The Emperors Candlesticks | Page 6

if they dare."
"Yes," added Mirkovitch with a smile, "it would go hard with Nicolas
Alexandrovitch now if they refused to let our comrades go."
"To business, friends, there is no time for talk," said the authoritative
voice of the elderly man who wore decoration.
The cigarettes and pipes were with one accord put aside, and all chairs
turned towards to the table placed in the centre of the room, on which
stood a tempered with a green shade, and scattered all about, loose
bundles of paper, covered with writings and signatures.
"There are many points to decide," resumed he, who appeared to be a
leader amongst them; "the deed, accomplished to-night, thanks to those
heads who planned, and those arms who executed it, great as it is, has
still a greater object in view. This, we over here cannot attain; the turn
of Taranïew and the brothers in Petersburg has now come, to do their
share of the work."
The chairman paused, all heads nodded in acquiescence, then he
resumed-
"We have been obliged to act very hurriedly and on our own initiative.

Taranïew and the others, so far, know absolutely nothing."
"They must hear of it at once," said one voice.
"And cease any plotting of their own," assented another.
"It could only now lead to certain disaster," agreed the chairman, "if
they were in any sort of way to draw the attention of the Third Section
on themselves."
"Or us!" grimly added Mirkovitch.
"Obviously, therefore, our messenger's duty to them will be twofold,"
said the president. "The bringing of great news, as it now stands, and
our instructions as to the next course they must follow to attain the
noble object we all have in view."
"Yes, the letter to Alexander III.," said a young voice eagerly.
This was the important point; more eagerness in the listeners, more
enthusiasm among the younger men was, if possible, discernible.
"I have here," said the president, taking a document from the table,
"with the help of the committee, embodied our idea as to how that letter
should be framed."
"It will be an appetising breakfast relish for the autocrat of all the
Russians when he finds it, as he does all our written warnings,
underneath his cup of morning coffee," sneered Mirkovitch, who had
been sitting all this while smoking grimly, and muttering at intervals
short sentences between his teeth, which boded no good to the prisoner
he had under his charge.
"Our letter," said the president, "this time will contain the information
that the Tsarevitch is, at the present moment, in the hands of some
persons unknown, and that those persons will continue to hold him a
hostage till certain conditions are complied with."
"Those conditions being?" queried one of the bystanders.

"Complete pardon for Dunajewski, and all those who are in prison with
him in connection with that lat plot, together with a free pass out of the
country."
"Nicolas Alexandrovitch to be set free the day they have crossed the
frontier," added a member of the committee.
"If in answer to this he simply sets the Third Section on our track?"
queried a voice diffidently.
"The message shall also contain a warning," said Mirkovitch grimly.
"That in case the police are mixed up in the matter-?"
"They would not even find a dead body."
A pause followed this ominous speech. This was the dark side of this
daring plot; the possible murder of a helpless prisoner. Yet they all
knew it might become inevitable; the hostage's life might have to be
weighed against theirs in case of discovery, and, instead of barter, there
might be need for revenge.
"They will never dare refuse," said the president, endeavouring to
dispel the gloom cast over most of these young people by the
suggestion of a cold-blooded murder; "there will be no need for
measures so unworthy of us."
"They know completely the Tsarevitch's life is in our hands," said
Mirkovitch authoritatively. "They cannot defy us, they are bound to
treat and bargain with us. We might demand the freedom of every
convict now languishing in Siberia, and they would have to remember
that the heir of all the Russias sleeps with a dagger held over his heart,
and be bound to grant what we ask."
"But let them be just and merciful, and we will be so likewise," added
the president's more gentle voice; "let Dunajewski and all those
concerned cross the frontier with a free pass, and that day the
Tsarevitch will be restored to liberty. But let Alexander understand that

at the slightest suspicion of police intervention, the life of the hostage
will from that hour be considered forfeit."
There was no reply to this; the president has been putting into words
the decision of all those assembled. Mirkovitch still