OCR Text |
Show ' Btj E.PHILLIPOPPENHEIM you, sir," be went on, with Malicious glance at Gerald, "yon may think your self fortunate If you leave this country as easily as you entered If The woman drew a little nearer te him. There was the look of a wild animal In lier face, "Listen, Ivan 1" she cried. "Are yoa mad 7 It Is a fortune which this mat carries lochia hand I What Is there amongst the scum that Infesta your prisons of account against that? You terrify me. The money la for us, to be divided. Cash, Ivan I Money to spend tomorrow the next day every day r "You fool r the governor retorted. "Of what use la money when your feet dangle In the air and vonr neck Is broken T That for you, and a dosen rifle bullets In my heart I Ton are a bold man who came to Rossis on such a mission," be added, glowering at Gerald. She turned to her visitor. "What doea this madman roeanr she demanded. "Who Is this prisoner whose freedom you seek?" "I do not know," Gerald replied. "I . am only an emissary." apparently with leas esse than English. Eng-lish. ' r "This gentleman," she declared, "has a great affair of bualnesa to discuss with you. He waa aent here by a friend of mine whose name I may not give. He Is an Englishman pretending to be an American, but that makes for little, tie Is entrusted with a great sum of money for a certain purpose." Into the governor's eyes flashed for a moment some reflection of the cupidity cupid-ity which had gleamed In the woman's. Money waa scarce In Russia; pay was small and Irregular In coming. The thought of money whetted his Interest "Let me hear what thia gentleman aaa to say," he Invited. 1 huve come with a very bold proposition," prop-osition," Gerald bean. "but It la one which I hope you will consider carefully. care-fully. Tou have many prisoners in your fortress who are detained largely through misfortune. There are many there whose offenses are trivial, who will probably be released shortly In any case, and who might just aa well be free as remain a churge upon the government." '-, "You aeem to know a great deal ; CHAPTER IV Continued "Then thousand pounds?" she almost shrieked. "Why, It Is two million : roubles! Ivsn Krossneys would sell ' yon bis whole batch of prisoners for that, and throw the fortress In I Why, If It rested with me," she went on, .' "yon could have Krossneys as well, for ' . a quarter of thst. Talk sense, please I There Is not an englishman there Of , , that I am certain." "The prisoner whose liberty I de-' de-' aire to buy," Gerald confided. "Is a Russian. I do Dot know under what name he passes, but his number Is , twenty-nine." .' , i El at Frtocks rose to her feet, opened -t i ' the door and ahouted to her maid In Russian. Then she took np a battered telephone Instrument f "1 will speak with the major." she - s.ild. "I am the only civilian in the town with a telephone It Is a great ' favor. -Ton can , wait whilst I speak with blm." There waa a good deal of delay before be-fore she was connected, and a further . delay before the person with whom she desired to speak arrived. In time, .,: however, the conversation was finished, . apparently to her ui (Infliction. She set down the Instrument .. about my prisoners," the governor remarked re-marked graciously, "Many of them are criminals of the worst order." "It la not one of these whom I wish to discuss -with you," Gerald assured him. "It happens that you have a young man there who Is not of the criminal class at all. He has very wealthy friends." . ;" : "Ha I" the governor exclaimed. "How wealthyr The woman broke Into the conversation. conversa-tion. She gripped her friend by the srm. " "Ivan," she cried. "It Is Incredible! Do you know the sum which monsieur speaks of? It takes one's breath The governor aat up In his chair. "I will tell you." he declared hoarsely. hoarse-ly. "Number twenty-nine Is all the fortress records aay of him, but bis name Is Paul, grand duke of Volostok, prince of Tamboff, hereditary grand duke and ruler of all the provinces of the Dvlna, nephew of Nicholas, the late tsar, head of the bouse of Romanoff Ro-manoff himself. If the people cbsnged their fancy tomorrow, tsar of all the Russlaal There, my woman, now you know the secret of my fortress I Tou can guess where we might be If I traded with this lunatic !" The woman flopped upon the sofa. She was pale through all her rouge and powder. Her yellow hair had broken loose from Its band of ribbon. Her dressing gown had fallen away a little from her ample bust. She sot breathing heavily for several moments. Gerald, Of the three, was the only one who kept his head. "All that makes for nothing," he said calmly. "You excite yourself greatly ; for nothing. -: The Romanoff dynasty la past. There will never be another taar In Russia. Thla young man has rich friends and they want him out of the country. I should think your government would be glad to be rid of him." Gerald's words were not without their effect especially upon the woman. . t . "After all," she muttered, "this mah speaks sense. Who cares about grand dukes, nowadays? There are plenty of them who have already escaped. What does one more or less matter? "But this one I have told yon who be isl" the man growled. The woman waa beginning to pluck up spirit She scoffed at him openly. "When the people of Russia want, the days of tsardom back again," sha said, "they will find one of the brood fast enough. But that day will not come yet This young man In your fortress is of no account Tou are a fool, Ivan. Tou cannot see the truth, Tou have not thought to yourself what ten thousand pounds may mean." Krossneys sat back in his chair, bit-Ing bit-Ing his finger nails. i "Who are you?" he demanded suddenly. sud-denly. "And where doea thla money come from?" .' . ; - ..:. "My name Is Dombey,1' Gerald replied. re-plied. "I have admitted to Madame Francks that I am an Englishman. This money has been collected In London by friends and relatives of the young man. The desire for his release has not the slightest political slgnln-cance." slgnln-cance." "And what the devil excuse can I make for letting him go?" "I should put one of your less Important Im-portant prisoners Into Ills cell and say nothing about It," Gerald suggested. "The governor Is on his wsy down," ' she snnounced triumphantly. "Come, ' wo will see to this little affair quickly. : Tou can remain." The maid entered the room, carrying carry-ing a tray on which were bottles of ' beer and glasses. Tbe woman eyed them with satisfaction. r ' "Ton are not Russian," she said, "so X do not offer yon the samovar. ; Beer very one drinks the English especially. es-pecially. That Is so, Is It not?" "That la so." Gerald admitted. "I hall drink to your good health, ' toadame." "Tou may call me Elsa," she Invited graciously, coming over to his side with a glass In her hand. "We will - drink lo the success of our enterprise." Gerald accepted the glass and exchanged ex-changed courteous amenities with his hostesa. She eyed blm with growing favor. "It Is a pity that you are not staying longer," shs observed. "We might become be-come friends, ytio knows?" "In that case." Gerald replied gallantly, gal-lantly, "I might have to quarrel with Major Krossneys, and that would not do at all." She snapped her pudgy Angers. A man who had ten thousand pounds to dispose of! What was Knssneysl "Do you think," she scoffed, "that I ahall stay here with him If I can get hold of half that sum you spoke of? Not I! I shall choose a different com-' com-' panlon. I shall go to Monte Carlo. I hall never enter this accursed country again. Even to think of leaving It ;.' makes me giddy with happiness. It will be you who will be my deliverer. Let us drink again together." "PerliEps," Gerald suggested, "the governor will not give up his prisoner." Her exclamation of contempt was ;; almost a shout. : The very Idea, while s " she scouted It as ridiculous, seemed to Infuriate her. . "Give him up? Of course he will ; give him up 1" she declared. ' "If he re-f re-f fused why, I would take him by the bea d I would kill him!" Hr eyes were lit with cruelty. The snarl of an animal of prey twisted her lips. Then she burst into a Gt of laughter. , ,,. ,- .r. . s . , . , . "Why dp 1 muke,myse,lf furious?" ;, - she exclaimed. "Why, Ivan would sell every one of his hundred and thirty-seven thirty-seven prisoners for a tenth part of the :' money you sneak "of! Come1, let us be gay.-; : will put something on the gramophone. Tou shall dance with me, res?!' ' ' "And What the Dsvil Excuse Can r Make for Letting Him Go?" away! He speaks of ten thousand pounds I It la two million roubles I What do yon think' of that?" "G dl" Krossneys muttered. "A prisoner of mine?" . "A prisoner of yours," Gerald repeated. re-peated. "I will be quite frank with you, sir. I speak, I know, to a man of honor, but I will ask yim to remember that this young man Is unconvicted of any crime,' and "that the 'government by whom he was sent to you Is tottering. totter-ing. ' Tills Is not a bribe which I am offering you. It Is the price of an act of justice. . The money Is to be paid in cash." ' ' , , "There is an Inspector of state prison's," Krossneys muttered. . . "He does not often come, but who knows when he might take It Into his head to pay us a v!slt?' . "The lust time he was here," Elsa Francks reminded hlra, "you met him at the station and took him to the hotel. Afterward, you brought him on here and lie was so drunk that he had to stay for two days. He did not even go near the fortress. Your papers pa-pers and books were brought down here for him to sign." i "It la true," Krossneys assented, "yet next time another man might come. And dsn In, how will this number num-ber twenty-nine get safely out of Russia?" Rus-sia?" , '. Think less of these difficulties and more of what one could do with tea thousand pounds." the woman Insisted. "You are not asked, Ivsn, to run a risk for nothing. I say that It If worth It", .,j .-v -. ..."' ' n , : (TO BE.CONTWUKD.) Krossneys was showing now as much agitation as the woman had displayed. Mingled with his emotion, however, was a fear, signs of which were at once manifested In tbe anxiety which distorted his face, the eagerness of his demnnd. " .' '. !- "The number?" he cried. ! "Tell me the Dame nr. the number of the prisoner pris-oner you desire J": -. "Number twenty-nine," Gerald replied. re-plied. The governor struck the table with his clenched fist, so that the glasses rattled. "A million devils curse and blust you both !" he shouted. He kicked a footstool which was close lit hand across the room. Then he flung himself into an easy-chair and sat there with his arms crossed, glowering glow-ering at Klsa. The woman gazed at him as though he had suddenly gone mad. "Are you out of your'senses, Ivsn?" she osked. "Twenty-nine or thirty-nine thirty-nine what does It matter? Is not one prisoner like another? Who comes to visit them? Who knows which cell Is empty? Bah!" .. v "So you thought you were rich for life, did yon, Elsa?" the man In tbe chair nattered. "Well, yon ran just rid yourself of the Ides. And ss for "What about his excellency the gov-; gov-; ernorf Gerald asked. .. . . .. The woman made a little grimace. "You1 are perhaps right," she acquiesced. ac-quiesced. "One must wait wait until everything Is arranged. After that I ' ' shall snap my lingers at Ivan. He - wearies me, and be Is an old man, Will you take me out of the country, my friend? We. might to go Into Po land I bsve friends at Warsaw." There were heavy steps outside. She --, held up her hand as though to warn him. "It Is the governor," she announced. "It Is Ivan Krossneys who arrives. Mind, he ts very Jealous. Be careful." Gerald, with all his nerves on edge, was yet able to Indulge for a moment In a grim smile. The door was opened. The maid poked her head In and mut-' mut-' tered something unintelligible. Close behind her entered the governor of the fortress. i ' The governor was a large, corpulent, untidy-looking man In an Ill-fitting uniform, uni-form, with coarse features and a strag- ' ftlAf beard. He clicked his heels together to-gether and made some- pretense at a '' , military salute, a. Elsa Introduced her visitor. Shs whispered s word or two art with him la Hnsslan, snd then essttlaued la French, which she spoke |