Chapter XXXVIII: The Game Begins

That hand at bridge lasted till long past midnight, and I only got away at last on the plea that I was dead tired after my two days' ride.

"Tired or not, you play a good hand, _mon ami_!" Grodwitz declared. We had been partners, and had won all before us.

"They shall have their revenge in good time," I said, stifling a yawn. "_Bonsoir, messieurs_."

I sent Nicolai to bed, and wrapping myself in a dressing gown which I found laid out for me, sat down in a deep divan chair to await the Duke, and fell fast asleep. I woke with a start, as the great clock over the castle gateway boomed four, and saw the Duke sitting quietly smoking in a chair opposite.

He cut short my stammered apologies in the frank unceremonious manner he always used when we were alone together, and plunged at once into the matter that was uppermost in his mind, as in mine.

Now at last I learned something of the working of that League with which I had become so mysteriously entangled, and of his and Anne's connection with it.

"For years its policy was sheerly destructive," he told me. "Its aims were as vague as its organization was admirable. At least nine-tenths of the so-called Nihilist murders and outrages, in Russia as elsewhere, have been planned and carried out by its executive and members. To 'remove' all who came under their ban, including any among their own ranks who were suspected of treachery, or even of delaying in carrying out their orders, was practically its one principle. But the time for this insensate indiscriminating violence is passing,--has passed. There must be a policy that is constructive as well as destructive. The younger generation sees that more clearly every day. She--Anna--was one of the first to see and urge it; hence she fell under suspicion, especially when she refused to carry out certain orders."

He broke off for a moment, as if in slight embarrassment.

"I think I understand," I said. "She was ordered to 'remove' you, sir, and she refused?"

"That is so; at least she protested, even then, knowing that I was condemned merely as a member of the Romanoff family. Later, when we met, and learned to know each other, she found that I was no enemy, but a stanch friend to these poor peoples of Russia, striving so blindly, so desperately, to fling off the yoke that crushes them! Then it was that, with the noble courage that distinguishes her above all women I have ever met, she refused to carry out the orders given her; more than that, she has twice or thrice saved my life from other attempts on it. I have long been a member of the League, though, save herself, none other connected with it suspected the identity of a certain droshky driver, who did good service at one time and another."

His blue eyes twinkled merrily for an instant. In his way his character was as complex as that of Anne herself,--cool, clever, courageous to a degree, but leavened with a keen sense of humor, that made him thoroughly enjoy playing the role of "Ivan," even though it had brought him to his present position as a state prisoner.

"That reminds me," I said. "How was it you got caught that time, when she and her father escaped?"

He shrugged his shoulders.

"I had to choose, either to fly with them, and thereby endanger us all still further, or allow myself to be taken. That last seemed best, and I think--I am sure--I was right."

"Did you know the soldiers were coming?"

"No. That, by the way, was Selinski's doing,--Cassavetti, as you call him."

"Cassavetti!" I exclaimed. "Why, he was dead weeks before!"

"True, but the raid was in consequence of information he had supplied earlier. He was a double-dyed traitor. The papers she--the papers that were found in his rooms in London proved that amply. He had sold information to the Government, and had planned that the Countess Anna should be captured with the others, after he had induced her to return, by any means in his power."

"But--but--he couldn't have brought her back!" I exclaimed. "For she only left London the day after he was murdered, and she was at Ostend with you next day."

"Who told you that?" he asked sharply.

"An Englishman I saw by chance in Berlin, who had met her in London, and who knew you by sight."

He sat silent, in frowning thought, for a minute or more, and then said slowly:

"Selinski had arranged everything beforehand, and his assistants carried out his instructions, though he, himself, was dead. But all that belongs to the past; we have to deal with the present and the future! You know already that one section of the League at least is, as it were, reconstructed. And that section has two definite aims: to aid the cause of freedom, but also to minimize the evils that must ensue in the struggle for freedom. We cannot hope to accomplish much,--there are so few of us,--and we know that we shall perish, perhaps before we have accomplished anything beyond paving the way for those that come after! There is a terrible time in store for Russia, my friend! The masses are ripe for revolt; even the bureaucracy know that now, and they try to gain time by raising side issues. Therefore, here in the country districts, they stir up the _moujiks_,--now against the tax-gatherers, more often against the Jews. Murder and rapine follows; then the troops are sent, who punish indiscriminately, in order to strike terror into the people. They create a desolation and call it a peace; you have seen an instance yourself on your way hither?"

I nodded, remembering that devastated village we had passed.

"The new League is striving to preserve peace and to save the innocent. Here in the country its members are pledged first to endeavor to improve the condition of the peasants, to teach them to be peaceable, self-supporting, and self-respecting,--a hard, well-nigh hopeless task, since in that, as in all other attempts at reform, one has to work in defiance of the Government."

"Well, from what I've heard--and seen--during the last part of my journey, you've managed to do a good deal in that way, sir," I suggested respectfully.

"It is little enough. I have worked under sufferance, and, as it were, with both hands tied," he said sadly. "If I had been any other, I should have been sent to Siberia long ago. It is the mere accident of birth that has saved me so far. But as to the League. The present plan of campaign is, roughly speaking, to prevent riots and bloodshed. If news is gained of an intended raid on an isolated country-house, or, what is more frequent, on a Jews' quarter, a warning is sent to those threatened, and if possible a defence arranged. Even from here I have been able to assist a little in such matters." Again his eyes gleamed with that swift flash of mirth, though he continued his grave speech. "More than one catastrophe has been averted already, but the distances are so great; often one hears only of the affairs after they are over.

"That will be part of your work. To bring news as you gather it,--the Pavloffs will help you there,--and to accompany me when I choose to elude my jailers for a few hours; perhaps to go in my stead, if it should be impossible for me to get away. I know what you can do when it comes to a fight! Well, this is the 'sport' I offered you! Do you care to go in for it? If not--"

"You know I care!" I exclaimed, half indignantly; and on that we gripped hands.

We talked for a good while longer. He gave me much information that I need not set down here, and we spoke often of Anne. He seemed much interested in my cousin, Mary Cayley,--naturally, as she was Anne's friend and hostess,--and seemed somehow relieved when I said Mary was still in complete ignorance of all that had happened and was happening.

"I should like to meet your charming cousin; but that will never be, I fear; though perhaps--who knows?--she and her friend may yet be reunited," he said, rousing himself with a sigh and a shiver.

I slept late when I did get to bed, and was awakened at last by Nicolai, who had breakfast ready, and informed me that Mishka was in readiness to escort me to his father's house.

For a time life went smoothly enough. I was out and about all day with the Pavloffs, superintending the trial of the new farming machines and the distribution of the implements. During the first day or two Grodwitz or one of the other officers always accompanied me, ostensibly as an act of courtesy towards a stranger,--really, as I well understood, to watch me; and therefore I was fully on my guard. They relaxed their vigilance all the sooner, I think, because, in my pretended ignorance of Russian, I blandly endeavored to press them into service as interpreters, which they found pretty extensively boring.

They treated me quite _en bon camarade_; though even at dinner, and when we were playing cards at night, one or other of them was continually trying to "draw" me, and I had to be constantly on the alert. I had no further public audience with the Duke, though he came to my room several times by the secret stair.

But one evening, as Mishka and I rode towards the castle, a pebble shot from a clump of bushes near at hand, and struck his boot. With a grunt he reined up, and, without glancing in the direction whence the missile came, dismounted and pretended to examine one of the horse's feet. But I saw a fur cap, and then a face peering from among the bushes for an instant, and recognized Yossof the Jew. Another missile fell at Mishka's feet,--a small packet in a dark wrapping. He picked it up, thrust it in his pocket, swung into the saddle, and we were off on the instant.

All he condescended to say was:

"See that you are alone in the hour before dinner. There may be work to do."

I took the hint, and as usual dispensed with Nicolai's proffered services. Within half an hour the bookcase swung back and the Duke entered quickly; his face was sternly exultant, his blue eyes sparkling.

"Dine well, my friend, but retire early; make what excuse you like, but be here by ten at the latest. You will manage that well, if you do not attend the reception," he exclaimed. "We ride from Zostrov to-night; perhaps forever! The great game has begun at last,--the game of life and death!"