The Secret of the Night | Page 5

Matrena emptied her little glass at a draught.
"And how did you discover him? How did you know him?"
"First, he wore glasses. All Nihilists wear glasses when traveling. And
then I had a good clew. A minute before the departure from Paris I had
a friend go into the corridor of the sleeping-car, a reporter who would
do anything I said without even wanting to know why. I said, 'You call
out suddenly and very loud, "Hello, here is Rouletabille."' So he called,
'Hello, here is Rouletabille,' and all those who were in the corridor
turned and all those who were already in the compartments came out,
excepting the man with the glasses. Then I was sure about him."
Madame Trebassof looked at Rouletabile, who turned as red as the
comb of a rooster and was rather embarrassed at his fatuity.
"That deserves a rebuff, I know, madame, but from the moment the
Emperor of all the Russias had desired to see me I could not admit that
any mere man with glasses had not the curiosity to see what I looked

like. It was not natural. As soon as the train was off I sat down by this
man and told him who I thought he was. I was right. He removed his
glasses and, looking me straight in the eyes, said he was glad to have a
little talk with me before anything unfortunate happened. A half-hour
later the entente-cordiale was signed. I gave him to understand that I
was coming here simply on business as a reporter and that there was
always time to check me if I should be indiscreet. At the German
frontier he left me to go on, and returned tranquilly to his
nitro-glycerine."
"You are a marked man also, my poor boy."
"Oh, they have not got us yet."
Matrena Petrovna coughed. That us overwhelmed her. With what
calmness this boy that she had not known an hour proposed to share the
dangers of a situation that excited general pity but from which the
bravest kept aloof either from prudence or dismay.
"Ah, my friend, a little of this fine smoked Hamburg beef?"
But the young man was already pouring out fresh yellow beer.
"There," said he. "Now, madame, I am listening. Tell me first about the
earliest attack."
"Now," said Matrena, "we must go to dinner."
Rouletabille looked at her wide-eyed.
"But, madame, what have I just been doing?"
Madame Matrena smiled. All these strangers were alike. Because they
had eaten some hors-d'ceuvres, some zakouskis, they imagined their
host would be satisfied. They did not know how to eat.
"We will go to the dining-room. The general is expecting you. They are
at table."

"I understand I am supposed to know him."
"Yes, you have met in Paris. It is entirely natural that in passing
through St. Petersburg you should make him a visit. You know him
very well indeed, so well that he opens his home to you. Ah, yes, my
step-daughter also " - she flushed a little - " Natacha believes that her
father knows you."
She opened the door of the drawing-room, which they had to cross in
order to reach the dining-room.
From his present position Rouletabille could see all the corners of the
drawing-room, the veranda, the garden and the entrance lodge at the
gate. In the veranda the man in the maroon frock-coat trimmed with
false astrakhan seemed still to be asleep on the sofa; in one of the
corners of the drawing-room another individual, silent and motionless
as a statue, dressed exactly the same, in a maroon frock-coat with false
astrakhan, stood with his hands behind his back seemingly struck with
general paralysis at the sight of a flaring sunset which illumined as with
a torch the golden spires of Saints Peter and Paul. And in the garden
and before the lodge three others dressed in maroon roved like souls in
pain over the lawn or back and forth at the entrance. Rouletabille
motioned to Madame Matrena, stepped back into the sitting-room and
closed the door.
"Police?" he asked.
Matrena Petrovna nodded her head and put her finger to her mouth in a
naive way, as one would caution a child to silence. Rouletabille smiled.
"How many are there?"
"Ten, relieved every six hours."
"That makes forty unknown men around your house each day."
"Not unknown," she replied. "Police."

"Yet, in spite of them, you have had the affair of the bouquet in the
general's chamber."
"No, there were only three then. It is since the affair of the bouquet that
there have been ten."
"It hardly matters. It is since these ten that you have had ..."
"What?" she demanded anxiously.
"You know well - the flooring."
"Sh-h-h."
She glanced at the door, watching the