"And, at last, Signor, I shall have revenge on those who wronged me and my family."

"Say rather, Ivan, justice, not revenge," interrupted the young Italian mildly.

"It is the same, Signor, is it not?" cried Ivan. He pointed with his finger to an inert figure in the corner of the room, apparently inanimate.

"That is Stepan. I have given him a narcotic in order to prevent accidents. He does not look at his best at the moment. But just go and have a peep at him and see the likeness to yourself."

Corsini crossed over the small room and looked at the prostrate form, of the man, wrapped in a deep slumber, and breathing heavily. Yes, Stepan might have been his twin brother under normal conditions.

"The time is short," said the outlaw. "We must make you look as like Stepan as possible, with regard to the externals."

He went to the door and whistled softly. A small, slouching man answered to the summons.

"Paul, my friend," said Ivan in an imperious tone, "I have told you something of this affair. You have got to convert this gentleman into the speaking likeness of our sleeping friend. Do your little tricks at once."

The small, slouching man went to work immediately. He stripped off the rough clothes from the slumbering man in the corner, and signalled to Corsini to divest himself of his own garments. In a trice, Corsini was dressed in Stepan's habiliments. He then proceeded to stain his face and hands.

When all this was finished, he drew back with a sense of pardonable pride in his own deft handiwork.

"_Mon Dieu!_ it is Stepan himself," he cried enthusiastically.

Corsini took a survey of himself in a small, cracked mirror that hung in the shabby sitting-room. He cast a further glance at the inert form lying in the corner. Yes, in these rough clothes, with his face and hands stained, he could well pa.s.s for Stepan himself in a dim and doubtful light.

"It is just about time," said Ivan, when these preparations had been completed. "My friend Paul will conduct you to the villa. There are seven windows on the ground floor, built very high. Underneath the fourth window the blank wall is of wood. You can feel it. There is a small door with a keyhole in the centre. Here is the key. Paul knows it well; he will lead you to it."

The small slouching man led Corsini to the villa of Madame Quero. The four silent men followed in their wake. Arrived at the villa, Corsini slipped easily into the small vestibule to await the arrival of the conspirators.

"You are well in time, Monsieur," whispered the man, Paul, as he took his departure. "Do not answer the bell too quickly; watch its vibration before you respond. You must remember that Stepan is deaf.

You will excuse me for giving you the hint."

Paul departed. The four guards scattered themselves in various directions, but always ready to a.s.semble together if danger threatened the man they were deputed to watch.

Corsini was alone in the little vestibule. He drew aside the heavy velvet curtains and peered into the inner room, a rather s.p.a.cious chamber. This was very dimly lighted, too. But evidently Madame Quero had given her instructions. A cold supper was laid out on the long table, with several bottles of champagne. Upstairs, no doubt, she was lying between life and death, no longer able to take part in these festivities.

The bell vibrated. Nello opened the door and made a low obeisance. Two men came through the narrow doorway. He recognised them at once: they were two highly distinguished n.o.blemen of the Russian Empire. He had seen them several times at the Opera.

The bell vibrated again and again. Five more men pa.s.sed through, and last came the tall, commanding figure of Zouroff.

In the dim light the Prince made his signs, "They are all here, Stepan?"

And the supposed Stepan replied in answering signs, "I think they are all here, Excellency."

Zouroff pa.s.sed through the heavy curtains. Corsini crouched behind and bent his ears to listen.

At first there was a confused babble of sounds. Everybody seemed to be talking at once. But fortunately they were speaking in French and not in Russian. It was easier for Corsini to catch what they said.

A tall, bearded man was speaking. "This infernal Corsini, for instance. No doubt he is in the pay of Golitzine. We cannot remove him, it seems."

Zouroff took up the running. "I did my best, you know, gentlemen; but he escaped me, and since then Beilski has put a cordon round him that we cannot break through."

"And yet Beilski is a fool," growled the bearded man.

"I know," answered Zouroff. "Beilski is what you say, but he has got Golitzine at his back, and Golitzine has the intelligence of several monkeys. When Beilski is in doubt, he goes to the secretary."

Another man spoke. "You know we have every confidence in you, Prince; but we all know of your attachment to La Belle Quero--by the way, why is she not here to-night, to preside over our festivities?"

Zouroff spoke in a harsh, strained voice. "La Belle Quero is ill, confined to her room. You have probably not heard that she was attacked with sudden indisposition at the Opera to-night, and that her understudy had to take her place."

None of the men had been at the Opera, they had not heard. One or two indulged in expressions of sympathy.

The bearded man, a powerful n.o.bleman, only just second to Zouroff himself in importance and length of lineage, continued his remarks.

"I spoke just now of your well-known attachment to La Belle Quero. Is it possible, Prince, that in an unguarded moment, you may have dropped some hints of your purpose to her? I did not wish, for a moment, to offend your _amour propre_, but rumour has it that she is very much attracted by this handsome young Italian. It is strange that he should have escaped you, who usually lay your plans so well."

Zouroff paused for a moment before he replied. These men were as keen-witted as himself; it was impossible to deceive them for long.

"Gentlemen, I will be quite frank with you. One is always a fool where women are concerned. In a moment of ungoverned temper, I did hint to Madame Quero something that might have set her wits to work, and she may have acted upon that."

"From her _penchant_ for the Italian?" suggested the bearded man, who, privately, was not too fond of the Prince, and always indulged in a pin-p.r.i.c.k when possible.

Zouroff flushed a deep red. It angered him deeply that other persons should know Corsini had been preferred to him.

He looked round the a.s.sembly. He knew that the bearded man was bidding for the leadership that had been willingly accorded to himself. If his position were menaced, he must recover it immediately, and by a bold stroke.

He surveyed the small knot of men, his bold bearing and resolute demeanour at once challenging their allegiance, and compelling it.

"Gentlemen, I blench at nothing for the Cause to which we are all devoted, to which we have dedicated our lives and fortunes. On that occasion, I am convinced that La Belle Quero betrayed me. Well, she will never betray us again. Madame La Quero's hours are numbered. That is why she has not appeared to-night."

The men whom he addressed were as hardened and brutal as himself, with no respect for the sanct.i.ty of human life; but, as he spoke, a slight shudder went through the a.s.sembly. La Belle Quero was so handsome, so popular; it seemed a thousand pities that she should be done to death, even in the interests of the Cause.

Zouroff spoke eagerly. At the moment he felt no remorse for having compa.s.sed the death of his former sweetheart with that poisoned chocolate. Had she not insulted him by daring to look with favourable eyes on another man?

"Gentlemen, it has ever been one of our fixed rules that anybody who betrayed us, man or woman, it matters not which, should pay the penalty of death. If I betrayed you, I should not complain if that law were put into execution against myself. La Belle Quero betrayed us; she has paid the penalty."

Zouroff was logical. The sense of the a.s.sembly was with him. The bearded man made a last effort to wrest from him his supremacy, not on the score of disloyalty, but for maladroitness in handling their common affairs.

"I very much regret that Madame Quero should have allowed her heart to govern her head. She was a very charming woman," he said smoothly. "Do you happen, by any chance, Prince, to have enemies in your own household?"

"Why do you ask me that question?" queried Zouroff boldly.

"One of my spies told me that Beilski has paid a recent visit to your sister, the Princess Nada. Beilski is not in the habit of paying afternoon calls. Does the young Princess know anything?"

Zouroff knew nothing of the visit of the General; it was news to him; but he grasped the situation promptly.

"I have already provided against that, Count. Her mother is in bed; a feverish cold, as we thought at first, has developed into diphtheria.

I believe my sister is quite innocent of any serious designs against us, but it is always as well to be on the safe side."

The other men listened with the closest attention. After all, Zouroff was the subtlest of them all. The bearded man maintained a sullen silence; he had given up all hope of rescuing the leadership of the party from the resourceful Prince.