"That were the least danger. As long as we allowed them the game of freemasonry, all was open and above board. At the court b.a.l.l.s they would talk in the presence of the Czar himself of freedom, and debate over the rights of the people and the emanc.i.p.ation of serfs. That was all academical discussion. But when the masonic lodges were closed, and the insignia sold by auction in the Jews" market on the Appraxin Dwor, the secret evil grew worse and worse. The freemasonry of Mamonoff, of a sudden, took five or six different forms. One called itself a "General Betterment Society," Orloff at its head. Another was "Szojusz s.p.a.cinia,"
a third "The Confederation of Patriots," a fourth "Szojusz Blagadenztoiga." There is another const.i.tuted under the t.i.tle of "Republic of the Eight Slav Races"; its members wear an eight-pointed star as a token, the inscription on one of the points being Hungary.
They grow like mushrooms."
"Ridiculous! Even in my time there were clubs where secret meetings were held. But there was no talk then of danger to the State. If certain much-wronged husbands had no complaint to make, the police might let us go scot-free."
"That is not the case now," answered Araktseieff, impatiently. (It was his habit, when receiving secret visits in his own house, to keep a sword-stick in his hand, with which he would incessantly prod screens, walls, and hangings, as though ever suspecting listeners; and did he perceive that his visitor had a bulging pocket-handkerchief or note-book, he would prod that, too, to discover what was there.) "They are about everywhere, and yet nowhere to be traced. They give each other rendezvous at b.a.l.l.s, concerts, wine-parties, etc., and so contrive to give our spies the slip. Why, they actually keep a register, a sort of parliamentary hand-book, in which the conferences of every distant province are entered concerning the organizing of a systematic revolution throughout Russia; the best form of const.i.tution; what is to become of the dynasty; how the empire is to be part.i.tioned, and whether to be represented by landed proprietors or the people. And this protocol it is which contains a fully named register of the conspirators, those who hold the threads of the net in their hands throughout the whole land, from the sh.o.r.es of the Black Sea to the Arctic Pole. Among themselves they call it "the green book." Now, where is this book? That is the question."
"To which I reply by a counter-question. But do not keep on so incessantly prodding my coat-pockets with that sharp stiletto of yours.
Has any one seen this book--and, if seen, why has he not said where he has seen it?"
"That I will tell you, too. The conspirators are divided into three cla.s.ses. The first are "Brethren." To this community any one may belong, on his introducer making himself responsible for him; they know nothing beyond the fact that they are members of a conspiracy, and have the right to attend meetings. The second cla.s.s are called "Men." They are trusty people, who, on a certain watchword being given them, are authorized to act. You may reckon one-third of the officers in the army as belonging to this cla.s.s. They cannot betray anything beyond their own individual names and the work given them to do. Then we come to the third cla.s.s, the "Bojars," and leaders of the whole affair. It is extremely difficult to get in among them; and those who do belong to them do not betray one iota."
"Are they married men? Have they no wives--no mistresses?"
"That question occurred to me long ago. It is no new discovery that women are the best mediums for discovering secrets. Bright eyes and diamonds can cast light into many a dark corner--that is an old story!
That "the green book" is in the custody of some woman is unquestionable; but, so far, with all our espionage, we have reached no further. We were informed that Orloff"s mistress was the possessor of "the green book,"
and paid down enormous sums for the information. And what did we find? A pack of scandalous anecdotes of St. Petersburg society, all of which, moreover, were known to us before. Then we got on another scent. "The green book" was in the keeping of the "Martinists," whose president had a lady-love--faithfulness itself. In her case all our bribes were useless. So one night we had her surprised in her room, bound, the boards of the floor raised, and actually there was found a "green book."
But it contained nothing but atheistic theses. What was the use of them?
People may rebel against the Deity, but not against the Czar! At length we received secret information that the heart of the conspiracy is that league which calls itself "The Northern Union"--its head Prince Ghedimin."
"The devil!"
"Yes, my friend; the next in succession to the throne! He it is who must hold possession of "the green book," or who has had it in his keeping.
To whom should a man confide so dangerous a treasure but to his own wife? But the husband, we are told, always wore the key of the iron chest in which the book was guarded round his neck. Father Hilary attacked the Princess on the religious side, and persuaded her to remove the key from her husband"s neck when he lay unconscious in typhus fever.
She must have had many sins to atone for. Anyway, she did commit the small piece of treachery, and I pa.s.sed a whole night studying "the green book" obtained from Ghedimin."
"Well?"
"Well, having carefully gone through it, I flung it to the other end of the room. The book was filled with dangerous doctrines--nothing more.
Pure abstract reasoning, philosophical treatises, and the like, but no single name of any member. What care I for the utterances of Seneca, Rousseau, Saint-Just? What I want to know is what the Muravieffs and Turgenieffs are talking about. That, too, was a mere piece of trickery.
That cunning Ghedimin did not trust his wife. He gave her a book to keep which the Censor--had she betrayed him--would readily have condemned to be burned, but for which the President of Secret Police would have grudged the oil consumed in the reading."
"Then, if the real "green book" is not to be found in his wife"s keeping, it must be in that of his lady-love--and that lady-love is Zeneida?"
"Right."
"Is she a foreigner?"
"No; a subject. A Finnish girl from Helsingfors; and especially favored by the Czar, because she has triumphed over the pride of the Empire--Catalani. The Czarina, too, is very gracious to her. You know that the Czar is a great music-lover, and will not suffer the school of Cimarosa and Paisiello to be set aside by the modern school of Rossini.
Zeneida Ilmarine does not sing a note of Rossini. At all hours she is admitted to the imperial family. How often have I--ay, and even the Grand Duke Nicholas--had to kick our heels in the antechamber while she was having audience? At the court soirees she is treated like any reigning princess; she alone is privileged to wear in her hair a white rose, the Czarina"s favorite flower. It is entirely due to the magic of her voice that the Finnish students of Helsingfors escaped being sent off in a body to Kiew after the rebellion; for she can intercede as effectually as she can sing. The Czar would have raised her to the rank of a d.u.c.h.ess, but what do you think the spoiled _diva_ said? "Would your Majesty wish to degrade me?""
"And is this the woman who could take part in a conspiracy against the Czar?"
"Why not? if the leader of that conspiracy be sweet upon her, a Prince Ghedimin, the most powerful among Russia"s twelve ruling families, the number of whose serfs and estates more than equals the whole kingdom of Wurtemberg. Do not forget, moreover, that she is a "Kalevaine.""
"What are the proofs of this suspicion?"
"I have already told you that the conspirators are marvellously clever in eluding detection. It is not their way to creep into obscure corners or subterranean caves; they rather hold their meetings in the midst of crowds and in public places. This is a wrinkle they have learned from the Poles, among whom the "Philaretes" and "Vendita" usually meet at their yearly fairs. Now the fast is at hand. For seven weeks every public amus.e.m.e.nt is forbidden, that the people may see that great folks do penance as well as themselves. High and low must attend the services of the Church. But no one asks what takes place o" nights behind closed doors. This is the harvest-time for secret meetings. The invited guests have no political proclivities; they have no wish to found const.i.tutions; their sole idea is to enjoy a good dinner--"Anti-fasters"
they call themselves. Surprised by the police, all that would be discovered would probably be a table spread with appetizing game or steaming roast-beef, and, maybe, a few guests the worse for liquor. The "sinners" would, of course, be fined, but no one would be the wiser of what was taking place in the more private apartments. And here our prima donna has peculiar advantages. The stage, as you know, makes its own laws. Who in the world expects to find strict morality among actresses and ballet-dancers? The police wisely shut their eyes to much that goes on among them. He who is lucky enough to be an invited guest to one of Zeneida Ilmarine"s exclusive Careme soirees will find all the frivolous beauties of the opera and ballet, all the _jeunesse doree_ of St.
Petersburg, a.s.sembled, and will have no need to complain of either the lack of fiery eyes or fiery wines. Many a man has been singed by them.
But if he be wise enough to keep his head in the midst of the tumult, he will observe a certain portion of the company disappear gradually and noiselessly from the reception-rooms."
"There may be other reasons for such disappearance."
"Certainly. For instance, roulette may be carried on in those private apartments. Now, the Czar has issued a severe prohibition against roulette-playing--any one caught in the act is sent straight off to Siberia, without possibility of remission of sentence. It is a fact that Zeneida"s calumniators, especially among the women who are envious of her, have circulated the report that she keeps a roulette bank, which enables her to indulge in all her lavish luxury. I hold a different opinion."
"Upon what grounds?"
"That Michael Turgenieff is a constant guest at these theatrical soirees, and is one of those who at midnight disappear into the inner apartments. Now, Michael Turgenieff is a philosopher and a puritan."
"Even philosophers have their lucid intervals, induced by combined charms of pretty women and good wine."
"We know Michael better. I have had my eye upon him ever since his Demi-Decemvir. He was the only one among his young companions who did not give way to any of the modern forms of debauchery. In his travels through England, France, and Germany, he only sought out great writers and men of mind and genius; he was never to be found in fashionable or vicious haunts. Not even in Paris, where vice and pleasure reign supreme. What, then, should possess him to secretly worship here at the altar of false G.o.ds? No; the presence of this one man alone is sufficient to betray that those closed doors conceal other than Eleusinian mysteries."
"And it has, so far, been impossible to discover them?"
"No sooner does Zeneida, taking the Duke"s arm, leave the company than it a.s.sumes the aspect of a revel. Beauty and folly take possession of men"s senses, and next day not one of them can recall anything but that they have had a jolly evening. If a "Brother" try to follow a "Bojar" in his retreat, he is surrounded by sirens, who lure him back by a conspiracy of charms. In order to let diamond cut diamond, and so conquer the high-priestess of the mysteries herself, it needs just such a conquering hero as you are."
"Very flattering for me! When shall I make a beginning?"
"This very night. It is the last day of Maslica week, the last night of the opera. Zeneida is to sing in Cimarosa"s _Secret Marriage_. The streets will be thronged. At the stroke of midnight the bells of all the churches will proclaim the beginning of Lent. Every one goes to confession. In the opera queen"s kingdom, however, the revel begins.
Prince Carnival, with his merry company, will make his joyous procession through the brilliantly lighted saloons, through whose fast-closed windows no ray of light, no sound of music, may penetrate. You must manage to procure an invitation to the entertainment."
"After the insult of to-day?"
"You are master in the art of intrigue."
"I have given my promise to Princess Ghedimin to hiss her rival off the stage to-night."
"You have given me your promise to win her to-night."
"The time is too short."
"But the opportunity favorable. I am informed that yesterday two men arrived in the capital who are rarely seen here. The one is Krizsanowski, from Poland; the other, Colonel Pestel, of the Southern Army. Both have already received invitations to Zeneida"s so-called dance. Only there can you come across them; and you must find out from them what has brought them here."
"I will be there."
"How will you manage it?"
"As we men begin all love affairs--by means of presents."
"Ah! this nymph is richer than you, my dear fellow. She makes her forty thousand rubles in a single concert. If her mood is for diamonds, she chooses out the most costly; if for something better than diamonds, she divides her night"s earnings among the poor. It may happen that you receive back your presents twofold."
"I will make her a present which will command her favor--an eight-in-hand."
"Ah! such as the Czar alone possesses?"
"Such as not even the Czar possesses! You shall see, with this eight-in-hand, I will force open the gates of the fairy castle. Leave the rest to me. If a "green book" be in existence, I will know its contents."