The Price of Power Part 44

"Leave such things to Markoff or to Hartwig. They are not women's business," he cried impatiently. "Rather explain your conduct in England. From what I hear, you have so far forgotten what is due to your rank and station as to fall in love with some commoner! Markoff made a long report about it the other day. I have it somewhere," and he glanced back upon his littered table, whereon lay piled the affairs of a great and powerful Empire.

Her cheeks flushed slightly, and I saw that her white-gloved hand twitched nervously. We had travelled together from Petersburg, and upon the journey she had been silent and thoughtful, bracing herself up for an ordeal.

"I care not a jot for any report of General Markoff's," she replied boldly. "Indeed, it was mainly to speak of him that I have asked for audience to-day."

"To tell me something against him, I suppose, just because he has discovered your escapades in England--because he has dared to tell me the truth--eh, Tattie?" he said, with a dry laugh. "So like a woman!"

"If he has told you the truth about me, then it is the first time he has ever told Your Majesty the truth," she said, looking straight at the Emperor.

The Sovereign glanced first at her with quick surprise and then at myself.

"Her Imperial Highness has something to report to Your Majesty, something of a very grave and important nature," I ventured to remark.

"Eh? Eh?" asked the big bearded man, in his quick, impetuous way.

"Something grave--eh? Well, Tattie, what is it?"

The girl, pale and agitated, held her breath for a few moments. Then she said:

"I know, uncle, that you consider me a giddy, incorrigible flirt.

Perhaps I am. But, nevertheless, I am in possession of a secret--a secret which, as it affects the welfare of the nation and of the dynasty, it is, I consider, my duty to reveal to you."

"Ah! Revolutionists again!"

"I beg of you to listen, uncle," she urged. "I have several more serious matters to place before you."

"Very well," he replied, smiling as though humouring her. "I am listening. Only pray be brief, won't you?"

"You will recollect the attempt planned to be made in the Nevski on the early morning of our arrival from the Crimea, and in connection with that plot a lady, a friend of mine and of Mr Trewinnard's, named Madame de Rosen, and her daughter Luba were arrested and sent by administrative process to Siberia?"

"Certainly. Trewinnard went recently on a quixotic mission to the distressed ladies," he laughed. "But why, my dear child, refer to them further? They were conspirators, and I really have no interest in their welfare. The elder woman is, I understand, dead."

"Yes," the Grand d.u.c.h.ess cried fiercely; "killed by exposure, at the orders of General Serge Markoff."

"Oh!" he exclaimed, "then you have come here to denounce poor Markoff as an a.s.sa.s.sin--eh? This is really most interesting."

"What I have to relate to Your Majesty will, I believe, be found of considerable interest," she said, now quite calm and determined. "True, I have charged Serge Markoff with the illegal arrest and the subsequent death of an innocent woman. It is for me now to prove it."

"Certainly," said His Imperial Majesty, settling himself in his big chair, and placing the tips of his strong white fingers together in an att.i.tude of listening.

"Then I wish to reveal to you a few facts concerning this man who wields such wide and autocratic power in our Russia--this man who is the real oppressor of our nation, and who is so cleverly misleading and terrorising its ruler."

"Tattie! What are you saying?"

"You will learn when I have finished," she said. "I am only a girl, I admit, but I know the truth--the scandalous truth--how you, the Emperor, are daily deceived and made a catspaw by your clever and unscrupulous Chief of Secret Police."

"Speak. I am all attention," he said, his brows darkening.

"I have referred to poor Marya de Rosen," said the girl, leaning her elbow upon the arm of the chair and looking straight into her uncle's face. "If the truth be told, Marya and Serge Markoff had been acquainted for a very long time. Two years after the death of her husband, Felix de Rosen, the wealthy banker of Odessa and Warsaw, Serge Markoff, in order to obtain her money, married her."

"Married her!" echoed the Emperor in a loud voice. "Can you prove this?"

"Yes. Three years ago, when I was living with my father in Paris, I went alone one morning to the Russian Church in the Rue Daru, where, to my utter amazement, I found a quiet marriage-service in progress. The contracting parties were none other than General Markoff and the widow, Madame de Rosen. Beyond the priest and the sacristan, I was the only person in possession of the truth. They both returned to Petersburg next day, but agreed to keep their marriage secret, as the General was cunning enough to know that marriage would probably interfere with his advancement and probably cause Your Majesty displeasure."

"I had no idea of it!" he remarked, much surprised. "Marya de Rosen--or Madame Markoff, as she really was--frequently went to her husband's house, but always clandestinely and unknown to Luba, who had no suspicion of the truth," the girl went on. "According to the story told to me by Marya herself, a strange incident occurred at the General's house one evening. She had called there and been admitted, by the side entrance, by a confidential servant, and was awaiting the return of the General, who was having audience at the Winter Palace. While sitting alone, a young woman of the middle-cla.s.s--probably an art-student--was ushered into the room by another servant, who believed Marya was awaiting formal audience of His Excellency. The girl was highly excited and hysterical, and finding Marya alone, at once broke out in terrible invective against the General. Marya naturally took Markoff's part, whereupon the girl began to make all sorts of charges of conspiracy, and even murder, against him--charges which Marya declared to the girl's face were lies.

"Suddenly, however, the girl plunged her hand deep into the pocket of her skirt and produced three letters, which, with a mocking laugh, she urged Marya to read and then to judge His Excellency accordingly.

Meanwhile, the manservant, having heard the girl's voice raised excitedly, entered and promptly ejected her, leaving the letters in Marya's hands. She opened them. They were all in Serge Markoff's own handwriting, and were addressed to a certain man named Danilo Danilovitch, once a shoemaker at Kazan, and now, in secret, the leader of the Revolutionary Party.

"From the first of these Marya saw that it was quite plain that the General--the man in whom Your Majesty places such implicit faith--had actually bribed the man with five thousand roubles and a promise of police protection to a.s.sa.s.sinate Your Majesty's brother, the Grand Duke Peter Michailovitch, from whom he feared exposure, as he had been shrewd enough to discover his double-dealing and the peculation of the public funds of which Markoff had been guilty while holding the office of Governor of Kazan. Six days after that letter," Her Highness added in a hard, clear voice, "my poor Uncle Peter was shot dead by an unknown hand while emerging from the Opera House in Warsaw."

"Ah! I remember!" exclaimed His Majesty hoa.r.s.ely, for the Grand Duke Peter was his favourite brother, and his a.s.sa.s.sination had caused him the most profound grief.

"Of the other two letters--all of them having been in my possession,"

Her Highness went on, "one was a brief note, appointing a meeting for the following evening at a house near the Peterhof Station, in Petersburg, while the third contained a most amazing confession. In the course of it General Markoff wrote words to the following effect: `You and your chicken-hearted friends are utterly useless to me. I was present and watched you. When he entered the theatre you and your wretched friends were afraid--you failed me! You call yourself Revolutionists--you, all of you, are without the courage of a mouse! I thought better of you. When you failed so ignominiously, I waited-- waited until he came out. Where you failed, I was fortunately successful. He fell at the first shot. Arrests were, of course, necessary. Some of your cowardly friends deserve all the punishment they will get. Forty-six have been arrested to-day. Meet me to-morrow at eight p.m. at the usual rendezvous. You shall have the money all the same, though you certainly do not deserve it. Destroy this.'"

"Where is that letter?" demanded His Majesty quickly.

"It has unfortunately been destroyed--destroyed by its writer. Marya was aghast at these revelations of her husband's treachery and double-dealing, for while Chief of Secret Police and Your Majesty's most trusted adviser he was actually aiding and abetting the Revolutionists!

She placed the letters which had so opportunely come into her possession into her pocket, and said nothing to Markoff when he returned. But from that moment she distrusted him, and saw how ingenious and cunning were his dealings with both yourself and with the leader of the Revolutionists. He, a.s.sisted by his catspaw, Danilo Danilovitch, formed desperate plots for the mere purpose of making whole sale arrests, and thus showing you how active and astute he was. Danilo Danilovitch--who, as `The One,' the leader whose actual ident.i.ty is unknown by those poor deluded wretches who believe they can effect a change in Russia by means of bombs--is as cunning and crafty as his master. It was he who threw the bomb at our carriage and who killed my poor dear father. He--"

"How can you prove that?" demanded the Emperor quickly.

"I myself saw him throw the bomb," I said, interrupting. "The outrage was committed at Markoff's orders."

"Impossible! Why do you allege this, Trewinnard? What motive could Markoff have in killing the Grand Duke Nicholas?"

"The same that he had in ordering the arrest and banishment of his own wife and her daughter," was my reply. "Her Highness will make further explanation."

"The motive was simply this," went on the girl, still speaking with great calmness and determination. "A few days before I left with Your Majesty on the tour of the Empire, I called upon Marya de Rosen to wish her good-bye. On that occasion she gave me the three letters in question--which had apparently been stolen from Danilovitch by the girl who had handed them to her. Marya told me that she feared lest her husband, when he knew they were in her possession, might order a domiciliary visit for the purpose of securing possession of them.

Therefore she begged me, after she had shown me the contents and bound me to strictest silence, to conceal them. This I did.

"While we were absent in the south nothing transpired, but Danilovitch had arranged an attempt in the Nevski on the morning of our return to Petersburg. The plot was discovered at the eleventh hour, as usual and among those arrested was Madame de Rosen and Luba. Why? Because Your Majesty's favourite, Serge Markoff, having discovered that the incriminating letters had been handed to his wife, knew that she, and probably Luba, were aware of his secret. He feared that the evidence of his crime must have pa.s.sed into other hands, and dreading lest his wife should betray him, he ordered her arrest as a dangerous political.

After her arrest he saw her, and, hoping for her release, she explained how she had handed the letters to me for safe-keeping, and confessed that I was aware of the shameful truth. She was not, however, released, but sent to her grave. For that same reason Markoff ordered his agent Danilovitch to throw the bomb at the carriage in which I was riding with my poor father and Mr Trewinnard."

"But I really cannot give credence to all this!" exclaimed the Emperor, who had risen again and was standing near the window which looked out upon the courtyard of the palace, whence came the sound of soldiers drilling and distant bugle-calls.

"Presently Your Majesty shall be given a complete proof," his niece responded. "Danilovitch has confessed. At Markoff's orders--which he was compelled to carry out, fearing that if he refused the all-powerful Chief of Secret Police would betray him to his comrades as a spy--he, at imminent risk of being shot by the sentries, visited our palace on four occasions, and succeeded at last, after long searches, in discovering the letters where I had hidden them for safety in my old nursery, and, securing them, he handed them back to his master."

"Then this Danilovitch is a Revolutionist paid by Markoff to perform his dirty work--eh?" asked the Emperor angrily.

"He is paid, and paid well, to organise conspiracies against Your Majesty's person," I interrupted. "The majority of the plots of the past three years have been suggested by Markoff himself, and arranged by Danilovitch, who finds it very easy to beguile numbers of his poor deluded comrades into believing that the revolution will bring about freedom in Russia. A list of these he furnishes to Markoff before each attempt is discovered, hence the astute Chief of Secret Police is always able to put his hand upon the conspirators and to furnish a satisfactory report to Your Majesty, for which he receives commendation."

"Apparently a unique arrangement," remarked the sovereign reflectively.

"In order to close the lips of Madame de Rosen, he contrived that she should receive such brutal and inhuman treatment that she died of the effects of cold, hardship and exposure," I went on. "One of Markoff's agents made a desperate attempt upon myself while in Siberia, fearing that Her Highness had revealed the truth to me, and well knowing that I was aware of Danilovitch's true _metier_. The attempt fortunately failed, as did another recently formed by Danilovitch in London at Markoff's orders. Therefore--"

"But this Danilovitch!" interrupted His Majesty, turning to me. "Has he actually confessed to you?"

"He has, Sire," I replied. "The sole reason of my journey to Yakutsk was in order to see Marya de Rosen on Her Highness's behalf and obtain permission for her to speak and reveal to Your Majesty all that the Grand d.u.c.h.ess has now told you. Her Highness had promised strictest secrecy to her friend, but now that the lady is dead I have at last induced her to speak in the personal-interests of Your Majesty, as well as in the interests of the whole nation."