The Secret Of The Night(Fiscle Part 3) by Gaston Leroux (readera ebook reader txt) 📕

Second Maid Of Honor To The Empress,  Who Stands Very Well With His

Aunt,  Have Told Us So; Servants' Stories That Might Have Ruined Us

But Have Not Produced Any Effect On His Majesty,  For Whom We Would

Give Our Lives,  Christ Knows.  Well,  You Understand Now That If You

Were To Say To Koupriane,  'Gaspadine Gounsovski Has Spoken Ill To

Me Of Priemkof,' He Would Not Care To Hear A Word Further.  Still,

Priemkof Is In The Scheme For The Living Bombs,  That Is All I Can

Tell You; At Least,  He Was Before The Affair Of The Poisoning.  That

Poisoning Is Certainly Very Astonishing,  Between Us.  It Does Not

Appear To Have Come From Without,  Whereas The Living Bombs Will Have

To Come From Without.  And Priemkof Is Mixed Up In It."

"Yes,  Yes," Approved Madame Gounsovski Again,  "He Is Committed To

It.  There Have Been Stories About Him,  Too.  Other People As Well

As He Can Tell Tales; It Isn't Hard To Do.  He Has Got To Make Some

Showing Now If He Is To Keep In With Annouchka's Clique."

"Koupriane,  Our Dear Koupriane," Interrupted Gounsovski,  Slightly

Troubled At Hearing His Wife Pronounce Annouchka's Name,  "Koupriane

Ought To Be Able To Understand That This Time Priemkof Must Bring

Things Off,  Or He Is Definitely Ruined."

"Priemkof Knows It Well Enough," Replied Madame As She Re-Filled

The Glasses,  "But Koupriane Doesn't Know It; That Is All We Can Tell

You.  Is It Enough?  All The Rest Is Mere Gossip."

It Certainly Was Enough For Rouletabille; He Had Had Enough Of It!

This Idle Gossip And These Living Bombs!  These Pinchbecks,  These

Whispering Tale-Tellers In Their Bourgeois,  Countrified Setting;

These Politico-Police Comhinations Whose Grotesque Side Was Always

Uppermost; While The Terrible Side,  The Siberian Aspect,  Prisons,

Black Holes,  Hangings,  Disappearances,  Exiles And Deaths And

Martyrdoms Remained So Jealously Hidden That No One Ever Spoke Of

Them!  All That Weight Of Horror,  Between A Good Cigar And "A Little

Glass Of Anisette,  Monsieur,  If You Won't Take Champagne."  Still,

He Had To Drink Before He Left,  Touch Glasses In A Health,  Promise

To Come Again,  Whenever He Wished - The House Was Open To Him.

Rouletabille Knew It Was Open To Anybody - Anybody Who Had A Tale

To Tell,  Something That Would Send Some Other Person To Prison Or

To Death And Oblivion.  No Guard At The Entrance To Check A Visitor

- Men Entered Gounsovski's House As The House Of A Friend,  And He

Was Always Ready To Do You A Service,  Certainly!

He Accompanied The Reporter To The Stairs.  Rouletabille Was Just

About To Risk Speaking Of Annouchka To Him,  In Order To Approach

The Subject Of Natacha,  When Gounsovski Said Suddenly,  With A

Singular Smile:

"By The Way,  Do You Still Believe In Natacha Trebassof?"

"I Shall Believe In Her Until My Death," Rouletabille Thrust Back;

"But I Admit To You That At This Moment I Don't Know Where She

Has Gone."

"Watch The Bay Of Lachtka,  And Come To Tell Me To-Morrow If You

Will Believe In Her Always," Replied Gounsovski,  Confidentially,

With A Horrid Sort Of Laugh That Made The Reporter Hurry Down

The Stairs.

And Now Here Was Priemkof To Look After!  Priemkof After Matiew!

It Seemed To The Young Man That He Had To Contend Against All The

Revolutionaries Not Only,  But All The Russian Police As Well - And

Gounsovski Himself,  And Koupriane!   Everybody,  Everybody!  But Most

Urgent Was Priemkof And His Living Bombs.  What A Strange And Almost

Incomprehensible And Harassing Adventure This Was Between Nihilism

And The Russian Police.  Koupriane And Gounsovski Both Employed A

Man They Knew To Be A Revolutionary And The Friend Of Revolutionaries.

Nihilism,  On Its Side,  Considered This Man Of The Police Force As One

Of Its Own Agents.  In His Turn,  This Man,  In Order To Maintain His

Perilous Equilibrium,  Had To Do Work For Both The Police And The

Revolutionaries,  And Accept Whatever Either Gave Him To Do As It

Came,  Because It Was Necessary He Should Give Them Assurances Of

His Fidelity.  Only Imbeciles,  Like Gapone,  Let Themselves Be Hanged

Or Ended By Being Executed,  Like Azef,  Because Of Their Awkward

Slips.  But A Priemkof,  Playing Both Branches Of The Police,  Had A

Good Chance Of Living A Long Time,  And A Gounsovski Would Die

Tranquilly In His Bed With All The Solaces Of Religion.

However,  The Young Hearts Hot With Sincerity,  Sheathed With Dynamite,

Are Mysteriously Moved In The Atrocious Darkness Of Holy Russia,  And

They Do Not Know Where They Will Be Sent,  And It Is All One To Them,

Because All They Ask Is To Die In A Mad Spiritual Delirium Of Hate

And Love - Living Bombs!*

____________________________________________________________________

  *In The Trial After The Revolt At Cronstadt Two Young Women Were

   Charged With Wearing Bombs As False Bosoms.

____________________________________________________________________

At The Corner Of Aptiekarski-Pereoulok Rouletabille Came In The Way

Of Koupriane,  Who Was Leaving For Pere Alexis's Place And,  Seeing

The Reporter,  Stopped His Carriage And Called That He Was Going

Immediately To The Datcha.

"You Have Seen Pere Alexis?"

"Yes," Said Koupriane.  "And This Time I Have It On You.  What I

Told You,  What I Foresaw,  Has Happened.  But Have You Any News Of

The Sufferers?  Apropos,  Rather A Curious Thing Has Happened.  I

Met Kister On The Newsky Just Now."

"The Physician?"

"Yes,  One Of Trebassof's Physicians Whom I Had Sent An Inspector To

His House To Fetch To The Datcha,  As Well As His Usual Associate,

Doctor Litchkof.  Well,  Neither Litchkof Nor He Had Been Summoned.

They Didn't Know Anything Had Happened At The Datcha.  They Had Not

Seen My Inspector.  I Hope He Has Met Some Other Doctor On The Way

And,  In View Of The Urgency,  Has Taken Him To The Datcha."

"That Is What Has Happened," Replied Rouletabille,  Who Had Turned

Very Pale.  "Still,  It Is Strange These Gentlemen Had Not Been

Notified,  Because At The Datcha The Trebassofs Were Told That The

General's Usual Doctors Were Not At Home And So The Police Had

Summoned Two Others Who Would Arrive At Once."

Koupriane Jumped Up In The Carriage.

"But Kister And Litchkof Had Not Left Their Houses.  Kister,  Who

Had Just Met Litchkof,  Said So.  What Does This Mean?"

"Can You Tell Me," Asked Rouletabille,  Ready Now For The Thunder-Clap

That His Question Invited,  "The Name Of The Inspector You Ordered To

Bring Them?"

"Priemkof,  A Man With My Entire Confidence."

Koupriane's Carriage Rushed Toward The Isles.  Late Evening Had

Come.  Alone On The Deserted Route The Horses Seemed Headed For The

Stars; The Carriage Behind Seemed No Drag Upon Them.  The Coachman

Bent Above Them,  Arms Out,  As Though He Would Spring Into The Ether.

Ah,  The Beautiful Night,  The Lovely,  Peaceful Night Beside The Neva,

Marred By The Wild Gallop Of These Maddened Horses!

"Priemkof!  Priemkof!  One Of Gounsovski's Men!  I Should Have

Suspected Him," Railed Koupriane After Rouletabille's Explanations.

"But Now,  Shall We Arrive In Time?"

They Stood Up In The Carriage,  Urging The Coachman,  Exciting The

Horses: "Scan!  Scan!  Faster,  Douriak!"  Could They Arrive Before

The "Living Bombs"?  Could They Hear Them Before They Arrived?  Ah,

There Was Eliaguine!

They Rushed From The One Bank To The Other As Though There Were No

Bridges In Their Insensate Course.  And Their Ears Were Strained

For The Explosion,  For The Abomination Now To Come,  Preparing Slyly

In The Night So Hypocritically Soft Under The Cold Glance Of The

Stars.  Suddenly,  "Stop,  Stop!" Rouletabille Cried To The Coachman.

"Are You Mad!" Shouted Koupriane.

"We Are Mad If We Arrive Like Madmen.  That Would Make The

Catastrophe Sure.  There Is Still A Chance.  If We Wish Not To Lose

It,  Then We Must Arrive Easily And Calmly,  Like Friends Who Know

The General Is Out Of Danger."

"Our Only Chance Is To Arrive Before The Bogus Doctors.  Either They

Aren't There,  Or It Already Is All Over.  Priemkof Must Have Been

Surprised At The Affair Of The Poisoning,  But He Has Seized The

Opportunity; Fortunately He Couldn't Find His Accomplices Immediately."

"Here Is The Datcha,  Anyway.  In The Name Of Heaven,  Tell Your Driver

To Stop The Horses Here.  If The 'Doctors' Are Already There It Is We

Who Shall Have Killed The General."

"You Are Right."

Koupriane Moderated His Excitement And That Of His Driver And Horses,

And The Carriage Stopped Noiselessly,  Not Far From The Datcha.  Ermolai

Came Toward Them.

"Priemkof?" Faltered Koupriane.

"He Has Gone Again,  Excellency."

"How - Gone Again?"

"Yes,  But He Has Brought The Doctors."

Koupriane Crushed Rouletabille's Wrist.  The Doctors Were There!

"Madame Trebassof Is Better," Continued Ermolai,  Who Understood

Nothing Of Their Emotion.  "The General Is Going To Meet Them And

Take Them To His Wife Himself."

"Where Are They?"

"They Are Waiting In The Drawing-Room."

"Oh,  Excellency,  Keep Cool,  Keep Cool,  And All Is Not Lost,"

Implored The Reporter.

Rouletabille And Koupriane Slipped Carefully Into The Garden.

Ermolai Followed Them.

"There?" Inquired Koupriane.

"There," Ermolai Replied.

From The Corner Where They Were,  And Looking Through The Veranda,

They Could See The "Doctors" As They Waited.

They Were Seated In Chairs Side By Side,  In A Corner Of The

Drawing-Room From Where They Could See Every-Thing In The Room And

A Part Of The Garden,  Which They Faced,  And Could Hear Everything.

A Window Of The First-Floor Was Open Above Their Heads,  So That

They Could Hear Any Noise From There.  They Could Not Be Surprised

From Any Side,  And They Held Every Door In View.  They Were Talking

Softly And Tranquilly,  Looking Straight Before Them.  They Appeared

Young.  One Had A Pleasant Face,  Pale But Smiling,  With Rather Long,

Curly Hair; The Other Was More Angular,  With Haughty Bearing And

Grave Face,  An Eagle Nose And Glasses.  Both Wore Long Black Coats

Buttoned Over Their Calm Chests.

Koupriane And The Reporter,  Followed By