Ivan met him in the doorway. "You are punctual, Signor," he said, as
he ushered him into the shabby apartment.
"My friend, first of all, you are no longer an outlaw," cried Corsini
cheerfully as he cast his glance round the dingy room. "The Emperor
himself has graciously accorded a full and free pardon, and if this
night's work turns out well, there will be a very handsome reward in
addition. So, you see, things are marching."
The outlaw stretched his hands out, and for a moment it seemed as if
he would dissolve in tears. Then he recovered himself, and his voice
rang out, clear and firm.
"And, at last, Signor, I shall have revenge on those who wronged me
and my family."
"Say rather, Ivan, justice, not revenge," interrupted the young
Italian mildly.
"It is the same, Signor, is it not?" cried Ivan. He pointed with his
finger to an inert figure in the corner of the room, apparently
inanimate.
"That is Stepan. I have given him a narcotic in order to prevent
accidents. He does not look at his best at the moment. But just go and
have a peep at him and see the likeness to yourself."
Corsini crossed over the small room and looked at the prostrate form,
of the man, wrapped in a deep slumber, and breathing heavily. Yes,
Stepan might have been his twin brother under normal conditions.
"The time is short," said the outlaw. "We must make you look as like
Stepan as possible, with regard to the externals."
He went to the door and whistled softly. A small, slouching man
answered to the summons.
"Paul, my friend," said Ivan in an imperious tone, "I have told you
something of this affair. You have got to convert this gentleman into
the speaking likeness of our sleeping friend. Do your little tricks at
once."
The small, slouching man went to work immediately. He stripped off the
rough clothes from the slumbering man in the corner, and signalled to
Corsini to divest himself of his own garments. In a trice, Corsini was
dressed in Stepan's habiliments. He then proceeded to stain his face
and hands.
When all this was finished, he drew back with a sense of pardonable
pride in his own deft handiwork.
"_Mon Dieu!_ it is Stepan himself," he cried enthusiastically.
Corsini took a survey of himself in a small, cracked mirror that hung
in the shabby sitting-room. He cast a further glance at the inert form
lying in the corner. Yes, in these rough clothes, with his face and
hands stained, he could well pass for Stepan himself in a dim and
doubtful light.
"It is just about time," said Ivan, when these preparations had been
completed. "My friend Paul will conduct you to the villa. There are
seven windows on the ground floor, built very high. Underneath the
fourth window the blank wall is of wood. You can feel it. There is a
small door with a keyhole in the centre. Here is the key. Paul knows
it well; he will lead you to it."
The small slouching man led Corsini to the villa of Madame Quero. The
four silent men followed in their wake. Arrived at the villa, Corsini
slipped easily into the small vestibule to await the arrival of the
conspirators.
"You are well in time, Monsieur," whispered the man, Paul, as he took
his departure. "Do not answer the bell too quickly; watch its
vibration before you respond. You must remember that Stepan is deaf.
You will excuse me for giving you the hint."
Paul departed. The four guards scattered themselves in various
directions, but always ready to assemble together if danger threatened
the man they were deputed to watch.
Corsini was alone in the little vestibule. He drew aside the heavy
velvet curtains and peered into the inner room, a rather spacious
chamber. This was very dimly lighted, too. But evidently Madame Quero
had given her instructions. A cold supper was laid out on the long
table, with several bottles of champagne. Upstairs, no doubt, she was
lying between life and death, no longer able to take part in these
festivities.
The bell vibrated. Nello opened the door and made a low obeisance. Two
men came through the narrow doorway. He recognised them at once: they
were two highly distinguished noblemen of the Russian Empire. He had
seen them several times at the Opera.
The bell vibrated again and again. Five more men passed through, and
last came the tall, commanding figure of Zouroff.
In the dim light the Prince made his signs, "They are all here,
Stepan?"
And the supposed Stepan replied in answering signs, "I think they are
all here, Excellency."
Zouroff passed through the heavy curtains. Corsini crouched behind and
bent his ears to listen.
At first there was a confused babble of sounds. Everybody seemed to be
talking at once. But fortunately they were speaking in French and not
in Russian. It was easier for Corsini to catch what they said.
A tall, bearded man was speaking. "This infernal Corsini, for
instance. No doubt he is in the pay of Golitzine. We cannot remove
him, it seems."
Zouroff took up the running. "I did my best, you know, gentlemen; but
he escaped me, and since then Beilski has put a cordon round him that
we cannot break through."
"And yet Beilski is a fool," growled the bearded man.
"I know," answered Zouroff. "Beilski is what you say, but he has got
Golitzine at his back, and Golitzine has the intelligence of several
monkeys. When Beilski is in doubt, he goes to the secretary."
Another man spoke. "You know we have every confidence in you, Prince;
but we all know of your attachment to La Belle Quero--by the way, why
is she not here to-night, to preside over our festivities?"
Zouroff spoke in a harsh, strained voice. "La Belle Quero is ill,
confined to her room. You have probably not heard that she was
attacked with sudden indisposition at the Opera to-night, and that her
understudy had to take her place."
None of the men had been at the Opera, they had not heard. One or two
indulged in expressions of sympathy.
The bearded man, a powerful nobleman, only just second to Zouroff
himself in importance and length of lineage, continued his remarks.
"I spoke just now of your well-known attachment to La Belle Quero. Is
it possible, Prince, that in an unguarded moment, you may have dropped
some hints of your purpose to her? I did not wish, for a moment, to
offend your _amour propre_, but rumour has it that she is very much
attracted by this handsome young Italian. It is strange that he should
have escaped you, who usually lay your plans so well."
Zouroff paused for a moment before he replied. These men were as
keen-witted as himself; it was impossible to deceive them for long.
"Gentlemen, I will be quite frank with you. One is always a fool where
women are concerned. In a moment of ungoverned temper, I did hint to
Madame Quero something that might have set her wits to work, and she
may have acted upon that."
"From her _penchant_ for the Italian?" suggested the bearded man, who,
privately, was not too fond of the Prince, and always indulged in a
pin-prick when possible.
Zouroff flushed a deep red. It angered him deeply that other persons
should know Corsini had been preferred to him.
He looked round the assembly. He knew that the bearded man was bidding
for the leadership that had been willingly accorded to himself. If his
position were menaced, he must recover it immediately, and by a bold
stroke.
He surveyed the small knot of men, his bold bearing and resolute
demeanour at once challenging their allegiance, and compelling it.
"Gentlemen, I blench at nothing for the Cause to which we are all
devoted, to which we have dedicated our lives and fortunes. On that
occasion, I am convinced that La Belle Quero betrayed me. Well, she
will never betray us again. Madame La Quero's hours are numbered. That
is why she has not appeared to-night."
The men whom he addressed were as hardened and brutal as himself, with
no respect for the sanctity of human life; but, as he spoke, a slight
shudder went through the assembly. La Belle Quero was so handsome, so
popular; it seemed a thousand pities that she should be done to death,
even in the interests of the Cause.
Zouroff spoke eagerly. At the moment he felt no remorse for having
compassed the death of his former sweetheart with that poisoned
chocolate. Had she not insulted him by daring to look with favourable
eyes on another man?
"Gentlemen, it has ever been one of our fixed rules that anybody who
betrayed us, man or woman, it matters not which, should pay the
penalty of death. If I betrayed you, I should not complain if that law
were put into execution against myself. La Belle Quero betrayed us;
she has paid the penalty."
Zouroff was logical. The sense of the assembly was with him. The
bearded man made a last effort to wrest from him his supremacy, not on
the score of disloyalty, but for maladroitness in handling their
common affairs.
"I very much regret that Madame Quero should have allowed her heart to
govern her head. She was a very charming woman," he said smoothly. "Do
you happen, by any chance, Prince, to have enemies in your own
household?"
"Why do you ask me that question?" queried Zouroff boldly.
"One of my spies told me that Beilski has paid a recent visit to your
sister, the Princess Nada. Beilski is not in the habit of paying
afternoon calls. Does the young Princess know anything?"
Zouroff knew nothing of the visit of the General; it was news to him;
but he grasped the situation promptly.
"I have already provided against that, Count. Her mother is in bed; a
feverish cold, as we thought at first, has developed into diphtheria.
I believe my sister is quite innocent of any serious designs against
us, but it is always as well to be on the safe side."
The other men listened with the closest attention. After all, Zouroff
was the subtlest of them all. The bearded man maintained a sullen
silence; he had given up all hope of rescuing the leadership of the
party from the resourceful Prince.
"My sister I shall send to the old Castle of Tchernoff and keep her
there as long as it suits my purpose. It is a veritable tomb, far away
in the Caucasus. I have arranged that she starts to-night. Our good
Stepan will later have his instructions. As he is practically deaf and
almost incapable of speech, he can tell no tales. Besides, he is
devoted to me."
Corsini, close up against the curtains, had listened to all this with
every nerve strained and his brain working at high pressure.
He had learned two things of great importance. Zouroff, in a
roundabout way, had confessed to the murder of La Belle Quero.
Secondly, the Princess was to be taken _that night_ to this gloomy
castle in the Caucasus. And he, in his character of Stepan, the man
who could not hear and only speak with the greatest difficulty, was to
be an instrument in her abduction. Here was food for thought. Oh, for
five minutes with that man of subtle brain and resource, Golitzine! At
such a moment, even the inferior Beilski would have been welcome, even
one of the four men waiting outside! How could he save the innocent
young Princess from the vile schemes of her remorseless brother? A few
minutes could alone decide this momentous issue. Why had she not taken
his advice, proffered a few hours earlier?
The conspirators talked presently in lower tones of a great _coup_ to
be brought off to-morrow night at a big reception at the Winter
Palace. But although they spoke almost in whispers, as if fearful of
the magnitude of the stupendous event, Corsini had sharp ears and
heard quite enough. This would be great news for Golitzine, as soon as
he could see him.
The conference was ended, the supper partaken of. No servants ever
assisted at these simple feasts. An hour after the meal was finished,
La Belle Quero, the handsome singer, the idol of more than one
capital, had passed away in the arms of her faithful maid, done to
death by the implacable vengeance of Zouroff.
One by one the traitors filed out. The Prince came last and made signs
to the waiting janitor, supposed to be Stepan.
"You will come with me to the Palace. You will convey two women, my
sister and her maid, to the Castle of Tchernoff, in the Caucasus. When
you have deposited them safely there, return to the Palace, where I
will find you further employment. It is very likely that Madame Quero
will have no further need of your services."
Corsini replied in appropriate signs that he comprehended his
Excellency's wishes.
Together they drove to the side door of the Palace, in front of
which a carriage was standing. Two burly men, the Prince's chosen
confederates, were beside it. Zouroff motioned to Corsini to stay
where he was.
A few moments later the forms of two helpless women, the Princess Nada
and her maid, were carried out and placed in the carriage. The Prince
was well served in his household. Evidently both had been drugged.
The two men stood waiting for the sign of departure from the Prince.
And, in that moment, a flash of inspiration came to Corsini.
He spread out his arms and burst into a chuckling sort of laugh, like
one demented. He sprang on the box, seized the reins, and whipped up
the horses. He was well out of sight before the Prince and his two
ruffians could recover from their consternation at the unexpected turn
of affairs.
Had Stepan suddenly gone out of his sense? was the Prince's first
thought.