The Emperors Candlesticks | Page 9

precaution of wrapping our papers in an envelope

which I shall stamp with the seal of the Papal Legation. My position is
well known, and the papers will be safe enough."
"Fairly safe, shall we say?" retorted a grim voice from the further end
of the room.
"Anyhow, it is obvious that we can have no safer messenger then Ivàn,"
decided the president; "his is the only plan that promises the slightest
measure of safety."
A general murmur of approval confirmed his decision.
"In four days, then, from now, I pledge to you my word that these
papers will be handed over by me to Taranïew and the Petersburg
committee," said the young Pole with fervour, "together with the news
of the glorious act we have accomplished to-night, which is to result in
the freedom of Dunajewski and our other comrades, whom we had
looked on as lost. And will you tell me now, as my duties with his
Eminence may prevent my seeing you before I start, what you propose
to do in the meanwhile?"
"There is very little we can do," said the president; "some of us will
watch Lavrovski; others, Madame Demidoff. If there is the slightest
suspicion of them moving in the matter and calling in police aid, we
will convey to them the same warning that Taranïew will submit at
headquarters."
"Remember, Volenski," added another member of the committee, "that
our anxiety for the safety of our papers and of you, our messenger, will
have reached its culmination point on the fourth day from this; and that
if you can do so with prudence, try to communicate with us as soon as
you have seen Taranïew."
"I will certainly do so," said Ivàn. "Never fear, the papers will be quite
safe; as soon as I have delivered them I shall find my way towards the
frontier, where I shall await Dunajewski and our comrades with the
money, the committee has entrusted me with, for them. They will be in
need of that, moreover, I shall be very happy to shake hands with them

and tell them - for they shall be ignorant of it - how we effected there
release."
The discussion was closed now; cigarettes and pipes appeared once
more, and with a quiet hum of conversation, where no mention of plot
or Tsar was made, took the place of enthusiastic discussion. The
president was chatting quietly with Volenski, who had slipped the
precious papers into his breast pocket.
Ivàn was the first to rise.
"I must leave you all now," he said. "When we meet again it will be on
my return from Petersburg, when our great work is all complete, and
Dunajewski with our comrades are free once more to join us in
studying how best to accomplish the weal of Russia and of her people.
Good-night, all."
"Good-night!"
"God-speed!"
A score of hands were stretched out towards him, their friend, their
comrade. In the minds of some of them, perhaps, there rose the thought
that they might never see their daring messenger again; but these, who
had these thoughts, were the older men - those who knew that no scrap
of paper is ever really safe in Russia. Inwardly they called forth a
blessing, and perhaps a prayer for his safety, as he shook hands with all
his friends.
They were all preparing to depart, as they obviously could discuss
nothing further that evening, and most of them, though Socialist at
heart, were also young besides, and longed to take a last glance at the
merrily lighted streets of the city, the gay festivities of the Carnival.
And ten minutes later these men who had so daringly organised, so
successfully carried through, one of the most audacious plots in the
annals of secret societies, were mixing gaily with the mad throng,
bandying jests with merry masks, and seemingly forgetting that there

were such things as princely hostages and secret missions, or that one
of their comrades, their chosen messenger, would soon - holding all of
their lives in his hands - have to convey their secrets to Petersburg, in
the very teeth of the most astute police in the world.
CHAPTER 4
IVÁN VOLENSKI has spoken gaily, reassuringly to them all. But what
did he know of his own chances of safety across the Russian frontier?
Practically nothing.
Suspect? Bah! Anybody might at the moment become "suspect" to the
Russian police. And then,that anybody's name is placed on the listAfter
that let him try to get across with papers, valuables, secrets, and he will
soon find what it means to be a "suspect."
What did Volenski know of how he stood in the eyes of the Russian
police? Living mostly abroad and consorting in a great measure with
his own exiled countrymen, some small