I thought I could see
+several ways in which I could prevent any fatal outcome; should I have
+to remain in the country long enough to compel me to take part in it.
+It would be easy enough for me to appear to lose my head at the last
+moment, for instance, and so bungle matters that the men who were to
+kill the Emperor would be in fact prevented from approaching him.
+
+But there was also in this a desperate personal risk to myself.  I knew
+that these men would be picked from among the most reckless and daring
+spirits in the Empire; men suffering under the grossest personal wrongs
+as well as motived by wild political fanaticism.  To them the blood of
+either friend or foe was as nothing if it stood in the way of what
+their unbalanced minds deemed justice and right.
+
+It was thus a perilous and slippery eminence to which I had been
+thrust, and it increased infinitely the hazard of my course.
+
+My thoughts returned to the idea of flight with redoubled incentive,
+therefore; and a circumstance occurred which seemed to promise me some
+help in this direction.
+
+A letter came to me from "Hamylton Tregethner."  Olga's brother had
+escaped, as we knew, and had made his way to Paris.  He was going on,
+he said, to America as soon as he had enjoyed himself: and when he
+found himself in New York, he purposed to change his name and
+nationality once more and be a Pole.
+
+"I have not had many adventures," he wrote; "nor do I seem to have met
+many men who know me.  But I had one encounter that was rather amusing.
+I was at breakfast and saw a man staring hard at me from the other side
+of the room.  I thought he might be a friend, and so I did not look at
+him.  But he would not let his eyes move from me, and when I left the
+table he followed and spoke to me.  'Hamylton, old man, I did not know
+you at first.  You're looking frightfully ill and altered.  You're not
+going to cut me.'  This gave me a cue, though I did not understand all
+he said, when he added something about 'on account of somebody's
+conduct.'  I did cut him, however; looked him hard in the face and
+curling my lip as if in profound contempt, I turned on my heel.  I had
+the curiosity to ask afterwards who he was, and they gave me his name
+as the Hon. Rupert Balestier.  I suppose I know him, but I thought the
+best way was not to speak.  I did not shake him off, however: for that
+night he saw me again just when I was speaking English to some other
+men.  I saw him listening as if he could not believe his ears; and as
+soon as I was alone he came up and asked me who I was and what right I
+had to masquerade as his old friend, Hamylton Tregethner.  For answer I
+gave him another stare and got away.  Then I changed my hotel and am
+going away from Paris for a few days.  I do not intend to be bothered
+by the man."
+
+My first impression of this incident was that it boded further danger.
+I knew Balestier.  He was a man of great resolution and if he imagined
+that anyone was masquerading in my name in Paris, he would think
+nothing of rousing both the English and Russian Embassies; or of coming
+on to Moscow himself to probe the thing to the bottom.  He loved
+mysteries; was most active, energetic, and enterprising; and nothing
+would suit him better than to have imported into his rather purposeless
+life some such task as a search for me half over Europe.  He was quite
+capable, too, of jumping to the conclusion that the man he had met had
+murdered and was personating me; and in a belief of the kind he was
+just the man to raise the hue and cry in every police office on the
+Continent.
+
+What the real Alexis called "speaking English" was of course bad enough
+to brand him anywhere as an impostor, should he try to pass himself off
+as an Englishman.  Balestier had no doubt listened in amazement to the
+strange jargon coming from lips that looked like mine; and the
+extraordinary likeness and "my" peculiar conduct would quite complete
+his perplexity.
+
+Probably I should hear more of the matter; and this set me considering
+whether I could not manage in some way to communicate with Balestier
+and get him to help in smuggling Olga across the frontier.  He would
+revel in the work if I could only find him.
+
+I turned to "Tregethner's" letter therefore to find the name of the
+hotel, and to my infinite annoyance the fool had not mentioned it;
+while his intention to run away from Paris and Balestier would cause
+more delay.  The fellow was not only a coward but an idiot as well; and
+I could have kicked him liberally, if my foot would only have reached
+from Moscow to Paris.
+
+As it was, Balestier, with the best will in the world, would probably
+be blundering about and plunging me still deeper into the mud, when he
+not only could, but would, have given me valuable help if I could have
+got at him to tell him what to do.
+
+I felt like Tantalus, when I thought of it.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII.
+
+AN EXTRAORDINARY ADVENTURE.
+
+The second complication was a much bigger matter; and it was of so
+strange a description and fraught with consequences of such critical
+importance to Olga and myself that of all my experiences of that time
+it deserves to be classed as the most remarkable.  Like all else at
+that time, it came quite unsought by me, and as the direct and
+unavoidable consequence of the first step in my new life--the duel with
+Devinsky and my subsequent repute as a swordsman.
+
+A day or two after Tueski's funeral, and while the city was still
+quivering and staggering under the effects of the supposed Nihilist
+blow, a great ball took place at the Valniski Palace.
+
+Count Valniski was among the richest men in Moscow, bidding hard for
+power and courting popularity right and left among all classes.  To
+this ball all the officers of my regiment were invited, together with
+many of their friends.  Amongst the latter Olga had a card; and
+although we were certainly in a poor mood for a function of the kind,
+we felt it expedient to do what all the world was doing, go to it; lest
+by remaining away we should attract attention to ourselves.
+
+It was a very brilliant affair, as these big Russian balls always are,
+and the crowd included many of the best and smartest people in Moscow.
+I moved about the rooms, not dancing much, but exchanging a word now
+and then with my brother officers and with other people who claimed
+acquaintance with me.
+
+Olga had plenty of partners among my comrades, and as she was dancing
+with one of them I stood watching her and thinking how completely I had
+dropped into the new social grooves of this Moscow life and how quickly
+my first feelings of strangeness had worn off, when my friend Essaieff
+came up to me.
+
+"Alexis, I have a commission that concerns you," he said.
+
+"Well?"
+
+"You're in luck.  Try and guess."
+
+"Can't," I replied, shaking my head.  "Unless the war's broken out and
+I'm to have a step.  What is it?"
+
+"There's a woman in it.  High up, too."  There were only two women in
+Moscow I ever thought about; and one of them I wished to see safe out
+of Russia, and the other at the devil, or anywhere out of my way.
+
+"Give it up," I said, with a smile.
+
+"It's that smile of yours fetches 'em, I believe," said Essaieff,
+smiling in his turn.  "It makes your face one of the pleasantest things
+in the world to look at."  He had ripened quickly into a very familiar
+friend and we were great chums now.
+
+"What is there you want me to do, old man?  You wouldn't waste that
+flower of speech for nothing."
+
+"Well, something's done it.  I have been asked to present you to one of
+the wealthiest, most beautiful, and most influential women in
+Moscow--the Princess Weletsky; and asked in terms which seemed to imply
+that the honour of the introduction would be conferred on her."
+
+"The Princess Weletsky, who is she?" I asked in absolute ignorance.
+
+"That's just like you, Alexis.  I'm getting to know that sweet
+innocence of yours.  Whenever I mention a name that all Russia knows,
+you make the same lame show and ask, Who's he? or, Who's she?  You've
+heard of her a thousand times.  You can't help hearing of her.  You
+couldn't if you tried."
+
+"All right," I laughed, to turn my mistake.  "Have you been talking
+about me?"  He laughed at the idea.
+
+"Why, man where are your wits?  Do you think the Princess and I are on
+gossiping terms?  I'm only the fly on the wheel in this.  She wishes to
+know you; I do know you; she once sent me a card for one of her
+assemblies and snubbed me in a high bred manner; now she can use me,
+and accordingly I am paraded for duty--to introduce you.  Come along or
+she'll be getting some Court executioner to cut my throat for
+loitering."
+
+I followed him, wondering what it could mean; and half a minute later
+was presented to one of the most lovely and stately women I have ever
+seen.  A queenly woman, indeed, and I should have been an icicle if I
+had not admired her.  She was radiantly fair in both hair and
+complexion, but her eyes were dark and languishing like a Spaniard's:
+while the faultless regularity of her features in no way marred the
+exquisite suggestion of womanly sympathy and mental power which spoke
+in her voice and manner and glances.
+
+I have seen many lovely women of all types, but in all my life none to
+compare with the exquisite magnificence of this Russian beauty.
+
+Her reception of me could not have been more cordial, moreover, had I
+been one of the greatest of Russia's nobles, or had she begun to
+entertain some strong favour for me.  I am not a coxcomb where women
+are concerned, I hope, and certainly nothing in their treatment of me
+in my life had led me to conceit myself that such a woman as this would
+fall in love with me; but her conduct to me that night might well have
+turned my head, had it not been full of other matters.
+
+I asked for the honour of a dance and she gave me her programme,
+telling me I might write my name where I would.  As it was empty, this
+seemed a generous invitation; but I scribbled my initials against two
+dances, and was then going to move off.
+
+She glanced at the programme and smiled.  I cannot describe the effect
+which a smile produced on her face.
+
+"I had purposely kept the next dance for you, Lieutenant," she said.
+"But I see your reputation has somewhat belied you."
+
+"My reputation?"
+
+"Yes.  But I have much I should like to say to you.  I have heard of
+you often; as a daring man even among Russia's most daring; and not
+always as modest as brave."
+
+"Rumour is often an unreliable witness," said I.
+
+"She has not always spoken kindly of you, Lieutenant.  But to see you
+is enough to test the truth of her tales."  She accompanied this with a
+glance of especially subtle flattery, as she made place for me to sit
+by her, and then drew me to talk by questioning me, always giving in
+her answer a suggestion of keen personal interest in me.
+
+We danced that next dance, and she declared that I waltzed better than
+any man in the room; and at the close of the dance she asked me to take
+her to one of the conservatories, under the pretext that she was
+heated.  We sat there during two dances, until the first that I had
+initialled came, and then we danced again.
+
+All the time she fascinated me with her manner and the infinite
+subtlety with which she implied the admiration she felt for my bravery,
+my skill as a soldier and a swordsman, my strength--everything in
+short: while she was loud in the expression of the interest with which
+she said she should take in my future.
+
+At the close of the dance she sent me to fetch my sister; and when I
+presented her she made Olga sit down at her side and presently sent me
+away, saying that women's friendship ripened much more quickly when
+they were alone--especially if they were interested in the same man.
+All of which would no doubt have been very sound philosophy--had Olga
+been my sister in reality.
+
+Essaieff had been watching me, and now chaffed me a good deal about my
+conquest, and grew enthusiastic about my future.
+
+"By Gad, man, she's as rich as a Grand Duke: and there is no limit to
+the height her husband may climb.  Play your cards well now: and you've
+got all the pluck, aye, and the brains too, if you like to use them:
+and you'll be War Minister before I apply for my Colonelcy."
+
+I laughed lightly; but I thought to myself that if he only knew the
+skeletons in my cupboard that were gibbering and rattling their bones
+in mockery of me, he wouldn't tell quite such an enthusiastic fortune
+for me.
+
+When I went back for my next dance with the princess, Olga was just
+being led away by a handsome young partner whom the Princess had found
+for her.
+
+"Olga is most delightful," she said, with one of her smiles.  "She is
+worthy of--anyone; and a most enthusiastic sister.  She is the most
+genuine soul I ever knew.  She will be my dear friend, when her reserve
+has worn off."  I thought I knew the cause of the "reserve," but I kept
+the thought to myself.
+
+After the dance she let me take her back to the same place, and
+glancing at her programme let it fall on her lap with half a sigh.
+
+"You were very moderate," she said, tapping the programme with her fan.
+
+"Do you know the fable of the hungry mouse?" I asked.
+
+"What do you mean?" This with a glance.
+
+"Only that a poor little starveling found himself in a full granary one
+day, when a fairy bade him eat.  He took a few grains and munched them
+and stopped.  'Why stop there, mouse?' asked the fairy.  The little
+thing glanced about him and looking at the crowd of fatted pets that
+were watching him suspiciously from a distance, replied:--'If I take
+more than these gentry think belong to me, they will fall on me; and
+though I might enjoy the meal at the time, it will prove a dear one and
+hard to digest.'"
+
+"A shrewd mouse, but too timorsome," said the Princess, laughing, and
+handing me her programme again.  "Take other two grains, mouse.  Though
+I'm not quite sure by the way, whether you intended me to be the good
+fairy or the bag of grain.  Fables are often tricksy things."
+
+[Illustration: "Take another two grains, mouse."]
+
+"And fairies also.  But at least mice are harmless."
+
+"Except to frighten silly women.  But I am not afraid of
+mice--especially when they are so moderate in permitted pilfering."
+
+"The touch of a fairy's wand can change even a mouse to a lion," said
+I; and when she met my gaze she dropped her eyes and coloured.  The
+dance came then and we danced it almost in silence.
+
+After it I went to look for Olga; but she had gone home; and then I
+waited impatiently for my next dance with my most fascinating partner.
+
+There is no flattery in the world half so telling on a man as a lovely
+woman's admiration, undisguised yet not flaunted; and expressed in the
+thousand subtle ways which her nimble wits can find when inspired by
+resolve to please.
+
+I did not think that at such a time any woman on earth could have
+exercised so strong an influence over me in the course of no more than
+an hour or two; and when we sat together after our last dance for a few
+minutes before she left, I felt I would have done almost anything on
+earth that she asked to serve her.  Something that she said drew from
+me a rather random protestation to this effect, and she reddened and
+started, and then after a rapid searching glance shot into my face, she
+sat silent, fingering her fan, restlessly.  While doing this her
+programme caught her attention.
+
+She looked at it and held it so that I could read it.
+
+"No name but yours," she said, almost in a whisper.  I saw this was so.
+Then she broke the silken cord by which it was fastened to her wrist,
+and with another glance at me put it away into her bosom.
+
+It was a little action: but from such a woman what did it not mean?  I
+was amazed.
+
+Another long pause followed.
+
+Then she laid her hand in mine and looked straight at me.
+
+"Are you really a brave man?" she asked.  I seemed to take fire under
+her touch and look.
+
+"That is not a question a man can answer for himself.  Test me."
+
+"If your sister were insulted, would you fight for her?"  She little
+knew the cord she had touched, or guessed how the reference cooled me.
+
+"I have already done so," I returned.
+
+"In days of old men fought for any woman who was wronged.  Would you?"
+
+"I have done it before now," I answered, still thinking of Olga, and my
+thoughts for some reason slipped back to the first meeting on the
+Moscow platform.
+
+She paused and looked away from me for a moment as if hesitating; and
+then leaning so close to me that I could feel her warm breath on my
+cheek as she spoke, while her grasp tightened on my arm, she said in a
+tone of deep feeling:--
+
+"I have been wronged.  You see me here as I am and what I am; but save
+for the happiness you have made me feel in being with you, I am the
+most wretched woman in all Russia.  Will you help me?  Dare you?"  And
+she seemed to hang on my words as she waited for my reply, her eyes
+searching mine as if to read my answer there.
+
+I was about to reply with a pledge inspired by the enthusiasm with
+which she had fired me, when my instinctive caution restrained me.  She
+was quick to see my moment's hesitation and not willing to risk a
+refusal, she added hastily:--
+
+"We cannot talk of this here.  I ought not to have spoken of it now:
+but you seem to have drawn my very soul from me.  Come to me to-morrow
+to my house.  I will be alone at three.  You will come--my friend?"  An
+indescribable solicitude spoke through her last two words, all
+suggestive of infinite trust in me.
+
+"Certainly," I cried.  "And certainly your friend, if I dare."
+
+She answered with a glance; and then seemed to cast aside her
+excitement.  Rising she let me lead her back to the ball-room.
+
+When I left her there were others round us, but as she bowed I caught a
+glance and the whispered words:--
+
+"I trust you."
+
+I turned away half bewildered, and went home at once, pondering what
+was to be the upshot of this new development.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII.
+
+THE REASON OF THE INTRIGUE.
+
+When I was alone and the strange charm of the Princess Weletsky's
+presence had given way to calm reflection, my doubts began to grow.  I
+was naturally a cautious man under ordinary circumstances; and now my
+suspicions were the keener because my caution had been momentarily
+lulled to sleep.
+
+I was all inclined to disbelieve the story which the Princess had told,
+or rather had suggested; and I began to look behind all she had said
+for some motive or intrigue.  I thought she might wish for the help of
+my sword for some altogether different purpose than she had suggested:
+but I could think of nothing.  Nor could Olga, with whom I spoke very
+freely on the subject.
+
+She said she could see no more than appeared on the surface; and what
+that was it was superfluous to ask; especially when she told me that
+the Princess could, or would talk of nothing else to her but my
+bravery, my good looks, my courtesy, my chivalry, and so on at great
+length.
+
+"It is agreeable to have my brother praised," said Olga once, laughing.
+"But there are limits."
+
+During the next four or five days Olga had ample opportunities of
+hearing these praises, moreover, as the Princess would scarcely let her
+out of her sight.  When I called on the day following the ball I found
+the two together, and the Princess in a few words we had together out
+of my sister's hearing would say nothing at all about the subject of
+her wrongs.  She enlarged on the suggestion of the previous night that
+she had been led by her impulses and her instinctive trust in me to
+speak too fully.
+
+For some days she maintained the same attitude of reserve, and then
+quite suddenly when we were alone, she changed again, and in words
+which I could not fail to understand she let me know indirectly that if
+I would avenge her wrongs, her hand would be my reward.
+
+I have never in my life had to face a more awkward crisis than that.
+What reply she expected I cannot tell: whether she looked for some
+eager passionate protestations of love, or some strong pledge of
+defence, or what.  Whether she really cared for me and the confusion
+she shewed was the sign of it, or whether the whole part was assumed
+and everything mere acting, I cannot say.  But I know that I on my part
+felt indescribably embarrassed and scarcely knew how to answer her.
+
+I knew, too, the danger to Olga and myself of offending a woman so
+highly placed, so influential, and powerful as the Princess.  We had
+enough troubles as it was: and if they were to be multiplied and
+aggravated in this way, we should be overwhelmed.  It was certain that
+I must find some way of temporising.
+
+"Princess, I am your devoted servant to do with as you will," I
+answered.  "And if my sword can be of service, tell me how."  She
+started and flushed with pleasure as I said this.
+
+"I knew I should not count on you in vain.
+
+"The Grand Duke Servanieff will now learn that a more stalwart arm than
+his protects me from his insults."  Her eyes seemed to glitter as she
+watched the effect of this name on me.
+
+"Do you mean that that is the man you wish me to fight?" I cried in the
+deepest astonishment.  He was all but on the very steps of the Throne,
+and if I had approached him he would have brushed me away into a gaol
+with no more concern or difficulty than he would have whisked a fly off
+his hand.
+
+The woman was mad.
+
+"He persists in forcing his attentions on me, and I will not have
+them," she said.
+
+All my suspicions had been stung into activity by the mention of the
+name of the Grand Duke; and as I looked at the Princess she appeared to
+be watching me with quite suspicious vigilance as she added:--"He
+cannot refuse to meet anyone to whom I give the right to protect me
+from him."
+
+It was an intrigue.  I was sure of it; and this lovely woman was making
+me her tool.
+
+I answered guardedly.
+
+"A lieutenant in a marching regiment who should presume to challenge
+that man would stand a better chance of being whipped at the cart's
+tail than of meeting him."
+
+"He is a great swordsman, I know," she said, as if to pour suspicion on
+my courage.  But I was not a fool to be tripped by a gibe.  If I had
+wished to marry the woman I would have consented readily enough there
+and then, and risked all; but my object was to get out of Russia and to
+get Olga out with me.
+
+"I should not fear him were he twice as skilful; but this is no mere
+matter of sword fence."
+
+"Easy words, Lieutenant."
+
+"I will make them good, Princess," replied I, quietly.  "But I must
+first see the course clearer for the meeting.  What say your friends?
+Can I depend on their influence?"
+
+"Won't you do this for me, then?  Am I mistaken in you?"  There was a
+sharp accent of irritation in her tone that I noticed now.
+
+"Princess, it does not best become a beautiful woman to doubt a man's
+courage until he is proved a craven.  Here is no matter of personal
+courage only; but I should be loosing upon me all the waters of
+bitterest political intrigue.  Alone I should be absolutely powerless
+to stem the torrents that would sweep me to certain ruin.  Alone,
+therefore I cannot do what you ask.  But understand me, give me the
+powerful support of your family, and I will meet the man, were he fifty
+times the Highness that he is--if we can arrange the meeting."
+
+She seemed disappointed at this; quite unreasonably so; and tried to
+move me.  But I stood firm, and then with evident reluctance, she told
+me her brother was with her in the matter, and that if I would see him
+all would be simple.
+
+"My brother, Prince Bilbassoff, is, as you know, Minister of the
+Interior, and is now in Moscow in connection with the visit of the
+Emperor."  I had not known who her brother was; but when she gave me
+the name and told me where I could see him, a rapid conclusion leapt
+into my thoughts.
+
+Prince Bilbassoff was the real power behind the Police, and I was
+probably going to find now why Christian Tueski had had to hold his
+hand against me.
+
+I went at once to see him.
+
+I found him the very opposite of the popular ideal of a bureaucrat--a
+short, grey, close-haired, spare man, with the air of a man of the
+world, and a pleasant cheery manner that suggested nothing formidable
+or even powerful.  Yet without doubt the man was in many respects the
+most powerful and the most feared in all Russia.
+
+He appeared to be expecting me; for the instant I was announced, he got
+up and welcomed me with a hearty shake of the hand and said:---
+
+"I thought my sister would have to make us acquainted, Lieutenant
+Petrovitch.  She said she wouldn't; but I expected you.  Women think
+beauty will do everything; and somehow are always calculating without
+the effects of self-interest.  Don't you think so?"  He spoke with a
+sort of easy club mannerism, and just let his eyes rest a moment on my
+face.
+
+"Of course you know the drift of what has passed then?"
+
+"Of course I do.  As well as I know that your coming to me means that
+my sister's method has failed.  I from the first disagreed with it.  I
+know a great deal about you, Lieutenant Petrovitch; and I think I could
+have saved time.  But my sister was attracted to you--women always like
+you handsome young fire-eaters, especially women like my sister--and as
+she is to take a rather large hand in the matter, she wanted to play it
+her own way.  She appealed to your feelings, Lieutenant.  I should have
+gone straight to your interest: and really it will be to your interest
+to do this."
+
+"Will you tell me plainly what is wanted?"
+
+"Certainly.  The death of the man whose name has no doubt been
+mentioned to you."
+
+"Why?"
+
+"Not because he has insulted my sister: though that is fortunately a
+plausible pretext: but because he is a menace to the Empire."
+
+His bluntness astounded me.
+
+"Do you take me for an assassin?"
+
+"No.  I take you for a very resolute young man, with a great skill of
+fence, a large desire to push your fortunes high, and not too much
+scruple to act like a sword scabbard between your legs and trip you up.
+If you weren't that, you'd be no use to me.  As you are, I open before
+you a career such as lies before no other man in the Emperor's wide
+dominions at the present moment.  Do this, and you win a woman as rich
+and beautiful and, as women go, as good as any in Russia for a wife;
+and you can ask and have almost what place you like, either in or out
+of the army."
+
+"And if I refuse?"
+
+He laughed and shrugged his shoulders.
+
+"You won't refuse," he said, shaking his head.  "If you do, you will be
+a young fool--too foolish to be trusted at large."
+
+I knew what he meant; and when I looked at him next, I understood why
+men feared him.  That laugh of his would usher a man to the knout or
+the gallows.
+
+I thought rapidly.
+
+"I like the project," I replied.  "But can you arrange the meeting?"
+
+He was as quick as the devil, and detected the false note in my voice.
+
+"Lieutenant, there are two courses open to you," he said in a tone so
+sharp, stern and ringing that the change surprised me.  "You can accept
+or refuse the offer--but don't try to fool me."
+
+"Well, then, I'm not a murderer," I rapped out, angered by his words.
+
+"That's better," he said, with a return to his light clubbish manner.
+"But this is no murder.  The man is a traitor: and no juster act could
+be compassed than his death."
+
+"Then why not do it openly?"
+
+He smiled and threw up his hands.
+
+"Is justice always done openly?  Of course we might do that: but he
+would laugh at our efforts.  We might get him assassinated; but he is
+too powerful and the noise of the act would defeat the very object we
+have.  He is a swordsman worthy of your skill.  He has insulted, and
+will again insult my sister, your betrothed--for what is not an insult
+when you wish to make it one?--and he would delight to meet you.  He
+will think he can kill you.  Perhaps he can: may be, probably; for he
+is a very devil with the weapon.  That is your risk.  Will you take it?
+It's no light one.  But you are a young fellow with all to gain in
+winning and nothing to lose but your life.  You will do it, I know.
+I'm only surprised you hesitate."
+
+I sat thinking: but not in the groove he guessed.
+
+"We'll make your sister's fortune as well," he said, raising the terms.
+"She shall make a marriage into one of the best families in Russia, and
+found a family of the highest distinction.  Think, Lieutenant."
+
+I was thinking about as hard as I could: but no opening offered itself.
+
+"I must have time to determine," I said.  "It seems to me that I run
+the chance of playing the cat's paw with all the flame for my share.
+What guarantee have I that if I do this and am successful I shall not
+then be deemed--too foolish to be trusted at large, as you say?"
+
+"First, my honour; secondly, your betrothal to my sister; and thirdly,
+her feeling for yourself."
+
+"And if I refuse, Siberia, I suppose?"
+
+"No, not so far as that," he replied, lightly.
+
+"But what if I feign to consent and carry the story to the man you
+threaten?"
+
+"There is that chance of course.  But in the first place he would not
+believe you, Lieutenant; and in the second, if he did, neither you nor
+he could do any harm; and in the third, you would have me for an enemy.
+And I am pleasanter and safer as a friend.  I have discounted that
+risk, and it is nothing."
+
+"How long will you give me to decide?"
+
+"A week.  We can then announce the betrothal just before the Emperor's
+visit here, and gain the Imperial blessing on so righteous a marriage
+between a brave man and a beautiful woman, each motived by the highest
+patriotic feelings for Russia."
+
+With this half sneer ringing in my ears, he sent me away.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX.
+
+OLGA'S ABDUCTION.
+
+I went home in a very unenviable frame of mind, and my temper was not
+improved by my meeting my old opponent, Devinsky, near my rooms.
+
+For the moment I was powerless to think of any possible means of
+relief.  My helplessness was so complete as to be almost ludicrous: and
+if it had not been for Olga, I would have just let myself be dragged
+along by the singular chain of events which had coiled themselves round
+me.
+
+I must rouse myself to some sort of effort for her sake.  I saw that,
+of course.  But the result of a couple of hours' thinking was only to
+increase my utter perplexity; and I went off to bed to try if sleep
+would clear my wits.
+
+I resolved to see Olga the next day as soon as possible after my
+regimental duties were over.  There was but one thing possible.  She
+must go at once and we must try to hit on some plan by which she could
+escape at any hazard.  But my regimental work was heavier than usual,
+and when it was over a meeting of the officers was called in reference
+to the impending visit of the Czar to Moscow.  It was thus late in the
+afternoon before I could get to Olga.
+
+At the house, astounding news awaited me.
+
+The Countess Palitzin met me with the question where Olga was.  I
+looked at her in astonishment; and then she told me a message had come
+from me early in the forenoon, asking Olga to go round at once to my
+rooms.  She had gone, promising to return soon or send word.  She had
+done neither; and a six hours' absence had made the old lady anxious.
+
+"She should have been back before this," I said, quietly, not wishing
+to add to her alarm.  "Who do you say came for her?"
+
+"Your servant, Borlas, Olga told me."
+
+I tried to reassure her that all was right, though I did not at all
+like the look of things, and I hurried back to my rooms to question
+Borlas.  He had not been there on my return from barracks, and he was
+not there now; and there was nothing to shew that he had not been
+absent for some hours.
+
+Did this mean treachery?  Or had Olga been arrested?  Could she be in
+the hands of the Nihilists?  Or what?  A thousand wild thoughts flashed
+through my mind as I stood for a minute thinking what I ought to do
+first, and where to look for her.
+
+Then I recalled my meeting with Devinsky near my rooms.
+
+I dashed out and ran to Essaieff's rooms to find out all he knew about
+Borlas, as he had recommended the man to me; and to learn whether he
+would be likely to be bribed to do such an act of treachery as now
+seemed possible.  But my friend was out.  Leaving word for him to come
+at once to me I went on to Madame Tueski and questioned her.  She
+equivocated, suggesting that I was feeling her power; and with the
+utmost difficulty I drew from her that despite all her hints she knew
+nothing.
+
+I ran then to the Prince Bilbassoff; but he was away.  I hurried next
+to the Princess; she knew nothing, but was full of sympathy and offers
+of help.
+
+I wanted news, however, not offers of help; and I rushed back to my
+rooms, on my way to the police, on the off-chance that Borlas had
+returned.
+
+He had not: but in his place there was something much more important.
+A rough, wild looking country-man was standing at my door, holding the
+bridle of a shaggy pony that bore signs of heavy travelling; and the
+man had been trying vainly to get into my house.  He addressed me,
+asking where he could find Lieutenant Petrovitch; and then gave me a
+slip of paper from Olga.
+
+"_Am suspicious and sending this back.  If anything wrong, follow me.
+O._"
+
+I then questioned the man closely and he said that his wife was called
+to the window of a carriage to a young lady who was ill.  When she had
+recovered, she gave his wife a handkerchief.  In it was the message and
+a sum of money and a request that it--the paper--should be brought to
+me at once.  This had occurred at Praxoff, about ten miles out on the
+north road.
+
+In less than a quarter of an hour I was armed and mounted; and a few
+minutes saw me free of the city and flying at full gallop in pursuit.
+I knew the road well enough, owing to my long residence as a boy in
+Moscow; and I now put my horse to its utmost speed and made straight
+for the house where Olga had seen the peasant woman.
+
+I found it without the least difficulty and got a description of the
+carriage, horses, and postilion; and I  questioned the woman as to
+every word Olga had said to her and who was in the carriage.
+
+From what she said, I judged it was Borlas, and that the two were alone.
+
+I stayed no longer than was necessary to hear all the woman had to say,
+and then I rode on still at full speed, asking right and left as I went
+for tidings of the carriage.  The trail was broad enough for anyone to
+follow for some miles and then I came upon information that gave me a
+complete clue to the whole matter.
+
+Reining up at a wayside inn, I put the usual questions; adding that the
+lady was my sister and that I was an officer in the Moscow Infantry
+Regiment.  The landlord came to me instantly.
+
+"You are Lieutenant Petrovitch?" he asked.
+
+"Yes," and I told him my errand.
+
+"Have you been engaged in a duel this morning?"
+
+I stared at the man and asked him what he meant.  His answer shewed
+what story had been concocted to trick Olga.
+
+"A gentleman engaged two rooms here this morning, saying they would be
+wanted in connection with a duel in the neighbourhood.  One of the
+combatants was Lieutenant Petrovitch; and the latter's sister was
+coming to be near at hand in case of her brother being hurt.  She was
+coming out with the brother's servant and when she arrived was to be
+shewn at once to the room engaged for her.  As a fact the duel had
+already been fought in the early hours: Lieutenant Petrovitch had been
+badly wounded and lay at a private house a few miles further on, too
+ill to be moved.  The sister was to be told this; the news being broken
+gradually; and she was not to be allowed to leave the inn, unless she
+insisted very much, in which case the servant would know where to take
+her; and fresh horses were to be supplied.  I told her gently,"
+continued the landlord; "and she insisted on going on at once without
+even stopping for food.  Fresh horses were put in accordingly, and the
+carriage proceeded with less than half an hour's halt here, all told."
+
+I saw the ruse in a moment.  It was to get fresh horses without Olga
+being suspicious; and to draw in the landlord so as to appear to give
+the story corroboration.
+
+"What was the man like who came to you?" I asked impatiently, ordering
+a horse to be saddled instantly.  In reply the landlord described
+Devinsky accurately.
+
+I saw it all now; and when the man had given me a valuable clue to the
+road which the carriage had taken--it had been met by some returning
+postboys--I set off again in pursuit in the now gathering dusk, as fast
+as I could make the new horse move.
+
+I rode on till the dark fell: and still on till the moon rose and
+flooded the land with her thin light; and it was not until ten at night
+that I reached the end of my journey.  Some peasants gave me the final
+clue.  They had met the carriage and a question had been asked of them
+as to the whereabouts of a certain house.  They told me now where this
+was, and a few minutes later I reached the place.
+
+It was an old ramshackle house, once the seat of a family of good
+position but now fallen upon evil days.  It made three sides of a
+square and the courtyard in the middle was all weed-grown, moss-covered
+and uneven, with one large yew tree standing dark and gloomy in the
+centre.  The main entrance was in the middle portion; and there were
+two small gothic arched doors in the wings.  But these seemed very
+stout as I examined them; and all the windows were latticed with stout
+ironwork.
+
+Just the spot for such a venture as this, I thought, as I stole about
+the place to reconnoitre, treading softly, and keeping as much as
+possible in the dark shadows which the walls made.
+
+There was not a sound to be heard, nor a light to be seen; while the
+look of the place made it certain that I should have a hard task to
+force my way inside.  The same unpromising look of things met me when I
+left the front and crept round to the back and when I had seen all
+round the house I could not make up my mind what was the best thing to
+do.
+
+There are times, however, when any kind of action is better than doing
+nothing.  There was everything to be gained and nothing to be lost by
+Devinsky learning that I had followed him and knew his hiding-place.  I
+resolved on a pretty bold course, therefore, and drawing my revolver I
+stepped out into the full moonlight and walked quickly to the main
+entrance.
+
+I had reached to within ten yards of the door when a voice called to
+me:--
+
+"Who goes there?  What do you want?  Stop, or I fire."
+
+Looking up I saw the gleam of a rifle barrel levelled dead at me.  I
+did not stop to answer but leaping aside, I darted forward into the
+doorway, where the man could not cover me with his weapon, because of a
+shallow porch which intervened to protect me.
+
+[Illustration: I darted forward into the doorway.]
+
+The incident shewed me the sort of welcome I was to expect.
+
+There was an old and heavy knocker on the door, and a huge bell-pull.
+I seized both these and set up first a knocking that might have roused
+the dead and then a clanging of the bell equally furious and dinning.
+Presently the bell ceased to sound and I gathered either that someone
+within had cut the wires or that I had broken them in my energy.  The
+great knocker suited me equally well, however--perhaps better, as the
+noise rang out on the still night air, making a fearful din--and if
+there did chance to be anyone within half a mile of the place they
+would hear it and might hasten to learn the cause.
+
+Those inside took the same view of the matter, apparently; for suddenly
+and without my knowing the cause, I found the big heavy door give way
+before one of my lusty attacks with the knocker; and as I pushed, it
+swung slowly open.
+
+Everything within was as dark as pitch; and the contrast between the
+row I had been making and the dead silence that followed was so
+profound as to make me stand a minute that my ears should get
+accustomed to the change.
+
+Then drawing my sword and holding my revolver in my left hand, I
+stepped in and tried to peer about me.
+
+The light of the moon gave a faint reflection within, but not enough
+for me to be able to make out anything distinctly; nor, when I strained
+my ears could I detect the slightest sound anywhere.
+
+My first thought was that as I stood in the doorway, I should be an
+excellent mark for anyone caring to shoot, and I slipped aside
+therefore, into the heavy shadow of the big door.  It was full five
+minutes before my eyes, keen as they are, could distinguish anything;
+and then I seemed to make out two doorways, one on each side of a large
+hall into which the big door opened, and beyond them in the middle a
+broad stairway.
+
+I groped my way warily a few steps, feeling along the wall, when I
+stopped and began to reflect that I was making a fool of myself in
+attempting single-handed and in pitch darkness to find my way about the
+place.  I must wait for a light of some sort.  I had no idea how many
+men there might be in the house.  I did not know a square foot of the
+plans.  While I was blundering about in the dark I should be an easy
+prey for men whom I could as easily fight in the daylight.  Moreover I
+argued that the knowledge that I had tracked him would keep Devinsky
+from attempting any devilment as yet.
+
+I was in the house; and I resolved therefore to wait patiently where I
+was in the hall until I had light enough to guide me in my search for
+Olga.
+
+But I could not keep to the resolution.
+
+Scarcely had I formed the plan when the stillness was broken by a
+woman's scream, shrill and piercing, and a cry for help that made my
+heart leap into my throat with wrath as I thought I could recognise
+Olga's voice.
+
+Without another moment's hesitation, and uttering a loud shout in
+reply, I dashed forward to where I could see the outline of the
+stairway, and rushed up in the direction of the cries for help.
+
+Idiot that I was!  Of course I rushed straight into the trap that had
+been laid for me.  As I reached the top and turned to dart along a
+corridor, my feet were tripped and I fell sprawling headlong with a
+clatter and a dozen oaths to the ground, my sword flying one way and my
+revolver another; and before I could help myself three or four fellows
+were upon me, and though I fought and struggled with them and nearly
+choked one on to whose throat I fastened my grip, I was overpowered and
+bound securely hand and foot.  Then I was blindfolded and gagged, and
+in this absolutely helpless state, carried down the stairs again,
+getting on the way two or three hearty kicks from the men I had
+pummelled.  They threw me down on the floor of an empty room and left
+me.
+
+I cursed my folly bitterly when I heard the fellows' footsteps as they
+left the room and locked the door behind them.  I had spoilt all for
+the lack of a little caution.  I was an idiot, a fool, a numskull, a
+jackass, to have been caught by a trick which a child might have
+anticipated; and I rolled about the floor, cursing myself and tearing
+and pulling at my bonds in my passion, till I had torn the flesh in a
+dozen places.  But I could not loosen a single strand of all the cords
+that bound me; and I gnashed my teeth and could almost have shed tears
+in my baffled rage and fury.
+
+I lay thus some hours till the light must have come, for even through
+the heavy bandages on my eyes, the darkness seemed tinged with grey.
+As I thought of the use I might have made of the light, my
+self-reproaches welled up again till I felt almost like a madman.
+
+Later on I heard the door unlocked and two or three men entered.  They
+came and turned me over and holding me firmly, cut the ropes that bound
+my arms, and then tied my hands behind me in iron handcuffs, drawing
+them so tightly that I could not move them without pain.  When I was so
+far secured they cut the ropes from my legs and bade me stand up.  I
+tried; but the rush of the released blood brought with it too much
+pain, and I was just as helpless as a baby for some minutes.  When at
+length I managed to scramble to my feet, they unfastened the bandage
+from my eyes and as soon as my dazed sight could focus itself, I saw
+that brute Devinsky looking at me with a sneering laugh.
+
+"So it's you, is it?" he cried, as if in surprise.  "Turned robber, eh,
+breaking into men's houses in the dead of night?  And what the devil
+are you doing here?  My men told me there was a thief here, but I
+didn't expect you."
+
+"Don't lie to me," I cried sternly.  "You know well enough why I'm
+here.  Where's my sister.  If you're not too damned a coward, get me my
+sword and let's settle this thing together and at once."
+
+He winced at the taunt, but he didn't mean to fight that way.
+
+"Thank you.  I don't fight with burglars.  I hand them over to the
+police--when it suits me.  I always thought there was something secret
+about you; now I know what it is.  You've been living by this sort of
+work I suppose.  Officer by day, and footpad by night.  I'm glad my men
+have caught you at last."  Then he sent them away; and as soon as we
+were alone he asked me:--"Do you value you life?"
+
+"Yes, for one reason.  To take yours."
+
+"Well, you can have it--if you like to be reasonable."
+
+"I make no terms with a villain like you."
+
+"More fool you," he laughed.  "You may as well face the position.  You
+are in my power.  This house is big enough and strong enough to hide a
+regiment, let alone one man.  You can't stop me now from carrying out
+my intention in regard to your sister, by fair means or otherwise; and
+you may as well make the best of a bad business, and own that I've got
+the whip hand of you, partly by my luck and partly by your own damned
+stupidity.  I'd rather have you on my side in this matter than against
+me; but with me or against me you can't stop me.  What do you say?"
+
+"This.  That the first use I'll make of my hands when they're free
+shall be to try and choke the life out of you.  And by God, I'll try
+and do it now."  In my rage I rushed upon him, but like the cowardly
+cur he was, he struck me, bound and defenceless as I was, with all his
+force in the face, and then with a cry brought in the other men.  These
+threw themselves upon me and bore me to the ground, and bound my legs
+again, so that I was once more absolutely helpless.
+
+"You saw that attack the villain made on me," said Devinsky to the men.
+"I was offering to release him.  You'll bear witness to that.  As for
+you," turning to me, "you can stay here for a few hours more to cool
+your murderous fever; and I will send back orders for your release,
+when I am at a safe distance.  And, remember, there are strong cellars
+below; and if there are any more attempts at violence, I'll have you
+put there."
+
+He went out then with the men and in a moment later returned alone and
+said in a voice full of rage and hate:--"I'm going through with this,
+Petrovitch, at any cost--if I have to shut you up here till the flesh
+rots off your bones.  Your sister and I are going further on shortly:
+and I'll see you once more before I start, and give you one more chance
+of listening to reason."  And with this he left me.
+
+My plight was worse than ever.  So far, Olga was safe.  That was the
+only glimpse of comfort in all the miserable situation.  It was clear,
+too, that she was in the house; and though she was still in the man's
+power, I might yet find some means of helping her.
+
+But how?  That was the question.  And when I thought of his words that
+he was going to carry her still further away, I turned sick with rage
+and loathing.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XX.
+
+THE RESCUE.
+
+I felt as though the heat of hell were burning in my veins as I lay on
+the floor with the remembrance of Devinsky's blow and his words turning
+my blood to fire.  If ever I were free again, I swore to myself over
+and over again, I would have his life for that blow.  My anguish and
+rage that he should have Olga in his power were infinite tortures, and
+all the less endurable because of my abject helplessness.
+
+The one chance I had of deliverance was that someone, perhaps Essaieff,
+should hear of the matter and follow me.  But the hope was so feeble as
+to be little more than tantalising; fool-like, I had rushed off without
+leaving any intimation of what had happened.  If he did follow me,
+indeed, it would be only after a long interval, and not until Devinsky
+would have had time either to get far away or to carry out his purpose.
+
+Then I began speculating as to what he meant to do.  He would scarcely
+dare to try and make Olga his wife against her will and consent; though
+he was evidently villain enough to go to great lengths.  In this way my
+thoughts ran over the ground trying to ferret out a means of escape as
+well as seeking a key to the man's motives; and thus another hour or
+two slipped away without my hearing a sound or getting a sign of anyone.
+
+The strain of suspense was enough to turn one's brain.
+
+But a wholly unexpected and most welcome interruption came to break in
+upon my reverie.  Outside I heard the tramp of horses being ridden at a
+sharp trot into the courtyard of the house, with a jingling of arms and
+accoutrements that told me the riders were either soldiers or mounted
+police.  A sharp word of command brought them to the halt; and as soon
+as that happened, I let out such a lusty yell for help as made the
+walls ring again and again.  Then my door was opened and two men rushed
+in and ordered me to be silent, under pain of instant death, and
+clapped revolvers to my head.  But I knew they dared not fire with such
+visitors at the door and I continued to yell with all my lung power
+until, throwing down their weapons, they first clapped their hands on
+my mouth and then thrust a gag into my jaws.
+
+Some five minutes passed and the tension of my impatience was
+unendurable.  Meanwhile the two men held me and cut the bonds from my
+legs and got ready to slip the gyves from my wrists.
+
+Presently the tramp of feet approached the door of my room and when it
+was opened an officer of the mounted police entered with a file of men
+at his heels.  Devinsky was shewing the way and speaking as they all
+came in.
+
+"As I have told you, he made an attack on the house in the night; my
+men secured him.  When I saw him, I recognised him, of course, and
+should have released him, but he tried to murder me--angry, I presume,
+at having been discovered and recognised at such work.  I then had him
+bound again and was going to send to-day into the city for the police,
+when you came.  If you'll take him away, that's all I want."
+
+The man in command of the police listened to this in silence and with a
+face that shewed no more expression than a stone gargoyle.
+
+"Release him," he said to his men, and in another moment I was at
+liberty.  As soon as I was free, I began to edge my way inch by inch
+toward where Devinsky stood.  I would have him down, police or no
+police, thought I, even if it were my last act before entering a gaol.
+I guessed of course that some Nihilist blabber had told the facts, and
+that I was bound for Siberia, or worse.
+
+"Lieutenant Petrovitch, you are to accompany me, if you please," said
+the leader; and a sign to his men set two of them at each side of me.
+
+"I have first one word to say to that--gentleman," I said, pointing to
+Devinsky.
+
+"Excuse me.  My instructions are peremptory.  I must ask you to go with
+me at once--without a minute's delay."
+
+I saw Devinsky's face brighten at the thought of thus getting rid of
+me: and my fingers itched and tingled to be at his throat.
+
+"Am I arrested?" I asked.  "For what?"
+
+"I can say nothing, Lieutenant," replied the man.
+
+"Do you know why I'm here?"
+
+"If you please, we must go, and at once," was the stolid reply.
+
+I saw Devinsky grin again at this.
+
+"This man has carried off my sister," I cried.  "She is in his power
+now, and it was when I came to find her that he tricked me and then had
+me bound as you see.  Send your men to find her.  She must return with
+us."
+
+"I have no instructions to that effect," replied the man curtly.
+
+"Damn your instructions," I burst out hotly.  "Are you a man--to leave
+a young girl in this plight?"  My reply stirred only anger.
+
+"I cannot do what I am not ordered to do," said the officer again
+curtly.
+
+"Then I won't go without her.  Go back and--or better, send one of your
+men for permission to do this and stay here and keep guard over me and
+my sister at the same time."
+
+"It is impossible.  My instructions are peremptory and nothing will let
+me swerve from them."
+
+I began to lose all self-command, and only by the most strenuous
+efforts did I prevent myself from heaping reproaches upon him for his
+cold-blooded officialism.
+
+"Will you leave a couple of men here then, to protect her?"
+
+"I can say no more, Lieutenant, and do no more than I have said.  And
+now, we must go."
+
+It maddened me beyond all telling to think that I was to be carried
+away in this ruthless, heartless, implacable fashion at the very moment
+when the rescue of the girl I loved more than my life was but a matter
+of walking into another room and bringing her out.  I was staggered by
+the blow.
+
+"Do you know that I would ten thousand times rather that you had left
+me here bound and helpless as I was than take me away in this fashion.
+I must see my sister.  I must save her--why man, are you lost to every
+sense of feeling?  Take her away first--make her safe; and then I swear
+to Heaven, you or this man can do with me what you please."
+
+The stolid stony impassiveness of the man's face crushed every hope out
+of me.  I could have struck him in my baffled rage.
+
+"I have twenty men in the troop here, Lieutenant My instructions are to
+take you at once to Moscow.  I prefer to use no force; but I have it
+here, if necessary."
+
+I wrung my hands in despair; and then with a wild dash I rushed to the
+door to try and find Olga for myself.  It was useless.  They closed on
+me in an instant, and I was helpless.  Then they marched me out to the
+horses, venting as I went bitter reproaches and unavailing protests,
+mingled with loud curses, laments, and revilings.
+
+"Will you give me your parole to go quietly, Lieutenant?" asked the
+leader.
+
+"On one condition.  That we ride at full speed all the way."
+
+"I can make no condition," replied this block of official stolidity;
+"but my instructions are to act with all haste.  One question--have you
+been illtreated here?"
+
+"Only as I told you."
+
+Then he went back into the house for a moment, saying he would speak to
+Devinsky about it.  I saw the latter change colour when he received the
+police report and he made a gesture of seeming repudiation, lifting his
+hands and shrugging his shoulders.  After that he threw me a malicious
+look from his angry evil face that almost made me clamber down from the
+saddle to try and have a reckoning with him there and then.
+
+"When I'm out of this, I'll hunt you out," I cried, between my teeth.
+
+"When!" he answered: and the sneer in which he shewed his teeth as he
+uttered the word, was in my eyes for half that long, wild ride.
+
+The police leader kept his word; and we rode at a hard gallop nearly
+all the way, the whole country side turning out as we thundered by.
+
+The man would not say a word to me on the journey, except that he had
+been ordered to hold no communication at all with me; and thus I did
+not know where they were taking me, or whether I was arrested or
+rescued, until we drew rein at the Police head-quarters in Moscow and I
+was ushered straight into the presence of Prince Bilbassoff, all dirty,
+dishevelled, bruised, and travel-stained as I was.
+
+He rose and met me, holding out his hand.
+
+"My dear Lieutenant, you are really giving me an unconscionable amount
+of trouble.  As much, indeed, as if you were already a member of my
+family."
+
+"What does all this mean?" I asked.  "Am I arrested?"
+
+"What an impatient fellow you are!  It will all come in time," he
+returned, with an indescribable blending of good nature and suggestive
+threat.  "Is this all the thanks one gets for rescuing you from what,
+judging by your appearance, has been a very ugly mess.  This
+harum-scarum business will really have to stop--when you marry."  He
+seemed almost to laugh behind his grizzled moustache in the pause that
+emphasised the last three words.
+
+"Will you tell me the real meaning of this?  I have already asked you."
+
+"Sit down;" and he sat down himself, and lounged back easily in his
+chair.  "By the way, have you lunched?"
+
+"For God's sake man, don't trifle in this way.  If you know the facts,
+as I suppose you do, you'll know I'm in no mood for bantering courtesy.
+Why am I torn away by your men by force at the very moment when my
+sister is in danger at the hands of the brute who has carried her off.
+I suppose you know all this.  What does it mean, I repeat."
+
+"You can understand, perhaps, Lieutenant, that as it is two days since
+my sister referred you to me, and you had left Moscow hastily, she was
+growing a little anxious.  You know something of women in love and
+their insistent moods."
+
+"To hell with all these plots and intrigues," I cried, furiously.  "If
+you mean that that devil Devinsky is to have my sister in his power and
+I am to sit down coolly and bear it while you talk to me about
+marriage, you don't know me.  I'll think of nothing, talk of nothing,
+do nothing, till I have either saved her and killed that villain, or am
+killed myself."
+
+"Do you mean that you will set me at defiance?" cried the Prince, in
+stern ringing tones, his eyes flashing at me.  "That you dare to flout
+the offers we have made you, and have the hardihood to set the needs of
+the country below your own little petty personal feelings and wishes?
+Do you know what that means, sir?"
+
+"I care not what it means," I answered, recklessly.  "I tell you this
+to your face.  If my sister be not saved at once, I'll never set eyes
+on you or your sister again, unless it be that you make me grin at you
+from behind the bars of some one of your cursed gaols.  That is my last
+word, if it costs me my life."
+
+He rose and looked at me so sternly that I could almost have flinched
+before him if my stake in the matter had not been so great.  I never
+met such a look of concentrated power before.
+
+"If you dare to repeat that, Lieutenant Petrovitch, I will send you
+straight to the Mallovitch," he said, with positively deadly intensity
+of tone, pointing his finger through the window to where the gloomy
+frowning tower of the great prison was visible.
+
+"I care not if you send me to hell," I cried.  "Save my sister, or my
+hand shall rot at the wrist before I lift it in your service."
+
+We stood staring intently dead into each other's eyes; and he stretched
+forward a hand to summon those who would carry out his threat.
+
+Then he breathed deeply, smiled, and offered me his hand instead.
+
+"By God, you're the man we want, in all truth.  Now, I'll tell you what
+you ask."
+
+He had only been testing me after all, and my wits were so blunt in my
+agitation that I had not seen through him.
+
+"Have no fear for your sister," he continued.  "She is quite safe.  My
+man gave that Devinsky a message when he was leaving that puts all
+doubt on that score aside.  She is part of our bargain, and the arm of
+the State is over her.  If you accept my offer at once, your sister
+herself shall decide that man's punishment.  My object in all this is
+twofold--to let you feel something of the substance of power that will
+be yours when you have consented; and secondly to test a little more
+thoroughly your staunchness.  I am satisfied, Lieutenant.  And I hope
+you are."
+
+"Where is my sister now?" I asked, after a moment's consideration.
+
+"Where you left her, of course.  Decide how you wish her to come to
+Moscow.  Shall my men fetch her?  Shall that man bring her back
+himself?  Or will you ride out.  It is a matter of the merest form--but
+as yet, of course, you are unaccustomed to your influence and power."
+
+He was the devil at tempting; and though he had told me his motive, and
+I knew the rank impossibility of doing what he wanted--I could not help
+a little thrill of pleasure at the consciousness that this power lay
+within my grasp.
+
+"I will ride out and bring her in myself," I said, with a flush of
+pleasant anticipation at the thought.
+
+"As you will.  This will do everything," he said, as he wrote me an
+order in the name of the Emperor.  I knew its power well enough.  "One
+condition, by the by.  You must not fight this Devinsky; nor do
+anything to provoke a fight."
+
+"I won't promise," I answered.
+
+"Then I give no order.  Your life is ours, not yours to play with.
+That is the essence of the matter."
+
+"I will promise," I said, changing suddenly as I thought of Olga and
+the delight of seeing her under the circumstances.  "My word on it.  I
+do nothing except in self-defence, or in defence of my sister."
+
+"Well, be off with you then," he said, rising and shaking hands, and
+speaking as lightly as if I were a schoolboy being sent off for a ride;
+and as though there were not between us a jot or tittle of a plan in
+which life and death, fortune and marriage were the stakes.
+
+I hurried back to make preparations for riding back at once; and half
+an hour later I had had my first meal for twenty-four hours and was
+again in the saddle, pricking at top speed along the northern road,
+followed by one of the Prince's confidential servants, sent as the
+former said to me, with especial instructions to look after the welfare
+of one who was soon to be a member of the family.
+
+There is no need to describe with what different emotions and thoughts
+I made that journey.  It is enough to say that I dashed along at top
+speed, haunted by half a fear that something might yet go wrong with
+the plans and that Olga might still be in some danger; while a desire
+more keen than words can express came upon me to have her once more
+under my own care.
+
+At the same time the sense of power to which the appeal had been so
+astutely made was roused, and I was conscious of an unusual glow of
+pride.
+
+When I reached the house where I had had the ugly experience of the
+previous night I looked out for any sign of hostility.  But there was
+none.  A man came immediately in answer to my summons, and Devinsky was
+waiting for me in the large hall, which I scanned curiously after my
+night's experience in it.
+
+The sight of Devinsky roused me, but I put the curb on my temper.
+
+I handed him the order in silence.  He read it and sneered.
+
+"It is a good and safe thing to shelter behind Government powers," he
+said.  "Your sister is upstairs.  This way."  He led and I followed, my
+heart beating fast.
+
+We passed up the stairs and then turned along a corridor to the right,
+and after turning again to the right, and entering, as I thought the
+right wing of the rambling old house, we went up another short and very
+narrow flight of stairs.  Then he opened the door of a room in
+silence--indeed we had not spoken a word all the time--and stood aside
+for me to pass.
+
+Olga was sitting at the far end of the room looking out of the window,
+which was on the side away from the courtyard, with a woman attendant
+near her; and she did not even turn round when the door opened.
+
+But when I uttered her name and she saw me, she sprang up, speaking
+mine in reply with such a glad cry, and ran to me with a look of such
+rare delight on her face that I think she was going to throw herself
+into my arms and I was certainly going to let her, oblivious of all but
+the rush of love that moved our hearts simultaneously.
+
+When she was close to me, she checked herself, however, and put her
+hands in mine, as a sister might.  But the glances from her eyes told
+me all I cared to know at that moment, while her gaze roamed over me as
+if in bewilderment.
+
+"How is it you are better--and out?  Where is your wound?  What is that
+mark on your face?  I don't understand.  They told me you were lying
+dangerously wounded and that you wished me to remain here until you
+could bear to see me."
+
+"There is a good deal you don't understand yet, Olga," I said.  "The
+story of the duel was a lie from start to finish."
+
+"Then you're not wounded?  Oh, I'm so glad, Alexis" and, moving her
+hands up my arm after a timid glance at the woman, she looked her
+thankfulness and solicitude into my eyes.
+
+The look made me speechless.  Had I tried to answer it in words, I must
+have told her my love.
+
+"You are to come with me, Olga," I said, presently, recovering myself.
+"The aunt is all impatience to have you back again."
+
+"Why?  I explained all to her in my messages."
+
+"Your messages got lost on the way," I answered, and she saw by my tone
+how things were.  She got ready to come with me without another word;
+and I could feel my heart thumping and lurching against my side as I
+watched her and caught her turn now and again to look at me and send me
+a little smile of trust and pleasure.
+
+There was no need for us to speak much; we were beginning to understand
+each other well enough without words.
+
+We went out of the room together, and I was surprised and glad to see
+on a chair close by the door the sword which I had dropped the previous
+night.  I took it up, and as I did so Olga cried out in great and
+sudden fear.
+
+I looked up and saw Devinsky at the narrow head of the short stairway.
+
+"I've complied with the order," he said, his voice vibrating with
+anger.  "And I've given your sister freely into your hands.  You are at
+liberty to pass--alone."  He said this to her and then turned to me:
+"But not you, till you and I have settled our old score."
+
+"As you will," replied I, readily.  "Nothing will please me more.  But
+stay," I cried, remembering my promise.  "I cannot now.  I have passed
+my word.  Stand aside, please, and let us pass."
+
+"Not if you were the Czar himself," he answered, hotly.  "And I'm not
+going to let you shield yourself either behind the Government--you
+spy!--or behind your sister's petticoats.  If she doesn't choose to go
+when she has the chance, let her stop and see the consequence."
+
+"Olga, you had better go on," I whispered.  "This may be an ugly
+business, and not fit for you to be here."
+
+"Where you are, I stop--come what may!" she answered, firmly.
+
+"I've not come here to fight now," I said to Devinsky.  "I'll meet you
+willingly enough another time, God knows.  But now, I've passed my
+word;" and with that I raised my voice and shouted with all my strength
+to Prince Bilbassoff's servant, who was below, to come to my assistance.
+
+For answer Devinsky called on a couple of men who until then had been
+hidden, and with drawn swords and a loud shout the three rushed forward
+to throw themselves upon me.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXI.
+
+THREE TO ONE.
+
+A glance round told me the attack had been shrewdly planned indeed.
+The spot in which we all were was a large square anteroom or landing
+place, lighted from above.  Four or five doors opened from it into the
+rooms on either side, and the narrow stairway was the only means of
+communication with the rest of the house.  I was caught like a rat in a
+trap, and unless I could beat off the men who were thus attacking me
+at such dangerous odds, I was as good as a dead man.
+
+I whipped out my sword and pushed Olga back into the room we had left,
+just in time to parry the first wild lunges Devinsky made at me; and at
+the first touch of the steel all my coolness came to me.
+
+Everything must turn on the first minute or two; and knowing my man I
+set all my skill to work to keep him so engaged as to hamper the
+attempts of the other two to get to close quarters with me.
+
+I worked back into a corner of the place, close to the door of the
+room, and then as I darted out lunge after lunge with the swiftest
+dexterity, my three opponents were compelled to get into each other's
+way in their hurried manoeuvres to avoid my strokes.  By this means I
+hampered their fighting strength and lessened it by at least one man,
+since all three could not possibly get to strike at me at the same
+time.  But even thus the odds were too heavy.
+
+Devinsky was nothing like my equal with the sword, and his rage and mad
+hate now rendered him less deadly than usual: but with two others to
+help him, I could hardly hope to win in the end.  For this reason as I
+fought I uttered shout after shout to the man below to come to my
+assistance.
+
+These cries had also the effect of disconcerting my opponents.
+
+Then a lucky chance happened.
+
+One of the men in jumping back out of the way of one of my thrusts
+stumbled over the second, and sent this one for a moment into
+Devinsky's way.  I saw my chance and seized it in an instant.  In a
+trice I rushed at the half prostrate man and disdaining to kill him
+when his guard was down, I kicked him with my heavy riding boot with
+all my force in the face, and sent him reeling back, groaning and half
+choked with the blood that came gushing out of his nose and mouth,
+while his sword, went rattling across the floor to where Olga stood,
+looking on aghast, breathless and open mouthed in her fear.
+
+But the chance nearly cost me dear, for the man's companion turned on
+me and thrust at me with such directness and rapidity as all but ended
+the fight; for his sword went through the fleshy part of my arm, just
+above the elbow.  An inch or so nearer the body would have sent it
+right through my heart.  It was the last thrust he ever made, however.
+The next instant my blade had found his heart, and with a groan he
+dropped.
+
+Before I could withdraw it, however, Devinsky uttered a cry of hate,
+and dashing at me thrust at my heart with all his strength.
+
+He must have killed me but for Olga.
+
+That splendid girl had picked up the fallen man's sword and now, seeing
+my plight, she sprang forward, at the hazard of her life, crying out
+"Coward!" and struck down Devinsky's sword with all her force.
+
+"Good," I cried; and the next instant, I had wrenched my weapon free
+and held the man.
+
+"Take care.  Back to the room, or behind me, child," I cried, when I
+heard my opponent curse in his foiled attempt to kill me and saw him
+turn as if to attack Olga.  "Now, you butcher, it's you and I alone;
+and you or I, to live."
+
+"As you will," he said, and I saw him clench his teeth and set his face
+in the way men do who know that they are face to face with a risk where
+failure means death.
+
+My blood was up now, and I meant death too.  He had given up all right
+to expect anything else, and I had no mind to let him off.  If ever a
+man had earned death he had.  He had heaped on me every indignity that
+one man could put on another, and to crown it all he had just tried to
+murder me.  I would kill him with less compunction than one kills a
+dog; and I set about the task with the coolest deliberation and purpose.
+
+The scene was a grim and ghastly one enough.  The floor was all
+slippery in places with the blood of the man I had killed, whose body
+lay huddled up against the wall, as well as of the other who sat on the
+ground still spitting and coughing and mumbling and cursing from the
+fearful effects of my kick.  In the middle we two stood fighting to the
+death, watching one another with the fire of hate and blood lust in our
+eyes and on our set faces: while Olga, all eagerness excitement and
+tension, stood in the doorway watching us with white drawn face and
+dilated eyes; the deeply drawn breath coming in spasms through her
+distended nostrils and slightly parted lips.
+
+I forced the fight with all my power, and my blade flashed about my
+antagonist until all his skill was useless even to defend himself
+against my point, while any offensive tactic was out of the question.
+I wounded him three times, once so close to the heart that Olga cried
+out: and at length recalling the knack with which I had disarmed him in
+our former encounter, I used it now; and after a few more swift and
+cunning passes I whipped his sword from his grasp and sent it rattling
+to the other end of the place.
+
+My eye flashed as I drew back my arm for the death thrust.
+
+"Ah, don't, Alexis," cried Olga, in a sort of whisper of horror.
+"Don't kill him!"
+
+It stopped me instantly, and my arm fell.
+
+"As you will," I answered readily; "but he doesn't deserve it.  You owe
+your life to the woman you've tried to wrong, not to me," I said to
+him, shortly.  "Stand out of the way and let us pass."
+
+He moved aside doggedly, eyeing us with surly sullen hate, as Olga,
+trembling violently now that the excitement was over, went on first,
+and I followed her through the stairway and down and out of the house.
+
+When we reached the courtyard, the postchaise which I had ordered to
+follow us from the inn had arrived, and Olga and I entered it at once.
+
+"Thank God, we are out of the house," was my companion's fervent
+exclamation, as the carriage turned into the road and we left the
+gloomy place behind us.
+
+"Would to God we were out of Russia!" said I, speaking from my heart.
+"Then..."  I paused and looked into her face.
+
+"All may yet come right," answered Olga, meeting my eyes and putting
+her hand in mine.  My clasp closed on it, and we sat thus for some
+moments, just hand in hand, each silently happy in the knowledge of the
+other's love.
+
+Then I bent toward her and gradually drew her to me, my eyes all the
+time lighted with the light from hers.
+
+"It is love, Olga; lovers' love?" I asked in a passionate whisper.
+
+For answer she smiled and whispered back:
+
+"It has always been, Alexis;" and she met my betrothal kisses with
+warmth equal to mine.  And after that we did not care to say a word,
+but leant back in the carriage as it flew through the country in the
+gathering gloom of the evening, bumping, jolting, rolling, and
+creaking.  What cared we for that?  Olga was fast in my arms her head
+on my breast and her face close to mine, so close that we were tempted
+ever and again to let the story of our love tell itself over and over
+again in our kisses; and neither Olga nor I had a thought of resisting
+the temptation.
+
+This would have gone on for hours, so far as I was concerned; I was in
+a veritable Palace of Delight with freshly avowed love as my one
+thought.  But Olga roused herself suddenly with a start and a little
+cry.
+
+"Oh, Alexis, what have you made me do?  Your wound."
+
+I had forgotten all about it, but now when she mentioned it my left arm
+felt a little stiff.
+
+"I am ashamed of myself," she cried.  "What a love must mine be, that I
+want to dream of it with selfish pleasure when you are wounded.  You
+make me drink oblivion with your kisses."
+
+"Love is a fine narcotic," replied I, laughing.  "I felt no wound while
+you looked at me.  But now that you bring me down to earth with a rush,
+I begin to remember it.  But it is nothing much, and will best wait
+till we are in Moscow."
+
+"Do you think I will let anyone see that wound before I do?  Why, it
+was gained for my sake.  And you love me?  And now"--"now" was a long
+loving kiss and a lingering look into my face as she held it between
+her hands, while her eyes were radiant with delight.  Then she
+sighed--"Now, I am all sister again."
+
+I was looking my doubts of this and meant to test them, shaking my head
+in strong disbelief, when the carriage stopped suddenly.  Looking out I
+saw that we were at the inn, and must therefore have been driving long
+over two hours.  It had seemed scarce a minute.
+
+"Will you get out while we change horses, sir?" asked the Prince's
+servant, who had come with the carriage on horseback.
+
+"My brother is wounded and must have attendance at once," said Olga, in
+so self-possessed a tone that I smiled.
+
+"Only a scratch," said I, as if impatiently.  "But my sister is always
+fidgety."
+
+We went into the house then, and Olga insisted upon examining the
+wound, and when she saw the blood I had lost, not much, but making
+brave shew on my white linen, she was all solicitude, and anxiety.  She
+sent the maids flying this way and that, one to fetch hot water,
+another bandages, a third lint, and altogether made such a commotion in
+the place that one would have thought I had been brought there to die.
+
+She bathed the little spot so tenderly and delicately too, asking every
+moment if her touch hurt me; and she washed it and then covered it, and
+bandaged it and bound it up, and did everything with such infinite care
+that I was almost glad I had been wounded.
+
+And the whole process she accompanied with a running fire of would-be
+scolding comment upon the trouble that brothers gave, the obstinate
+creatures they were, the rash and foolish things they did, how much
+more bother they were than sisters, and a great deal more to the same
+effect--till I thought the people would see through the acting as
+clearly as I did, assisted as I was by the thousand little glints and
+glances she threw to me when the others were not looking our way.
+
+Then she held a long consultation with the landlady--a large woman who
+seemed as kindly in heart as she was portly in body--whether it would
+be safe for me to go on to the city that night, or whether a doctor had
+not better be brought out to me there: and it took the persuasion and
+assurances of us all to win her consent to my going on.
+
+I tried to punish her for this when we were in the carriage again, by
+telling her I supposed she was unwilling to travel on with me.  But I
+wasted my breath and my effort, as she was all the way in the highest
+spirits.
+
+"I don't quite know which I like best," she said, laughing.  "Being
+sister with a knowledge of--of something else, as I was just now at the
+inn, or--or..."
+
+"Or what?"
+
+"Or riding with Hamylton Tregethner," she answered, laughing again,
+gleefully.  "Do you notice how easily I can say that dreadful name?"
+
+"I notice I like it better from your lips than from any others."
+
+"I've practised it--and it was so difficult.  But I might even get to
+like it in time, you know."
+
+"By the way, I remember you once told me you didn't like Hamylton
+Tregethner."
+
+"Ah, yes.  That was my brother's old friend.  A very disagreeable
+person.  He wanted to take my brother away from Moscow.  A person must
+be very unpleasant who wishes to divide brother and sister.  Don't you
+think so?"
+
+"That depends on the rate of exchange," said I.
+
+"Perhaps; but at that time there was no talk of exchange at all."
+
+"And no thought of it?"
+
+"Ah!"  And for answer she nestled to me again and merged the sister in
+the lover with a readiness and pleasure that shewed what she thought of
+that particular exchange.
+
+And with these little intervals of particularly sweet and pleasant
+light and shade we travelled the miles to Moscow, in what seemed to us
+both an incredibly short time.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXII.
+
+THE BEGINNING OF THE END.
+
+It was not until a night's rest had somewhat redressed the balance of
+my emotions and had rendered me again subject to the pressure of
+actualities that I fully realised how the avowal of my love had rather
+increased than diminished the difficulties of our position.
+
+Despite my fatigue and wound I was stirring in good time, and had had
+the doctor's report and seen the Colonel to get leave from regimental
+work, in time to get round to see Olga pretty early.  I wished to see
+her and discuss the whole position before going to report to Prince
+Bilbassoff the result of things with Devinsky.
+
+The manner in which Olga met me was one of the sweetest things
+imaginable and the presence of the good aunt, Countess Palitzin, added
+to its effect.  They were sitting together when I entered.
+
+"It is Alexis, aunt," said Olga rising.  She was a mixture of laughing
+love and sisterly indifference.
+
+"Alexis, you are a good lad, a dear lad," said the old lady, usually
+very stately and punctilious.  "Come here, boy, and kiss me and let me
+kiss you.  You have done splendidly and bravely in this matter of Olga.
+She has told me all about it."
+
+"All?" I echoed, looking at Olga, who tried to keep the smile that was
+dancing in her eyes from travelling to her lips.
+
+"All that a sister need tell," she said.
+
+"Olga, I have no patience with you," exclaimed the aunt.  "You have a
+brother in a thousand--in ten thousand, and yet you speak in that way.
+And I see you never kiss him now.  I should like to know why.  Are you
+ashamed of him?  Here he has saved you from all this trouble, and you
+give him the points of your finger nails to touch.  Yet you are not
+cold and feelingless in other things."
+
+"I am glad that you speak to her like this," I said, gravely.  "She
+seems to think that a sister should never kiss such a brother as I am."
+
+"Do you mean to say you think I have given you no reason to believe I
+am thankful for what you have done?" she retorted, fencing cleverly.
+
+"I don't echo our aunt's words, that you are cold and feelingless,
+Olga--she is not that, Aunt Palitzin.  But I do find that as a sister
+she places a strong reserve on her feelings."
+
+"To hear you speak," said Olga, laughing lightly, "one might think I
+had two characters: in one of which I was all warmth and affection; in
+the other all coldness and reserve."
+
+"And I believe that would be about right, child," said the Countess.
+"For when the boy is not here your tongue never tires of praising him;
+and yet the moment he comes, he might be a stranger instead of your own
+nearest and dearest."
+
+Olga blushed crimson at this.
+
+"Brothers have to be treated judiciously," she said.
+
+"'Judiciously,' Olga.  Why, what on earth do you mean?  How could you
+love a brave fellow like Alexis injudiciously?"
+
+"Love is often best when it is most injudicious," said I,
+sententiously, coming to Olga's rescue; but she betrayed me shamefully.
+Looking innocently at me she asked:--
+
+"Would you like us to be a pair of injudicious lovers, then, Alexis?"
+
+"If I never shew more lack of judgment than in my love for you, I shall
+get well through life, Olga," I retorted.
+
+"You are certainly a most unusual brother, I can tell you," she said,
+smiling slily.
+
+"If every brother had such a sister, the tie that binds us two would be
+a much more usual one," I answered.
+
+"You are incorrigible," she laughed and turned away.
+
+"I am glad you speak so seriously, Alexis," said my aunt.  "I'll be no
+party to any deception.  She does love you, boy, however much she may
+try to hide it when you are here;" and with this, which set us both
+laughing again, the old lady went away.
+
+"Does she?" I asked; and the question brought Olga with a happy look
+into my arms.
+
+But I had not come to make love, sweet though it was to have the girl's
+arms about me; and as soon as I could, I began in talk seriously about
+the position.
+
+In the first place I told her everything that had happened; and there
+was one thing that amused her, despite the tremendously critical state
+of our affairs.  It was about the great suitor the Prince had promised
+for her.
+
+"What, another?" she said, with a comical crinkling of her forehead.
+"Upon my word what with brothers and lovers, I am sorely plagued.  This
+makes the..." she stopped.
+
+"How many?"
+
+"I don't think I know.  Either two or three, according as we reckon
+you.  While you're my brother, two I suppose.  Otherwise three."
+
+"'Otherwise' is a good deal shaky, I'm afraid," said I, shaking my
+head.  "And I begin to question whether he'll ever count."
+
+"He may not; but in that case no other ever will," returned Olga
+earnestly.  "Did you say that on purpose to get another assurance from
+me?"
+
+"No, indeed.  I only spoke out of the reality of my doubts;" and then
+we went on threshing the thing out.
+
+"There is but one possible chance," said I, after I had told her all.
+"It's a remote one, perhaps, but such as it is, we must use it.  You
+must go...."
+
+"I won't leave Moscow unless you go," she broke in.  "I wouldn't have
+done it before when you wanted, but now...." she paused and blushed and
+her eyes brightened--"wild horses shan't tear me away."
+
+"There are stronger things than wild horses, child; and I shall appeal
+to one in your case.  You must go in order to try and get me out of the
+muddle here."
+
+"Yes, I'll go for that, if it's necessary," she declared as readily as
+a moment before she had declined.
+
+"It is necessary.  Shortly, my idea is this.  We can't get away
+together at the same time.  We are shut in here in the very centre of
+Russia; and if we left together we could not hope to reach the frontier
+for many hours after we had been missed from here; while if we were
+missed only ten minutes before we got to the barrier, it would be long
+enough for us to be stopped.  Besides, there are ten thousand things
+that come in the way.  But that doesn't apply to your travelling alone;
+and if I can get a passport or a permit for you, I believe you will be
+able to get across the frontier before anyone has an idea that you have
+even left the city.  In my case that would be impossible.  There are
+three separate sets of lynx eyes on me.  The Prince's police--the most
+vigilant of all; the Nihilists--the most dangerous; and Paula
+Tueski's--the most vengeful.  I shall have the most difficult task to
+evade them, and I believe it will be only possible, if at all, by a
+sort of double cunning.  But there is one way you can help."
+
+"What is that?" asked Olga, whose interest was breathless.
+
+"I have a friend, Balestier; you've heard of him--the Hon. Rupert
+Balestier.  He saw your brother in Paris and believes that some
+devilment is on foot.  If you can find him and tell him all that has
+happened and the mess that things are in, I believe, in fact I know,
+that he would exhaust every possible means of helping me.  It is
+possible that our Foreign Office might be moved by the influence he
+could bring to bear; and I know that in such a task he'd stir up every
+friend and relative he has in the world.  My plan is simply this.  You
+must go with all possible speed to Paris: find him, tell him all, and
+get him to do what he thinks best and use what efforts he can.  In the
+meantime if I can't escape I shall either have to feign consent with
+this wretched duel and marriage business and wait on events: or if I
+get a chance of leaving, slip off in an altogether different direction."
+
+"It is a terrible trouble I have brought you to, Alexis," said the girl
+sadly.
+
+"I would pay a far bigger price for this trouble," I answered, taking
+her hand and kissing it.  "And when we are once out of this too
+hospitable land of yours, we shall laugh at it all together."
+
+"Yes, when?" she said; and her tone suggested a hopelessness which
+responded only too well with that which I felt secretly.
+
+While we were together, however, it was impossible for us to feel
+downcast for long.  There was such infinite pleasure in mere
+companionship, that the grim troubles which surrounded us were shut out
+of our thoughts.  The present was so bright that it seemed impossible
+the gloom could soon close in on us.
+
+But when I had left her and was alone in my rooms, I was gloomy enough;
+and my spirits were certainly not raised when my new servant ushered in
+Paula Tueski.
+
+"You would not come to me, Alexis, so I have to come to you," was her
+greeting.  "You neglect me.  I suppose because of the great friends you
+have made."
+
+"Great friends?"  For the moment not understanding her.
+
+"Yes.  I hear that you are finding great pleasure in the society of a
+certain great lady."
+
+"Oh, you mean the Princess Weletsky?" I laughed as I spoke.
+
+"It does not make me laugh," she said, frowning.
+
+"You are in mourning, and laughter sounds ill with tears," I returned.
+I hated the woman worse every time I saw her.
+
+"If I am in mourning it is you who are the cause," she cried, stamping
+her foot, angrily.  "I want to know what this new--new friendship,
+shall I call it?--means."
+
+"You may call it what you like.  The Princess is nothing to me," said
+I, thinking more of my affections than of the facts.
+
+"And never will be?" said my companion abruptly.
+
+"And never will be, I hope," I agreed, with the accents of unmistakable
+sincerity.
+
+But my visitor was suspicious and did not believe me.  She got up and
+came close to me, and stared hard into my eyes as if searching there
+for the truth.
+
+"Then why are you so cold to me?  Not a kindly word, not a gesture, not
+a glance that you mightn't have thrown to the veriest beggar in the
+street have you given me.  You, who used always to brighten when I came
+near you.  I have seen your eyes light up a hundred times, Alexis, when
+you have let them rest on me, praising, pleasing, and loving me.  And
+now you are as cold as a tombstone.  Will you swear to me you have no
+love for this other woman--this Princess?"
+
+"Most certainly I will."
+
+"Ah, what is the use of an oath in which there is no fire, no life,
+nothing but dead cold ashes!  What has changed you?  Are you thinking
+of marrying this woman?"
+
+"If she waits till I wish to marry her, she'll die unmated," I returned.
+
+"Why can't you say yes or no to my questions?" she cried, stamping her
+foot again, irritated by the little evasion.  "Are you thinking of
+marrying her?"
+
+"No.  Is that answer blunt enough for you?"
+
+"It sounds like a forced lie more than anything else.  Do you know what
+I would do, Alexis, if I thought you meant to try and deceive me?"
+
+"I can pretty well guess," I answered, calmly.  "Probably go round and
+have afternoon tea with her and tell her that little fable which you
+told me the other day.  You weary me with these constant threats,
+Paula.  They get like a musket that's held so long at one's head that
+it rusts at the lock and the trigger can't be pulled.  It would be so
+much more interesting if you'd go and do something."
+
+With that I turned away and lighted a cigarette, almost wishing in my
+heart that I could offend her sufficiently to drive her away; and yet
+sick at the knowledge of her power over Olga and me.
+
+"I like that tone better," she said, with a laugh.  "At least it shews
+some kind of feeling.  I hate a log.  You will find I can 'do
+something,' as you say, when the time comes, if you drive me.  My
+muskets don't miss fire."
+
+"No, nor your daggers blunt their points.  I admit you can be deadly
+enough where you hate."
+
+"Don't make me hate you, then," she retorted, quickly.
+
+"Is that possible, Paula?" I replied, turning to her with a smile.
+
+The instant change in this most remarkable woman at this one slight
+touch of tenderness was wonderful.  She was hungering for the love I
+could no more give her than I could have given her the Crown of Russia,
+and at this little accent of kindness she turned all softness and
+smiling love.
+
+"Ah, God!  You can do as you like with me, Alexis," she cried,
+excitedly.  "Just then you were rousing all the devil there is in me;
+and now no more than a smile drives out of my heart every thought save
+of my love for you.  If it is so easy to make me happy why kill me with
+your coldness?  Kiss me, Alexis."  She came to throw her arms round me
+but wishing to avoid this caress, I remembered my wound and stepping
+back, kept her off.
+
+"Mind, I have a little hurt here;" and I pointed to the place.
+
+Little did I think of the consequences of that most simple action, or
+of the price I should have to pay for shirking a few distasteful
+kisses.  She was at once all anxiety.
+
+"A hurt?  A wound?  Tell me what it is.  Have you--was it in
+consequence of rescuing your sister?  Have you had some fight or other?"
+
+I told her in as few words as I could, glad to turn her thoughts from
+the wish to caress me.  When I had to admit that it was a slight sword
+thrust, however, she insisted upon seeing the wound as well as the
+places where I had torn my arm in the efforts to get rid of my bonds.
+
+No one could fail to see her care was prompted by deep feeling.
+
+I took off my coat and just turned up my sleeve to satisfy her
+curiosity, and held out my arm for her to see, laughing half
+shamefacedly as I did so, to assure her there was no cause for real
+anxiety, and that she was making much of nothing.
+
+But the effect it had on her was startling indeed.
+
+After glancing at the marks which were fast dying away, for my skin
+always heals very rapidly, she smoothed them gently and kissed them.
+
+"It is the left arm, Alexis, always the left arm," she said, glancing
+up with a smile, and speaking as if there were some special
+significance in the fact--though what that could be I could not even
+guess, of course.
+
+The chief mark was on the lower part of the upper arm, just above the
+elbow, and when she had kissed it and had turned it round so that the
+front part of the forearm, where the muscles are broadest was in full
+view, I felt her start violently, and heard her catch her breath
+quickly, as if with a gasp of surprise.
+
+She stared at it for fully a minute without raising her eyes, her only
+gesture being to pass her fingers across the muscles twice.
+
+When she raised her eyes and looked at me, there was an astounding
+change in her face.  She was as white as death, and trembled so
+violently that even her face quivered, while her eyes were fixed on me
+with an expression of wildness and mingled emotions such as I could not
+read or even guess at.
+
+"Are you ill?" I asked.
+
+She started again as I spoke; and her lips merely moved very slightly
+as she moistened them with her tongue.
+
+And all the time she kept the same staring, strained, frowning,
+questioning look fixed on me.
+
+"What's the matter?" I cried again.  "Are you ill?"  I thought she was
+in for a fit of some kind.
+
+But all she did was to continue to stare with the same indescribable
+intensity, the heavy brows closing together as the frown deepened on
+her forehead.
+
+"My God!"
+
+The exclamation seemed to be wrung from her in sheer pain of thought.
+
+She took hold of my arm again and examined the same place once more
+with briefer but no less fierce scrutiny.
+
+Then looking up again into my face she let the arm fall.  She seemed to
+shrink from me as she drew in one long deep shivering breath that
+sounded between her teeth.  Next she turned away and sat down, pressing
+both her hands to her face.
+
+Every vestige of feeling and passion had passed, leaving only the
+close, concentrated, strained tension.  The colour had left her cheeks:
+and the roundness and beauty of her face appeared to have been
+transformed in a moment into a veritable presentment of lean, haggard,
+vigilant doubt.
+
+Many minutes passed before either of us spoke.  Then she got up and
+again came quite close to me and staring right into my eyes, asked in a
+voice all changed and unmusical--a sort of keen piercing whisper, that
+seemed to send a chill through me--while she pointed to my arm:--
+
+"What does it mean?  Who are you?"
+
+I returned the look steadily, but bit my lip nearly through as I
+guessed well enough the discovery she had made.  I answered lightly:--
+
+"Excellently acted.  But what is it all about?"
+
+"Who are you?  That tells me who you are not."  She spoke in the same
+hard discordant whisper, and pointed to my arm again.
+
+"Are you mad?" I cried sternly.  "What do you mean by this pretence?"
+
+Her only answer was to stare with the same stony intensity right into
+my eyes.
+
+"Shall I send for my own sister to identify me?" I cried, with what I
+intended as sarcastic emphasis.  But the effect of my question quite
+disconcerted me.
+
+It broke her down and with a cry that was almost a scream, she threw
+herself into a chair and gave vent to emotions that were no longer
+controllable.
+
+For an hour she was in this semi-hysterical condition; and I could
+guess the leading thought of her frenzy.  If I was not the man she had
+believed, she would jump to the thought that Olga and I were lovers,
+and not brother and sister.  Her jealousy made her a madwoman.
+
+By the time she had recovered from her frenzy I had resolved on my
+course.  The only thing possible was to hold strenuously to the old
+deception.  What had shaken her belief in me, I could not, of course,
+even guess.  If by any means she could make her words good, it was
+clear she carried my life in her hands.  Strong as the story which she
+had concocted as to my supposed crime would have been against the real
+Alexis, it was a hundred times stronger as told against someone
+impersonating Alexis for what she would of course declare were Nihilist
+purposes.  The mere fact of the impersonation would be accepted as
+proof of guilt in everything: while Olga's share in the conspiracy
+would render her liable to a punishment only less in extent than mine.
+
+As I thought of all this, my rage against the woman passed almost
+beyond control; but I forced it back and listened when she
+spoke--telling me of all the things which had made me seem so
+different.  My conduct to her; my manner; my lack of love; the
+difference in looks, in gestures, and in what I said and the way I said
+it; the thousand things that had set her wondering at the change in me.
+
+Then she spoke of the change in my sister's conduct; how a word from me
+had made her friendly where a thousand words before had failed.  And
+when she spoke and thought of Olga, she seemed to lose again all
+self-control; declaring she had been made a tool and a dupe of for some
+purposes of our own.
+
+My protestations were of no avail.  She brushed them aside with abrupt
+contempt, and when I tried to find out indirectly what her proof was,
+she laughed angrily and would not tell me.
+
+"I will tell you when I bid you good-bye for Siberia, or see you for
+the last time in the condemned cell.  You shall not die in ignorance,"
+she said: and then she went on to dwell with horrible detail upon the
+punishments that were in store for both Olga and myself.
+
+But she overdid it all; and shewed me her weak point.  She thus gave me
+a clue to my best tactics.  Her feeling was not hate of me, but
+jealousy of Olga.  This strange and most impulsive woman had had her
+love tricked as well as her judgment; and the love which she had had
+for Olga's brother was now transferred to me.  Her chief fear was lest
+Olga was really to come between us.  When she stopped, I tested her.
+
+"You have found a ridiculous mare's nest," I said, with a short laugh.
+"And I have something more important to do than to listen to your
+fictions.  If you think there is any truth in the thing, by all means
+tell all you know.  But I warn you beforehand you will fail--fail
+ignominiously: and what is more, lose all you have said you wish to
+gain.  My great object now is to get Olga out of the country, so that I
+may be free to carry out my plans."
+
+She looked up as I spoke, and I saw the light of hope in her eyes.
+
+"That you may follow her, I suppose you mean?"
+
+"You can suppose what you please," I answered, shortly.  "If you wish
+to break off all between us by this ridiculous story, do so.  But bear
+in mind, it is your act, not mine; and when once done, done
+irrevocably."
+
+She wrung her hands in indecision.
+
+"Can I trust you?"
+
+"Can you get me a permit for Olga to leave the country?  That's more to
+the point."
+
+"Yes--alone."  There was a world of meaning in that single word.
+
+"Then get it; and as soon as a railway engine can drag her across the
+frontier, she will be out of Russia, and out of my way, much to my
+relief."
+
+She sat silent in perplexity.
+
+"You can't go!  You shan't go!" she cried.  "You have made me do these
+things, whoever you are, and you must stay--for me."
+
+I smiled.  I had won.  Then I changed as it were to a rather fanatical
+Nihilist, and cried warmly:--
+
+"The ties that keep me here, Paula, are ties of death and blood; and
+such as no woman's hand can either fashion or destroy."
+
+She looked at me long and intently and put her hands on my arms and her
+face close up to mine and said in a soft seductive tone:--
+
+"If I get that permit, all shall be as it was?"
+
+"All shall be as it was, Paula," I answered, adopting her equivocal
+phrase, and bent and kissed her on the forehead.  But I was playing for
+a big stake: Olga's life probably, and my own certainly: and I could
+not afford the luxury of absolute candour at that crisis of the game.
+
+But I did not win without conditions.
+
+"I will get it," she said; "but you remember what I told you before.  I
+repeat it now.  You are more surely mine than ever; more surely than
+ever in my power, Alexis."  She emphasized the word and a glance shewed
+me her meaning.  "And we must be married secretly within three days
+from now.  I will make the arrangements."
+
+"As you will," I replied; and I felt glad that in a measure her resort
+to this compulsion gave me a sort of justification for misleading her.
+
+In less than three days' the Czar's visit would be over and I should
+either be dead or out of Russia.
+
+But Olga would be saved; and that would be much.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIII.
+
+CHECKMATE!
+
+As soon as Paula Tueski left me I went round to Olga to endeavour to
+solve the riddle of the woman's discovery.  Olga was out and would not
+return for an hour.  Leaving word that I wished to see her particularly
+and that she was to wait for me, I went for a walk to try and order my
+thoughts.
+
+Finding myself near the Princess Weletsky's house, and knowing that I
+had to keep up the semblance of attentions there, I called.  She
+received me with marks of the most warm regard and welcome.
+
+"I have heard much of what happened at that wretched Devinsky's house.
+Old Fedor who went with you told me much and my brother much also; but
+I would rather hear all from you.  Where is Olga?  You were wounded, I
+hear.  What was it?  Tell me--tell me.  I have been dying with anxiety
+for you."
+
+I told her shortly what had happened; and then it occurred to me to try
+and get her help in regard to Olga.  I drew a fancy picture of Olga's
+shattered nerves; that Moscow had become a place of terror to her; and
+that even Russia itself was distasteful to her for a time on Devinsky's
+account.
+
+"Do you think that a man like Devinsky would dare to lay so much as a
+finger on one of our family?" she asked, checkmating me quietly with a
+single pronoun.
+
+"It's not what Devinsky dares, but what Olga fears."
+
+"She did not strike me as a girl of nervous fears."
+
+"No; she does not shew it even to me."
+
+"Then we can do better than drive the poor child away from home--punish
+Devinsky.  Tell her that he is already under arrest."
+
+"Is that so, indeed?" I asked, in some astonishment.
+
+"Certainly; his murderous attack on you when you were on the Emperor's
+special duty is a crime that will cost him dear.  Those who play us
+false, Lieutenant Petrovitch, must beware of us.  But our friends find
+the ways made easy for them.  Did not my brother tell you that Olga was
+to be protected as one of us, and therefore avenged, if wronged?"
+
+"She will be glad to feel safe," I replied quietly.  I knew what she
+meant; and with a look that seemed to imply much, I added:--"I am glad
+to be one of your friends."  I was getting such an adept in the
+suggestion of a lie, that much more practice would make it difficult
+for me to tell the plain truth.
+
+My companion flushed with pleasure.
+
+"I always felt I should not count on you in vain," she said.
+
+"No woman has ever done that, I trust," was my answer.  "No woman ever
+could for whom I felt as I feel for you."  And with that, and a little
+more to the same effect, I left her.
+
+I went round to Olga's at once.  It was a blessing that with her there
+need be no secret meanings and insinuations.
+
+She received me, of course, with a smile.
+
+"Is this a pretence to see me, or really something?" she asked with a
+laugh.
+
+"I think it is really something or I should not have dared to be back
+so quickly.  Even brothers may be bores."
+
+Her answer was a pretty one, such as might be expected from a lover,
+but I need not repeat it.
+
+"First, I will tell you the news," I said, after a pause; and I told
+her about the arrest of Devinsky.
+
+"These people strike swiftly and secretly, Alexis," she said,
+thoughtfully.  "They frighten me.  Their power is almost limitless.
+How hard they will hit and how far the blow will reach, if they ever
+find we are fooling them!"  She sighed.
+
+"The frontier is their limit: and we must pass it."
+
+"I have been out to-day to make the preparations for flight.  I suppose
+I must go?"--she smiled a sad little note of interrogation at me--"and
+if so, the sooner the better.  I have a disguise, and shall start
+to-night.  My difficulty will be of course at the frontier.  I am going
+to stop short of that by one station, and then as a peasant girl try to
+get over on foot.  It will take a little longer: but it is the only
+chance."
+
+"No, I have good news for you so far as that is concerned.  Madame
+Tueski will get you a permit in some name or other and then you can
+cross in the train.  Far better."
+
+"You have seen her then to-day?"  A shadow of her old feelings crossed
+Olga's face as she asked this.
+
+"Yes, I have seen her, and she is eager now that you shall get out of
+the country."
+
+She was very quickwitted and read my meaning instantly from my words
+and tone.
+
+"Tell me everything.  There is more bad news yet to be told.  Has she
+guessed? ... Ah, I always feared that woman."
+
+"Tell me, Olga, ought I to have any special mark on either of my arms.
+Any birth-mark, or anything of that sort?"
+
+She went white instantly.
+
+"I had forgotten.  That wretched woman's initials were tattooed in
+small letters just there"--she put her finger on the place--"I saw it
+once and Alexis was wild with me.  Has she seen your arm bare?"
+
+"My wound," I said, in explanation.
+
+"Oh dear, through me again; through me again," cried the girl in
+distress.  I took her in my arms to soothe her, and tried to make her
+understand that after all it was really a good thing that had happened
+and not a bad one, inasmuch as the woman's jealousy was urging her to
+help in getting Olga away.  I told her everything frankly.
+
+But this was not all a clear course, as may be imagined.  Olga loved me
+very dearly and trusted me, I believe, as implicitly as any woman could
+trust the man she loved.  But she was a woman and not a goddess: and
+she could not bring herself to like the necessity which took her out of
+the country and left me behind in the clutches of such a woman as Paula
+Tueski.  She was a very reasonable little soul, however, as well as a
+brave one; and before I left her I had talked her into a condition of
+compulsory resignation.
+
+I did not attempt to disguise from myself, though I did from Olga, the
+fact that her flight after my conversation with the Princess would
+certainly tend to bring suspicion upon me, if it should be discovered.
+Any secret step at such a juncture would do that.  I thought I had
+better see the Prince himself, therefore, lest my neglect to do so
+should rouse his suspicions prematurely.
+
+I went to him from Olga's house, and when I was admitted, after a
+little delay which I did not quite like, I found him as gracious as
+ever.
+
+"I am very busy," he said, shaking hands with me; "but have time to
+hear that you have resolved to join us, Lieutenant."
+
+"I have come now only to thank you...."
+
+"I haven't time to listen to that.  Your sister is again in Moscow; her
+persecutor is in the care of my men; you have only to say a word for
+her to be his judge.  Do you say it?"
+
+Seeing me hesitate, he paused only a moment.
+
+"When a man like you doesn't say Yes, directly, he means, No.  I
+understand.  But--time is beginning to press with much force.  Make up
+your mind; and don't come again till you have decided.  Understand what
+that means.  I can't see you again until you are ready to say Yes or
+No, finally--finally.  Then come, and if you decide no, make it
+convenient before you come, to arrange any little matters that can best
+be put right personally.  You may find obstacles afterwards.  You
+understand?" and the look which accompanied the words shewed me that he
+meant all this as a pretty strong turn of the screw.  "Oh, and by the
+by," he added, just as I was leaving the room--"of course you won't
+attempt to get away.  You may if you like, you know, but you'll be
+wiser not to; because I have certain information about you, and any
+attempt at flight at such a juncture as this would give me an excellent
+excuse for dealing very summarily.  Understand--I shall only see you
+again when you are ready to give me your decision."
+
+My anxiety for Olga was making me like a silly frightened boy; and I
+went away from the man now with a chilled feeling of fear that set me
+doubting and speculating and anticipating a thousand forms of trouble
+which he could inflict upon her.  I should not have a moment's peace of
+mind while Olga remained in Russia.  That was certain.
+
+I went back to my rooms and sat there thinking out moodily the
+particulars of the journey which the girl had to take alone, and my
+fears for her multiplied with almost every turn of my thoughts.  Every
+detail of the position seemed to teem with additional menace and cause
+for alarm.
+
+I had my own escape to think of too.  I resolved, let the risks be what
+they might, that the instant Olga's telegram came telling me she had
+crossed the frontier, I should bolt; and the manner and direction of my
+flight had cost me many an anxious hour.
+
+I had been looking forward to the possible necessity for a hurried
+flight ever since I had started the venture, and I had had time thus to
+make my plans fairly complete.  For this purpose I had used my Nihilist
+connection, though I had of course kept my whole plans to myself, since
+I had contemplated running away from the Nihilists as much as from
+anyone else.
+
+The chief difficulty was the geographical position of Moscow: the very
+kernel of Russia, and at tremendous distances from all the frontiers.
+My escape must be obviously a matter of the most careful planning,
+seeing that I should probably be many weeks, and perhaps months,
+carrying it out.  From the first I abandoned all thought of making a
+dash straight for the frontier by train.  Every outlet of the kind
+would be watched most jealously, alike by the police and the Nihilists:
+while the fact of Olga slipping through would increase a thousandfold
+the vigilance to prevent my following.
+
+If Paula Tueski managed to get the permit, Olga would make her escape
+quickly by train, going either north-west to St. Petersburg and away by
+steamer: or west across the German frontier: or south-west down into
+Austria.  Two days would do the business.
+
+My escape was to be a very different affair.
+
+I meant to leave Moscow on foot or pony back, disguised as a peasant
+woman, and as soon as I was well clear of the city, some 20 or 30 miles
+out, I intended to change that disguise and play the part of a
+horse-dealer, making for the two big horse fairs that were coming on
+soon at Rostov and Jaroslav--about 100 and 150 miles north
+respectively.  For this purpose I proposed to buy up enough horses and
+ponies on my way to divert suspicion and sustain my part.
+
+At Jaroslav I should sell these for what they would fetch and in the
+confusion of the fair time, change my character again.  There I should
+strike the Volga: and my plan was to escape by river; working my way on
+the boats down to Tsaritsin and thence across by train to the Don.  At
+the mouth of the Don, or at Taganrog, I calculated to be able to ship
+on a steamer across the Sea of Azov, and thence across the Black Sea,
+and out through the Bosphorus.
+
+This was the outline, subject of course to any changes which necessity
+or expediency should suggest; and I preferred it, because if I could
+cut the trail between Moscow and the river, that was about the very
+last place in which I should be looked for; while the time that must be
+occupied on the river would give me the necessary opportunity for
+obtaining such papers as I should require to get away.
+
+I had perfected the plan, thought out many of its details and
+discounted its risks, and had laid in many of the necessary disguises.
+But I was not destined to use them; for the direction of matters was
+wrested out of my hands by a stroke that checkmated me completely.
+
+In the afternoon a letter came to me from Olga, vaguely worded, to the
+effect that Paula Tueski had sent for her and had given her what had
+been promised, and that all matters were now complete.  She wished me
+to see her at seven o'clock.
+
+I scribbled a line saying I would be there at the time.
+
+The messenger, Olga's maid, went off with it: and almost before I
+thought she could have had time to get home and back again, she came
+hurrying in again breathless and excited, and all white with fear.
+
+I thought at first she had been molested in some way in the
+streets--Moscow is not Eden--and I asked her what was the matter.
+
+The reply, uttered in gasps and jerks of terror and with spasmodic sobs
+filled me in my turn with consternation.
+
+Olga had been arrested during the girl's absence, and my aunt, the
+Countess Palitzin was like a mad-woman in her fear.  She was all
+anxiety to see me.
+
+"Arrested!" I cried, scarcely believing my own ears.  "By whom?  For
+what?"
+
+"By the police; I don't know for what," wailed the girl.  "But the
+Countess----"
+
+"I'll go to her at once," I cried, interrupting her; and without
+another word I set off at once for Olga's house, with the greatest
+haste.
+
+What could it all mean?
+
+Whose blow was this?  Coming at such a moment, it shattered all my
+plans to fragments.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIV.
+
+CRISIS.
+
+I found matters just as Olga's maid had told me.  The Countess was in
+the deepest distress, and was wringing her hands and crying herself
+blind in agitation and alarm.
+
+Olga had been out in the afternoon, she told me, and had come back
+considerably excited.  She had stayed some time in her room, and the
+maid now said she had been turning over her clothes.  I knew what this
+meant.  Then she had written the letter to me and sent the girl with
+it; but the latter had scarcely left the house before the police had
+arrived, had asked for Olga, and had arrested her, refusing to say a
+single word as to the cause.
+
+Olga had of course gone with them, protesting to the Countess that
+there must be some mistake and that no doubt she would soon be again at
+liberty and return home.  When kissing her aunt the girl had whispered
+to her to tell me at once, with an assurance that she was not in the
+least frightened.
+
+Knowing what I knew about the system of imprisonment in Russia and how
+common a thing it was for a prisoner to be arrested on the flimsiest
+suspicion, to enter a gaol and be kept from all communication with
+friends and family, I did not by any means share the calmness she had
+professed.  The suddenness of the arrest combined with the complete
+overthrow of all my plans incensed me beyond measure.  I put to the two
+women all the questions that occurred to me, but got no further light.
+I could not hide my concern, but I did my best to make the Countess
+Palitzin believe that it would be in my power to help Olga.
+
+I hurried from the house to Paula Tueski.  I reckoned to get from her
+the best hints as to where my exertions could be most usefully exerted.
+But I did not find her and the news at her house was disconcerting
+somewhat.  She had been called for suddenly and had gone out, leaving
+no word where she was to be found nor when she would return.  All quite
+contrary to her usual custom.
+
+I went on then to the chief police office.  I was in uniform of course,
+and was received with the greatest politeness, but no information was
+given to me.  The man who gave me an interview was complacency itself.
+
+"I am grieved to be able to give you no information, Lieutenant," he
+said, politely.  "But you know how our hands are tied and how one's
+lips are sealed in this office.  In anything but that matter I am your
+most obedient servant: indeed, if in that very affair you can suggest
+how I can be of service, I pray you to command me."
+
+"My sister was arrested by your men?" I asked.
+
+"Most arrests are carried out by our men," was the reply.
+
+"What is the charge against her?"
+
+"I have not an idea."
+
+"By whose orders was the arrest made?"
+
+"By those of my superiors.  I have but to obey."
+
+"Where is she now?"
+
+For answer he shrugged his shoulders, smiled blandly, and shook his
+head slowly.
+
+"Can I see her?"
+
+"Yes, of course--with an order."
+
+"Whose order?"
+
+"Anyone who is my superior."
+
+"Can you give me an order?"  He repeated his gesture, murmuring an
+expression of regret.
+
+"You have not told me much," I said, and he smiled deprecatingly.  "But
+it is enough to tell me where I must look for information."
+
+His smile changed to one of congratulation, and, rising, he gave me his
+hand.
+
+"Lieutenant, a brave man like you shall always command my sympathies
+and services so far as my duty permits," and with that official
+reservation he bowed me out with the most profuse of polite gestures.
+
+I thought I saw from where the stroke came, and without any longer
+delay I hurried to the Prince Bilbassoff.
+
+He was at first said to be out; and for some half hour I cooled my
+heels and warmed my temper and impatience striding up and down in front
+of the building.  Then he was denied to me on the ground that he was
+very busily engaged; and only when I insisted that my business was
+exceptionally urgent and personal, was I admitted to an antechamber and
+left waiting there with some half dozen other.
+
+The servant took my message, but instead of returning instantly, as had
+been my previous experience, to lead me at once to the Prince's room, I
+was left to fume in my impatience for several minutes.
+
+I rang the bell angrily and when the servant came ordered him to shew
+me to the Prince instantly.  But he would not, saying he dared not
+without orders from his master, and that he had given my message and
+could do no more.
+
+I augured ill from this reception, but was in no mood to brook delay.
+I had nothing to lose now by boldness, and as soon as the fellow had
+turned his back I went to the door which I knew to be that of the
+Prince's room, and pushing aside the man who stood on guard outside,
+knocked, opened it, and marched in unceremoniously.
+
+The Prince was in close conference with a couple of men and when he saw
+me he jumped up and asked me how I dared to intrude in that way.
+
+"I have something urgent and private to say to you," said I, coolly.
+"If these gentlemen will give us five minutes it will be enough."
+
+A moment's reflection sufficed to change his anger to equanimity,
+forced or genuine, I didn't care which, and he dismissed the men.
+
+"There can be only one reason why you come here," he said, as soon as
+we were alone, speaking in a very sharp tone.
+
+"On the contrary there may be two," I replied, copying his sharpness.
+
+"The only condition on which I can receive you, Lieutenant, is the one
+I told you some hours since.  Have you come to comply with it?"
+
+"I have come to ask you why you have arrested my sister and where she
+is."
+
+"Arrested whom?" he asked, with a sharp look I didn't understand.
+
+"My sister."
+
+"Who is that?"  This with a smile of indescribable meaning.
+
+"You knew well enough when I was here this afternoon."
+
+"On the contrary, I knew no more than I know now.  I don't even know
+that you have a sister.  Have you?"
+
+Either the man was a lunatic, or he knew everything.  Here was
+obviously the reason of the altered reception.  But I would not betray
+myself by a single word or gesture.
+
+"I am speaking of my sister, Olga Petrovitch, whom you rescued from the
+hands of Major Devinsky.  Now, do you know what I mean?"
+
+"No," he answered stolidly.
+
+"Well, do you know whom I mean?"
+
+"I know of Olga Petrovitch."
+
+"Then what the devil do you mean?" I cried angrily.  "You have arrested
+her, haven't you?"
+
+"She has been arrested," he answered quietly.
+
+"What for?"
+
+"You seem very anxious on her account."
+
+"Would you have a man indifferent when his sister is whisked off to
+gaol by the police devils of yours?"
+
+"Indifferent?  No, indeed; certainly not.  Even I am not indifferent
+about it.  It has been of the utmost use to me, in fact."
+
+"How long are you going to keep up these riddles, Prince?  I don't
+pretend to be your equal at that kind of fence, and as it's perfectly
+evident to me you think you have a knotted whip for my back I'll wait
+till you're ready to lay it on."
+
+He laughed at that.
+
+"Are you going to accept my conditions?" he asked.
+
+"It will depend absolutely on the result of this interview."
+
+He paused half a minute and then taking a paper from his pocket tossed
+it to me with a laugh.
+
+"Here's the key.  How do you read it?" he asked, lightly.
+
+It was indeed the key, and the instant my eyes fell on it I saw
+everything.
+
+It was the permit found on Olga.
+
+The game was up; but I wouldn't play the craven.
+
+I tossed it back to him and laughed, a more natural and mirthful laugh
+than his, though I scented death in the air.
+
+"I understand it pretty well," I said, as lightly as he had spoken.
+"But if you don't mind I think I'll keep my own counsel."
+
+"You know what it means?" he asked.
+
+"To me?"  He nodded.  "I can guess," I said.
+
+"And to her?"
+
+"No, I don't know that.  But I know your law is damned hard on women."
+
+"And this Tueski woman--why did she get this permit for--your sister?"
+He paused on the word.
+
+"Wanted her out of the way, that's all."
+
+"Is what she says true--all true?"
+
+"That depends on what she says."
+
+"It's a strange tale.  That you're not what you call yourself; that
+you've taken the place of Lieutenant Alexis Petrovitch; that you're a
+Nihilist of the Nihilists; that you murdered her husband; and that she
+has the proofs of all this."
+
+"Why did you arrest her?" I asked, as an idea occurred to me.
+
+"That," he said, pointing to the permit.
+
+"Did she volunteer her statement?"
+
+A laugh of diabolical cunning spread over his face.
+
+"Yes--when she believed you had deceived her and had fled with--your
+sister.  Boy, no one can guard himself against a jealous Russian woman."
+
+"Now, I see a little more clearly.  But why did you arrest Olga
+Petrovitch?"
+
+"Your visit to my sister this afternoon.  You were too solicitous for
+the poor girl's nerves, and we thought it might be better for you to
+know that she was in safe guardianship until you had made your
+decision.  There would at any rate be no pressing need for you to think
+of her leaving the country; or feel it desirable to go with her to take
+care of her in her shattered condition.  And we were right.  But even I
+did not expect a tithe of all that has come from the step.  It is
+indeed seldom that I get so genuine a surprise."
+
+"And what are you going to do--now?"
+
+"How much of this woman's tale is true?"
+
+"One third of it.  I am not Alexis Petrovitch; but neither am I a
+Nihilist, nor a murderer."
+
+"Who are you!"
+
+"An Englishman--Hamylton Tregethner."
+
+"But your speech--your accent--your Russian?"
+
+"I was brought up in Moscow for the first sixteen years of my life."
+
+"Tregethner, Hamylton Tregethner," he murmured, repeating the name as
+if it were not wholly unfamiliar to him.  Then after a pause he asked
+me where the real Lieutenant Petrovitch was; and questioned me
+searchingly and very shrewdly as to the whole details of my change of
+identity.  I concealed nothing.
+
+"You English are devils," he said, when his questions were nearly
+exhausted.  "I hate the lot of you--except you.  And you're as big a
+devil as any of them.  But you have the pluck of a hundred."
+
+I shrugged my shoulders, laughed, lolled back in my chair and lighted a
+cigarette.
+
+"I've enjoyed it," I said, "and that's the plain truth.  I didn't like
+the lies I had to tell; but then I never had any training in the
+diplomatic service, and that makes the difference.  But all the same
+I've enjoyed it; and what's more, if it had been possible, I'd have
+fought for the Little Father as keenly as any born Russ in the ranks.
+But it's over, and so far as I'm concerned, you can do what you like
+with me.  I should like to save that girl.  She's one in ten thousand
+for pluck.  And you owe her something too, as she saved my life from a
+treacherous thrust of Devinsky's sword for you to take it.  You might
+let her have her liberty in its place.  It's infernally hard on the
+girl that her cowardly brute of a brother should let her in for all
+this mess; and then that I, with all the good will in the world, should
+thrust her deeper into the mud.  It's damned hard!"
+
+The Prince was watching me closely and thinking hard.
+
+"Why did you hesitate to accept my proposal?" he asked, sharply.
+
+"For a very plain reason.  While I appreciated the honour and advantage
+of an alliance with your sister, I loved Olga Petrovitch, and preferred
+to marry her."
+
+"I won't tell my sister that," he said, laughing sardonically.  After a
+pause he added:--"How much does--your sister know of our matter?"
+
+"Everything."
+
+"Names?" and he stared as if to penetrate right into my brain.
+
+"No--not of the man to be fought."
+
+"On your honour?"
+
+"On my honour."
+
+"If she is released, will you go on with it?"
+
+"If she is put across the frontier," I returned grimly.
+
+"Don't you trust me?"
+
+"You, yes; but your agents, no."  He smiled.
+
+"You should go far with the daring with which you push your fortunes."
+
+"Probably I shall go on till my head falls by the wayside," I answered.
+I was utterly reckless now.  But my tactics succeeded when nothing else
+could have won.
+
+He took a form and wrote.
+
+"Here is the permit for her to leave the country.  It is yours--on
+conditions."
+
+"What are they?  Never mind what they are," I added, quickly.  "I
+accept them in advance.  Save that girl, who is innocent, and do what
+you like with me."
+
+"Do you know what I ought to do with you?" he asked.
+
+"Yes; better than you do.  Write me a permit also and have me conducted
+to the frontier at the same time.  But I don't know what you think you
+should do."
+
+"I ought to write out a very different order and have you both sent
+straight to the Mallovitch yonder; and let things take their course."
+
+"Well, it's fortunate for me then," I replied, with a laugh, "that your
+interest and your judgment pull different ways.  You won't do that,
+Prince."
+
+"How do I know that you are not a Nihilist?"
+
+"Instinct, judgment, knowledge of men, knowledge of me--everything.
+Besides, if you want proof, no one knows better than yourself that a
+cipher telegram sent to London, and inquiries made in half a dozen
+places that I can mention, will put ample proofs in your hands to shew
+who I am.  So far as I know there's one man in Russia at the present
+moment and actually coming to Moscow, who'll stir up the British
+Legation and every British consulate in the country to the search for
+Hamylton Tregethner.  That's the Hon. Rupert Balestier."  Then I told
+him what had happened in Paris.  At first he smiled, but soon grew
+thoughtful again.
+
+"I warn you, too," I added, when he made no answer, "that if you chop
+my head off or stifle me in one of your infernal prisons, or send me
+packing to Siberia, Balestier is just the man to raise a devil of a
+clatter.  And you don't want a row with our Foreign Office just at the
+moment when things are so ticklish with the Sick Man."
+
+He waved his hand as if to put all such considerations away from him.
+
+"If the girl you call your sister had got away, did you mean to try to
+escape?"
+
+"Certainly I did," replied I, frankly, and I told him the scheme I had
+formed.
+
+"And now?"
+
+"If I give my word I shall keep it.  You Russians never seem to think a
+man will keep his parole to his own disadvantage.  We English think
+differently--and act as we think."
+
+"If we postpone this talk till to-morrow, have I your word that you'll
+make no attempt to escape?"
+
+"No, indeed, you haven't.  Let this girl go at once; then you can have
+it and welcome."
+
+"You seem to forget that I can keep you under guard?"
+
+"I forget nothing of the kind.  Clap me into a prison and you may
+whistle for anyone to carry out--to do what you wish.  You can decide
+now, or lose the option.  That's in the rules of a game like this."
+
+"You carry things with a high hand," he cried angrily.
+
+"Most probably I shouldn't be here if I didn't," said I, with a laugh.
+"It's my advantage to force the pace at this juncture; and the risk's
+too big to throw away a single chance."
+
+He made no reply, but pushing back his chair got up and walked about
+the room, in a state of indecision absolutely foreign to his character
+and habits.
+
+I knew how momentous the decision was.  If I were the dangerous
+Nihilist that Paula Tueski had declared, the risk of letting me free
+and entrusting to me such a task as that we had discussed was critical
+and deadly.  The Russian instinct was to clap me into a gaol and be
+done with me; but the personal feeling pulled him in the other
+direction--to use me for a tool in the project that was all in all to
+him.  With the Grand Duke once out of his path there was nothing
+between him and almost absolute rule.
+
+I watched him with an anxiety he little suspected, for my manner was
+studiously careless, indifferent, and reckless.
+
+"Did you give this girl any particular task if she escaped?" he asked,
+stopping suddenly in his walk close to me.
+
+"Certainly; to find Rupert Balestier, tell him of my position, and get
+him to try and smooth away the difficulties.  I had also arranged how
+she could communicate with and find me if I managed to get away."
+
+He took the answer as I gave it with perfect frankness, and it seemed
+to help his decision.  He resumed his pacing backwards and forwards.
+
+Two or three minutes later he stopped his walk and taking the permit he
+had written held it out to me.
+
+"Will you give me your word as an English gentleman that if I give you
+this and allow the girl to leave Russia, you will make no attempt to
+escape, and will go on with the proposal we have discussed?"
+
+It was my turn to hesitate now.
+
+"No, I cannot," I said after a moment's thought.  "An Englishman cannot
+lend himself out as an assassin, Prince Bilbassoff.  I will do this.  I
+will give you my word of honour not to attempt to leave Russia, and if
+a meeting between the Grand Duke and myself can be arranged without
+dishonour to me, I pledge myself to meet him.  I will never take that
+word back unless you release me; but more I cannot do.  Let Olga
+Petrovitch go, and you shall do as you will with me."
+
+"I take your word," he said, quietly.  "Your identity will remain
+unknown.  Your sister will leave for the frontier under escort at
+midnight.  You can take the news to her, and she can leave with you to
+make her arrangements for departure.  I hold you responsible for her;
+and you will explain only what is necessary to her.  You remain a
+Russian."
+
+And with the permit and the order for her instant release in my hand I
+left him, conscious that I had been brushing my back against a dungeon
+door the whole time and had only just escaped finding myself on the
+wrong side of it.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXV.
+
+COILS THAT NO MAN COULD BREAK.
+
+Poor Olga!  I shall not easily forget the effect the news had on her.
+
+I went out from the interview impregnated with the conviction that I
+was now indeed hopelessly baffled.  I saw how completely the whole
+position had been changed.  The very axis had shifted.  And the
+knowledge that I had to make Olga understand it all before she left
+Russia was more unpalatable and depressing than I can describe.
+
+Up to the present moment there had indeed been the slight off-chance
+that we should both escape, and the knowledge that if we could only do
+so, we might find happiness in another country.  But that hope was as
+dead as a coffin nail.  I was bound to Moscow by a shackle more
+powerful than iron fetters.  I had pledged myself not to attempt to go
+until the Prince himself had given me permission; and I knew that he
+would never think of doing this until the duel had been in some way
+arranged.  On the other hand the Nihilist attack on the Emperor was to
+be made in two days' time.  If it succeeded an ignominious death at the
+hands of the law could be the only result for me; while if it failed,
+death was almost as certain at the hands of the Nihilists who would
+adjudge me their betrayer.
+
+Between the upper and nether millstones I was helpless; certain only of
+being crushed by them.  Thus nothing could make me believe that I
+should ever again set eyes on the woman whose release I had thus
+secured and whom I now loved with all my heart.
+
+Nor could I part from her without allowing her to see something of this.
+
+She was indeed so quick to appreciate the meaning of what I told her,
+that all the sweet pleasure and gladness she shewed when welcoming me
+changed in a moment to sadness.
+
+"I would ten thousand times rather not go," she said.  "I do not care
+what they do to me.  I have brought you into this, and it is me they
+should punish," she said more than once.
+
+"But you can't do what this man wants, Olga," said I with a smile, to
+reassure her.  "If you could, he would probably let me go and hold on
+to you.  If I couldn't, he would hold on to us both.  But you must go
+for this reason.  You must find Balestier and tell him to come here.
+He must stop making a fuss about Hamylton Tregethner, and just come on
+here and see me and let us try together to find out some solution of
+the puzzle.  But he must hold his tongue unless talking to the right
+pair of ears."
+
+"I shall know no rest till I find him," replied Olga instantly.  "And
+if I do not, I shall come back here.  I will not leave you like this."
+
+I kissed her; but did not tell her that so far as I was concerned her
+return would be useless, for the cogent reason that I should not be
+alive.  It was impossible that I could survive by many hours the
+Imperial visit.  This I kept from her, however, for the farewell was
+already more than sufficiently sad and trying; and I doubt if any
+consideration on earth would have induced her to leave if she had
+really known how imminent was my danger.
+
+I talked much indeed of the help Balestier might be able to render, and
+thus impressed on her strongly the need for her to find him, however
+long it might take her.  This giving her a task and connecting it with
+the work of helping me, kept her hope alive and tended to reconcile her
+to the parting, so that in the end she shook off much of her
+depression.  I could see also she was battling with her feelings to
+distress me as little as possible.
+
+I loved her the more as I saw this, but the parting was such pain for
+us both, that I was glad when it was over.  I stood and watched the
+train steam out of the station and saw her leaning from the carriage
+window to catch the last glimpse of me.  And I was sad indeed, as I
+turned away with a positively choking sense of loneliness such as I had
+never felt before in all my life.
+
+The departure of my brave little sister, clever-witted counsellor, and
+dearest companion seemed to leave such a void in my life that in the
+first hours which followed her departure I mourned for her as one
+grieves for the dead.  And in truth she was dead to me.
+
+But the events of the day following left me little time for meditation.
+It was Sunday and a day of brisk action.  Early in the morning there
+were special regimental duties; and on my return to my rooms for
+breakfast I found waiting for me a stranger, whose card, given to my
+servant, described him as "J. W. Junker, St Petersburg Gazette."
+
+He rose at my entrance and said in a very pleasant voice:--
+
+"Excuse a journalist's liberty in coming to you.  I am the special
+correspondent of the St Petersburg Gazette and have come to do the
+Czar's visit, and I should very much like a word with you on the
+matter."
+
+"I don't see where I can be of any help, but if there's anything I can
+tell you, fire away," I said.  "I've had a couple of hours' drill this
+morning, however, and I have to be on the parade ground in less than an
+hour, so you must excuse me if I have my breakfast while we chat.  But
+perhaps you'll join me?"
+
+"With the greatest pleasure," and down he sat, and while the servant
+was in the room for the first few minutes, he chatted away like the
+bright and pleasant fellow he appeared to be.  But as soon as my man
+had left the room, his manner changed suddenly and his voice took a
+direct earnest tone that made me look at him in some astonishment.
+
+"Don't have that fellow back again.  Is it all acting, or don't you
+really recognise me?  I knew you in a moment."
+
+"Did you?  Well, I certainly don't know you.  I never met a
+journalist----"  He broke in with a short laugh and waved his hand with
+a quick gesture of imperative impatience as he stared at me hard.  His
+manner annoyed me.
+
+"Well, if you're not what you said you were, what the devil are you
+doing here?  What do you want?" I felt like pitching him out of the
+place.
+
+"Didn't you expect me?"
+
+"Expect you?  No; how should I?"
+
+"Instructions were sent to prepare you."
+
+"I can only say I haven't the ghost of a notion what you want."
+
+"To complete the arrangements for to-morrow's glorious event," and his
+face lighted with a momentary enthusiasm.
+
+"How am I to know you?" I asked, suspiciously.
+
+"I am Gorvas Lassthum; and I saw you twelve months ago when the other
+plan was laid, as you will remember, and failed.  Your memory is
+treacherous, my friend."
+
+"There are some things I train it to forget," I answered, equivocally.
+
+I was in a fix.  I guessed the man was a Nihilist agent, of course, and
+his air of self-importance suggested that he was high up in the
+leadership.  But on the other hand Moscow was at the moment swarming
+with spies of all kinds; and this might be one.  I assumed an air of
+extreme caution therefore, and after a flash of thought added: "And
+some that I prefer not to know at all.  It pleases me now to hold that
+from my side you and I are strangers.  You know me well; say then just
+what you wish to say.  I on my side don't know you, and prefer to say
+nothing."
+
+"Good," he cried; and reaching out offered me his hand and when I gave
+him mine, he pressed it and said earnestly:--"Would God we had more men
+like you--so ready in act and so cautious in word."
+
+I bowed and made no other sign.
+
+"You have the orders for the disposition of the troops to-morrow, and
+at the last minute the whole of them, or the most of them, will be
+changed.  You yourself will be detailed to guard that part of the line
+which runs over the flat stretch by the river on the further side of
+the Vsatesk station.  Guard it well; for a greater life than that of
+the Emperor depends on your vigilance--the life of the People."
+
+As he said this another of those little flashes of light that seemed to
+transform him from a pleasant man of the world into an enthusiast leapt
+into his eyes.  A pause followed in which I said nothing.
+
+"Your orders will be to station your men at set distances on either
+side of the line--it being an easy place to guard--and you will have
+some three miles of the line under your command.  It is good.  Now,
+take thought.  At one point in about the centre of your section, the
+land dips and the line is embanked to a height of some ten feet, for a
+length of about half a mile.  At that spot there are four alder
+trees--three to the left of the line, and one to the right.  These
+three form an irregular triangle, one side of which is much shorter
+than the others; and if you follow the short line which those two trees
+make, you will find that they form a comparatively straight line with
+the fourth tree on the other side of the railway embankment.  Do you
+follow me?"
+
+He made a rough model on the table-cloth, using some of the breakfast
+things for the purpose of shewing the positions of the railway and the
+trees.
+
+"No one can mistake that," I said.
+
+"Well, you are to take up your position here, you yourself, I mean,
+here, in a dead straight line between these two trees"--demonstrating
+them on the table-cloth--"for this is where there will be an accident.
+And now, pay close heed to this.  You will go out by train; and when
+your men are paraded at the station they will be joined by five of
+ours.  These will mingle with yours at the very last moment; and if any
+questions are asked they will produce the necessary authority.  These
+five men you will arrange carefully to take the next five positions to
+you on your right hand.  When the train leaves the line, they will
+instantly close round and guard the Emperor's carriage; and you will
+see that nothing prevents them.  That is all you have to do; and if you
+act discreetly you will run no risk.  You will not fail.  They know
+their duties and will do them; and will let no one come between them
+and their noble task.  Five bolder men do not breathe in all Russia.
+Remember, they are to be stationed next to you on your right.  You
+understand?"
+
+"Every item."
+
+"It is a great day for you, friend," he said.
+
+"It is a great day for Russia," I returned; and soon after he left me.
+
+I was filled with the most anxious doubt as to what course I ought to
+take to checkmate this horrible plot, of which I was the most unwilling
+depository and was marked out as the forced agent.
+
+During the whole day I was turning the problem over and over in my
+thoughts: and I could see no course that would be at all effective in
+thwarting the plot without at the same time exposing myself to all the
+hazard of being punished as a Nihilist.  I could, of course, tell the
+police or Prince Bilbassoff, but this meant a double danger for me.
+They would take measures to alter the arrangements as to the visit; the
+reason for this would have to be told to the Czar; it would certainly
+leak out to the Nihilists, and I should be a mark for their assassins
+at once.  On the other hand the story told by Paula Tueski would seem
+to have the corroboration which my acquaintance with Nihilist matters
+would give to it, and I should be in peril there.
+
+One consideration there was that gave some reassurance.  I had already
+had the orders for the distribution of the troops, and I knew that I
+was to be miles away from those cursed alder trees at the moment when
+the Czar would be passing.  I knew too that if the plot went wrong in
+that main feature, it would fail altogether.
+
+The Nihilists were not such fools as to draw down on themselves all the
+sensational punishments which would inevitably follow the discovery of
+an organised attempt on the life of the Czar, for the mere empty
+purpose of sending the Imperial train off the line.  Unless therefore,
+they had some emissary so highly placed as to be in possession of the
+information long before any of us in Moscow knew about it, the whole
+machinery was likely to be stopped for the one flaw.  And though I had
+had some proofs of the extraordinary accuracy of their information, I
+could not believe their power to be such as this necessitated.
+
+But in the afternoon, when according to arrangement I went again to the
+Prince Bilbassoff, startling news awaited me, that redoubled all these
+doubts and difficulties, and set them buzzing and rushing through my
+brain, threatening to muddle my wits altogether.
+
+There was a distinct change in the manner of his reception of me, and
+it pleased me to set this down to the fact that his opinion of me was
+raised by the knowledge that the black past of Alexis Petrovitch was
+mine only by adoption, and that in reality I had the clean antecedents
+of an English gentleman.
+
+"I can't give you more than a few minutes," he said, "and I must
+therefore squeeze as much as possible into them.  I have taken your
+suggestion and have wired to London to find out about you.  The result
+is what I am bound to say I hoped; and the consequences are I am going
+to trust you."
+
+"That's as you please," said I, quietly.
+
+"It does please me, because I don't want this duel to fall through.
+Now you want some cause for fighting that will satisfy your honour.
+Will you fight this man if he insults you?"
+
+"I'll fight any man who does that," I replied.
+
+"Now, whose officer are you?"
+
+"The Czar's, while I am in Russia."
+
+"Will you risk your life in his service?"
+
+"My sword is absolutely at his service."
+
+"If you should hear His Majesty insulted in your presence would you
+face the man who did it?"
+
+"As surely as effect follows cause."
+
+"Then this man's whole life is an insult to the Czar."
+
+"In what way?"
+
+"He is a Nihilist to his finger-tips.  His presence near the throne is
+a standing menace to the Emperor; his hand is ever raised to seek his
+Majesty's life; and his whole life is that of a traitor who learns the
+highest secrets only to betray them to these enemies of God and the
+Emperor."
+
+"What proof have you?" I asked in the profoundest astonishment.  I
+began to see now how the most secret information leaked out.
+
+"None, boy.  Or do you think he would be where he is for an hour?"
+
+"Then how do you know it?"
+
+"If a secret is known to three people, two of whom you know to be as
+staunch as steel, and yet it gets out--how do you think it happens?  If
+this happens not only once but two or three times, what do you think of
+the man?  This man is a traitor; and as surely as there is a God in
+Heaven, the Crown is not firmly on my master's head while the man
+remains alive.  Now, will you fight him?"
+
+"The matter is a public, not personal, one: Russian not English.  My
+sword is not a bravo's to be hired for that sort of work."
+
+He swore a deep oath under his breath at this, and then changed it to a
+laugh with an ugly ring in it.
+
+"If you mean to climb, my young cockerel, we must see more of your
+spurs and hear less of your scruples.  Personal!  Good God, what more
+do you want?  Aren't you the Emperor's own property?  Isn't the Little
+Father in danger?  Isn't that enough?  Personal!  Ugh.  Well, is this
+personal enough for you?  His Highness has already done you the honour
+to pick you out for the favour of his ill will.  This is a letter which
+by one of those little accidents that do sometimes happen in my office,
+has fallen into my hands.  He is writing to an agent of his here in
+Moscow.  Listen: 'There is a young lieutenant of the Moscow Infantry
+Regiment, named Petrovitch, about whom I want all the possible
+information.  He is a dishonourable scoundrel, I understand--a dicing,
+gambling, drinking fellow, who thinks he can crow and strut on the
+crest of his dunghill with impunity because he had the luck to beat a
+better man than himself in a duel, and the insolence to insult another
+officer--one of my friends--and then hide himself under official
+protection.  I hear now that he is meditating another and a greater
+coup.  I know much about him, but want you to get me as much more
+information as possible.  Such swash-buckling knaves are a disgrace and
+danger to everything they touch.  He is not to be trusted in anything
+and all reasons make his overthrow necessary.'"
+
+As he finished reading the extract, the Prince paused and lowering the
+letter looked at me over the top.  Then without giving me time to
+answer, he continued:--
+
+"Your 'butcher Durescq' was this man's close friend and tool--doing his
+work for him.  It was through this patron's influence that Durescq
+escaped being turned out of the army altogether.  Now, you can see two
+things--why this man hates you, and how it was I heard of you.  Is that
+personal enough, Lieutenant?"
+
+"By God, I should think it is," cried I, on fire with rage.  "What does
+he dare to interfere with me for?"  As I asked the question the reason
+flashed upon me as by inspiration.  He had heard of my being associated
+with Prince Bilbassoff and was afraid that as I knew so much about
+Nihilism, I should get to learn of his connection with it, and he thus
+deemed it best to have me put out of the way.  He meant to have me
+"removed."  When I looked up, the Prince's keen subtle eyes were fixed
+on me with calculating intentness.
+
+"It is curious that this man should fix on you as the object of his
+resentment--even though he is a Nihilist.  Take care, my friend.  I
+know you have inherited a Nihilist black cloak and dagger with your
+other undesirable possessions; beware how you use them."
+
+"I believe the real Alexis had dealings with them," I said.
+
+"If this Tueski woman manages to let them understand the truth, then,
+you will need the wariest wits in the world to avoid stumbling."
+
+"You have maddened me," I cried, as if impetuously, and in the highest
+excitement.  "Get me a meeting with that villain and were he twenty
+times the swordsman he is, and covered in iron mail from head to foot,
+my sword should find a chink to let the life out of him.  I am on fire."
+
+Then I rushed away; for in truth I dared not stay to be any longer
+questioned about my relations with the Nihilists.
+
+It all seemed clear to me now.  They meant to use me for the horrible
+business of the following day; and then under some pretext get rid of
+me--murder me if necessary--or denounce me.  This man held that I knew
+too much for his safety.
+
+All this was supposing, of course, that I escaped the danger of the
+plot itself.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVI.
+
+MY DECISION.
+
+The news I heard from Prince Bilbassoff wrought me to a higher pitch of
+excitement than anything that had ever happened in my life.  I was in a
+very highly strung condition, and my nerves were no doubt greatly
+wrought upon as the result of the stirring events of the previous few
+days.  That may have rendered me unduly susceptible to this new
+development.
+
+Be that as it may, I went out of the Prince's presence filled with a
+spurring desire to kill the man who as it seemed to me was planning my
+ruin in this most treacherous manner.
+
+The view I took was that this Grand Duke was moved by the double motive
+of personal anger on the score of my affair with Alexandre Durescq and
+of a feeling of insecurity on account of the knowledge I had of his
+Nihilism.  I knew too much to be trusted.  The issues were so
+tremendous, the decision I had to make so full of moment, and the time
+for me to choose my course so short, that my wits had need to be at
+their sharpest.
+
+I had out my horse and went for a hard gallop--one of the best
+prescriptions I know of to clear a tangled judgment.  It acted now.  As
+I rode at hot speed my thoughts began to settle; and then gradually a
+scheme occurred to me, wild, desperate, and hazardous at best, and
+fraught with fearful risks to others beside myself; but yet if
+successful, offering me what I wanted above all--complete deliverance
+from the whole of my present difficulties.
+
+My first thought in all was for myself.  Not for the Emperor, nor the
+army, nor Russia, nor any big interests--for myself and for my escape
+from the country whose most unwilling guest and compulsory servant I
+was.  Had I been a Russian officer in reality, I could have taken but
+one course--disclosed the Nihilist plot, or so much of it as I knew,
+and thus have checkmated the whole devilish business at once.  Had I
+ever received any particular mark of favour at the hands of the
+Government or the country, gratitude would have urged me to take the
+same course.
+
+But I owed nothing to a soul in all Russia.  Everyone had tried to use
+me as a tool.  The Colonel of the regiment had begun by making use of
+my quarrel with Durescq to humiliate Devinsky.  The officers, almost
+without exception, had swaggered over me contemptuously until my skill
+as a swordsman shewed them the price of contempt might be death.  The
+Nihilists had first tried to assassinate me, and only when I had seemed
+to serve their ends with more daring and secrecy than any other man
+among them, had they turned with a demand for more sacrifices; while
+this Grand Duke, apparently one of the chief of them, was even now
+planning to get rid of me.  Prince Bilbassoff was in the same list; and
+without a doubt would have shut up both Olga and myself on Paula
+Tueski's accusation, had he not wished to hire me as an assassin.
+Everywhere I turned it was the same.
+
+What then did I owe to Russia that I should think of any single
+consideration except my own safety and welfare?
+
+The question which I asked myself therefore, was whether I could plunge
+my hand into this seething cauldron of intrigue and murder and pluck
+out my own safety.
+
+A word from me would foil the whole Nihilist plot, and the Czar would
+make his entry into Moscow in due form and time.  But how should I
+profit?  Supposing the Nihilist calculations were correct, and I was
+appointed to the section of the line where the "accident" was to
+happen, I should have to contrive obstacles and make difficulties which
+would in all probability draw down on me the suspicions of the whole
+Nihilist crew.  Add that element of suspicion to the feeling which the
+Grand Duke already entertained and was inculcating into others, and
+what chance was there of my escaping either open ruin or assassination?
+
+Assuming that I did escape even, what should I gain?  I was tied to
+Russia by the word I had passed to the Prince, and could not hope to be
+set free from it until I had either fought the Grand Duke, or until the
+Prince was convinced that the duel was impossible.  But as the Duke
+looked on me as nothing less than a pestilential traitor to the
+Nihilist cause, was it likely that he would consent to meet me?
+Certainly not.  Even if we added the cause which the Prince had
+suggested--the spurious betrothal to the Princess--I should get no
+benefit.  The Grand Duke would merely regard that as an additional
+reason for having me removed secretly from his path.
+
+All this meant therefore, that even if I thwarted the plot in this way,
+I should be kept in Russia and apart from Olga, until the Grand Duke
+consented to fight me; or, in other words, until his emissaries had
+convinced themselves that they could not manage to assassinate me.  Nor
+was it probable that that conviction would come until they had made a
+series of unsuccessful efforts.
+
+A pleasant prospect, truly!
+
+On the other hand, if I did nothing and allowed the infernal plot to be
+carried through and the Emperor murdered, it would mean death to me;
+certain death.  As the officer placed in charge of the section of the
+line where the deed would be done, who had allowed the murderers
+disguised as soldiers to mix with my troops; who had actually posted
+them at the very spot where the train was to be derailed; and who above
+all was already suspected of Nihilist intrigue; I was certain of
+conviction, even without the Grand Duke's special animosity.  Add that,
+however, and the result was as dead certain as that night alternates
+with day.
+
+If I was to escape, therefore, it must be by a shrewd stroke dealt by
+myself alone and for myself alone.  And such a stroke it was that
+suggested itself in the course of that ride.
+
+Briefly, it was to allow everything to go forward right to the very
+supreme moment, and then by personal effort to save the Emperor's life
+by my own hand in such a way as to draw the Imperial attention directly
+on myself.
+
+I thought I saw how it could be done: and when I turned my horse's head
+homeward I rode at a slower pace, meditating all the details of the
+plan with the closest attention.  The Nihilists had told me enough to
+shew me how to act; and my sense of fair play urged me to use the
+knowledge for my sole advantage, and without involving a single
+Nihilist in danger by open denunciation.  I was a Nihilist against my
+will; and though I had been forced into the plot, I was altogether
+opposed to telling what had been told to me in this spirit of
+confidence.  At the same time I was a Russian officer, almost equally
+against my own seeking, and so long as I preserved the Emperor's life I
+need not regard other matters as a Russian officer would.
+
+By the time I reached my rooms I had my plans shaped, and my scheme
+developed; and my accustomed mood of calm, wary self-possession had
+returned.
+
+I changed and went to the club.  The place was crammed with the
+officers stationed in Moscow and their friends who had been sent into
+the city on special duty in connection with the Czar's visit on the
+following day.  Everyone was in the noisiest spirits.  Good news had
+come of the prospects of war.  All believed that on the next day the
+Little Father would make a ringing war speech that would render peace
+impossible; and many of the men were talking as though the sword had
+already leapt from the scabbard, and a million men, tramping warwards,
+were already driving the scared Turks before them, like husks before
+the winnowing fan.
+
+I lounged about the place, exchanging a word now and then with one or
+another of my acquaintances, and I saw some of the youngsters stop
+their war babble as I passed and whisper to their companions, and the
+latter would turn and look in my direction.  I was fool enough to be
+pleased at these little indications of the changed feelings with which
+in scarcely more than a month I had made my fellow-officers think and
+speak of "that devil Alexis."
+
+More than once I smiled to myself as I thought what a bomb-shell would
+be exploded in the room if they were all told the hazardous secret
+which filled my thoughts just at that moment.
+
+"To hell with the Turk, Alexis," cried Essaieff, catching sight of me
+and stopping me as I moved past.
+
+"May the Sick Man never recover!" I returned, answering in the form
+that was then in vogue with us all.
+
+"Drink, man, drink," he cried, excitedly, thrusting a glass of some
+kind of liquor to me.  It was evident he had been toasting the war
+pretty freely.  "Sit here with us.  Take it easy, man, now while we
+can.  We've a long march ahead before we catch a glimpse of the
+minarets of Constantinople.  Gentlemen, here is a Russian of whom you
+will hear much when the war comes.  Lieutenant Petrovitch of ours,
+gentlemen, my particular friend, and as good a fellow as ever held a
+commission.  You can do anything with him, except quarrel; then, damme,
+you must look out for yourself, for there isn't a man in Moscow, nor I
+believe in Russia, can get through his guard; and as for shooting, God!
+I believe if a single devil of a Turk shews only the shadow of an
+eyelash round the corner of a fortification, he'll hit him with a
+ricochet.  'That devil Alexis,' he is to us; and if the devil's only
+half as good a fellow as this, I'll be content for one to serve him."
+
+"I've heard of Lieutenant Petrovitch," said one of the men, as he bowed
+to me ceremoniously and lifted his glass in response to Essaieff's
+toast.
+
+"Then you will know how to discount the exaggerations of my good friend
+Essaieff," said I, quietly.
+
+"On the contrary, I knew Durescq."
+
+"Is Lieutenant Petrovitch the officer who was in that matter?" asked
+another, shewing great interest in me at once.
+
+"I should think he is," cried Essaieff, noisily enthusiastic.  "It was
+in this very room that the thing occurred.  I'll tell you...."
+
+"Essaieff, my dear fellow, I'd much rather not," I interrupted; and
+turning to one of the officers I asked:--"Do you really think the war
+will come now?"  But Essaieff would not let me change the subject.
+
+"War come? of course it will; but this is something much better than
+war just now," he burst in.  "Several of us thought there was mischief
+in the air when we saw Devinsky and Durescq together, and I was
+standing there, waiting for...."
+
+"Excuse me," I interrupted, rising.  "I wish to speak to a man I see
+over there; and really I can't stand Essaieff when he gets on this
+theme," and with that excuse I left.
+
+Wherever I went there were the same signs of revelry, excitement and
+pleasure.  All were anticipating a really splendid gala day on the
+morrow, with gaieties, festivities, balls, receptions, concerts,
+levees, everything that society deems life worth living for to follow.
+
+I went away very early.  I had to keep my nerves as firm as cold steel,
+and the noisy ruffled atmosphere of this place with its crowd of
+gesticulating, laughing, excited men, and the drink that was
+circulating so freely, formed the worst of all preparations for such a
+day as the morrow would be for me and the task I had to perform.
+
+Before going home I strolled through one or two of the broader streets;
+and everywhere I went I could not fail to observe that while the
+unusual throngs of people in the streets reflected the feelings of
+rejoicing that had animated the officers whom I had just left, and that
+all Moscow was slowly going mad with anticipative excitement, the
+number of police agents was multiplied many times over.  The leaven of
+suspicion embittered everything; and, as no one knew better than I,
+with what terrible cause.  As I mingled with the great, jostling,
+bantering crowd I found myself speculating how the majority of them
+would decide such an issue as that which had been bewildering me; and
+the wild task I had for the morrow made me feel like a thing apart from
+everyone of them--an alien not only in race, but in every attribute and
+aspiration.
+
+The contact with the crowd helped in a way to strengthen the decision I
+had made.  I was one against all these thousands; fighting by myself
+for my own hand against desperate odds, and with none to help me in a
+single detail.
+
+When I reached my rooms I went at once to bed, knowing that every
+minute of rest had its value as a preparation for the work of the
+following day.  I had made my resolution, formed my plans, thought out
+even the details.  I had gauged the risk and knew full well that the
+probabilities were all against my being alive on the following night.
+
+But this at least was equally certain--if I lived and was free I would
+have won my way out of Russia.
+
+These were the thoughts that filled me; and so occupied was I with them
+that it was not until I purposely put them away from me in order to get
+to sleep, that I recalled how little I had thought of Olga during the
+whole of that eventful day.
+
+She was in my thoughts when I fell asleep, however: and her face
+cheered me in my dreams.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVII.
+
+THE FOUR ALDER TREES.
+
+I was up very early on the morning of the Czar's visit.  We had a
+parade at 6.30 to receive final instructions; and as I walked to the
+barracks I was in high spirits, buoyant, self-confident, and
+alert--much as I had felt on the morning of my duel with Devinsky.  I
+could not have been in better tone.
+
+The morning air was very fresh and clear and the sunlight fell
+everywhere upon flags, decorations, triumphal arches, and the rest of
+the festal preparations for the great holiday to which work people were
+busy putting the final touches.
+
+Everybody seemed in the highest spirits.  Laughter and jest and a
+pleasant interchange of greetings rang on the air on all sides of me;
+and the whole city seemed to be already wreathed in smiles.
+
+My brother officers came straggling up after I had reached the ground,
+and more than one of them shewed abundant signs of the previous night's
+carouse; looking as though a couple more hours' sleep were sadly
+wanted.  Headaches abounded among them, and more than one regarded me
+with a sort of comical envy because I was not dull-eyed, pale, nor
+unrested.  They took it for granted that I had drunk as deeply as they,
+and set down my steady head as one more proof of my prowess.  Some men
+can always see something of a hero in the man who can drink heavily and
+yet shew no signs of his dissipation.
+
+When the Colonel came and we fell in, there was a disappointment for
+me.  My new plan was based on the correctness of the Nihilist
+information--that I should have the command of the troops guarding the
+section of the line where were four alder trees; and I reckoned
+confidently upon hearing from the Colonel of the alteration in the
+original plans.
+
+But no announcement of the sort was made.  On the contrary, as soon as
+the troops had fallen in, the arrangements which had been announced on
+the previous day were repeated; and I found that instead of being told
+off to take charge of the railway to the north of the city, I had to
+pass the whole day in guarding the Western Gate and the road for some
+distance on either side of it.  I was ordered to parade my men at eight
+o'clock and to march straight to the place of guard.
+
+I went home to breakfast, disappointed and disgusted.  I didn't care a
+jot about missing the sightseeing, but I was angry that the plan on
+which I had now set my heart had failed; and that instead of being able
+to strike a vigorous blow for my own freedom I should have to pass the
+hours dawdling about doing nothing more than a sort of police work in
+keeping order among a crowd of gaping, staring, gawky, country yokels.
+
+I was in an exceedingly ill temper therefore when I returned to the
+parade ground to start on my most unwelcome and unpalatable task.
+
+But I found the whole place in complete confusion and uproar, and the
+first words I heard were that the whole plan of the day's work had been
+altered; that the troops had been changed and interchanged in a most
+perplexing manner; that regiments and companies and even odd files of
+men had been mixed up in the greatest apparent confusion; and that not
+one of the original commands remained unaltered.
+
+I hurried to the Colonel for my orders, and found him cursing volubly
+and with tremendous energy at the infinite confusion the alterations
+had caused.  But he found me my orders readily--he was a splendid
+disciplinarian--and when I read them I marvelled indeed at the
+extraordinary exactness with which the Nihilists had been able to
+anticipate matters.
+
+My command was changed to the guarding of the three mile stretch of
+line outside the Vsatesk station, commencing a thousand yards to the
+north of that point.  I was to train out at once; post my men at 25
+yards distance; and allow no one to approach the line for two hours
+before the coming of the Imperial train, and until half an hour after
+it had passed; the time of its passing being given confidentially as
+2.45--two hours later than had been originally fixed for the actual
+arrival in Moscow.  More than that, the men under my command were not
+to be drawn solely from my own regiment, but from no less than three
+others, all specified, who were to meet me at the station.
+
+As I read these instructions I saw in them the influence of someone who
+must be both near to the Throne and intimately acquainted with the
+whole Nihilist plot.  The object of classing together under one command
+men taken suddenly from different regiments was a master-stroke of
+treachery for this particular work.  Apparently it prevented any
+collusion among any disaffected regiments, but in reality it opened the
+way for the five assassins to get into the ranks without the least
+suspicion; while the meeting at the railway station, probably urged as
+a necessity to save time at the moment when the plans had been all
+changed, must have been in fact designed solely for the purpose of the
+plot.
+
+He who was secretly behind all this was no ordinary man.  That was
+clear.  And I saw that in pitting my wits against his, seeing that he
+already had the Imperial ear, I should have to be wary indeed, if I
+wished to avoid a fall.  But I did not shirk the contest: and now that
+I knew I was really to have the chance, I clenched my teeth in
+desperate resolve.
+
+After incalculable trouble and much irritating delay, I got together
+the small company that came from my own regiment and marched them to
+the railway station.  I halted them and looked round for the
+detachments that were to join me.  I posted my men in a place that
+would lend itself well to the Nihilists joining them.  The three
+detachments of men reported soon after my arrival, each in charge of a
+sergeant; and when I had ascertained the train by which we were to
+travel--a matter of no small difficulty in the indescribable confusion
+that prevailed, I moved the whole two hundred to the platforms.
+
+I had seen nothing of the Nihilists, so far, and this caused me some
+surprise.  But on the platforms the order of the ranks could not be
+maintained and when about half of my command were entrained, I was
+addressed by one of a file of five men who reported that he and his
+comrades had been told off to accompany me; and he produced written
+instructions to that effect.
+
+I glanced at the order and saw that it was sufficiently in form to
+enable me to take the men with me, and while pretending to study the
+paper I looked searchingly at each of the men.  They were a daredevil
+set, in all truth, but they stood in their uniforms with as much
+military air as the average Russian rankers.
+
+I assumed an air of great vexation, and rapping out an oath, loud
+enough for all about me to hear, I called up the sergeant of my own
+regiment and telling him the men had been sent to join me, and cursing
+them and everybody in general for the interruption, told him to find
+places in the train for them.  In this way everything went smoothly,
+and we were soon gliding out of Moscow for the short run, while I sat
+back alone in the first-class compartment which I had had reserved for
+myself.
+
+I had still some slight preparations to make, and wished to be alone to
+think.  First I examined my arms carefully.  I looked to every chamber
+of my revolver.  Each bullet might mean a life before the day was three
+hours older.  Next, I looked to my sword.  It was the same that had
+seen me through my trouble with Devinsky and I knew it as a man learns
+to know the feel of his walking stick.  Lastly, I had a long deadly
+looking dagger; the sheath fastened to the right hip of my trousers
+where it could be drawn with the greatest ease.  As a final reserve I
+had in a small secret pocket a couple of pills--poison enough to kill
+half a dozen men.  I meant to make a quick end of things if they went
+wrong with me.
+
+Satisfied that everything was in order, I lay back and mapped out again
+the exact disposition of the men in my charge: and the precise course I
+meant to take at the critical moment.  I was still occupied in this
+when the train drew up at the little station, Vsatesk; and in less than
+half an hour later, I had reached my section and begun to post my men
+and was looking about me for the four alder trees and the exact spot
+where I had been warned to take my post.
+
+Knowing what I did about the Nihilist intentions, it was obviously
+unnecessary to pay much heed to any part of the line except that where
+I knew the "accident" would happen.  So I sent out a couple of
+sergeants to dispose the men on that part of the line which lay to the
+north of the four trees.
+
+These were easily found, and I carried out to the letter the Nihilist
+instructions to post the five men who were to kill the Czar,
+immediately to the right, or south, of the line formed by the three
+trees as described to me.
+
+I did this for the simple reason that it was my cue to deceive everyone
+right up to the last moment.  Had I altered the disposition of these
+men they would have known that I meant treachery to them and to the
+cause; and what the consequences would have been it was impossible to
+foresee.  As it was they took their places with a grim readiness, and a
+significant glance that spoke to me eloquently.
+
+As soon as all the troops were placed I took my own position and,
+girding up my patience to wait for the coming of the Imperial train and
+with it my opportunity, I scanned every inch of the line for some
+evidence of the Nihilists' preparations.  I could not detect a sign of
+any change in the road or of any preparation of any kind.  The track
+was not very well laid, and in several spots it bore signs of recent
+repairs; but beyond that there was nothing.  This fact may have helped
+to conceal the work of the Nihilists, of course; but although I knew
+almost the very spot where it had been carried out, I could detect
+nothing.
+
+The suspense was trying indeed; and while I was waiting, it was natural
+enough, perhaps, that my imagination should be chiefly busy in
+suggesting many reasons why I was almost bound to fail in my desperate
+venture.
+
+I did not know in which train the Emperor would travel.  I knew of
+course that there would be first the pilot engine; there would also be
+the baggage train; probably also a special train for the suite and
+servants; and the Imperial train.  But this might be first, second, or
+third of the three.  I had not been told as to this.  So far as my
+Nihilist work was concerned, it was not necessary that I should know
+it.  That work began when the train had left the line; and I had been
+posted near where that must happen.  I concluded therefore, that I had
+not been trusted with a single jot more of information than it was
+deemed necessary for me to have.
+
+I should have to depend upon the Nihilists who were to move the lever
+being accurately informed on this point.  But this troubled me.  If the
+worst happened, of course the "accident" must take place and the train
+be sent off the line, and I must use my opportunity then.  What I
+wished to do was to stop the train in which the Emperor would travel;
+but if I did not know which that was, I might easily make an ugly
+blunder that would expose me to danger from the Nihilists and not only
+do me no good with the Court, but mark me out as an object for ridicule
+and suspicion.
+
+This uncertainty did not present itself to disturb me until I was
+actually on the line waiting for the coming of the trains, and face to
+face with the necessity for action.
+
+The point where I stood was about a mile and a half to the north of the
+station and the line was so dead straight, that it could be watched for
+five or six miles farther north, and I should thus have ample notice of
+the approach of the trains.  It was a very clear day moreover; and as
+my sight was exceedingly keen and good, I knew I should be able to
+catch the earliest glimpse of the trains whose passing meant so much to
+me.
+
+I managed to get the whole of the company under my command posted more
+than two hours before the Emperor was timed to pass; and after I had
+made a show of inspecting those who were guarding that part of the
+section which I knew to be outside the sphere of danger, I did the work
+very thoroughly with those who were in that part where the grim,
+hazardous drama was to be played.
+
+I had been careful to keep the men of my own regiment close to me and
+on both sides of the five Nihilist spies; and I was glad to see that
+many of them were among my staunchest admirers.  They would have
+followed me to death without a word; and the sergeant, whose name was
+Grostef, the most athletic fellow in the ranks, was my sworn champion,
+on the ground that I was the only man in the regiment who could outrun,
+and outjump him, and beat him with any weapon he liked to pick.  I
+believe the fellow loved me for my strength and skill.
+
+The time dragged a bit for the patient fellows on guard who were not
+near enough to exchange a word without the sergeants being pretty sure
+to hear it; and the eyes of all soon began to be cast longingly
+northward in impatient desire to catch a glimpse of the trains.  Almost
+the only men who shewed no signs of feeling were the five to whom the
+coming of the train meant, as they knew and were content to know, the
+coming of death also.  They stood like stone figures: impassive,
+immovable and stern: the type of men to whom death in the cause of duty
+is welcome.
+
+An hour before the time, I took up my position finally exactly in the
+line of the three alder trees, and resolved not to move again nor to
+have my attention drawn away from the rails until the work was over;
+and I only lifted my eyes now and then from the track to send a sharp,
+quick glance along the line to see if the train were yet in sight.
+
+The first intimation I had that the trains were getting near came from
+the opposite direction.  Between us and the Vsatesk station about half
+a mile distant, was a signal box, and the light wind which was blowing
+from the south carried to my ears the sharp smack of the signal arm as
+it fell from the danger point, and signalled the line all clear.
+
+I knew then it was a matter of minutes.  My pulse began to quicken up
+slightly; and my scrutiny of the track and rails increased in
+intentness.  But the minutes dragged on and the announced time came and
+passed.  I knew of the Czar's passion for punctuality, and after this
+delay had lasted some time I began to think a genuine accident must
+have caused it.  In this weary suspense, a quarter of an hour, half an
+hour, three quarters passed, and my watch shewed 3.30, and still not a
+sign of even the pilot engine was visible.
+
+Then a tiny black speck in the far straight distance, topped by a small
+white steam cloud told me the pilot engine was coming at last; and in
+the swift glances spared from my scrutiny of the rails, I saw it grow
+larger and blacker as it covered the intervening space, until it
+thundered up, and crashed and lumbered by us and began to fade in the
+opposite direction disappearing round the slight curve which was
+between us and Vsatesk station.
+
+What the interval would be between the pilot engine and the first
+train, and what that first train would be, I did not know.  The
+intervals always differed; sometimes five minutes, sometimes ten,
+sometimes as much as twenty minutes were allowed to elapse.  But the
+interval was nothing compared with the question--which train would
+follow.  On that might turn the whole result of the affair.
+
+All the men had now straightened up, and even the five on my right
+shewed signs of being interested.  I saw them looking up with stealthy,
+longing, deadly fixedness for the coming of their prey.
+
+But on the line itself there was no sign of change.
+
+I had understood that at some point the rails would be shifted so as to
+throw the train off the line.  But search as closely as I would, I
+could not detect the least sign of any preparation for this.  The
+uncertainty which this circumstance caused added to my excitement and
+the suspense became doubly trying.  It quickened up to a climax when I
+saw once again in the distance the growing black speck with the white
+crown, that told me the second train was at hand.
+
+I kept my eyes glued to the rails and my ears strained to catch the
+first notification either by sight or sound that the trap had been
+laid.  Without such a sign, I dared not do anything.
+
+Yet nothing happened; and the black speck in the distance developed
+into a distinct shape, and increased quickly in size, and a slight hum
+came vibrating along the rails.  The hum grew into the sound of muffled
+drums; then swelled to a heavy threatening rumble; and rapidly climaxed
+to a crashing, rattling, reverberating roar, as the clattering clanging
+jolting baggage train lurched heavily by, and roared away southward.
+
+It passed safely every point on the line; and the old question which
+would be next recurred with greater strain than before, and drummed
+itself in on my brain like a sharp throbbing shoot of pain.
+
+When for the third time the little warning speck in the distance told
+me that either the Czar or his suite must now be coming, my excitement
+waxed well nigh out of control; my hand stole on to the hilt of my
+sword and loosened it in the scabbard, my fingers played on the stock
+of my revolver, and my eyes never for an instant left the rails, but
+ran up and down them with swift eager searching glances, hungry for a
+sign.
+
+As the distance between me and the on-coming train lessened, the
+tension increased and my sense of baffled impotence, when I detected no
+sign anywhere on the rails, was staggering.  By a great effort only
+could I prevent myself from doing something to stop the approach of the
+train and my eagerness was multiplied infinitely when, in a glance
+which I could not keep from straying to the murderous gang on my right,
+I saw them one and all making ready stealthily for their deadly work.
+
+But no sign on the track gave me my cue for action, and I could only
+wait, full of my resolve to do all that had to be done should this be
+the train to be thrown off the line.
+
+It came thundering up and passed me without my being able to take a
+step of any sort.  Like the other it passed along the whole section of
+the line in safety, though I saw, with an astonishment that for the
+moment bewildered me, that the Imperial saloon was the central carriage.
+
+Obviously the Czar had passed in safety.  And I jumped instantly to the
+conclusion that for some reason the mechanism, which was to have
+derailed the train, had failed to act.
+
+But an incident which occurred almost as soon as the train had passed,
+shewed me the falseness of this conclusion.
+
+I was still staring fixedly at the track, when at a point that was
+exactly opposite me, and thus in a direct line with the three alder
+trees, I saw the two rails swing aside from the track, just enough to
+turn a train off the rails that was travelling over the place.  There
+was scarcely a click of sound: and, after a moment they swung back as
+silently into position.
+
+I read the whole thing in a moment.
+
+The operator knew that the moment had come for action and wished to
+make quite sure that the mechanism was in due order.  The sight
+increased infinitely the oppressive weight and strain of the suspense.
+I knew now that the Czar was in the third train, and that the Imperial
+carriage had been sent on with the second as a ruse.
+
+I knew too, that the supreme hour of my struggle was at hand, in all
+grim reality.
+
+I could now relieve my eyes from the straining task of watching the
+track, and I looked about me.  The five men to my right were also on
+the alert.  They had not been misled by the ruse of the empty court
+carriage, and were waiting in deadly readiness to strike the blow which
+they had come out to deal.
+
+Then I turned my eyes northward along the straight level track, and
+just as I did so I caught in the distance the first glimpse of the
+third train, in which I knew, as certainly as if I could already see
+him, that the Czar was travelling.
+
+As the train loomed nearer and the moment for action approached, my
+spirits rose also.  Uncertainty was at an end.  A few minutes would
+decide whether I was to live or die.
+
+I braced myself for the biggest effort of my life.
+
+I was like a man whose nostrils expand as they breathe in the scent of
+deadly fight.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVIII.
+
+THE ATTACK ON THE CZAR.
+
+Though I did not now care whether the rails were disturbed again or
+not, seeing that I knew where the mechanism was and could point to my
+having discovered, as the reason for what I was about to do, I kept
+glancing at the spot, while I let the train approach unchecked near
+enough to have all eyes drawn to my actions.
+
+I guessed the distance which the brakes would take to act and when the
+train had reached a point such as I judged necessary, I sprang on the
+track between the rails and waving my arms excitedly, thundered out at
+the top of my voice a warning to stop the train.
+
+This was taken up by the soldiers who repeated the shouts and cries,
+and a moment later the shrieking whistle of the engine told us the
+warning had been heeded and that the brakes were on at full pressure.
+
+With a succession of whirring, grating, rasping, grinding jerks the
+train slackened quickly, and in a moment everything was plunged in
+indescribable commotion.  The soldiers on both sides began to close in
+on the fast stopping train.
+
+"Close ranks round the whole train," I shouted to Sergeant Grostef: and
+ordered him away to bring up the men as quickly as possible.
+
+But I had made one miscalculation that was nearly proving fatal to
+everything.  When I sprang on the line to stop the train, the rails had
+not been moved, and even now for some reason they remained in position.
+I had calculated to cause the train to be stopped so that it would
+reach the false points at a slow pace, and thus be derailed close to
+where I stood.  I judged that the jerk with which the train would leave
+the line would be sufficient to bring it to a standstill, but not
+enough to overturn it; and I should thus be able to get at once to the
+presence of the Emperor, and tell my story in person at the moment when
+he would be most affected by the occurrence.  But as the rails remained
+in position--owing probably to the fact that the man operating them had
+seen that the train had been stopped and deemed it best to do
+nothing--there was nothing to stay the train's progress, except the
+brakes.
+
+To my horror I saw it pass me with just about sufficient speed to carry
+it right into the middle of the five men who were waiting there to
+murder the Emperor.
+
+With a loud shout to the men nearest to me to follow I dashed after it,
+making sure as I ran in which carriage was the Emperor.
+
+The first of the five men planted himself right in my path, and fired
+his revolver point-blank at me when I was only three or four paces from
+him.  He missed and then drew his sword to engage me.  With scarcely a
+second's delay I cut down his sword arm and a second slash at his neck
+as I ran past, sent him reeling down the embankment, all but headless,
+with the blood spurting from the fearful wounds I had inflicted.
+
+My one thought was now the Emperor; and I saw that the other assassins
+had discovered him in the train as quickly as I.
+
+One of them stood with a bomb, ready poised in his hand, intending to
+hurl it right into the carriage.  I tore it from him and threw it with
+all my force over the embankment and then plunged my sword into the
+villain's heart.
+
+[Illustration: I tore it from him.]
+
+The bomb exploded the instant it touched the ground below, and the
+effects were perfectly awesome.  There was a prodigious roar; the earth
+reeled as if under a heavy blow, and a number of the soldiers were
+thrown to the ground; the train seemed to be shaken bodily: and before
+the reverberation of the explosion ceased, the splintering of wood and
+the crashing of glass, told of desperate injuries to some of the
+carriages.
+
+The saloon carriage in which the Czar travelled suffered most, and it
+was so violently shaken that the windows were broken, the sides split,
+and the doors jammed.
+
+It was a moment for strong heads; and, thank God, I was able to keep
+mine.
+
+The three surviving Nihilists were among the first to shake off the
+effects of the shock, and two of them made instantly for the door of
+the Czar's carriage.
+
+His Majesty had been at the window and must have seen me tear the bomb
+from the man's hand; but the shock had driven him away now.  Glancing
+round I saw Sergeant Grostef and one or two more of my men had
+recovered themselves and were running towards us.  Seconds meant lives
+now; and I dashed forward and sprang upon the steps of the carriage
+after the two who were striving with might and main to tear the door of
+the saloon open.  It was partly jammed by the effects of the explosion,
+and was being defended by two men, who to my surprise were His
+Majesty's only companions in the saloon.  I learnt the reason for this
+afterwards; another instance of the damnable treachery which hedged the
+Emperor round.
+
+Those inside were like children before the maddened Nihilists; and the
+door was wrenched open and the Czar's companions shot down but not
+killed, just as I reached the carriage platform.  I shot one of the
+Nihilists instantly, but I believe the other would have succeeded in
+his deadly purpose had it not been for Sergeant Grostef who entered the
+carriage on my heels.  He dashed forward and threw himself on the
+second man and both went to the ground in a fearful struggle.
+
+The Emperor, though as brave as a man could be, was for a moment in
+complete bewilderment.  Caught weaponless and menaced by what seemed
+certain death, his nerves all unhinged by the explosion, his companions
+struck down before his face, he had rushed away in an effort to escape
+from what looked like a hellish snare, and was seeking to fly by the
+other door, when the fifth of the murderous crew attacked him with
+drawn sword.  Seeing the man in uniform, the Czar believed that the
+whole of the guard had mutinied and meant to murder him.
+
+"Is there no one to help me?" he cried, looking round.
+
+"Yes, to hell," growled the man, with a grim quip, as he rushed upon
+him.
+
+I had dropped my sword in entering the saloon, and my revolver had been
+dashed out of my hands, so that I could do nothing but fling myself
+before the Emperor, and give my body to save his.
+
+I dashed in between them, uttering a loud and violent shout, in the
+hope of attracting the man's attention to me.  But he was too grim a
+devil to be turned from his work; and the only effect of my
+interference was to impel him to greater efforts.
+
+But he was too late.
+
+Taking a liberty with his Imperial Majesty, which at another time might
+have cost me my freedom and perhaps my life, I pushed the Emperor
+violently on one side, and threw myself upon his murderer.
+
+The thrust that was meant for the Emperor, passed through my neck, and
+I rejoiced as I felt the man's steel run into my flesh.  I had saved
+the Emperor's life, even if I had lost my own.  Then I called to
+Grostef as I felt the villain draw out the steel and saw the light of
+unsated murder lust redden his eyes.
+
+With a desperate effort I seized his blade, and though it cut and
+gashed my hands through and through as the man tugged and twisted it to
+wrest it from me, I held on till the villain put his foot against my
+chest and dragged the weapon away, despite my most desperate effort.
+Then he drew it back to plunge it into the Czar's heart.  But at that
+moment I saw Grostef's great blade swing in the air with tremendous
+force, and sever the miscreant's head from his body.
+
+But the Czar was safe: and as I rolled over near his feet, I rallied
+all my strength for a last effort and cried:----
+
+"God save your Majesty."
+
+After that I had a dim feeling that good old Grostef and the Emperor
+were both bending over me trying to staunch the blood that came flowing
+from my throat and mouth, choking me, from the wound which the villain
+had meant for the Emperor.  But I had saved him and he had seen I had
+saved him.
+
+"Who is it?" I heard the Czar ask.
+
+"Lieutenant Petrovitch, your Majesty, of the Moscow Infantry Regiment,"
+answered the old soldier.
+
+"Your Majesty, I implore you, take care.  You are in an ambush of
+Nihilist villains," cried some one stepping forward hastily.  "I know
+that man"--pointing to me--"he is the most dare-devil rebel of them
+all, and has planned this business for your assassination.  For God's
+sake have a care.  This is the most devilish snare that was ever vainly
+laid."
+
+The Emperor moved away from me quickly and looked in the deepest
+perplexity from one to another of the group who had now crowded into
+the carriage.
+
+"That is a strange thing to hear," said His Majesty.  "The man has just
+saved my life at the infinite hazard of his own.  You see him.  But for
+him and for this good fellow"--waving a hand toward old Grostef--"the
+thrust you see there would have been in my heart."
+
+"Yet I pledge myself to prove what I say.  You know I do not speak at
+random.  They are probably together in this."
+
+Old Grostef growled out a stiff oath that was lost in his beard and
+then without releasing my head which was supported on his knee, he
+brought his hand to the salute and said gruffly:----
+
+"Nihilist or no Nihilist, your Majesty, the lieutenant will soon be a
+dead man, choked by his own blood if his wounds are not dressed."
+
+"There will be one traitor the less, then," said the man who had
+accused me, accompanying the words with a brutal sneer.
+
+"Oh the contrary, Grand Duke," said the Emperor angrily, "his life is
+my special care.  If he be a traitor it seems to me I should pray to
+God to grant me thousands of such traitors in my army."
+
+"God save your Majesty, and Amen to that," cried old Grostef, unable to
+keep his tongue between his teeth at that, and positively trembling in
+his excitement.
+
+"Silence," said the Emperor.  "And now let all haste be made to get on
+to the city."
+
+"As your Majesty pleases," said the man whom I guessed was the Grand
+Duke against whom Prince Bilbassoff had warned me.  "I will make good
+my words, and we will save the life to take it."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIX.
+
+THE TRUTH OUT AT LAST.
+
+While an examination of the train was made to see how much of it could
+proceed, my wounds were roughly dressed, and as soon as it was
+ascertained that only one of the saloons could go on, the Emperor said
+that I should travel in it with himself and his immediate party, and
+instructions were wired to Moscow that a doctor should be sent out to
+the small station just outside the city, where it had been arranged
+already that the Emperor should change into the Imperial train that had
+passed empty.  The object of this was that the entry into the city
+should be made from the royal train, and thus no comment be raised.
+
+As I was being moved into the other carriage an incident happened which
+I knew might have a very sinister effect upon my fortunes.  My men
+cheered lustily as soon as they caught sight of me; but when the cheers
+had died away a wild and vehement curse greeted me from the only one of
+the five Nihilists who had life enough left in him to grind his teeth
+and hiss out an imprecation.
+
+"He was our leader, damn him," cried the man, "and betrayed us.  To
+hell with such a traitor!" and he poured out his curses with tremendous
+volubility, till a soldier standing by, clapped his hand on his mouth
+and silenced him.
+
+"Your Majesty hears that?" said the Grand Duke, and I saw the Emperor
+was greatly impressed and looked at me doubtingly.
+
+I could not speak then, but I had sense enough left to understand my
+peril; and during the short journey I was thinking busily.
+
+All the time the Emperor was in close consultation with the Grand Duke,
+and it was easy to see that poison was being poured into the Imperial
+ear to prejudice me.  But I could do nothing until my wounds had been
+properly dressed and the power to speak freely restored.  At present I
+could not utter a word without bringing the blood into my mouth: and I
+lay chafing and fretting and fevering myself, as I watched what I read
+to be the conviction of my treachery stealing over the face of the Czar.
+
+I knew his character well enough to appreciate my danger fully.  The
+one subject on which his mind was warped and morbid in its
+sensitiveness was the fear of assassination: and under its influence he
+would believe almost anything that was told to him.  The personal
+influence of the Grand Duke was, moreover, enormous.
+
+As we were nearing the little station where the change of trains was to
+be made, the Emperor crossed the saloon and spoke to me.
+
+"Lieutenant Petrovitch, can you hear me?"
+
+I looked at him and tried to raise my bandaged, mangled hand to the
+salute, but could not.
+
+"Don't move," he said, hastily, seeing the attempt.  "The charges made
+against you are of the most terrible kind and there certainly seems to
+be much more ground than I at first thought.  But my own eyes saw what
+you did, and you will have the fullest opportunity of explaining
+everything.  For the time you are under arrest, necessarily; but it
+will be my personal charge to see that everything is done for you that
+surgical skill can do.  A few hours and proper treatment will, I hope,
+render you able to give the necessary explanation, and in the mean time
+you will see no one but the doctors.  I myself shall then see and
+question you."
+
+He was turning to leave me then, when I made a sign that I wished to
+answer, and he bent forward to listen.
+
+"Your Majesty will have a care," cried the Grand Duke, who had heard
+and watched everything closely.
+
+"Do you think the man breathes poison that I should be afraid of him,
+maimed and bleeding and helpless as he is?" was the reply.
+
+I made a great effort to speak, but it nearly killed me, and with all
+my struggle I could get only a word at a time, and that with tremendous
+difficulty.
+
+"Your--Majesty--keep--my--men--watching--line--where--I--stood--by--
+alder--trees."
+
+"It shall be done," he said; and I saw him exchange looks with the
+Grand Duke and then shrug his shoulders and lift his eyebrows as he
+left the saloon.
+
+Directly he had left, the doctors came round me, and I resigned myself
+cheerfully and completely into their hands.  But the Czar had given me
+the tonic that had done more than all the doctor's efforts to pull me
+round quickly.  I was to have a private audience; and it would not be
+my fault, if I did not win my way to freedom and Olga.
+
+Some three or four hours after the Czar had left me I was moved on to
+Moscow in the saloon where I lay; and my reception there was most
+mingled.  Some garbled accounts of the attempt on the Emperor's life
+had got about, and when I was carried from the saloon and placed in a
+State carriage and then driven away in the midst of a large military
+escort, the people were at a loss to know who I was, and whether I was
+a Nihilist to be hooted or a hero to be cheered.  They were in a noisy
+mood that day, and did both therefore, until the party neared the
+Palace and it was clear I was being taken there.  This decided that I
+must be a hero and the hooting ceased and the cheering shouts rang out
+with a deafening roar.
+
+I was glad to be done with that part of the business.  I knew well that
+the same throats that had been stretched in shouts of acclamation were
+quite as ready to be strained in yelling for my death.  The populace
+wanted an excuse for a noise; and it was all one to them, so far as
+personal gratification went, whether they yelled in a man's honour, or
+roared for his death.
+
+The day's round of festivities was a particularly full one for the
+Emperor, and it was many hours before he could possibly be at liberty;
+but every hour added to my strength.  The doctors soon ascertained that
+the wound in the neck was not a very dangerous one, though it had been
+a ghastly one enough to look upon.  The thrust had been within an ace
+of killing me; but the man's weapon had missed the arteries and the
+vertebrae, though it had sliced an ugly wound in the windpipe, having
+let the blood into it, and thus nearly choked me.  My hands were badly
+cut, very badly mangled indeed; and the doctors thought more seriously
+of them than of the wound in the neck, so far as after-consequences
+were concerned.  But they soon patched me up sufficiently to enable me
+to speak if necessary.
+
+With this knowledge I awaited the Emperor's coming with such patience
+as I could command.
+
+It was past midnight before he came; and then only to ask as to my
+condition.  He seemed pleased that I was so much better: and closely
+questioned the doctor who had remained in constant attendance on me as
+to the exact nature of my wounds and when I should be able to undertake
+the fatigue of a long conversation.  I might do it at once with care,
+was the doctor's report; but it would be better after a night's rest.
+
+"Then it shall be to-morrow evening.  Certain matters have yet to be
+investigated," said the Czar, turning to me, "and you will have full
+opportunity of answering all that may be said."  His manner had ceased
+to shew the kindliness I thought I had detected in the earlier
+questions about my condition, and I judged that his mind had received
+further prejudice against me.
+
+I felt that delay was dangerous to me; but I could not help myself.  I
+said I should prefer to answer all his questions at once and tell him
+all I had to say; but he turned from me somewhat peremptorily with a
+short reply that he had made his decision.  And with that he left the
+room.
+
+I augured ill from the Emperor's demeanour; but as any change in him
+would only increase my need for the greatest possible amount of
+strength, I thrust all my troubles resolutely out of my thoughts and
+went to sleep.  I slept into the next day when the doctor's report was
+altogether favourable.  My head, too, was clear and my wits vigorous
+for the ordeal that was in store for me.
+
+In the morning, the Emperor sent to inquire my condition, instead of
+coming in person, and I interpreted this as a sign that the thermometer
+of favour was still going down.
+
+When he came in the evening the Grand Duke was with him, and I saw by
+the expression of the latter's face that he at any rate was
+anticipating a triumph and my downfall.
+
+"Now, Lieutenant, you are well enough to answer questions, tell the
+truth.  I warn you it must be the whole truth; for I have had many
+surprising facts brought to my knowledge, and all your answers can be
+at once tested--and will be."
+
+"Your Majesty, I pledge myself to answer every question.  But before I
+do that there is one communication I should like to make to yourself
+alone."
+
+"You can make any statement you like afterwards.  Now, tell me, are you
+a Nihilist?"
+
+"I am not," I answered firmly.
+
+"Well, what have been--Stay, you acted bravely yesterday, you are
+charged with this: that you are and have been a Nihilist for years and
+that your sister is one also; that you were concerned twelve months ago
+in the attack upon the Governor of Moscow; that before and since then
+you have been in constant communication with the Nihilist leaders; that
+with your own hand you assassinated Christian Tueski, after having
+yourself volunteered for the work; that you proposed the plot which by
+the mercy of God failed yesterday; that you were privy to the whole
+matter and went out to assist in the deadly work."
+
+"Who are my accusers, Sire?"
+
+"It is the accusation, not the accuser you have to answer," replied the
+Emperor, sternly.  "You are to answer, not question."
+
+"I have a complete answer, which happily I can support with ample
+proof.  Until less than two months ago, I had never exchanged a word
+with a Nihilist..."
+
+"He is a liar," burst out the Grand Duke, vehemently.
+
+A hot answer rose to my lips, but I checked it.
+
+"Then, Sire, a band of them set upon me in the street and would have
+assassinated me, had I not beaten them off with my sword.  One of them
+I took prisoner to my rooms, and from him I learnt that I was supposed
+to have...."
+
+"Supposed!" exclaimed the Grand Duke.
+
+"Supposed to have incurred their wrath.  They had sentenced me to
+death, it appeared, and that was the first attempt at my execution.  I
+then took a course which I am well aware will seem peculiar.  I went to
+a meeting at which the death of Christian Tueski was resolved, and I
+was selected to kill him."
+
+"You confess this?" cried the Emperor, harshly.  "You, my officer?"
+
+"Sire, I beg your patience.  I did this because I did not think I
+should be in Russia many hours; and because I thought I could gain the
+time I needed by pretending to be at the head of the conspiracy.  Not
+for a moment did I intend to lay a finger on him.  I am no assassin."
+
+"But he was assassinated by you Nihilists," cried the Emperor, with
+bitter indignation.  "The whole land has rung with the news."
+
+"The man is a madman, or takes us for fools," said the Grand Duke.
+
+"I am as innocent of his death, Sire, as a child, except, I fear,
+indirectly.  He died by the hand of his wife, whom on the very day of
+his death I had warned of the plot to kill him."
+
+"Your proofs, man, your proofs," cried the Emperor impatiently.
+
+"That most unfortunate woman had been under the impression that there
+had been an intrigue between myself and her and...."
+
+"Half Moscow knew of it," interrupted the Duke.
+
+"Until less than two months ago, I had never seen her in all my life,"
+I returned.  "She thought by this deed to coil such a web round me that
+I could not escape from marrying her.  Had I wished to kill the man, I
+had ample opportunity on the very afternoon of the day he was murdered,
+for I was closeted alone with him for two hours.  He, too, had set his
+bullies on to me and I went to settle things with him and to get
+permits to leave the country for myself and Olga Petrovitch.  I got
+them, and that night his wife thrust into his heart a dagger she
+believed was mine, added the Nihilist motto, and then hid the sheath,
+with the name 'Alexis Petrovitch' on it, intending to use it as a means
+to force me to marry her under the threat of charging me with the
+crime."
+
+"Your repute does not belie you," growled the Duke.  "You're the most
+callous dare-devil I ever heard of to tell a tale of that kind.  To
+choose a woman's petticoats!"
+
+The Emperor turned to him and held up a hand in protest.
+
+"In that way I got the credit for that crime; and I was then approached
+about the attempt of yesterday."
+
+"Ah!"  The Emperor drew in a sharp breath.
+
+"I listened to what was said, believing still that I should be out of
+the country before the time, and intending in any event to make the
+success of the scheme impossible.  A series of extraordinary events
+prevented my leaving, and when more details were told me, I saw there
+must be someone in the matter very near your Majesty's throne.  I
+thought I could perhaps discover who that was and thus, by remaining,
+serve your Majesty most effectively.  I think I know now who it is, or
+at least have the means of obtaining proof.  Up to nine o'clock
+yesterday morning the pivot on which everything was to turn was yet
+unsettled.  A part was assigned to me days ago, on the understanding
+that certain military duties would be confided to me; that a change in
+the whole plans would be made at the very last moment; that all the
+commands would be altered; and that I should find myself in charge of a
+certain section of the line.  I was told this in general terms more
+than a week ago; and everything was confirmed to me in detail on Sunday
+morning--twenty-four hours before the change was announced by the
+Colonel of the regiment."
+
+"'Fore God, Sir, what are you saying?" cried the Emperor in a loud
+voice.  He had turned white and was pressing his hand to his forehead
+with every sign of great agitation.  "Do you hear this?" he asked the
+man who had been so loud in accusing me, and who himself was now
+fighting hard for self-possession.
+
+I had struck home indeed.
+
+A dead silence followed, lasting more than a minute; and to give it
+full weight I affected to be unable to speak.
+
+"I'm not surprised such a tale overcomes him in the telling.  It is
+wild enough to listen to, let alone to invent," said the Grand Duke,
+recovering himself with a sneer.
+
+"Proceed, when you can, Lieutenant," said the Emperor, shortly.
+
+"I have nearly finished, Sire," I answered weakly.  "But there is one
+point where I can give you the highest corroboration of the key to all
+this seeming mystery.  Will your Majesty send for Prince Bilbassoff?"
+
+The Duke started as I mentioned the name and glanced keenly at me as it
+seemed to me in much discomposure.
+
+"I was told, Sire," I resumed, when the Emperor had complied with my
+request.  "That there was one, or at most two persons beside your
+Majesty who knew the real order of matters for yesterday; and that it
+was from that one, or from one of those two persons, that the
+information was given to the Nihilists which formed the basis of this
+plot.  I did not believe it possible, Sire, and I did not think
+therefore that any attempt could be made.  But yesterday morning to my
+intense astonishment, I found myself appointed to command exactly the
+section of the line of which I had been told by the Nihilists, many
+hours, indeed days in advance."
+
+The consternation of both my hearers as I dwelt on this was so great
+that I emphasized it; and I saw then that I could safely slur over the
+only point that I really feared in the whole story--the episode of the
+five men whom I had posted in accordance with the Nihilist orders.
+
+I had struck such a blow at the Grand Duke that he said no more; and he
+was much more busy thinking of how to defend himself than of how to
+accuse me.
+
+I next told of the secret mechanism; how I had seen it work; how it
+proved that the operator must have had exact knowledge of the train in
+which the Emperor would travel, and then how I had sprung on the line
+to stop the train.  I left my actions after that to speak for
+themselves.
+
+The impression created by my story was profound; due of course to the
+terrible and daring accusation I had levelled at the man who had
+accused me.
+
+The Emperor remained wrapped in deep thought; and in the silence that
+followed, Prince Bilbassoff entered.  I could tell by the quick glance
+he gave round the room and particularly at me, that he did not at all
+like the look of matters.  He had heard something of the facts about
+me, and I believe he thought I had perhaps denounced him in the matter
+of the proposed duel with the Grand Duke.
+
+"Lieutenant Petrovitch has asked for you to be present, Prince, to
+support some part of the explanation he has given of certain charges
+brought against him."
+
+"As your Majesty pleases," replied the Prince bowing.
+
+The Emperor resumed his attitude of intense thought, and then after
+some moments, he regarded me with a heavy frown and said very sternly
+and harshly:
+
+"The story you tell is incredible, sir.  It is a mass of
+contradictions.  You say the Nihilists attempted to kill you, having
+decreed your death; and yet that you had never spoken to one until the
+night of the attempt.  You say this woman whom you accuse of the murder
+of her husband did this horrible deed for your sake as the result of an
+intrigue--and yet that you had never seen her until almost the very
+hour when she sinned thus for your sake.  You say that you listened to
+these Nihilist intrigues in the belief that you would be out of the
+country--yet you hold and have held for years a commission in my army.
+It is monstrous, incredible, impossible."
+
+"There is another contradiction which your Majesty has forgotten," said
+I daringly.  "That I, being as my enemies tell your Majesty, a Nihilist
+of the Nihilists and a leader among them, should yet have slain three
+of them with my own hand in defence of your Majesty's life and have
+turned the sword of the fourth into my own body.  As your Majesty said
+yesterday, traitors of that kind should rather be welcome.  But if your
+Majesty thinks that that is an additional proof of my guilt, my life is
+at your service still."
+
+He looked at me as if in doubt whether to rebuke me for this daring
+presumption, or to admit his own doubt.  But I did not give him time to
+speak.
+
+"I have deceived your Majesty, however, though I wished to speak openly
+at the outset.  I told you there was a key to all this of a most
+extraordinary fashion.  There is; and I throw myself humbly on your
+mercy, Sire.  The tales you have been told about me are all true to a
+point, and false afterwards.  To a point all these horrible charges
+against Alexis Petrovitch are true; but what I have told you is true
+also.  The key is--that I have only been Alexis Petrovitch for seven
+weeks.  I am not a Russian, Sire, but an Englishman; and Prince
+Bilbassoff here has within the last few hours had proof of this."
+
+"An Englishman!" exclaimed the Czar, in a tone that revealed his
+complete bewilderment.  "I don't understand."
+
+"I wish to tell your Majesty everything," and then I told him almost
+everything as I have set it down here.
+
+As I told the story, ending with my wish to be allowed to leave the
+country at once, I saw his interest deepening and quickening, and
+perceived that he was coming round to my side.  He listened with
+scarcely a break or interruption, and at the close remained thinking
+most earnestly.
+
+"What confirmation have you, Prince?"
+
+Prince Bilbassoff was so relieved to find that I had said nothing
+indiscreet about him that he spoke in the strongest way for me.
+
+"I know much of this to be true, your Majesty.  I have had telegrams
+from England confirming Mr. Tregethner's story; and there is now in
+Moscow a certain Hon. Rupert Balestier, who has been making the most
+energetic inquiries for him; and--the weirdest of all--the wretched
+woman, Paula Tueski, has killed herself and left a confession of her
+crime."
+
+The Emperor's decision was taken at once.
+
+"I owe you deep reparation, Mr. Tregethner.  I ought to have trusted my
+instinct and my eyesight, and have known that no man would have done
+what you did yesterday to save my life, and be anything but my firm
+friend.  May God never send Russia or me a greater enemy than you.  May
+you never lack as firm a friend as I will be to you.  God bless you!"
+
+My heart was too full for speech, and I could only falter out the words:
+
+"I would die for your Majesty."
+
+"You will do better than that--you will live for me; and when you are
+well, we will speak of your future."
+
+With that he turned to leave the room and said to the Grand Duke, who
+was quite broken and unstrung:--
+
+"Now, we will find that strange leakage."
+
+As soon as they had left, Prince Bilbassoff questioned me closely, and
+when he heard about the accusation I had by inference brought against
+the man who had tried to ruin me and had so nearly succeeded, words
+could not express his delight.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXX.
+
+AFTERWARDS.
+
+It was nearly a month before the doctors would consent to my being
+moved, and even then they grudged their permission.  All the time I lay
+like a Royal Prince in the Palace with all the world ready to do my
+lightest wish.  Had I been in a hospital, I believe the doctors would
+have sent me packing a full fortnight earlier; but wounds heal slowly
+when the State has to pay the doctors' fees.
+
+The time was pleasant enough, however, save for one thing.  I was full
+of anxiety on Olga's account.  Prince Bilbassoff brought my friend
+Balestier to me and he stayed all the time, and used all his efforts to
+find some trace of her whereabouts.  The Emperor, too, promised that
+all in his power should be done to find her; and whenever I saw Prince
+Bilbassoff I importuned him also on the same quest; and his promises
+were as ripe as the Czar's.
+
+She was not found, however, and I fretted and worried until Balestier
+drove home the conviction that the best thing I could do was to hurry
+and get well, and then set out to search for her myself.  This pacified
+me, and I did all that was possible to help the doctors.
+
+But this failure to find her was a never-ending subject of thought, as
+well as of somewhat angry satire when the opportunity offered.  One day
+when the Prince came I rallied him strongly on the matter, thinking to
+gibe him into greater activity.
+
+"Your agents are poor hounds, Prince," I said.  "They bay loudly enough
+on the trail, but they don't find."
+
+"They have found the brother," he answered quietly.  "And the girl
+can't be far off."
+
+"The brother be hanged," cried I.
+
+"Not by the Russian hangman.  He doesn't mean to return here; but he
+has dropped your name and probably by this time has left Paris
+altogether.  He knows the facts--or some of them; our agent told him
+them; and he means to put as great a distance between himself and
+Russia as the limitations of the globe will permit."
+
+"He's a poor creature.  How was he found?"
+
+"As usual--a woman."
+
+"Well, I owe him no grudge.  He has given me a better part than I ever
+thought to play in life.  And a good wife too--if we can only find her."
+
+"We shall find her.  The woman's not born that can hide herself from
+us, when we are in earnest."
+
+"Well, I wish you'd be thoroughly in earnest now.  If you were only as
+much in earnest as you were about that duel...."
+
+"I am; for I owe you more than if you had fought the duel."  I looked
+at him in some astonishment.  "I have only to-day heard the definite
+decision," he continued.  "You gave me the clue, and I did not fail to
+follow it up.  You say my men are not sleuth hounds.  Give them a blood
+scent like that and try."
+
+"All of which is unintelligible to me," I replied, noting with surprise
+his excitement and exultation.
+
+"Heavens, lad, I'm more sorry than ever you're not going to join us.
+And now that that hindrance is out of the path, the path is brighter
+than ever.  What fools you young fellows are to go tumbling into what
+you call love, and playing the devil with a career for the sake of
+muslin and silks and pretty cheeks.  I suppose..." he looked
+questioningly, and waited as if for me to speak.
+
+"Suppose what?"  I knew what he meant well enough, but liked to make
+him speak out.
+
+"That you've really made up your mind or whatever you call it, not to
+stop in Russia?"
+
+"Absolutely.  I'm going to commit social suicide and marry for
+love--that is, if I can only find my sweetheart; or rather if you can
+find her for me."
+
+"I wish I couldn't," he returned; and then fearing I should
+misunderstand him, added:--"I don't mean that.  I mean, I'm sorry I'm
+not to have your help."
+
+"At one time it looked as though you were going to have it whether I
+would or no, and I'm afraid I may have misled you and--and others
+somewhat.  I'm sorry for this."
+
+"Save your vanity, youngster," he said with a short laugh,
+understanding me.  "My sister is no love-sick maiden with her head full
+of a silly fancy that any one man is necessary to her."
+
+I flushed a little at the rebuke; and bit my lip.
+
+"We wanted you for Russia, not for ourselves," he added, after a pause.
+"You have already done the Empire a splendid service; and that's why
+you're regretted.  Though, mark me, I don't say, now that things have
+turned out as they have, I should not have been a bit proud of you as a
+member of my family."
+
+"What service do you mean?  Saving my own skin?"
+
+"No.  Overthrowing the Grand Duke.  He is completely broken.  No trap
+could have snared him half so well.  It has now come out that the
+disposition of the troops was his sole work; he himself arranged the
+very order of the trains; and the minute details which he executed were
+known to him alone.  He laid his plans splendidly for his infernal
+purpose, and had you been the man he anticipated--the dare-devil who
+had killed Tueski--nothing could have saved the Emperor's life.  But
+God in His mercy willed the overthrow of as clever a villain as was
+ever shielded by high rank.  That particular slip no man could have
+possibly foreseen; but he made another which surprised me.  Only a
+little thing, but enough.  When I came to look closely into the
+business I found that he had worked out in the greatest detail all the
+arrangements for the last journey and the disposition of the troops,
+and had committed them to paper in a number of sealed orders.  These he
+dated back to the previous Saturday; but only gave them out the last
+thing on Sunday night.  His object was of course that when inquiries
+came to be made the dates on the papers should tell their own story and
+prove, apparently, that, as they had been given out on the Saturday,
+there would have been plenty of time for it to have leaked out to the
+Nihilists through some one of the many officials who would be in
+possession of it, at the time you proved it was known to the Nihilists.
+On that supposition there were a hundred channels through which it
+would have got out, and the Duke would have been only one among many in
+a position to divulge the secret.  Like a fool he thus drew the coil
+close round his own body; and as soon as the Emperor knew that, my men
+made a search.  That did the rest effectually."
+
+"And what has happened to him?"
+
+"What should happen to such a man?" answered the Prince, sternly.
+
+"Death."
+
+"Right.  But the Emperor would not.  He's as soft as a pudding.  The
+man is imprisoned, that's all.  For life, of course.  But rats have an
+ugly trick of slipping out as well as into a dungeon.  And if he ever
+does get out, boy, you will have one enemy powerful enough to make even
+you cautious."
+
+"Keep him safe, then," I laughed.  "For when I leave Russia, I want to
+leave all this behind me."
+
+"You may look for trouble of some kind from the Nihilists, however."
+
+"They are not taken very seriously by us English, Prince," I replied.
+
+"Maybe; but remember you have been a Russian for a couple of months,
+and have dealt them a stroke that they will never forget."
+
+He left me soon after that, but I did not pay any serious heed to his
+warning.  I pondered his news, however.  I was glad that Alexis
+Petrovitch had ceased to masquerade in my name; but I could not
+understand how it was that if the Russian agents could so easily find
+the brother, they should be baffled in their search for Olga.  But it
+spurred my anxiety to go a-hunting on my own account; and I was
+heartily glad therefore, when the doctors agreed to release me, and my
+marching orders for St. Petersburg came.
+
+By the Emperor's commands I was taken straight to his Palace; and his
+Majesty's reception could not have been more gracious than it was.
+
+He loaded me with signs of his favour; with his own hands pinned to my
+breast the highest Order he could confer on a foreigner; and did
+everything except press me to enter his service.
+
+"Your sojourn in Russia is associated in my mind with so painful and
+terrible an event, and you are personally connected with it so closely,
+that in my service you would always serve to keep open a wound that
+bleeds at the mere reference.  I am like a man who has given
+unrestrainedly the kisses of love and received in return the poison of
+the asp.  Moreover, Prince Bilbassoff tells me that you have made up
+your mind to go to your own country; and while you will, I hope, always
+be my friend, and I, with God's help, will always be yours, I shall not
+seek to detain you."
+
+"I am even now impatient to be away, your Majesty," I replied, "and
+crave your leave to go at once.  I hope to leave St Petersburg
+immediately."  I spoke with the eagerness of a lover; and his reply
+surprised, and indeed, dismayed me.
+
+"No, Mr. Tregethner, that I cannot suffer.  I should feel an ingrate if
+I permitted you to leave without accepting my hospitality.  I do not
+like an unwilling guest; but for a fortnight more at least you must
+remain here."
+
+I looked at him quickly in my amazement, and then with a bow said:--
+
+"Your Majesty has promised me the gracious distinction of your
+friendship; and as a friend I appeal to you to permit me to be your
+guest at another time.  The matter I have in hand is very urgent."
+
+"I am not accustomed to have my wishes in these matters questioned,"
+returned the Emperor; and at that moment I wished the Imperial
+friendship at the bottom of the Baltic.
+
+It meant that just when I was well and strong, and in every way able to
+start on the task that was more to me than anything else on earth, I
+had to cool my heels dangling attendance on this well meaning Imperial
+Marplot in this prison-palace of his.  But I smothered my feelings like
+a courtier and murmured an assent--that compliance with his wishes
+would be a pleasure.
+
+He laughed, and then in a most un-Emperor-like manner clapped me on the
+shoulder and said:--
+
+"You'd soon learn the humbug of the courtier, friend.  But you must not
+put all this down to me.  You stay by the special desire of the Prince
+Bilbassoff's beautiful but rather imperious sister, in whose favour you
+stand high--though you have not always treated her very well, it seems.
+She has now a great desire for some more of your company, and has set
+her heart on your remaining to be present at a Court marriage which she
+has planned."
+
+"I shall know how to thank the Princess when I see her," I answered,
+drily enough to make my meaning clear; for the Emperor laughed and said
+that might be true and that the Princess was even now anxious to see me
+to thank me for past services.
+
+My gratitude to the latter may be imagined; and when the Emperor
+dismissed me, I thought of the pleasure it would afford me to express
+it to her.
+
+The opportunity came at once, for I was shewn straight to a saloon
+where she appeared to have been awaiting me.
+
+"We meet, under changed circumstances, Mr. Tregethner--my inclination
+to call you Lieutenant is almost irresistible."
+
+"His Majesty has told me, Princess, that it is to you I owe the
+pleasure of being compelled to stay here at the present time."
+
+"I am glad to have been able to secure you so high a mark of the
+Imperial favour," she answered, her eyes laughing at me, but the rest
+of her features serious.  "I am always glad to help those who are
+candid and frank with me."
+
+"As glad as you are to be candid and frank with those you help,
+Princess?  Is there another duel in prospect?  Or more wrongs to be
+avenged?  In connection with this marriage I hear of, for instance?"
+
+"A fair question," she answered, smiling.  She was certainly a very
+beautiful woman when she smiled.  "There is--but only very indirectly.
+By the way, do you not wonder that I content myself with giving you no
+more than a fortnight's imprisonment?"
+
+"If you knew the punishment it is likely to be to me you would not wish
+to inflict a heavier."
+
+"You mean, you are so eager to be searching for this girl who
+masqueraded as your sister, that you cannot spare a fortnight for the
+Russian Court.  Excuse me; I cannot think that even Englishmen can be
+so impolite and phlegmatic."
+
+"My 'sister' is very dear to me, Princess," I said, emphasizing the
+word.
+
+"Oh, yes, we know the value of a lover's sighs and a lover's vows and a
+lover's impatience and a lover's constancy and a lover's everything
+else.  And you Englishmen are but like other men in these things."
+
+I didn't understand her, so I held my tongue.
+
+"I dare believe that though you are now so eager to be away on this
+romantic search of yours, and are fretting and fuming at the delay
+which I have caused, so that you may have the opportunity of witnessing
+the grandeur of the Court marriage I have arranged, you will cool in
+your ardour long before the fortnight is out.  There are women about
+the Russian Court, Sir, to the full as fair and witching and sweet as
+Olga Petrovitch."
+
+"I have the evidence of that before my eyes, Princess," I said, looking
+at her and bowing to hide my chagrin at her words.
+
+"You are angry that I hold you fickle.  You should not be," she said,
+with a swift glance reading my mood.
+
+"I have confidence in my faith."
+
+"And I confidence in your lack of it," she retorted, with a touch of
+irritation in her tone.  "I dare wager heavily that we have here many a
+young girl in whose smiles the fire of your eagerness to leave Russia
+in this search would be quickly quenched.  Nay, I will do more, for I
+love a challenge, and love especially to see a man who vaunts himself
+on his strength of purpose and strong will and fidelity overthrown and
+proved a braggart--but perhaps you dare not be put to a test?"  She
+asked this in a tone that made every fibre of purpose in my body thrill
+with loyalty to Olga in reply to the taunt.
+
+"Name your test," I answered, shortly.
+
+"I wager you that I will find one among my maidens here who will turn
+you from your purpose of leaving us; lure you into more than content to
+abandon your search; and make you pour into her own pretty ears a
+confession that you are glad I caused you to dally here--and all this
+within three days."
+
+"It is not possible, Princess.  I take up your challenge readily, if
+only to while away the hanging time."
+
+She looked at me as if triumphantly.
+
+"You dare say that?  Then you are half conquered already.  Now I know
+you will----What is it?" she broke off to a servant who came in.
+
+Then after hearing the servant's message, she made an excuse and left
+me.
+
+I was more than angry with her.  The jest which had for its foundation
+the possibility that I should change in half a week and, instead of
+fretting and fuming to begin my search, be reconciled to this mummery
+of a flirtation with some Court hack or other, annoyed and disturbed
+me; and I turned away and gazed out of one of the tall bayed windows
+into the wide courtyard below, and felt ready to consign the whole
+world to destruction, with the exception of that part where Olga might
+be and such a strip as might be necessary for me to get to her.
+
+Against the Princess I was particularly enraged.  To hold me for an
+empty whirligig fool to turn like a magnetised needle in any direction
+that any chance magnet might choose to draw me!  Stop contentedly?
+Bosh!  Give up the search?  Rot!  I was so angry when I heard her come
+back into the room, that I affected not to know that she was present.
+And I stared resolutely out of the window pretending to be vastly
+interested in the antics of a couple of big young hounds that were
+gambolling together.  I laughed hugely, and uttered a few exclamations
+to myself but loud enough for the Princess to hear.
+
+The Princess took it very coolly, however.  She said nothing, and for a
+couple of minutes the farce went on.
+
+I expected a tirade at my rudeness; but instead I heard the frou-frou
+of her dress as she crossed the room toward me.
+
+I increased my affected gestures and muttered exclamations, and had a
+mind to let fly an oath, just a little one, to shock her, when she put
+her face so close to mine that I could feel its warmth, and she
+whispered right into my ear:--
+
+"Bad acting.  Too self-conscious, Alexis!"
+
+The Princess had won easily.  I surrendered without an effort; gave up
+all thought of the search and was suddenly filled with a glad content
+to stop.  For the voice was Olga's, and the merry laugh was hers, and
+the blush was hers, and the love light was hers too; and the next
+moment I held her in my arms close pressed to my heart.
+
+The Princess had indeed won anyhow, and in much less than three days;
+and I stopped for that wedding with all the delight in the world--in
+fact nothing could have induced me to miss it.
+
+For the bride was Olga, and the bridegroom myself, once--"that devil
+Alexis!"
+
+
+
+
+THE END.
+
+
+
+
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+The Crimean Diary of the Late General Sir Charles A. Windham, K.C.B.
+
+With an Introduction by SIR W. H. RUSSELL.
+
+Edited by MAJOR HUGH PEARSE.  With an added chapter on the Defence of
+Cawnpore, by LIEUT-COL. JOHN ADYE, C.B.  Demy 8vo, $3.00.
+
+This interesting diary, supported and amplified by a number of intimate
+letters, will be found to reveal much that has hitherto been hidden
+concerning the mismanagement of the Crimean campaign.
+
+
+
+From "The Bells" to "King Arthur"
+
+By CLEMENT SCOTT.  Fully illustrated, with portraits of Mr. Irving in
+character, scenes from several plays, and copies of the play-bills.
+Demy 8vo, $3.50.
+
+From the memorable, never-to-be-forgotten evening when Irving startled
+all London with his Mathias, in "The Bells," down to his latest play,
+"King Arthur."  A critical record of the first-night productions at the
+Lyceum Theatre, London.  Not the least interesting feature of this book
+is the superb frontispiece--a photograph of Mr. Irving, with autograph
+in fac-simile.
+
+
+
+Reminiscences of a Yorkshire Naturalist
+
+By the late WILLIAM CRAWFORD WILLIAMSON, LL.D., F.R.S., Professor of
+Botany in Owens College, Manchester.  Edited by his Wife.  Crown 8vo.
+Cloth, gilt top, $2.25 net.
+
+This autobiography gives us an epitome of the advance of scientific
+thought during the present century, with the added charm and freshness
+of a personal history of the almost ideal scientific career of a
+genuine naturalist.--Nature (London).
+
+
+
+Anna Kingsford
+
+Her Life, Letters, Diary, and Work.  By her Collaborator, EDWARD
+MAITLAND.  Illustrated with Portraits, Views, and Fac-similes.  Two
+volumes.  Demy 8vo, 896 pp.  Cloth, $15.00 net.  Second Edition.
+(Scarce).
+
+Reviewed as "The Book of the Month" in Mr. Stead's Review of Reviews.
+The notice occupies ten pages of the Review, and is entitled "Mr.
+Maitland's Life of Anna Kingsford, Apostle and Avenger."  Mr. Stead
+concludes as follows: "Here I must conclude my notice of one of the
+weirdest and most bewildering books that I have read for many a long
+day."
+
+
+
+My Reminiscences
+
+By LORD RONALD GOWER.  With Etched Portrait.  New Edition.  Post 8vo.
+$2.50.
+
+
+
+Rupert of the Rhine
+
+A Biographical Sketch of the Life of Prince Rupert, by LORD RONALD
+GOWER.  With three Portraits in photogravure.  Crown 8vo, buckram,
+$1.75.
+
+
+
+Major General, the Earl of Stirling
+
+An Essay in Biography by LUDWIG SCHUMACHER.  _Edition limited to 130
+copies_.  Cloth, $1.00.
+
+A book so pretty that it might be welcomed, even if it were not as
+carefully done as it is.--Book Buyer (New York).
+
+
+
+Four Generations of a Literary Family
+
+By W. CAREW HAZLITT.  With photogravure portraits, facsimiles, &c.  2
+vols., Demy 8vo.  (Scarce.)
+
+These volumes deal with the Hazlitts in England, Ireland, and America,
+and give a picture of Ireland in 1780 and of America in 1783-7.  They
+contain a store of theatrical anecdotes, sketches of celebrated book
+collectors, an account of old Brompton, and a good deal of matter
+relating to auction rooms and sales by auction.  The history of the
+origin of "Our Club," founded by Douglas Jerrold, is also given.
+
+Note.--This work was suppressed in England, the author having been
+threatened with libel suits by the relatives of many persons mentioned
+in the text.  A limited American edition was secured by the New
+Amsterdam Book Company, and the work now ranks among scarce books.
+
+
+
+Gordon in China and the Soudan
+
+By E. EGMONT HOKE.  Demy 8vo, cloth, $2.25.
+
+This work is practically a reprint of "The Story of Chinese Gordon,"
+which ran through twelve editions within eighteen months of its
+appearance.  The book has been out of print for a considerable time,
+but in view of recent events, it is now greatly in demand.  To meet
+that demand, it has been decided to re-issue it with such minor changes
+as were necessary.
+
+
+
+Bibliography
+
+A Bibliography of Gilbert White of Selborne
+
+By EDWARD A. MARTIN, F.G.S., author of "Amidst Nature's Realms," "The
+Story of a Piece of Coal," Etc.  $1.50.
+
+Gilbert White's remarkable book, "The Natural History of Selborne," has
+perhaps been published in a greater number of editions than any other
+book of the kind in the world.  The work mentioned above gives a very
+interesting account of both the man and his book, and as an essay in
+bibliography, ranks with the very best works of its class.
+
+
+
+Fiction
+
+The Devil-Tree of El Dorado
+
+By FRANK AUBREY.  With Illustrations by LEIGH ELLIS AND FRED HYLAND.
+Thick 12mo, cloth, stamped in fire bronze and gold, $1.50.
+
+The book should find as many readers as "King Solomon's Mines."--New
+York Sun.  (2/3 column review.)
+
+We have often wondered why the famous legend of El Dorado had never
+found its way into romance.  Though the novel of adventure is once more
+in vogue, and although the cry is general that all possible themes have
+long ago been exhausted this still was left untouched; the story
+tellers seemed to have thought the quest as hopeless as the adventurers
+found it.  The omission has now been made good; the hidden city has
+been found.--Macmillan's Magazine, London.--(Extract from a
+thirteen-page review.)
+
+Is an exceptionally fascinating book. * * * We know well that the
+scenes and characters are all ideal--nay, we feel that some are utterly
+impossible--but none the less they enthrall us.--New York Herald,
+(3/4-column review.)
+
+The book is recommended to the perusal of all.--Boston Times.
+
+Here we have a book that is deserving of success.--Waverley Magazine,
+(Boston.)
+
+This is one of the best books of adventure that has appeared in the
+last year or so.--Hartford Post.
+
+_The first edition in England was sold in advance of publication!  The
+second did not last a week!_
+
+
+
+Mr. Paul's Translation of Huysmans' last great novel.
+
+En Route
+
+By J. K. HUYSMANS.  Translated, with a prefatory note, by C. KEGAN
+PAUL.  Second edition.  Crown 8vo, $1.50.
+
+We are inclined to think it not only the greatest novel of the day, but
+one of the most important books of our quarter of the century.--The
+Bookman (extract from five-page review).
+
+The Rt. Hon. W. E. Gladstone, in a letter to the translator, says: "It
+places the claim of the 'Route' through mysticism higher, I think, than
+any other book I have read; and by this fact alone it imposes modesty
+and reserve upon all critics from outside and from a distance."
+
+
+
+Opals From a Mexican Mine
+
+By GEORGE DE VALLIERE.  i2mo, cloth, richly bound, $1.25.
+
+Are indeed literary gems. * * * We are glad to have found these Mexican
+opals; they are to us gems of value and we thank the author.--Boston
+Times.
+
+Now and then a tale flames like a field of poppies in windless
+sunshine--such, for instance, as these Mexican tales which have just
+appeared bearing an unfamiliar name.--The Bookman, New York.
+
+In them all, no worse local solecism than the dropping of a few
+accents.  The like hardly happens twice in a decade.  * * * Are
+unmistakably interesting.--Critic (New York).
+
+
+
+The Lure of Fame
+
+By CLIVE HOLLAND, author of "My Japanese Wife," etc., etc.  With a
+drawing and decoration by GEORGE WHARTON EDWARDS.  Large l6mo, square,
+handsomely embossed cover, $1.00; paper, 50c.
+
+Charles Dexter Allen writes as follows in the Hartford Post: "Before
+one gets to the story itself, he must stop and admire the handsome
+setting the book has received.  Bound in dark blue, with a bold cover
+design in gold, it has an especially designed title page by George
+Wharton Edwards, and an excellent frontispiece by the same artist.  Its
+title, 'The Lure of Fame,' will suggest something of the thread of the
+story, but one is not thereby prepared for so tender and sympathetic a
+picture as those pages reveal, or so close an analysis of human
+feelings and experiences."
+
+
+
+Nephele
+
+A Novel.  By FRANCIS WILLIAM BOURDILLON.  12mo, artistically bound,
+$1.00.
+
+We urge so rare a treat as its pages impart on the attention of our
+readers.--The Bookman (New York).
+
+At the very first sentence the reader realizes that he is breathing a
+rarer air than usually emanates from the printed page, and at the very
+last sentence he realizes how he has kept on the heights. * * *
+Whatever the cause, the achievement is the sort that revives one's
+faith in that quality which, for want of a better word, we know as
+inspiration.--New York Sun.
+
+The story is so delightful that to attempt to describe it seems to
+indicate a lack of appreciation.  It must be read to be
+understood.--Hartford Post.
+
+
+
+Pacific Tales
+
+By LOUIS BECKE, author of "By Reef and Palm," etc.  With frontispiece
+photogravure Portrait of the Author and several illustrations.  Crown
+8vo, green cloth, gilt top, $1.50.
+
+The volume consists of the following: An Island Memory, The South Sea
+Savant, In the Old Beach-Combing Days, Miss Malleson's Rival, Prescott
+of Naura, Chester's "Cross," Hollis's Debt: a tale of the Northwest
+Pacific, The Arm of Luno Capal, In a Samoan Village, the
+"Black-Birdes," In the Evening, The Great Crushing at Mount Sugar-Bag:
+a Queensland Mining Tale, The Shadows of the Dead, "For we were Friends
+Always," Nikoa, The Strange White Woman of Maduro, The Obstinacy of
+Mrs. Tatton, The Treasure of Don Bruno.
+
+
+
+Animal Episodes and Studies in Sensation
+
+By G. H. POWELL.  8vo, cloth, $1.50 net.
+
+The reader, if he be in sorrow, or even in suspense, is taken out of
+himself and knows nothing of what is going on save what the author
+tells him--James Payn, in "Illustrated London News."
+
+Thrilling to the point of intensity--Westminster Gazette.
+
+Breathlessly interesting--Pall Mall Gazette.
+
+
+
+A Stable for Nightmares
+
+Or, Weird Tales.  By J. SHERIDAN LE FANU, author of "Uncle Silas,"
+"House by the Churchyard," etc.; SIR CHARLES YOUNG, Bart., and others.
+Bound in brimstone yellow cloth, and appropriately illustrated, 75
+cents.
+
+The Commercial Advertiser, New York, under the title of "A Revel in
+Spookdom," writes in part as follows: "What is there better for a real,
+clammy, irresponsible thrill than a volume of ghost stories?  You open
+the book anywhere and the breath of chilly, graveyard air that comes
+from the pages prepares you at once for the refreshing horrors you are
+about to enjoy.  At least that was my experience when I opened 'A
+Stable for Nightmares,' by J. Sheridan Le Fanu.  The cover is of the
+hue of cold 'Welsh rabbit,' suggestive of awful indigestion and gaunt
+nightmares that serve to make any ghost stories probable.  The tales
+are of various complexions, but all imbued with the 'pobbiness' of
+new-made corpses that it so useful an element in making effective
+preternatural narratives... Everyone of the eleven stories is a
+splendid example of weirdness...  If you want ghost stories fresh from
+the charnel house, buy this book for 75 cents and you will find it a
+profitable investment."
+
+
+
+The XIth Commandment
+
+By HALLIWELL SUTCLIFFE.  Handsomely bound in cloth, gilt top, $1.25.
+
+Full of deep thought, tempered with a bright appreciation of the
+ridiculous and invested with delicate sarcasm, is the new novel of
+Halliwell Sutcliffe, called "The XIth Commandment."  Mr. Sutcliffe's
+theme is the diplomatic attitude of a north-country vicar in the Church
+of England, who seeks to maintain an equilibrium in his ministrations
+to the rich and poor in his parish, while favoring the rich.  In
+striking contrast to this attitude, the work of a young curate,
+sincere, broadminded and convincing, is refreshingly shown.--Buffalo
+Express.
+
+It is full of stress and emphasis, vibrant and thrilling in places,
+and, for a novel of its character, it holds the interest of the reader
+to a surprising degree.--Commercial Advertiser (New York).
+
+As the story progresses one's interest grows continually and the book
+may be called not merely readable, but genuinely interesting.--Hartford
+Post.
+
+
+
+Seven Frozen Sailors
+
+By GEORGE MANVILLE FENN, assisted by COMPTON READE, F. ARCHER, and
+others.  Illustrated by A. BURNHAM SHUTE.  Square i6mo, cloth.  75
+cents.
+
+"Seven Frozen Sailors" is certainly a title possessing enough
+originality to arouse one's curiosity.  The idea is unique, and the
+seven stories, each by a different author, form an interesting mosaic
+of imaginative literature...  The reading public seems to crave
+something new, and here is a volume, not cumbersome, but of modest
+size, that will, no doubt, prove attractive.--Every Saturday (Elgin,
+Ill.).
+
+The old saying, "too many cooks spoil the broth," does not hold true in
+this instance, for the little book is really enjoyable.--Boston
+Transcript.
+
+
+
+The Copsford Mystery
+
+(_Eighth edition, completing seventeenth thousand_).  By W. CLARK
+RUSSELL, author of "An Ocean Free Lance," "The Wreck of the Grosvenor,"
+etc.  Handsomely illustrated by A. BURNHAM SHUTE, and others.  Cloth,
+$1.25; paper, 50 cents.
+
+"The Copsford Mystery; or, Is He the Man?" is by W. Clark Russell,
+whose name at once suggests rolling billows and dashing spray.  But
+this is not a sea tale and is the only story not of the sea that he has
+written.  Save in the first chapter, when we are introduced to a girl
+who is in the habit of rowing, off Broadstairs, and who gets carried
+out to sea by the tide, and is rescued by a dark-browed, sunburnt, but
+handsome man, there is nothing of the sea in it.  The construction of
+the story is more like Doyle than Russell, but it resembles the
+latter's sea stories in its careful attention to detail.  There is also
+careful delineation of character.  In an introduction is an interesting
+sketch of Russell and his writings, and the book has full page
+illustrations by A. Burnham Shute and others.
+
+
+
+An Ocean Free Lance
+
+(_Fifth edition, completing thirteenth thousand_).  By W. CLARK
+RUSSELL.  New edition, illustrated by HARRY L. V. PARKHURST.  Cloth,
+superbly bound, $1.25; paper, 50 cents.
+
+This dashing romance of the sea is held by some readers to contain Mr.
+Russell's best work.  In it will be found the oft-quoted description of
+a naval engagement.
+
+
+
+A Noble Haul
+
+By W. CLARK RUSSELL, author of "The Wreck of the Grosvenor," "The
+Copsford Mystery," "An Ocean Free Lance," etc.  _5th thousand_.  Cloth,
+50 cents.
+
+Of this work, we need only say that it is an old-fashioned "Clark
+Russell story."
+
+
+
+A Sailor's Sweetheart
+
+By W. CLARK RUSSELL, author of "An Ocean Free Lance," etc.  Illustrated
+by J. STEEPLE DAVIS.  12mo, cloth, $1.25; paper, 50 cents.
+
+We have given this superb sea classic a handsome dress, in keeping with
+its character, and recommend it to the public as an unusually
+interesting story.
+
+
+
+Basile the Jester
+
+(_Second Edition_).  A Romance of the Days of Mary Queen of Scots.
+12mo, Netherland Library, paper, 50 cents; cloth, $1.25.  By J. E.
+MUDDOCK, author of "The Dead Man's Secret," "Maid Marian and Robin
+Hood," "For God and The Czar," "Lochinvar," etc.  Illustrations by
+STANLEY WOOD and others.
+
+The author has taken pains to represent truthfully and effectively the
+life and times of Mary, Queen of Scots, the Court intrigues of the
+period, the plots and counterplots of the nobles.  The book is not a
+prosy history with a little conversation added, but a stirring novel
+full of action, and will undoubtedly rank as one of Mr. Muddock's most
+popular works.
+
+
+
+A Bride's Experiment
+
+(Second edition).  By CHAS. J. MANSFORD, author of "Shafts from an
+Eastern Quiver," "Bully, Fag and Hero," etc.  Holland Library, paper,
+50 cents; cloth, $1.00.
+
+This strong story will prove to be a welcome addition to our dainty
+Holland Library.  Mr. Mansford is one of the best known contributors to
+the Strand Magazine.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's By Right of Sword, by Arthur W. Marchmont
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