Being a sensible man, he kept his temper, remarked courteously that some
mistake must have been made, embraced his weeping wife, and went off
passively, while the pristav carried away a bundle of letters in which I
occupied the most prominent place.
Leonoff remained a prisoner only for a few days; there was not a shred of
evidence against him, and, having suffered terrible anxiety, he was
finally released. But Mr. Crichton-Morley's letter was never restored to
him, it remained in the hands of the authorities, and the night after
Leonoff's arrest the pristav, the procurator, and the gendarmes made
their way into the dwelling of Sigismund Zaluski's uncle, where a similar
search was prosecuted.
Sigismund was asleep and dreaming of Gertrude and of his idyllic summer
in England, when his bedroom door was forced open and he was roughly
roused by the gendarmes.
His first feeling was one of amazement, his second, one of indignation;
however, he was obliged to get up at once and dress, the policeman
rigorously keeping guard over him the whole time for fear he should
destroy any treasonable document.
"How I shall make them laugh in England when I tell them of this
ridiculous affair!" reflected Sigismund, as he was solemnly marched into
the adjoining room, where he found his uncle and cousins, each guarded by
a policeman.
He made some jesting remark, but was promptly reprimanded by his gaoler,
and in wearisome silence the household waited while the most rigorous
search of the premises was made.
Of course nothing was found; but, to the amazement of all, Sigismund was
formally arrested.
"There must be some mistake," he exclaimed, "I have been resident in
England for some time. I have no connection whatever with Russian
politics."
"Oh, we are well aware of your residence in England," said the pristav.
"You left St. Petersburg early in March 1881. We are well aware of
that."
Something in the man's tone made Sigismund's heart stand still. Could he
possibly be suspected of complicity in the plot to assassinate the late
Czar? The idea would have made him laugh had he been in England. In St.
Petersburg, and under these circumstances, it made him tremble.
"There is some terrible mistake," he said. "I have never had the
slightest connection with the revolutionary party."
The pristav shrugged his shoulders, and Sigismund, feeling like one in a
dream, took leave of his relations, and was escorted at once to the House
of Preventive Detention.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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