“Then none of us will go!” said Marie Spiridonova, with one of those impulsive decisions characteristic of her. They settled back to more waiting; but the prison walls that day could not keep down their bounding spirits or shadow their joy. The next day a second telegram arrived, ordering the release of the two neglected ones, and the ten started joyfully on their pilgrimage to Petrograd. Their journey was a triumphal procession through the length of Siberia. No other but Babushka received such a welcome as that which the people gave to this slip of a girl who had won the distinction of being the most famous and most loved of all the “Terrorists” of Russia. She needed all the love and sympathy that Russia could give her, for she was soon to bear a greater torture than any that gendarmes or Cossack officers had been able to invent for her. When the records of the _Okhranka_ (the secret police) were captured, they contained the names of the spies and _provokators_ who for years had been masquerading as revolutionists only that they might betray their comrades to the agents of the Tsar. The name of Alexander Dekonsky was on the list. According to the records, there was documentary evidence to prove that he was the chief _provokator_ of all the great South Russian district, and that many revolutionists had paid with their lives on the gallows for their faith and friendship for him. Marie Spiridonova was sick in bed when they told her the news. Dekonsky had been arrested by the Soviet of Workmen’s and Soldiers’ Deputies at Odessa, and was imprisoned there. Once again death crept close to the frail form of Marie Spiridonova, and once again death refused to release her. She lived through this as she lived through other tragedies. For three weeks she hid herself away from all her old friends. During this time Dekonsky escaped from prison. Many Russians believe that he was released by his guards at the request of his sweetheart of Siberian days. When Marie Spiridonova once more appeared in Petrograd, she gave out a public statement in which she declared Dekonsky innocent; then she threw herself more intensely than ever into the Revolutionary struggle. I met her first at the Democratic Convention in the Alexandrinsky Theater. She sat in the front row, surrounded, as always, by men whose huge bulk emphasized her smallness. Her hair was done in two braids, wrapped around her face, and pulled rather low on her forehead to hide the scars the Cossack officers had left there. She wore, as always, a severe blue serge dress with a turnover collar of white lawn, and the severity of her clothes accentuated the Quaker look of her. The red spots burned brighter than ever on her cheek-bones that night, and her violet eyes were like tiny candles set in deep shadows. She was the spokesman of her party, the radical wing of the Social Revolutionists, and occasionally she walked to the platform and delivered a brief but intense appeal on behalf of her group.