CONTAINS ELMA'S STORY
Before me stood my love, a slim, tragic, rather wan figure in a heavy
dark traveling-coat and felt toque, her sweet lips parted and a look of
bewildered amazement upon her countenance as I burst in so suddenly upon
her.
In silence I grasped her tiny black-gloved hand, and then, also in
silence, raised it passionately to my eager lips. Her soft, dark
eyes--those eyes that spoke although she was mute--met mine, and in them
was a look that I had never seen there before--a look which as plainly
as any words told me that my wild fevered passion was reciprocated.
She gazed beyond into the room where the others had assembled, and then
looked at me inquiringly, whereupon I led her forward to where they
were, and Muriel fell upon her and kissed her with tears streaming from
her eyes.
"I prepared this surprise for you, Mr. Gregg," Muriel said, laughing
through her tears of joy. "Olinto learnt that she was on her way to
London, and I sent him to meet her. The Princess has managed
magnificently, has she not?"
"Yes. Thank God she is free!" I exclaimed. "But we must induce her to
tell us everything."
Muriel was already helping my love out of her heavy Russian coat, a
costly garment lined with sable, and when, after greeting Jack and
Olinto, she was comfortably seated, I took some notepaper from the
little writing-table by the window and scribbled in pencil the words:
"I need not write how delighted I am that you are safe--that the
Almighty has heard my prayers for you. Jack and Muriel have told me all
about Leithcourt and his scoundrelly associates. I know, too, dear--for
I may call you that, may I not?--how terribly you must have suffered in
silence through it all. Leithcourt is dead. He sank the yacht with all
the stolen property on board, but by accident was himself engulfed."
Bending and watching intently as I wrote, she drew back in horror and
surprise at the words. Then I added: "We are all four determined that
the guilty shall not go unpunished, and that the affliction placed upon
you shall be adequately avenged. You are my own love--I am bold enough
to call you so. Some strong but mysterious bond of affinity between us
caused me to seek you out, and your pictured face seemed to call me to
your side although I was unaware of your peril. I was sent to you by the
unseen power to extricate you from the hands of your enemies. Therefore
tell us everything--all that you know--without fear, for now that we are
united no harm can assail us."
She took the pencil, and holding it in her white fingers sat staring
first at us, and then looking hesitatingly at the white paper before
her. Her position, amid a hundred conflicting emotions, was one of
extreme difficulty. It seemed as though even now she was loth to reveal
to us the absolute truth.
Muriel, standing behind her chair, tenderly stroked back the wealth of
chestnut hair from her white brow. Her complexion was perfect, even
though her face was pale and jaded, and her eyes heavy, consequent upon
her long, weary journey from the now frozen North.
Presently, when by signs both Jack and Olinto had urged her to write,
she bent suddenly, and her pencil began to run swiftly over the paper.
All of us stood exchanging glances in silence, neither looking over her,
but each determined to wait in patience until the end. Once started,
however, she did not pause. Sheet after sheet she covered. The silence
for a long time was complete, broken only by the rapid running of the
pencil over the rough surface of the paper. She had apparently become
seized by a sudden determination to explain everything, now that she saw
we were in real, dead earnest.
I watched her sweet face bent so intently, and as the firelight fell
across it found it incomparable. Yes; she was afflicted by loss of
speech, it was true, yet she was surely inexpressibly sweet and womanly,
peerless above all others.
With a deep-drawn sigh she at last finished, and, her head still bowed
in an attitude of humiliation, it seemed, she handed what she had
written to me.
In breathless eagerness I read as follows:
"Is it true, dear love--for I call you so in return--that you were
impelled towards me by the mysterious hand that directs all things? You
came in search of me, and you risked your life for mine at Kajana,
therefore you have a right to know the truth. You, as my champion, and
the Princess as my friend, have contrived to effect my freedom. Were it
not for you, I should ere this have been on my way to Saghalien, to the
tomb to which Oberg had so ingeniously contrived to consign me. Ah! you
do not know--you never can know--all that I have suffered ever since I
was a girl."
Here the statement broke off, and recommenced as follows:
"In order that you should understand the truth, I had better begin at
the beginning. My father was an English merchant in Petersburg, and my
mother, Vera Bessanoff, who, before her marriage with my father, was
celebrated at Court for her beauty, and was one of the maids-of-honor to
the Czarina. She was the only daughter of Count Paul Bessanoff,
ex-Governor of Kharkoff, and before marrying my father she had, with her
mother, been a well-known figure in society. Immediately after her
marriage her father died, leaving her in possession of an ample fortune,
which, with my father's own wealth, placed them among the richest and
most influential in Petersburg.
"Among my father's most intimate friends was Baron Xavier Oberg--who, at
that time, held a very subordinate position in the Ministry of the
Interior--and from my earliest recollections I can remember him coming
frequently to our house and being invited to the brilliant
entertainments which my mother gave. When I was thirteen, however, my
father died of a chill contracted while boar-hunting on his estate in
Kiev, and within a few months a further disaster happened to us. One
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
he spurned the body with his foot and laughed to himself as he gloated
over his dastardly crime.
"I watched his rage, unable to utter a single word. I saw him, after he
had searched the dead man's pockets, raise the inert body with its awful
featureless face and drag it to the bulwarks. Then I rushed forward and
faced him.
"In an instant he sprang at me, and I screamed. But no aid came. The man
Wilson was sleeping soundly in the bows, for the whisky he had given him
had been doctored," went on the narrative. "Upon his face was a fierce,
murderous look such as I had never seen before. 'You!' he screamed, his
dark eyes starting from their sockets as he realized that I had been a
witness of his cowardly crime. 'You have spied upon me, girl!' he
hissed, 'and you shall die also!' I sank upon my knees imploring him to
spare me, but he only laughed at my entreaty. 'See!' he cried, 'as you
saw how he enjoyed his cigar, you may as well see this!' And with an
effort he raised the dead body in his arms, poised it for a moment on
the vessel's side, and then, with a hoarse laugh of triumph, heaved it
into the sea. There was a splash, and then we were alone. 'And you!' he
cried in a fierce voice--'you who have spied upon me--you will follow!
The water there will close your chattering mouth!' I shrieked, begged,
and implored, but his trembling hands were upon my throat. First he
dragged me to my feet, then he threw me upon my knees, and at last, with
that grim brutality which characterizes him, he directed me to go and
get a mop and bucket from the forecastle and remove the dark red stains
from the chair and deck. This he actually forced me to do, gloating over
my horror as I removed for him the traces of his cowardly crime. Then,
with his hand upon my shoulder, he said, 'Girl! Recollect that you keep
to-night's work secret. If not, you shall die a death more painful than
that dog has died--one in which you shall experience all the tortures of
the damned. Recollect, not a single word--or death! Now, go to your
cabin, and never pry into my affairs again.'
"I went back to my cabin as I was bid, and sat speechless in abject
horror. The fiendish actions of the man who was my guardian frightened
me. And yet I was utterly helpless. What could I do? Who in holy Russia
would hear me? Oberg was a power in the Empire; the Czar himself trusted
him. If I spoke, who would believe me; who would heed the words of a
defenseless girl whom he would at once declare to be hysterical? Thus I
waited alone in the darkness, watching the lights of the port gleaming
across the placid waters until nearly one o'clock, when the gay party
returned, and the Baron greeted them merrily as though nothing had
happened. But my heart was frozen within me by the recollection of the
awful crime that had been committed."
* * * * *
"Why! Now I remember!" cried Muriel, amazed. "I remember that night
quite well, how white you were when you came to my cabin and asked to be
allowed to sleep in my spare berth. You would tell me nothing, and only
said you were ill. None of us had any idea that such a terrible tragedy
had been enacted. But of course the Baron had arranged it all, for it
was at his instigation, I recollect, that the crew had been given
shore-leave. Mackintosh suggested that only half the crew should go,
but he declared that if Wilson alone were left it would be sufficient."
"I, too, recollect the affair quite well," Jack declared, tugging at his
mustache, utterly amazed at my love's strange story. It was a plain
statement of hard, astounding facts, and she now stood clinging to me,
looking eagerly into my eyes, reading every thought that passed through
my mind. "A great sensation was caused when the body was discovered. The
squadron was lying off Naples about a week after the _Iris_ had left,
and while we were there the body was washed up near Sorrento. At first
but little notice was taken of it, but by the marks on the dead man's
linen it was discovered that he was Polovstoff, one of the highest
Russian officials who had, it was said, been warned on several occasions
by the Nihilists. It was, therefore, concluded that his death had been
due to Nihilist vengeance."
Elma pointed to the paper, and made a sign that I was to read on. This I
did, and the statement ran as follows:
"The real reason why the Baron spared my life was because, if I died, my
fortune would pass to a distant cousin living at Durham. Yet his manner
towards me was now most polite and pleasant--a change that I felt boded
no good. He intended to obtain my money by marrying me to his son
Michael, whose evil reputation as a gambler was well known in
Petersburg. We traveled back to Finland in the autumn, and in the winter
he took me to stay with his sister in Nice. Yet almost daily he referred
to that tragedy at Naples, and threatened me with death if ever I
uttered a single word, or even admitted that I had ever seen the man who
was his rival and his victim."
"Last June," commenced another paragraph, "we were in Helsingfors, when
one day the Baron called me suddenly and told me to prepare for a
journey. We were to cross to Stockholm and thence to Hull, where the
_Iris_ was awaiting us, for Mr. Leithcourt and Muriel had invited us for
a summer cruise to the Greek Islands. We boarded the yacht much against
my will, yet I was powerless, and dare not allege the facts that I had
already established concerning our fellow-guests. Muriel and I, it
seems, were taken merely in order to blind the shore-guards and Customs
officials as to the real nature of the vessel, which when safely out of
the Channel, was repainted and renamed the _Lola_, until her exterior
presented quite a different appearance from the _Iris_.
"The port of Leghorn was our first place of call, and for some reason we
ran purposely upon a sandbank and were towed off by Italian
torpedo-boats. Next evening you came on board and dined, Muriel and
myself having strict orders not to show ourselves. We, however, watched
you, and I saw you pick up my photograph which I had that day torn up.
Then immediately after you had left, Woodroffe, Chater and Mackintosh
went ashore and were away a couple of hours in the middle of the night.
Just before they returned the Baron rapped at the door of my cabin
saying that he must go ashore, and telling me to dress and accompany
him. He would never allow me the luxury of a maid, fearing, I suppose,
that she might learn too much. In obedience I rose and dressed, and when
I went forth he told me to get my traveling-cloak and dressing-bag,
adding that he was compelled to go north, as to continue the cruise
would occupy too much time. He was due back at his official duties, he
said. As soon as I had finished packing, the three men returned to the
vessel, all of them looking dark-faced and disappointed. Woodroffe
whispered some words to the Baron, after which I went to Muriel's cabin
and wished her good-bye, and we went ashore, taking the train first to
Colle Salvetti, thence to Pisa, and afterwards to the beautiful old city
of Siena, which I had so longed to see. One of my teeth gave me pain,
and the Baron, after a couple of days at the Hotel de Sienne, took me to
a queer-looking little old Italian--a dentist who, he said, enjoyed an
excellent reputation. I was quick to notice that the two men had met
before, and as I sat in the chair and gas was given to me I saw them
exchange meaning glances. In a few moments I became insensible, but when
I awoke an hour later I was astounded to feel a curious soreness in my
ears. My tongue, too, seemed paralyzed, and in a few moments the awful
truth dawned upon me. I had been rendered deaf and dumb!
"The Baron pretended to be greatly concerned about me," it went on, "but
I quickly realized that I had been the victim of a foul and dastardly
plot, and that he had conceived it, fearing lest I might speak the truth
concerning the Privy-Councillor Polovstoff, for of exposure he lived in
constant fear. To encompass my end would be against his own interests,
as he would lose my fortune, so he had silenced me lest I should reveal
the terrible truth concerning both him and his associates. He was not
rich, and I have reason to believe that from time to time he gave
information as to persons who possessed valuable jewels, and thus shared
in the plunder obtained by those on the yacht.
"From Italy we traveled on to Berlin, thence to Petersburg, and back to
dreary Helsingfors, journeying as quickly as we could, yet never
allowing me opportunity of being with strangers. Both my ears and tongue
were very painful, but I said nothing. He was surely a fiend in a black
coat, and my only thought now was how to escape him. From the moment
when that so-called dentist had ruined my hearing and deprived me of
power of speech, he kept me aloof from everyone. The fear that I should
reveal everything had apparently grown to haunt him, and he had
conceived that terrible mode of silencing my lips. But the true depth of
his villainy was not yet apparent until I was back in Finland.
"On the night of our arrival he called in his son, who had traveled with
us from Petersburg, and in writing again demanded that I should marry
him. I wrote my reply--a firm refusal. He struck the table angrily with
his fist and wrote saying that I should either marry his son or die.
Then next day, while walking alone out beyond the town of Helsingfors,
as I often used to do, I was arrested upon the false charge of an
attempt upon the life of Madame Vakuroff and transported, without trial,
to the terrible fortress of Kajana, some of the horrors of which you
have yourself experienced. The charge against me was necessary before I
could be incarcerated there, but once within, it was the scheme of the
Governor-General to obtain my consent to the marriage by threats and by
the constant terrors of the place. He even went so far as to obtain a
ministerial order for my banishment to Saghalien and brought it to me to
Kajana, declaring that if in one month I did not consent he should allow
me to be sent to exile. While I was in Kajana he knew that his secret
was safe, therefore by every means in his power he urged me to consent
to the odious union.
"All the rest is known to you--how Providence directed you to me as my
deliverer, and how Woodroffe followed you in secret, and pretending to
be my friend took me with him to Petersburg. He had learnt of my fortune
from the Baron, and intended to marry me himself. But now that all is
over it appears to me like some terrible dream. I never believed that so
much iniquity existed in the world, or that men could fight a
defenseless woman with such double-dealing and cruel ingenuity. Ah! the
tortures I endured in Kajana are beyond human conception. Yet surely
Oberg and Woodroffe will obtain their well-merited deserts--if not in
this world, then in the world to come. Are we not taught by Holy Writ to
forgive our enemies? Therefore, let us forgive."
* * * * *
There my silent love's strange story ended. A bald, straightforward
narrative that held us all for some moments absolutely speechless--one
of the strangest and most startling stories ever revealed.
She watched every expression of my countenance, and then, when I had
finished reading and placed my arm tenderly about her slim waist, she
raised her beautiful face to mine to receive the passionate kiss I
imprinted upon those soft, full lips.
"This, of course, makes everything plain," exclaimed Jack. "Polovstoff
was a very liberal-minded and upright official who was greatly in the
favor of the Czar, and a serious rival to Oberg, whose drastic and
merciless methods in Finland were not exactly approved by the Emperor.
The Baron was well aware of this, and by ingeniously enticing him on
board the _Iris_ he succeeded by handing that small bomb concealed in a
cigar--a Nihilist contrivance that had probably been seized by his
police in Finland--in freeing himself from the rival who was destined to
occupy his post."
"Yes," I said with a sigh. "The mystery is cleared up, it is true, yet
my poor Elma is still the victim." And I kissed my love passionately
again and again upon the lips.
CONCLUSION
Nearly two years have now gone by.
There have been changes in holy Russia--many great and amazing changes
consequent upon war and its disasters. Russia is no longer the great
power that she once was supposed to be. Many events that have startled
the world have occurred since that day when I first enfolded my silent
love within my arms. One of them is known to you all.
You read in the newspapers, without a doubt, how the Baron Xavier Oberg,
the persecutor of Finland, the enemy of education, the relentless foe of
the defenseless, the man who ordered women to be knouted to death in
Kajana, the heartless official whom the Finns called "The Strangler,"
was blown to pieces by a bomb thrown beneath his carriage as he drove to
the railway station at Helsingfors on his way to have audience with the
Emperor.
The secret truth was that the "Red Priest" decreed that Oberg should
die, and the plot was swiftly put into execution, and although five
hundred arrests were made the police are unaware to this day of the
identity of the person who directed it, or of who threw the fatal
missile. From pillar to post the revolutionists have been hunted by the
bloodhounds of police, yet the "Red Priest" still lives on quietly in
Petersburg, and the Princess Zurloff, still unsuspected, devotes the
greater part of her enormous income to the cause of freedom.
Of Jack and Muriel I need only say they were married about three months
after Elma's return from Russia, and at the present time they are
living on the outskirts of Glasgow, where Jack has secured the shore
appointment which he so long coveted.
By some means--exactly how is not quite certain--the police discovered
that Dick Archer, alias Woodroffe, alias Hornby, was concerned in the
clever robbery of a dressing-bag, containing the Dowager Lady
Lancashire's jewels, from her footman on Euston platform, and after a
long search they found him hiding at an hotel in Liverpool. When,
however, they went to arrest him, he laughed in the faces of the
detectives, placed something swiftly in his mouth and swallowed it
before they could prevent him--then ten minutes later he fell dead. He
knew what terrible revelations must be made if we gave evidence against
him, and he therefore preferred death by his own hand to that following
a judicial sentence.
Chater, although one of the most expert jewel thieves in Europe, had
never been actually guilty of any graver offense, and when we heard that
he was in San Francisco, where he had opened a small bar and was trying
to live honestly, we resolved to allow him to remain there. Indeed, Jack
wrote to him about nine months ago warning him never to set foot on
English soil again on pain of arrest.
Olinto Santini has recently opened a small restaurant in Western Road,
Brighton, and is, I believe, doing very well.
And ourselves! Well, what can I really tell you? Mere words fail to tell
you of the completeness of our happiness. It is idyllic--that is all I
can say.
My proposal of marriage was made to Elma a very few days after she wrote
down her startling and romantic story, and a year ago at a little
village church in Hertfordshire we became man and wife, there being
present at our wedding Madame Heath, my bride's mother, to whom, by my
exertions in official quarters in Petersburg, the Czar's clemency was
extended, and she was released from that far-off Arctic prison to which
she had been sent with such cruel injustice.
Two of the greatest London specialists have continually treated my dear
wife, and under them she has already recovered her speech--so far,
indeed, that she can now whisper in a low, soft voice. But they tell me
they are hopeful that ere long her voice will become stronger, and
speech practically restored. Already, too, she can begin to hear.
After all the storms and perils of the past, our lives are now indeed
full of a calm, sweet peace. In our own comfortable little house, with
its trellised porch covered with roses and honeysuckle, that faces the
blue Channel at St. Margaret's Bay, beyond Dover, we lead a life of
mutual trust and boundless love. We are supremely content--the happiest
pair in all the world, we think.
Often as we sit together at evening, gazing out upon the great ships
passing darkly away into the mysterious afterglow, our hands clasp
mutually in a silence more eloquent than words, and as we gaze into each
other's eyes there occurs to us the Divine injunction: "WHOM GOD HATH
JOINED, LET NO MAN PUT ASUNDER."
THE END