The wholesale arrests which I had ordered for that night, I had long

had under consideration, and that I had decided to make them a little

sooner than was my first intention, was due in part to the danger

surrounding the princess; in part to my own suddenly formed

determination to complete my business there and return to the United

States; and lastly, to the fact that the last few reports that I had

received so nearly completed the knowledge I had striven to attain,

that I came to the conclusion that my work was about done, and that it

was time to draw the net. My salary was enormous, and already amounted

to a competence, and I knew that if I remained in Russia, sooner or

later somebody would find me out; and then there would be short shrift

for me, between the nihilists on one hand, and the jealous nobility on

the other, for the latter saw in me nothing but an interloper who had

stolen their prerogatives.

My first business on leaving the emperor, was to call upon Jean Morét,

for now his usefulness was past, and the time had come for me to keep

my word with him, and set him free. Somewhere in the world he would be

able to find a safe haven of shelter from the enemies who would claim

vengeance; and now, after my net was drawn this night, there would be

few active nihilists remaining to seek his life.

"Well, Jean," I said, as I entered the room where he was confined,

"would you like to leave prison and Russia?"

"Indeed I would, sir," he replied. "There is nothing that would make me

quite so happy as that. Has the time come to let me go?"

"I think so. Are you quite sure that there is nothing that would make

you as happy as permission and passports to leave the country?"

"Quite."

"Not even----"

"No, not even that to which you refer, or are about to refer. I have

had plenty of time for thought, since you brought me here, and I have

unraveled the fact that I made a consummate fool of myself. I will not

deny that I still love her, or that I probably always will love her,

but I know that she never did, and never will, love me. That ends it,

you see, and so I am glad to get away."

"Was it the princess, Jean?" I asked.

"You have been very good to me, Mr. Derrington, and I ought to deny you

nothing. Still I hope you will not ask me to tell you anything

concerning the woman I was foolish enough to love so madly."

"I honor you for that expression, Jean, and I will ask you only one

question. You can reply to it readily enough. Do you love her still,

and well enough, so that you wish her every happiness? So well that you

cherish no ill will against her for what she did to you?"




readonlinefreebook.com Copyright 2016 - 2024