The Shadow of the Czar

turned upon the highroad, there drew near a cloake

x-secretary. "How? Are you not es

y called 'Sobieski's Rest.' Her Highness has there

Marshal Zabern," continued Trevisa, presenting Paul, "my

desire more," said Zabern

Paul,-the liking of a br

n," continued Zabern, "since the

er the great Napoleo

ster had determined to expel the Muscovites from Europe, and to replace them with Poles? Trusting to these words, sixty thousand of us marched with the Grand Army upon Moscow. Heavens! shall I ever forget the fierce thrill of joy that pervaded our ranks as we drew rein and gazed upon the golden spires a

he marshal's life," smiled Trev

rience, bu

right arm, and Paul perceived what he had not not

ing as if he still felt the effects of the cold. "The frost was so intense that it penetrated flesh, sinew, and bone, rendering the limbs as white and brittle as alabaster. In repelling an attack of Cossacks I aimed a sabre-s

d!" crie

left I was rendered completely useless for the rest of the campaign. However, I have repaired the deficiency, and here is a

hem again?" i

eparing to vindicate its freedom against the tyranny of the viceroy Constantine, brother of the present Czar, I hastened to take part in the enterprise.

we set off for the palace, slew the guards, and penetrated to the vice-regal bedchamber. But we were just a few seconds too late. Roused from sleep by the clash

urrectio

e was a second ten thousand to replace them on the morrow. We had no such reserves to fall back upon. And then, too, the damned Russians brought the cholera with them, an ally that proved far more fatal than their a

ou esc

al more mischief yet," continued Zabern with a grim twinkle in his eye. "To see me holding the post of minister is gall

y, Paul could not avoid a feeling of regret that Barbara should have admitted to her ministry such a firebrand as this pa

let the princess's frown diminish your interest in the cipher letter found upon th

aid Trevisa, lugubriously. "The cipher is a most baffling

w s

en applied to another. But if I learn who the author is, and I discover that he knows, say, Russian only, the inference is that the document is written in that language; I apply certain principles deduced from a study of Russi

e glanced at Paul as

side for a mom

al, you can trust my friend Capta

e that the Duke of Bora was either the

ou accuse the duke of holding a treasonabl

impos

seek to subvert the throne of a p

miled cy

se army? On frivolous pretexts he has removed Polish officers from their command, replacing them by such Muscovites as have at heart the interests of the Czar rather than those of the princess. Moreover, we have certain proof that our cabinet contains a member who reveals to Russia our secret counsels. You know the cabinet well, Trevisa; tell me whom to suspect. Radzivil?-absurd! Ravenna? What hath a Roman cardinal to gain by inviting the head of the Greek Church to take possession of Czernova? Dorislas? Then let me fall on my sword's point, so

be lost in deep thought. Then suddenly his eyes

, "you shall have a translation

marshal; nevertheless on the prese

ey to the cipher, when but a minute ago you professed igno

d it all now. The most ingenious cipher ever devised. Nothing but an accident could have revealed the key. You are quite correct, marshal, in your estima

the suddenness with which Trevisa had arrived at the solutio

ecause the greatest of the Polish kings had once passed a night there. It was a spacious and pictu

dle, stood the trooper Nikita, Zabern's orderly, who ha

hin, and led the two Englishmen to a private apartmen

e of Polish liberty has reduced him to the position of inn-keeper. Freedom often treats her children hardly. As this is a frontier-inn, and on the main road to Warsaw, it often happens that suspicious characters call here for a drink, and Boris's pretty daughter, Katina, being a maiden who keep

that she was a descendant of Mazeppa, the famous hetman of the Ukraine; and certainly there was that in her elastic ste

aist; a polished black leather belt gleaming with silver bosses; and a dark blue skirt, prettily braided with silver,-a skirt which,

ssed her lips to his forehead. She gave the like greeting to Trevisa, who appeared t

ter the marshal had introduced him, "wh

," remarked Zabern. "Why, Katina, Captain Wo

aid Katina; and Paul could see that she was a ma

duke are riven asunder. She has plucked him from the cabinet, from the command of the army, and better still from her heart. Never shall

ht by dancing the first st

uss, and a Russ who hath sworn at the drink to harness the Polish nobles to the yoke an

t Paul had been the direct cause of the duke's dow

lsively, pressing her lips to his forehead, not once, but twice. And though Katina

ng that hung upon one of the walls. "Fie, Katina! you, a daughter of Poland, to keep a portrait of

re. "Lying Czar, that broke his coronation-oath to Poland. Where is t

for it was not a pretty epithet, though justly a

sed Zabern. "Remember that Catherine ga

beldam was drunk wh

that Charter, signed and sealed, locked in an iron chest, sec

Englishmen as she spoke, "to think that your sweet, youthful queen Victoria should allow h

empt the same with our

turally is, I warrant she would

inal so," asked Paul, "w

Why should I not levy tribute from the enemy? Their kopeks all go to the good cause. The last visitors to this roo

ck of the canvas was a well-executed port

made! Come, I know your love for the princess. I'll reveal a truth that will make you love her stil

ying a state secre

nal, the 'Kolokol,' came out this afternoon with a long article headed, 'Natalie the Apostate'-an art

derous journal rather than by the princess's ministers from their places

e duke," rep

rmurings to-night in t

," commented Zabern, who, like the first Napoleon, was a

that be our motto. What matters the defection of the

, raising his glass. "Ah! Katina, when your father Boris and myself first drew breath,

afraid. One day the lioness will break from

And then aloud he added: "What said Czar Nicholas after suppressing the rising of 1830? 'Russia hath a mission to fulfil

ondered why Katina should start, and why she

to humiliate

for Poland," said Zabern gravely,

d a few paces off, placed the lamp upon the table in a suitable position, and then turning her back upon her visitors she began to

said in a bitter tone: "The ignorant have sometimes compli

and hung downward from her belt,

hat linen was

throat and white neck. But the torso below! It was no w

rather it is destroyed. The long lash of the kn

thought that such a dreadful instrument should have

succeeded. The most eloquent oration against Russian despotism could not

on that does such things must perish.

acing her garments the marshal

to a Polish patriot, and for this offence the whole

nding for her he offered to restore her family to liberty, upon what conditions you

that they would be free from work that day, and in return for this boon required that they should cry 'God save the Czar,' Some refused, and among t

ave been compelled to witness many such scourgings in Siberia, and I tell you that though Dante in his 'Inferno' has imagined many and va

ixed to a sort of framework set erect in the ground-fixed in such a manner that

holds in both hands the instrument of punishment-the knout. This is a thong of thick leather, cut triangularly, an inch in breadth,

out above his head: the thong flies into the air, whistles, descends and clasps the naked torso of the sufferer as with a circle of iron. Notwithstanding his state of tension the victim bounds a

y of pulling it along the edges of the opened flesh in s

r blows. When the thong envelops the body with its folds the flesh and the muscles are literally cut into s

the waist-but enough; you have imag

drawn near again, in her dark eyes a fi

Orloff be still living tell me where he may be fou

rob me of my due. And," she added with clenched hand and stern look

been appointed governor-general of Wa

le for your ears,-a tale I have been waiting the opportunity to relate. What will you say when

dreaming,

ess I contrived to see the face of mine, and what is more I have seen it again to-day-this afternoon-in the

usually displayed. "That a man with a horse-shoe mark on his cheek has been here this aft

e the very m

y spy one and the same person! Can it be?-And he

four o'

made his way here directly after escaping from the Citadel, bent on crossing the fron

with two glasses. 'Katina,' she said, 'we have two very suspicious-looking visitors. They have asked for a private apartment

in a moment as the man who had knouted me at Orenburg. Why I did not drop the tray in surprise,

illain himself

y, and took a glance at the other man, but I failed to see his face clearly, for his hat was pulled low over his brows, and the collar of his cloak was drawn up almost to his mouth. I

ured Zabern. "Why did you not call upon your father and brothers to se

upon the table I withdrew silently and quickly; and while in the act of

; 't will be simple

reased, marshal, at this mention of your name. I resolved to try to learn something of their business before giving orders for their seizure; and, accordingly, since t

d again, when their voices were raised i

and gets himself arrested while carrying an important political document! If that letter should be deciphered by the princess's secretary, it will lead

rn. "Let me hear t

epeated

egally, without employing fo

ern's gray eyes gleamed like polish

t princess was not the real Natalie Lilieska? If they could prove that she had no title to rule, the throne would devolv

nt when he spoke of a quiet and legal w

tion. Over the body of Barbara, slain by the dagger of some Muscovite fanatic, the Czar mig

ina. Heard yo

isky business. Besides, what are four hundred roubles?'-'We will doub

more, I feared that if I waited longer they might rise and depart before I should be ab

stone! the bir

re vexed than I

ir glasse

; f

in hiding. A pity you delayed the

directions, but failed to discover a trace of them. My father deeming the matter of great importanc

uthority there, we doubtless do the new governor-general no wrong in crediting him with a plot to overturn the independence of Czernova. If so, there will be a double pleasure in defeating him-eh, Katina? It will please him to learn that it was Ludovski's daughter that foiled his schemes, for I will take care that he shall learn it. My su

ertain,

shall find him ere the night be past. Trevisa," he continued, turning to the ex-secretary, "you see now the importance of that

rance of the inn where they found the trooper Nikita, still holding the two horses, and seeming as if he had not moved an inch from his previous position. Night

e rioting in the capital. The princess's conversion to Romanism and the arrest of the Duke of Bora are

l gallantly kissed her hand at parting. The glad

d to himself, "our pret

ith his steel scabbard swinging beneath his cloak, he was gallop

d car appeared at the inn-door in c

ady, my little fa

here passed into the glow of light, and out again immediately, a man whose tall cylindr

ss in Greek fashion, at the same time quitting the troika and saying as

?" Paul in wonderm

ying smile, "and Muscovites deem it a bad omen to meet a p

d bribes on the part of the two friends failed

ious way of honoring their

omised to fetch my sister Juliska home from Slavowit

d then disappeared within the hostelry. She returned almost immediately, looking charming in a handsome mantle trimmed with fur. At the same moment there was brought roun

elf," said Katina, offering each a swee

. The ponies tossed their heads and pawed the ground, evi

dicating the two harnessed within the duga or wooden ar

hird?" inq

ithout drawing, and so, being useless, my sister has, of co

each declared that he must have Katina beside him, that ma

" said the istvostchik as he watched these

he reins a sc

aughed pl

ive in the quiet dignity of this old man as he stood on the steps of