A Secret Service: Being Strange Tales of a NihilistLe Queux, William
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A Secret Service: Being Strange Tales of a Nihilist
Le Queux, William
Nihilism -- Fiction; Russia -- Politics and government -- 1801-1917 -- Fiction
My object in seeing him at work was twofold. The first was to watch the
movement of his face, but I found that it wore the blank, expressionless
look of a blind man. The second was to make an investigation. His coat
was hanging upon a nail behind the door, and holding up my finger to my
friend as an indication of secrecy, I crossed noiselessly to the garment,
and placing my hand in the breast-pocket, abstracted its contents.
A momentary glance was sufficient to detect the object which I sought,
for, folded in half and lying among a number of letters and bills, was
the missing copy of the revolutionary pamphlet.
I pushed the papers back hurriedly, and with Goldberg left the old man’s
workshop. I was sorely puzzled to know what the blind man wanted with a
document of that description, and after replying evasively to Goldberg’s
questions, I bade him farewell, and left.
One evening I visited the house in Little Alie Street and found
Dobroslavin, Bolomez, and Karelin smoking together in the dingy little
sitting-room. We sat gossiping for an hour, when the old man knocked the
ashes from his pipe, and rising, said, “I must be going now. I promised
Elyòna to return early. She will be so lonely, poor child.”
The tender manner in which he spoke of her touched me, and I reflected
upon her dull and lonely life, for she was unable to speak English, and
had no friends.
“I will see you home,” I said, and presently we set out and walked
together to his humble abode. Elyòna was sitting as usual, bright and
cheerful, ready to welcome him. She jumped to her feet, kissed him
affectionately, ran to get his slippers, and bestowed upon him various
little attentions which showed how great was the affection between father
and daughter.
After remaining chatting with her for half an hour, I returned to
Little Alie Street, but judge my astonishment when I found that a
crowd had assembled outside the house. Hastily inquiring the nature of
the disturbance, I was informed by a lad that a police inspector had
entered the place. Such intelligence naturally caused me a good deal of
consternation, but I remembered that it was no offence against English
law to print Russian pamphlets.
I resolved to put on a bold front and enter the premises.
As I was forcing my way through the crowd to the door, the latter opened,
and I saw Dobroslavin and Bolomez in the custody of several constables.
“For what am I arrested?” I heard Bolomez ask in his broken English.
“You’ve already been told,” the constable replied. “Come, you’d best go
quietly.”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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