The Czar's Spy: The Mystery of a Silent Love
night, while I was sitting alone reading aloud to my mother, two
strangers were announced, and on being shown in they arrested my dear
mother on a charge of complicity in a revolutionary plot against the
Czar which had been discovered at Peterhof. I stood defiant and
indignant, for my mother was certainly no Nihilist, yet they said that
the bomb had been introduced into the palace by the Countess Anna
Shiproff, one of the ladies-in-waiting, who was an intimate friend of my
mother's and often used to visit her. They alleged that the conspiracy
had been hatched in our house, color being lent to that theory by the
fact that a year before a well-known Russian with whom my father had had
many business dealings had been proved to be the author of the plot by
which the Czar's train was blown up near Lividia. They tore my mother
away from me and placed her in that gray prison-van, the sight of which
in the streets of Petersburg strikes terror into the heart of every
Russian, for a person once in that rumbling vehicle is, as you know,
lost for ever to the world. I watched her from the window being placed
in that fatal conveyance, and then I think I must have fainted, for I
recollect nothing more until I found myself upon the floor, with the
gray dawn spreading, and all the horrible truth came back to me. My
mother was gone from me for ever!
"In sheer desperation I went to the Ministry of the Interior and sought
an interview with the Baron, who, when I told him of the disaster,
appeared greatly concerned, and went at once to the Police Department to
make inquiry. Next day, however, he came to me with the news that the
charge against my mother had been proved by a statement of the woman
Shiproff herself, and that she had already started on her long journey
to Siberia--she had been exiled to one of those dreaded Arctic
settlements beyond Yakutsk, a place where it is almost eternal winter,
and where the conditions of life are such that half the convicts are
insane. The Baron, however, declared that, as my father's friend, it was
his duty to act as guardian to me, and that as my father had been
English I ought to be put to an English school. Therefore, with his
self-assumed title of uncle, he took me to Chichester. For years I
remained there, until one day he came suddenly and fetched me away,
taking me over to Helsingfors--for the Czar had now appointed him
Governor-General to Finland. There, for the first time, he introduced me
to his son Michael, a pimply-faced lieutenant of cavalry, and said in a
most decisive manner that I must marry him. I naturally refused to marry
a man of whom I knew so little, whereupon, finding me obdurate, he
quickly altered his tactics and became kindness itself, saying that as I
was young he would allow me a year in which to make up my mind.
"A week later, while living in the palace at Helsingfors, I overheard a
conversation between the Governor-General and his son, which revealed to
me a staggering truth that I had never suspected. It was Oberg himself
who had denounced my mother to the Minister of the Interior, and had
made those cruel, baseless charges against her! Then I discerned the
reason. She being exiled, her fortune, as well as that of my father,
came to me. The reason they were scheming for Michael to marry me was in
order to obtain control of my money. I saw at once how helpless I was in
the hands of that unscrupulous pair, and I recognized, too, sufficient
of the Baron's methods as 'The Strangler of Finland,' to show me what
kind of character he was beneath that calm, eminently respectable
black-coated exterior. After deliberately sending my poor mother to
Siberia, he had assumed the role of my guardian in order that he might,
when I came of age, obtain control of my inheritance, the idea no doubt
being that I should marry Michael, and then, after the necessary legal
formalities, I should, on a trumped-up charge of conspiracy, share the
same fate as my mother had done."
"The infernal scoundrel!" I ejaculated, when I read her words, while
from Jack, who had been looking over my shoulder, escaped a fierce and
forcible vow of vengeance.
"The Baron took me with him to Petersburg when he went on official
business, and we remained there nearly a month," the narrative went on.
"While there I received a secret message from 'The Red Priest,' the
unseen and unknown power of Nihilism, who has for so many years baffled
the police. I went to see him, and he revealed to me how Oberg had
contrived to have my mother banished upon a false charge. He warned me
against the man who had pretended to be my father's friend, and also
told me that he had known my father intimately, and that if I got into
any further difficulty I was to communicate with him and he would assist
me. Oberg took me back to Helsingfors a few months later, and in summer
we went to England. He was a marvelously clever diplomatist. His tactics
he could change at will. When I was at school he was rough and brutal in
his manner towards me, as he was to all; but now he seemed to be
endeavoring to inspire my confidence by treating me with kindly regard
and pleasant affability.
"In London, at Claridge's, we met my old schoolfellow Muriel and her
father--a friend of Oberg's--and in response to their invitation went
for a cruise on their yacht, the _Iris_, from Southampton. Our party was
a very pleasant one, and included Woodroffe and Chater, while our cruise
across the Bay of Biscay and along the Portuguese coast proved most
delightful. One night, while we were lying outside Lisbon, Woodroffe and
Chater, together with Olinto, went ashore, and when they returned in the
early hours of the morning they awoke me by crossing the deck above my
head. Then I heard someone outside my cabin-door working as though with
a screwdriver, unscrewing a screw from the woodwork. This aroused my
interest, and next day I made a minute examination of the paneling,
where, in one part, I found two small brass screws that had evidently
been recently removed. Therefore I succeeded in getting hold of a
screwdriver from the carpenter's shop, and next night, when everyone was
asleep, I crept out and unscrewed the panel, when to my surprise I saw
that the secret cavity behind was filled with beautiful jewelry, diamond
collars, tiaras, necklets, fine pearls, emeralds and turquoises, all
_thrown_ in indiscriminately.
"I replaced the panel and kept careful watch. At Marseilles, where we
called, more jewelry and a heavy bagful of plate was brought aboard and
secreted behind another panel. Then I knew that the men were thieves.
"But surely," continued the strange story my mute love had written, "I
need not describe all that occurred upon that eventful voyage, except to
tell you of one very curious incident which occurred. I had spoken
confidentially with Muriel regarding my suspicions of the men who were
our fellow-guests, and when in secret I showed her several places on
board the yacht where valuables were secreted, she also became convinced
that the men were expert thieves to whom her father, for some
unexplained reason, rendered assistance and asylum. She told me that
since she had left school she had been on quite a number of cruises, and
that the same party always accompanied her father. She had, however,
never suspected the truth until I pointed it out to her. Well, one hot
summer's night we were lying off Naples, and as it was a grand festa
ashore and there was to be a gala performance at the theater, Leithcourt
took a box and the whole party were rowed ashore. The crew were also
given shore-leave for the evening, but as the great heat had upset me I
declined to accompany the theater-party, and remained on board with one
sailor named Wilson to constitute the watch. We had anchored about half
a mile from land, and earlier in the evening the Baron had gone ashore
to send telegrams to Russia, and had not returned.
"About ten o'clock I went below to try and sleep, but I had a slight
attack of fever, and was unable. Therefore I redressed and sat with the
light still out, gazing across the starlit bay. Presently from my
port-hole I saw a shore-boat approaching, and recognized in it the Baron
with a well-dressed stranger. They both came on board, and the boatman,
having been paid, pulled back to the shore. Then the Baron and his
friend--a dark, middle-aged, full-bearded man, evidently a person of
refinement--went below to the saloon, and after a few moments called to
the man Wilson who was on the watch, and gave him a glass of whisky and
water, which he took up on deck to drink at his leisure.
"The unusual character of my fellow-guests on board that craft was such
that my suspicion was constantly on the alert, therefore curiosity
tempted me to creep along and peep in at the crack of the door standing
ajar. A closer view revealed the fact that the stranger was a high
Russian official to whom I had once been introduced at the Government
Palace at Helsingfors, the Privy-Councillor and Senator Paul Polovstoff.
They were smoking together, and were discussing in Russian the means by
which he, Polovstoff, had arranged to obtain plans of some new British
fortifications at Gibraltar. From what he said, it seemed that some
Russian woman, married to an Englishman, a captain in the garrison, had
been impressed into the secret service against her will, but that she
had, in order to save herself, promised to obtain the photographs and
plans that were required. I heard the Englishman's name, and I resolved
to take some steps to inform him in secret of the intentions of the
Russian agent.
"Presently the two men took fresh cigars, ascended on deck, and cast
themselves in the long cane chairs amidships. Still all curiosity to
hear further details on the ingenious piece of espionage against my own
nation, I took off my shoes and crept up to a spot where I could crouch
concealed and overhear their conversation, for the Italian night was
calm and still. They talked mainly about affairs in Finland, and with
some of Oberg's expressions of opinion Polovstoff ventured to differ.
This aroused the Baron's anger, and I knew from the cold sarcasm of his
remarks, and the peculiarly hard tone of his voice, that he was more
incensed than he outwardly showed himself to be. He rose and stood with
his back to the bulwarks facing his friend, who still sat leaning back
in his deck-chair insisting upon his own views. He was quite calm, and
not in the least perturbed by the evil glint in the Baron's eye. Perhaps
he did not know him so well as I did. He did not know what that look
meant. Suddenly, while the Privy-Councillor lay back in his chair
pulling thoughtfully at his cigar, there was a bright, blood-red flash,
a dull report, and a man's short agonized cry. Startled, I leaned around
the corner of the deck-house, when, to my abject horror, I saw under the
electric rays the Czar's Privy-Councillor lying sideways in his chair
with part of his face blown away. Then the hideous truth in an instant
became apparent. The cigar which Oberg had pressed upon him down in the
saloon had exploded, and the small missile concealed inside the
diabolical contrivance had passed upwards into his brain. For a moment I
stood utterly stupefied, yet as I looked I saw the Baron, in a paroxysm
of rage, shake his fist in the dead man's face, and cry with a fearful
imprecation: 'You hound! You have plotted to replace me in the Czar's
favor. You intended to become Governor-General of Finland! You knew
certain facts which you intended to put before his Majesty, knowing
that the revelations would result in my disgrace and downfall. But, you
infernal cur, you did not know that those who attempt to thwart Xavier
Oberg either die by accident or go for life to Kajana or the mines!' And