The Argosy, Vol. XXV, No. 3 — page 118: what you’re looking at

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

502 THE ARGOSY. ‘‘T believe the real Alexis had dealings with them,’’ I said. ‘Tf this Tueski woman manages to let them understand the truth, then you will need the wariest wits in the world to avoid stumbling.’’ ‘“VYou have maddened me,’’ I cried impetuously, as if in the highest excitement. ‘‘ Get me a meeting with that villain, and were he twenty times the swordsman he is, and Coveredin iron mail from head to foot, my sword should find a chink to let the life out of him. I am on fire.’’ Then I rushed away; for in truth I dared not stay to be any longer questioned about my relations with the Nihilists. It all seemed clear to me now. ‘They meant to use me for the horrible business of the following day, and then under some pretext get rid of me— murder me if necessary, or denounce me. ‘This man held that I knew too much for his safety. All this was supposing, of course, that I escaped the danger of the plot itself. CHAPTER XXVI.—My DECISION. THE news I heard from Prince Bilbassoff wrought me to a higher pitch of excitement than anything that had ever happened in my life. I was ina very highly strung condition, and my nerves were no doubt greatly strained as the result of the stirring events of the previous few days. ‘That may have rendered me unduly susceptible to this new development. Be that as it may, I went out of the prince’s presence filled with a spurring desire to kill the man who, as it seemed to me, was planning my ruin in this most treacherous manner. The view I took was that this grand duke was moved by the double niotive of personal anger, on the score of my affair with Alexandre Durescq, and of a feeling of insecurity on account of the knowledge I had of Nihilism. I knew too much to be trusted. ‘The issues were so tremendous, the decision I had to make so full of moment, and the time for me to choose my course so short, that my wits had need to be at their sharpest. I had out my horse and went for a hard gallop—one of the best prescrip- tions I know of to clear a tangled judgment. It acted now. As I rode at hot speed my thoughts began to settle, and then gradually a scheme occurred to me, wild, desperate, and hazardous at best, and fraught with fearful risks to others beside myself; but yet, if successful, offering me what I wanted above all—complete deliverance from the whole of my present difficulties. My first thought in all was for myself. Not for the emperor, nor the army, nor Russia, nor any big interests—for myself and for my escape from the country whose most unwilling guest and compulsory servant I was. Had I been a Russian officer in reality I could have taken but one course— have disclosed the Nihilist plot, or so much of it as I knew, and thus have checkmated the whole fiendish business at once. Had I ever received any particular mark of favor at the hands of the government or the country, gratitude would have urged me to take the same course. But I owed nothing to a soul in all Russia. Hvery one had tried to use measatool. ‘The colonel of the regiment had begun by making use of my ‘Ecomicbooks (S@)