"I am rather fearful of this sort of gentry, Signor, as you can well imagine. But I trust you; I proved your metal that night when I found you in front of the ikon. I know you will not betray me. Still, do not write to me unless absolutely necessary, and be very careful of your messenger. Anyway, address me under an a.s.sumed name."

He drew a dirty piece of paper out of his pocket and scribbled upon it the address of his mean lodging, in one of the commonest quarters of the town; also the a.s.sumed name by which he was to be addressed.

Corsini held out his hand. "Well, Ivan, if this all turns out well, you will have more than repaid your obligation. Good-night; I will get that free pardon for you, rely upon it. I shall hear from you to-morrow or next day at the latest."

He watched the big figure of the outlaw well out of sight. Then he beckoned to the leader of the four men.

"A most fortunate meeting," he said, in a cheerful voice. "I am now going straight on to Count Golitzine. I will try his house first."

CHAPTER XIX

But Golitzine was not at his house. Corsini exchanged a few words with the Countess, who informed him that her husband was at the Winter Palace, closeted with the Emperor on important matters. She did not expect him to return till very late.

Under ordinary circ.u.mstances, Nello would have refrained from intruding himself on the Secretary when engaged with his Imperial Master, but the information which Ivan had given him was genuine: of that he felt a.s.sured.

Delay might be dangerous. The failure of Zouroff's scheme to entrap the young director, the knowledge that there must have been treachery amongst his a.s.sociates, would render the Prince a very desperate man.

Whatever _coup_ he meditated would be brought off swiftly, before the other side had time to strike.

He sent up a short note to Golitzine, stating that he had come into the receipt of most important information, obtained from a most unexpected quarter.

The Count showed the note to the Emperor, who read it, and said immediately:

"Have him up at once and let us know what it is. I have always had a notion that this young fellow would be useful to us. I believe he is born to be lucky himself and to bring luck to those with whom he is a.s.sociated."

So Corsini was shown at once into the august presence.

The autocrat welcomed him most graciously. Any protege of his staunch old friend and supporter, Salmoros, would have been sure of his good graces in any case; but he liked the young man personally, for his modest, but a.s.sured bearing. And, moreover, Corsini was free from the cringing arts of the professional courtier. In his demeanour there was proper respect, but no servility.

"Welcome back to St. Petersburg, Signor. I hear you have had a trying time. I have had a full report of the occurrence from the Count and General Beilski. I hope it will not be long before we give you your revenge."

"I am in hopes that very shortly I may take a hand in that revenge myself, your Majesty," answered the young Italian with a low bow.

"Something very extraordinary has happened to-night. I was taking one of my evening strolls, shadowed by men whom the General has kindly instructed to look after my safety, when I was accosted by a man whom I met under strange circ.u.mstances, on my first entrance into this country."

"His name? but perhaps we don't know him," interrupted the Count.

Corsini looked a little troubled. He remembered his promise to the outlaw. He must secure that free pardon in advance.

"May I first be permitted to retail to your Majesty and your Excellency the information he gave me?"

"We are in your hands, Signor Corsini," answered the Emperor graciously, and the Count nodded his head in a.s.sent.

Briefly the young man told them what Ivan had communicated to him--the secret meetings of certain well-known n.o.bles, whose names he imparted, at the villa of Madame Quero; the attendance in the vestibule of the deaf servant, Stepan, whom he almost exactly resembled; the suggestion that he should take Stepan's place and listen to the conversation of the conspirators, whose chief was Prince Zouroff. He added that the next meeting would be to-morrow night, or, at latest, the night after.

"It will be to-morrow night, of that we may be certain," said the Emperor in a decided tone, when the young man had finished. "Zouroff cannot be very happy at the present moment, after the failure of his attempt to put the Signor out of the way. He is also pretty certain to know that General Beilski has visited his sister; that fact will give him some food for thought. Besides, although these two scoundrels, whom we have secured, have not confessed yet, at any moment they may open their mouths to denounce him. If Zouroff has got his plans pretty well matured, he will strike with as little delay as possible. Do you agree, Count?"

The Count agreed, and then addressed Corsini.

"And now, Signor, I think it is time you gave us the name of this mysterious informant. I do not know whether his action is dictated by loyalty, or the hope of reward. But anyway, he must be rewarded, and handsomely too."

The Emperor concurred warmly. "Whoever serves us will not find us n.i.g.g.ardly or ungrateful," he said.

"Alas! I have great hesitation in mentioning it to your Excellency, for my strange friend is by no means an estimable person. Speaking plainly, he is a malefactor, and has escaped from the mines of Siberia."

"In other words, the price of this very important information is a handsome reward and a free pardon. Well," the Count looked towards the Emperor, "I suppose I have your Majesty's permission to promise both."

"We do not go back on our word," was the autocrat's grave answer. "A deed like this, performed from whatever motive, purges his offences, whatever they may be."

And then, rea.s.sured, Corsini gave the name. "A big, bearded man, born on the Prince's estates, known as Ivan the outlaw, nicknamed Ivan the Cuckoo."

"I know of him by reputation--a desperate fellow, according to his record," remarked the Count. "And how did you first become acquainted with him, Signor Corsini? But if you prefer to keep it a secret, I will not press the question."

Corsini took advantage of Golitzine's generosity. He did not want to confess that he had helped a notorious criminal to escape from justice. "I think I would prefer to guard it as a secret, your Excellency, since you give me permission to do so."

"Yet, if I may venture to relate a little history to you," he added a moment later, "I think I might be able to convince you that this wretched man, brutal and degraded as he became, was more sinned against than sinning." In a few words he told him of the offences of the Zouroffs, father and son, against the outlaw's family.

The Count made no comment. After a few moments he rose, to intimate that the interview was at an end.

"With your a.s.sistance, Signor--I am, of course, a.s.suming that the scheme will go through as this unfortunate man has planned--I think and hope we shall soon get the evidence we want. I fear I cannot give you any more time now, as his Majesty has still some very important matters to discuss with me. By the way, I know that General Beilski is sending for you early to-morrow morning, as he has something of importance to communicate to you. I shall have an interview with him also, but in case you see him first, tell him everything you have told us. He may be able to a.s.sist your plans. You will, of course, report to us as soon as you have discovered anything."

Corsini promised that he would. He had a strong presentiment that his changing places with the deaf Stepan would be productive of stupendous events.

On arriving back at his hotel, he found a sealed note from the General, summoning him to his office at an early hour the following morning.

"I have not been idle since we last met, Signor," was Beilski's greeting. "I have no doubt I have got to the bottom of your affair. I will give you just an outline of how I propose to act."

But here Nello broke in. "Excuse me a moment, your Excellency, but before you enter into this matter, may I put a question to you? Have you seen or heard from Count Golitzine between now and last night?"

The General answered in the negative. "It is now only nine o'clock; there has not been much time. Why do you ask?"

The young man explained. "Late last night I went to see the Count, whom I found closeted with his Majesty. My reasons for disturbing him at such a moment were of the greatest urgency. As I left he told me you would be sending for me, and that if I saw you first I was to tell you everything that I had told to him and the Emperor."

For the second time he related in full the details of that momentous interview with Ivan the outlaw.

The General smiled triumphantly when the narrative was concluded. "So this fellow has been lying hid in St. Petersburg all this time, has he? Well, I think my spies ought to have hunted him out. Still, as it turns out, it is better they didn't. Desperado and robber as he has been, I frankly admit he has fully earned the free pardon which you were shrewd enough to get for him."

He mused a few moments before he proceeded. "The information you have given me may materially alter our plans. I cannot decide positively till I have talked with his Excellency. But I doubt if we shall move till we get some positive information from you. In the meantime, I will tell you to what extent I have unravelled the plot against yourself."

Needless to say that Nello was all attention. He had his own suspicions, which were very close to the truth, but Beilski was probably on the track of the truth itself.

"On the afternoon of the day that you were kidnapped, I received a letter couched in cautious and guarded language to the effect that a carriage, starting from St. Petersburg somewhere about midnight or later, would halt at Pavlovsk. There was a plot on hand to deport a certain person well known in artistic circles. That person would be found in the carriage when it stopped at the first stage on the road to Moscow."

Nello shuddered. How well he recalled the incidents of that memorable evening--the Prince's apparent cordiality, the Princess's almost officious offer of a carriage to convey him home, the short walk through the silent streets, the sudden appearance out of the dark of the four sinister figures, the waking in a room of the little country inn.

"There was a certain significance in the fact that the writer of that anonymous letter, evidently a woman, had not told us where the carriage was to start from. It was evident that while she wished to protect the victim, she also wanted to shield, so far as she could, the perpetrators of the outrage."