Ivan the Terrible; or, Dark Deeds of Night — page 148: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

144 Vaninka, to do her justice, saw nothing but Foedor, and she knelt in silent agony by the lifeless body. Both were in despair; but, the despair of the waiting woman being more selfish than that of her mistress, it was Annouschka who first thought of the means of escape from the situation in which both were placed. ‘‘ My lady,” she suddenly exclaimed, ‘‘ we are saved !’ Vaninka raised her head, and gazed at her attendant with tearful eyes. ‘Saved!’ said she, “saved! We perhaps may be; but Foedor——” ‘‘ Listen, my lady,’’ said Annouschka. ‘‘ Your situation is ter- rible, I confess; but your misfortune may be greater, and your situation more terrible still. Ifthe general should know all——” “‘And what matters it to me?” interrupted .Vaninka, “I have now nothing left but te weep.’’ ‘Yes, but you have also his honour left you,’’ rejoined Annouschka. ‘‘ To-morrow your slayes—the next day all St. Petersburg—will know that a man died by suffocation while shut up in your sleeping=roow" Think, my lady ; your honour is that of your father—is that of your family.” ‘© You are right,”’ said Vaninka, gloomily, ‘‘ you are right. What shall we do ?” ‘6 You know my brother Demetrius?” returned Annouschka. “Yes,” answered the other. ‘¢ He must be told all,” said the waiting woman. ‘‘ Of what are you thinking?” said Vaninka. ‘‘ Would you have me confide ina man? WhatsaidI? Ina man—in a serf, in & slave |” ‘sThe lower this serf and this slave is placed,’’ resumed Annouschka, ‘‘ the safer is our secret, since he will only gain by keeping it.”’ » ‘¢ Your brother isa drunkard,’’ added Vaninka, with an expres- sion of fear mingled with disgust. ‘That is true,” answered Annouschka; ‘‘but where will you find a bearded man who isnot? My brother is less guilty of excess than most of them, and, therefore, there is less to fear from him pen others. Besides, in our present situation, we must risk some- thing.” ‘© You are right,” replied Vaninka, recovering her habitual reso- lution, which always rose in proportion to the danger which called for itsexercise. ‘‘ Go for your brother.” “ Nothing can be done this morning,” said Annonschka, after a pause, during which she had drawn aside one of the curtains of the window. ‘ See, the day is breaking.” ‘* But what is to be done with the dead ?”’ said Vaninka, in a tone expressive of extreme mental agony. ‘‘ The body must remain concealed here during the day,” replied the attendant, ‘‘andin the evening, while you are absent at the court entertainment, my brother shall convey it hence.” ‘True! true !’”? murmured Vaninka, wildly. ‘I must go to the entertainment this evening; to stay away would excite suspicion. Oh! my God! my God!” ‘© Assist me, my lady,” said Annouschka, ‘* my single strength is not sufficient.” Vaninka grew fearfully pale; but, unflinching on the danger, “she firmly approached her ‘lover’s corpse; and, taking it by the shoulders, while her attendant raised the feet, it was once more placed in the chest. Annouschka immediately closed the lid, locked it, and placed the key in her bosom. . The wool which had hid the chest from the eyes of the general was then again placed before it, and no outward sign of the fright- ful catastrophe remained. The morning advanced, but no sleep visited the eyes of Vaninka. She, however, descended to the breakfast-room, in order to avoid giving her father the least reason to suspect that anything par- ticular had happened. Nevertheless, from her paleness, she might have been supposed to have risen from the tomb; but the general attributed this circumstance to the disturbance of her slumbers, of which he had been the cause. Chance lad wonderfully served Vaninka, by inspiring her to assert that Foedor was already gone; for, not only did the general feel no suspicion at the absence of the young man, but, viewing that fact as a proof of his daughter’s innocence, he gave a pretext for it by publicly declaring that he haa sent him on a distant mission. : As to. Vaninka, she kept away from her room until it was time to ress. = Bight hours before she had been at the court entertainment with oedor. Vaninka might have excused herself from accompanying her father by feigning slight indisposition ; but she feared to adopt such BAMA ” THE RED -HOUSE AT ST. PETERSBURGH. a course for two reasons: the first was, that of making the general anxious on her account, and thereby, perhaps, keeping him also at home, which would have rendered the removal of the. corpse far more difficult : the second, a repugnance to confront Demetrius, and be reduced to the mortification of blushing before a slave. She preferred, therefore, making an effort, superhumar asit. was > and, reascending to her chamber, accompanied by her faithful Annouschka, she began to adorn herself for the coming occasion, a3 __ if her heart had been filled with joy. When this repulsive toilet was finished, she ordered Annouschka to secure the outer door, for she wished once more to see Foedor— to take a last farewell of the body of him who had been her lover. Annouschka obeyed ; and Vaninka, her brow surmounted by flowers, her bosom decorated with pearls and precious stones, but, under all, colder—more icy than a statue—advanced, with the step of a phantom, towards the chamber of her attendant. Annouschka again opened the chest; and Vaninka, without shed- ding a tear, or breathing a sigh, but with the quiet and profound calmness of despair, stooped down towards Foedor, took a plain ring that the young man had on his finger, and placed it on her own, between two other magnificent ornaments of the kind ; and then, imprinting a kiss on his forehead, she exclaimed, ** Adieu, my betrothed !” é At this moment she heard footsteps approaching. A valet-de-chambre came from the general to inquire if she were ready. ! Annouschka let the lid of the chest fall, and Vaninka, going her- self to the door, followed the messenger, while, confiding iu her foster-sister, she left her to accomplish the dark and horrible task with which she wascharged ; and, the next instant, Annouschka saw the carriage which contained the general and his daughter driven forth from the grand gate of the hotel. She let half an hour pass, and then descended in her turn, an went to seek Demetrius. _ ; She found him drinking with Gregory, with whom the general had ~ kept his word, and who had consequently received that day a thousand rubles and his liberty. Happily, the revellers had but just. commenced their festival, and therefore Demetrius was sufficiently clear-headed to induce hs sister not to hesitatein confiding to him her secret. Before doing this, however, she requested him to follow her to her mistréss’s chamber, where she emphatically reminded him of al!” met Vaninka, generous though haughty, had permitted her to do for im. The few glasses of eau de vie he had already swallowed had pre- disposed him to gratitude ; the drunkenness of the Russians is essentially tender, and Demetrius protested his devotion so warmly that Annouschka briefly told him all, raised the lid of the chest, and showed him'the corpse of Foedor. At tnis terrible apparition, Demetrius remained an instant motion-~ less ; but he soon began to calculate how much gold and how many benefits the knowledge of such asecret would bring him, and there- fore swore the most solemn oaths never to betray his mistress ; offering at the same time, as Annouschka had hoped, to dispose of the corpse of the aide-de-camp. . - The thing was easy ; instead of returning to drink with Gregory and his comrades, Demetrius went and prepared a sledge, filled it with straw, concealed a crow-bar at the bottom of it, brought it to the gate, and, being assured that he was observed by no one, he took the dead man’s body in his arms, hid it under the straw, sat down above it, caused the gates of the hotel to be opened, drove his sledge to the Neva, and stopped in the middle of the frozen river, in front of the deserted church of St. Madeleine ; he there, favoured by solitude, enveloped by night, and concealed behind the dark recess afforded by the sledge, began with his bar to attack the ice, then eighteen inches thick ; and, when a sufficient large opening had been made, and after he had searched Foedor, and taken the money he bad on him, he slipped him head foremost under the ice, and took the road back tothe hotel, while the confined current Neva swept the corpse towards the Gulf of Finland. An hour after, the wind had formed a new crust of ice, and not even a trace remained of the opening made by Demetrius. (Tobe continued.) * A NEW AND STARTLING TALE. WKE, THE HIGHWAYMAN. published on Saturpay, Manca 24. A LARGE ENGRAVING, CRATIS. comichooks.com of the —