POUBALOV'S REVOLUTION.
Paul's heart seemed to stand still as he reflected on Poubalov's act.
The original purpose of the spy in calling upon Strobel and instigating
his abduction, was as much a mystery as ever, but it was one that could
be explained on the ground of Poubalov's confessed relations with the
government with which Strobel had been in conflict. There was nothing
personal in that; but here was an element of personal relationship that
might lead to worse than complications.
Poubalov in love--no! not that sacred word; infatuated, rather, with
Clara Hilman.
What hope could there now be that the spy, having some day accomplished
the purpose for which he had crossed the ocean to find Strobel, would
set him free? In the very hopelessness of his passion would he not
first murder Strobel, and then Clara herself? Paul felt sick with
horror as the possibility of these tragedies occurred to his mind. They
were more than possible. With Poubalov's character in view, they seemed
like certainties. What could be done to avert them? What would Clara
say? How revolting, more than terrifying, would be the revelation that
this subtle, conscienceless foe had dared to love her!
At first blush Paul felt that he could not tell Clara what he had seen.
If there were only something that he himself could do to solve the
mystery of Ivan's disappearance, for only Strobel's presence in perfect
health could serve to check the spy's villainous course. He held
absolute command of the situation as long as he succeeded in keeping
Strobel in hiding. As the sense of his helplessness grew upon him,
like an insidious vine whose twining tendrils choke the growth of a
sapling, Paul wondered that poor Litizki's devotion had not the sooner
driven him to madness.
He saw that, with all its evils, the situation must be made clear to
Clara. He would continue his observations during the next forenoon, and
then report to her.
Poubalov had said that he would call in the evening; Clara, therefore,
in the early afternoon went to see Mrs. White. She went with no purpose
of accomplishing anything in the mystery, but rather as an act of
kindness to report how she had found Lizzie; but as she was about to
turn into Ashburton Place, she saw Paul at the foot of the hill and she
waited for him to come up. He had just started for Roxbury.
"I have something to tell," he said in answer to her anxious look of
inquiry, "but I fear it is nothing that will be helpful, and it will
certainly be disagreeable."
"I was going to call on Mrs. White," responded Clara; "suppose you go
with me; but you can tell me what you have discovered before we go in."
"If you think best," and Paul hesitated.
"I do. Have no fear of me. Have I not learned to endure anything that
can happen?"
"Poubalov loves you, Miss Hilman."
Clara blushed very faintly, looked straight into Paul's eyes for an
instant, then off at the house-tops, and answered:
"I felt it. How did you find out?"
Amazed and relieved, Paul told her.
"I have made myself a spy," he concluded, "but I felt that the
circumstances justified me."
"So I think, too," rejoined Clara. "Well, let us go on. I don't know at
this moment how to act, but I cannot help thinking that this will bring
matters to a crisis, and I hope, in spite of reason and fears, that it
will end happily. I wonder where Poubalov got my photograph."
Then she remembered that when the reporter, Shaughnessey, had returned
her photograph, it had been placed for the moment upon the mantel in
the drawing-room. The next day she had looked for it, and, not finding
it at once, had supposed that Louise or a servant had put it away. In
the stress of events she had thought no more about it; but Poubalov's
call and bareheaded flight had occurred after the return of the
photograph, and the natural and satisfactory explanation, therefore,
was that he had stolen it.
"There is one more thing," added Paul as they walked along, "and I
suppose it shows that in order to circumvent this man one must have
sleepless eyes and untiring vigilance. As soon as Poubalov went to bed
last night, I hurried out and got supper. It didn't take me long, for I
was anxious to get to sleep, so that I might get up early enough this
morning to keep track of him. I rose before six, and took a preliminary
peep through my nail hole. Poubalov had gone, and up to just now, when
I left, had not returned."
"I think there is nothing lost," said Clara; "he is to call on me this
evening, and your discovery makes it certain that he will come. If you
will come out to the house ahead of him, I should like it ever so much
if you would follow him when he goes away."
They were at Mrs. White's door, and Paul preferred not to go in. There
was nothing more to be said, and it seemed better that he should return
to Bulfinch Place, to observe Poubalov's doings, should he return.
Mrs. White, comparatively free from anxiety about her daughter, seemed
more than desirous of talking about Mr. Strobel.
"I had a letter from Lizzie last night," she said, "and she told me
how kind you were. I'm real glad you went to see her, 'cause it must
make you feel so much more satisfied to know that Mr. Strobel did not
run away with her. And you know, Miss Hilman, I can't quite think that
the dark gentleman, Mr. Pou--something, has anything to do with it. He
seems such a perfect gentleman."
"It is very hard to understand it all," responded Clara; "but what
makes you think Poubalov is better than we have thought him?"
"Two or three things. Lizzie wrote me that he called to see her just
after you had gone away, and she says he seemed real earnest about
trying to find Mr. Strobel, and was just as polite as could be."
"Doesn't she say anything more about his call than that?"
"No, except that he spoke very kindly, and didn't let her think that he
had suspected her of anything wrong."
"I should say not," remarked Clara, rather bitterly; "no one would know
better than he that Lizzie was not concerned in the affair."
"I don't see why, Miss Hilman. Why shouldn't he think what other people
thought? I'm afraid he did, for last Thursday evening he called here,
and we had a real good talk about it. He seemed----"
"Did you tell him I had gone to New York?" interrupted Clara, sharply,
for she was impatient with these ingenuous statements of what Poubalov
seemed to be.
"Land sakes, no!" replied Mrs. White, "but he told me he was going on,
and when he suggested so kindly that he would look up Lizzie, and let
me know how she was situated, I was glad to give him her address. He
hasn't been here since, though. Perhaps he hasn't got back yet."
Clara wondered wearily how stupidity should manage to flourish in a
world where people have to struggle so hard against one another, and
then she immediately reproached herself for the thought, recalling what
a taxing puzzle Poubalov's character presented to herself. She made no
effort to undeceive Mrs. White--how could she with so little as she
herself actually knew?--but rather turned the conversation into simple
channels until she took her departure.
Paul arrived at Mr. Pembroke's about six o'clock, reporting that
Poubalov had been absent all day until late in the afternoon, and that
when he came in he immediately began preparations for going out again.
"I came along at once," said Paul, "lest he should get here ahead of
me."
Clara asked her uncle if he would like to meet the spy.
"No," he answered uneasily; "what good purpose would it serve?"
"I thought that perhaps you might read him better than I can," said
Clara; "I don't see how we can help coming to a crisis this evening,
and if you could help, we might bring about the release of Ivan all the
sooner."
Mr. Pembroke was careworn, and all his utterances and actions had been
marked by indecision since his return from New York.
"I am afraid I can do no good," he said with a sigh; "handle the
situation as best you can, Clara. I believe you will find your
happiness restored to you shortly."
With that he shut himself in his library, and they saw no more of him
that night.
Poubalov acted more like himself than he did the day before, but it was
apparent to Clara that his confident self-possession was maintained by
an effort.
"Must we begin where we left off yesterday?" he said by way of
introduction.
"You may begin where you please," responded Clara, "but you must tell
me the truth. I think you are going to do so, Mr. Poubalov."
"I cannot remember that I have told you a single lie since I met you,
Miss Hilman. It must be a strange admission for you to hear me make,
that I am not certain when I have spoken truly and when falsely; but
that is the fault of the peculiar work that my emperor has set me
to do, and it is not due in the present instance to any purpose of
deceiving you. I am going to begin by telling you of a discovery that I
have made since I began to work on this case--a discovery that to me,
at least, is startling.
"My experience throughout all my life has been such as to make
me believe that honesty and sincerity did not exist save in the
characters of simple-minded people whom it would be too harsh to call
fools, and yet who are nothing short of fools when you look at them
from the point of view of self-interest and material advancement.
What have I found to be the chief requisite of leadership, whether in
guiding the state, or seeking to wreck it, or in commerce? Craft, Miss
Hilman, craft that suggests and includes indirect methods to attain
ends, the holding out of false hopes, the display of the gilded side of
things, the concealment of the base material--in short, trickery, which
is but another name for treachery. I have believed that keen minds saw
the folly of what we call honesty, and to find candor in a person of
intelligence would have seemed to me an anomaly. I have discovered that
extraordinary combination, Miss Hilman, and have been stupefied to find
that my methods, however subtle, have availed nothing in opposition to
this unaffected, unconscious honesty. It is a revelation to my mind
that threatens to effect a revolution in my convictions."
"One moment, Mr. Poubalov," interrupted Clara; "your habit of
circuitous approach to a point is still strong upon you, and according
to your own admissions, it is out of place in conversation with me.
Permit me, then, to help you adjust yourself to your incomplete
revolution, and I will do so without any clever turns of phraseology.
I am, then, the embodiment of this wonderful candor that you have
discovered. It would have taken you a long time to say it. I appreciate
the compliment. Go on, please."
There was a suspicion of a tremor in Poubalov's voice as he continued:
"Yes, you have said it, beating me, as usual, in the one part wherein
I thought I was skilled. But I have to add, Miss Hilman, that having
discovered the existence of honesty associated with the highest order
of intelligence, I am astounded to find that I not only do not scorn
and despise it, I admire it--more than that, I am conquered by it; I
yield to it as a serf to the will of his master, and I worship her
who--" his voice railed him for an instant and then he concluded, "you,
Miss Hilman."
Clara sat looking calmly at the spy, much as if she were regarding a
play in which he was an actor, or, as it seemed to him, as if she were
studying a strange anatomical specimen.
"This must be a remarkable experience for you," she said simply.
"It is a marvel!" he responded with great emphasis; "I, who knew only
loyalty to my czar, find that there is something more potent to stir me
than his beck, or his reward. I love, and with all the strength of my
being!"
"It doesn't seem at all strange to me," she murmured, her voice low and
musical; "I have never rated you as less than a human being, though at
times you have seemed to fall infinitely below the standard of such men
as it has been my good fortune to know."
Poubalov winced at this merciless thrust at his intense egotism, and
Clara went on:
"What I do not understand is why you should have been to the mortifying
pains of telling me about it, for it is a farce for such persons as
you and me to bandy words. Has your revolution so far progressed as to
convince you that it is worth while to waste energy?"
"A man must speak out when he loves as I do," said Poubalov,
desperately. "I will not rave, as I have read that lovers do; I will
stick to my logic; but I must confess that when I awakened to this
emotion, I could not help a day dream in which I saw you by my side,
and the sight was sweet, it was inspiring, for it cannot be often that
minds of such caliber as ours are brought together and united for life."
"It will be better to return to your logic, Mr. Poubalov," said Clara,
gently; his tones were passionate in spite of his evident effort, and
she had no desire to lead him on to a freer outburst. "Let us dismiss
this experience of yours, in which, of course, I share only as a
disinterested spectator. What have you done with the man I do love?"
Poubalov rose, and Clara expected to see him pace up and down the room
after the manner of her uncle when he was agitated; but the spy stood
before her trembling in every limb.
"You have asked me the wrong question, Miss Hilman," he said hoarsely,
"and I shall not answer it."
"Then," exclaimed Clara, "either leave me at once, or proceed in
your own way to tell me what I wish to know. I have been days in my
search, and I can listen to you for the whole of this evening if it is
necessary in order to learn what I must know."
"Suppose I should tell you," said Poubalov, slowly, "that I can lay my
hands upon Strobel at any moment. What would you say?"
"I should bid you to bring him to me."
Poubalov shook his head.
"I should not do it," he said.