Pushkin changed color for an instant as he stared at him, then plunged his hand into his breast-pocket. All followed his movements anxiously.
What would he bring out? Perhaps the song of freedom, just composed; and would he declaim or sing it, for Chevalier Galban"s edification? Or would he draw that which every conspirator carried, dancing or drinking, a pointed stiletto to strike down the traitor then and there?
He drew out a packet of papers, smiling the while.
"Here is what I promised you, _The Romance of the Lovely Gypsy Girl_.
Shall I read it?"
A romance instead of a song of freedom? Why not? in order to cover an untimely appearance, the wisest thing for a poet to do was to read or recite something, no matter what, so that the others meanwhile could recover their self-possession.
But this was no mere rhyming jingle. No sooner had he begun than the attention of all was riveted on his verses. The poetic form was striking and brilliant, the thought original, the conception fine; there were fire, pa.s.sion, audacity, and beauty of expression in it, united to a natural grace and simplicity.
No one had heard the lines before. As he finished, Zeneida, hurrying up to him, pressed both his hands in hers. She did not kiss him as she had kissed Ryleieff, but the tears which flowed from her eyes were a higher recompense. A kiss is cheap. Tears are costly.
The whole company of conspirators, forgetting alike "green book" and reorganization, hastened to congratulate the poet, who suddenly, like a comet from before which the wind has chased the clouds, found himself revealed in all his glory.
Chevalier Galban was now convinced that this was no gathering of conspirators, but merely a select a.s.semblage who met for games of chance and intellectual and literary interchange of thought--both prohibited, it is true, in Russia--for which reason they were obliged to meet in secret.
_Par exemple_, such verses would be public property in any other country, and half the world would be running after the poet.
"Bah!" returned Pushkin, excited by the applause he had created. "Do you not know that feebleness is the G.o.ddess we worship, and the priest of her altar is called the "Censor"?"
General laughter broke out at these cutting words. The Censor is as stereotyped a marionette in Russia as in other countries. Galban seized the opportunity to bring his talents as _agent provocateur_ into the field.
"Yes, indeed, ladies and gentlemen, the Censor is a necessary evil among us. You are aware that the Czarina Catherine II. once, at the instance of her men of letters, commanded full freedom of the press in Russia for--three days! It would be seen then what fruit the tree would bear.
It would have been thought that those three days would have proved a harvest-time for songs of freedom, prohibited pamphlets, and philosophical treatises to crawl out of their hiding-places, but the result was only an avalanche of low slander and scurrilous anecdotes.
The press was flooded with a stream of scandalous personalities, directed against well-known families and personages; so that already on the second day of the freedom of the press the Czarina was besieged with pet.i.tions to countermand the third day and reinstate the censure."
No one save Pushkin deemed it advisable to accept the proffered challenge; but he, as a poet, could not suffer the liberty of the press to be a mark for ridicule.
"Come, I say, Galban, if I were to tell a man who had never tasted wine that he might drink what ran out from the bung-hole of a cask the third day after the vintage, that man would swear that there was no such disgusting stuff as wine in the world."
"Messieurs, je suis un president sans phrases. Le dernier jeu!" broke in the banker"s voice, interrupting the dangerous turn the conversation had taken.
It was time, moreover, to finish the game; for if by five o"clock Chevalier Galban had not left the palace, the police would have broken open the doors, and every one in it have been arrested. The roulette was turned for the last time. Chevalier Galban had won six thousand four hundred rubles, which he gallantly shared with Zeneida. Then, with the customary forms of good society, he took his leave.
The remaining company looked at one another. Every one well knew that roulette was a mere farce among them. It was alike Zeneida"s money which furnished bank and players. Hence the general smile which went round on Galban"s winning a pile of his hostess"s money and then courteously sharing it with her.
But there was a glow of triumph on Zeneida"s countenance, as, raising the bouquet with its diamond-set holder in her hand, she murmured, in a tone of angry satisfaction:
"Je le payais!"
Chevalier Galban had received back the price of his diamonds, without ever suspecting that it had, so to speak, been thrown after him.
CHAPTER X
FROM SCENT OF MUSK TO REEKING TAR
When those a.s.sembled were a.s.sured of Galban"s departure, Pestel began:
"My lords and gentlemen, that was very fine--I mean the romance; but it seems to me we have met to discuss other matters. Is it not so, Cousin Krizsanowski?"
The Polish n.o.ble shrugged his shoulders.
"I have nothing more to say." At the same time, drawing from his pocket the inevitable meerschaum and tobacco-pouch, he slowly filled and lighted his pipe, which in the Eastern "language of tobacco" implies, "I should have plenty to say, if I could only smoke out from here certain folk who seem suspicious to me."
Zeneida, understanding his meaning, whispered something in Ryleieff"s ear.
"All right," returned Ryleieff, "let us hear our Pushkin"s song of liberty. True, the fine romance you read us ent.i.tles us to name you our Tyrtaeus. Never, since Byron--"
Pushkin did not allow him to finish the sentence. His praises excited him to fury. A schoolboy may win with pride the prize for the best verses, and carry it home in triumph to his parents, but your true poet cannot brook being praised to his face. He feels that he has constrained your praises. Thus, if you be a woman, throw him a flower; if a man, give him a shake of the hand; but never tell him face to face that he has composed a fine poem; by so doing you repel him. And worse than all is it for another poet to praise his work. "_Genus irritabile vatum._"
"No, no, gentlemen," he cried, in wrathful voice. "My poem is not for your ears. It is not meant for musk-scented atmospheres, but for such as reek with tar and tobacco. Come, Jakuskin, let us go off to some beer-shop; that"s the right place for it."
Springing up, Jakuskin held out his hand to him.
"All right, let us go to the Bear"s Paw."
"Very well."
No one attempted to detain them. Between the two doors the rest of their conversation was heard.
"Shall we take Diabolka with us?" said Jakuskin.
"All right. Let"s look for her."
"She must have fallen asleep somewhere. I will soon wake her to life again."
In this unceremonious fashion did the guests take their leave of their hostess. Zeneida, however, following them, left the room.
"Now you can talk out," exclaimed Pestel, hurriedly, to Krizsanowski.
"Perhaps Zeneida"s presence has hampered you. Have you anything to make known to us?"
"Yes," replied the Pole. "But it was not her presence which deterred me.
Far from it. Women, when they are in a conspiracy, know well how to keep secrets. Laena bit out her tongue on the wheel of torture that she might not betray her colleagues. Ever since then the tongueless lioness has been the emblem of silence. Oh, I reckon greatly upon our women. I would even rather await Zeneida"s return before speaking, were I a.s.sured that she would not bring back the other two with her."
"You mistrust them?"
"No, but I do not like them. In conspiracies it is not the absolute traitors who are the most to be feared. There are three cla.s.ses I dread more--cowards, self-willed and fantastic persons. The last is the most dangerous of all, for he deceives himself, and reports falsely. If he hear a drunken peasant swear, he reports the existence of a revolutionary spirit; if he see a solitary deserter, he distorts him into a whole regiment. He believes just what his fancy paints. If he has filled his head with revolutionary writings he conceives himself to be a Robespierre, and every St. Petersburg mujik is a Paris _sans culotte_ to him. To the working out of a conspiracy we want no fantastic notions; but, on the contrary, common-sense and judgment. With those two men I prefer not to discuss matters; the one is a fool, the other a poet."
Pestel hastily pulled the Pole"s long hanging sleeve.
"Do not affront Ryleieff," he said.
"Oh, Ryleieff is different. He can write any number of correct verses--faultless as to rhyme; he measures his thoughts into iambics and trochees, like a corn merchant does his wheat into bushels and sacks. He is master of his imagination--imagination does not master him."