"Ah, Fraulein, you still at large?"
"As you see. I come from the Czar."
"How could you get to him?"
"Did not my countrymen, the Kalevaines, take the son, mother, and wife of the Czar under their protection to-day?"
"I see; it was they who gave you admission to the Czar. And then?"
"The Czar has pardoned Ivan Maximovitch Ghedimin. Here is his pardon."
"Ah! you have saved Ivan Ghedimin from the scaffold?"
"And also from the mines. The Czar is graciously pleased to exile him to Tobolsk among the sable-hunters, whither he will go at once."
"On foot, it is to be hoped."
"Not so--in his own sledge, and alone!"
"And all this has been effected by your dark eyes, fair lady? But allow me, an instant. At the time that the Czar signed this pardon he was not aware that "the green book" had been discovered."
"What "green book?""
"Ah, my charming _diva_, you are playing the unconscious innocent! But the part does not suit you. This time I fear I shall have to hiss. Do you not know that the key to your secret roulette-bank is in the hands of the police?"
"I know; and then?"
"And this time the police will not be fooled as I once was, when Michael Turgenieff said, "_Je suis un president sans phrase. Messieurs, faites vos jeux._" "The green book" has been found!"
"As far as I know a _yellow_ book has been found."
"And in it the conspirators had signed their names to the Const.i.tution, and the several schemes of rebellion were traced."
"In it were the names of those gentlemen who remained debtors to the banker of the roulette-table and those whose debts of honor were unredeemed."
"You act comedy well, exceedingly well, Fraulein; but, all the same, you will be hissed off the stage. _Written characters_ must witness against you."
"They will witness against no one. Knowing that roulette is a forbidden game, being unable to open the safe, I took the precaution to pour aquafortis through the keyhole; and they into whose hands the "yellow"
book has fallen have not found a single name inscribed upon its pages, for they are all effaced. I was present when it was produced; there was no writing to be seen."
At these words there was a loud clanking of chains, Ivan striking together those which fettered his hands.
Chevalier Galban was wild with rage.
"You are truly an imp of Satan, Zeneida Ilmarinen. By this demoniacal act you have deprived Siberia and the scaffold of ten thousand conspirators!"
"Let us add their families, and reckon it at a hundred thousand."
"Only a woman could be capable of such an abomination. And you dare to tell it to me?"
"What have I to fear from you? I have in my possession a letter from the Czar, authorizing me to leave this unhappy country and to go wherever I like."
Chevalier Galban, seeing that she was thus outside the pale of his castigation, wished to return to his tone of studied French courtesy.
"The world of St. Petersburg, madame, will deeply regret its loss after this "farewell" performance of yours to-day. And where may you be going, if I may take the liberty of asking, that I may instruct the police to allow you to pa.s.s unmolested?"
"Where else than where my _master_ leads--to Tobolsk?"
"What! You are going with Ghedimin to Siberia?"
"Why not? I am not his wife, to separate from him when misfortune overtakes him. I am only his friend; I cannot desert him." And, going to the chained prisoner, she took the heavy ball hanging to his feet in her hands; it was her bridal dowry. "We can go now, master."
At this moment Ivan proudly raised his head, a glow upon his face. The att.i.tude of the shaven head was what it should have been before--that of a hero--the statuesque head of one fighting for his country"s freedom.
With his fettered hands he raised Zeneida"s to his lips and cried, in the full metallic tones of his manly voice:
"I thank thee, O my G.o.d! Thou hast made me richer now than ever I was before!"
Zeneida, nestling up to him, put her arms about him.
"Now you may hiss to your heart"s content, Chevalier Galban. The play is over!"
But Galban had no desire to do so. Even his despicable heart was touched by so much n.o.bility of spirit. The four grenadiers, too, stood with sunken heads, against all military discipline.
"But, Fraulein," stammered the Chevalier, "only consider what is in store for you if you seriously carry out this tremendous determination."
Zeneida looked at Ivan Maximovitch, her whole soul in that look.
"I will be a _nameless wife_ to this _nameless man_. Let us go."
The heavy chains clanked at each step. In the deserted room the only sound now heard was the sobbing of the faithful old serving-man; but on the face of the dead, stretched upon the floor, all lines had been smoothed away. She smiled.
Similar figures, sketched in with equally grand lines, were abundant in that great historic epoch. Thus the young wife of Trubetzkoi, the nominal Dictator, accompanied him to Siberia; so did the wives of the two Muravieffs and Narishkins. Ryleieff"s widow haughtily refused to accept the pension a.s.signed her by the Czar. A young governess, who had had the strength to shut up within her own heart her love for a Russian prince while his rank raised him so high above her, confessed her feelings for him to his parents when he was degraded and sentenced to serfdom in Siberia. She became his wife and went with him into exile.
But the dark side of the picture stood out also in grewsome detail. The Prince Odojefski, who hid himself under the bridge, was betrayed by his own relatives; and one might form a long list of those who, on the same melancholy day that their people were setting out for Siberia, crossed hands with Korynthia Ghedimin in a country-dance at the Winter Palace.
EPISODES
THE RESCUED POET
The revolution was entirely suppressed. The last body of insurgents, under the leadership of Jakuskin, had thrown themselves into a palace and defended it with the heroism of despair until it had been attacked on all sides. This ended the St. Petersburg attempt.
Equally disastrous was the Southern insurrection. The two brothers Muravieff Apostol,[1] being taken prisoners, were rescued by some officers belonging to the republican "League of United Serfs." Then, placing themselves at the head of the Southern Army, they proclaimed a republic in Vasilkov, its priest blessing their arms. But the blessing bore no fruit. The soldiers had nothing to urge against a republic; but _who would be its Czar_? For a republic must necessarily have a Czar!
Upon the hills of Ustinoskai they lie buried, where they were shot down in whole companies and trodden under the horses" feet. Upon the grave which covers their remains a gallows has been erected as their memorial.
[Footnote 1: Apostol was the family name.]