by Mór Jókai
CHAPTER LI
THE NAMELESS WIFE OF A NAMELESS MAN
But, meanwhile, what had become of the Dictator--the leader--the activespirit of the whole movement? He had been seeking all day for a man hecould not find--himself.
How should he find him, when he was running away from himself?
The task he had undertaken was neither suited to him physically normorally. At the very first step he had become conscious of the awfulchasm into which the whole affair he had undertaken must drag himselfand all concerned in it.
Instead of an enthusiastic people, excited to heroic resolves by thebaptism of fire, he found a mob of soldiers, fooled by the pretext thattheir leaders wanted to steal away from them their former Czar, whom,by-the-way, they hated, but to whom they had sworn allegiance; asenseless band of soldiery clamoring for "Constitucia," whom theybelieved to be the wife of the Czar! What would be the consequence didthey gain the victory to-day? To-morrow some new lie must be fabricatedfor them, that they might not find out that it was Freedom for whichthey had fought. What was Hecuba to them, they to Hecuba? What hadFreedom and Life Guards in common with each other? How would"Constitucia" better their condition?
True, their commanding officers had promised them that "Constitucia"would double their monthly pay; but the people must be doubly taxed ifthe soldiers were to get double pay. Is that freedom? And what wouldensue if he for whom they had been fighting, Constantine, were to comeamong them? Might he not come from Warsaw at the head of the army he hadbrought with him, and say, "You wanted me; here I am. The constitution Ibring with me is not my wife, but a stout stick!" What would followthen?
And the people? These poor wretches, resigned to rags and misery,working day by day to keep body and soul together. Seventy thousandmujiks, representatives of the oppressed of the four corners of theearth--not the Russian people, but the dregs of all imaginable Slavraces--Finnish, Lithuanian, Lapp, and Wallachian--who do not speak eachother's tongues, who are only united by their common misery. And theirleaders? A set of runaway French adventurers. What do they understand byFreedom? The wrecking of a brandy-store or plundering palaces and shops.A mutinous word sets them on fire like straw, and a charge of grape-shotscatters them like chaff before the wind.
His soul could find no guiding thought. He went hither and thither, andcould rest on no single idea. In the course of his wanderings he cameupon Ryleieff, in whose face were reflected his own feelings. The poetsadly grasped his hand.
"The time was not ripe," he whispered in his ear, and hurried away.
In another street he met Colonel Bulatoff in mufti. Bulatoff had beenchosen as military leader of the rebellion, and here was he, goingabroad in frock-coat and tall hat. They did not wish to recognize eachother, so passed hurriedly by, one on one side, the other on theopposite side of the street.
Less than all had he the courage to go to Zeneida's palace. He dreadedmore to look into her face than into the mouth of a cannon. She defieddanger, while he, who had dragged her into it, fled from it. At last,however, he could no longer delay seeking her. He must cross Moikabridge. But the toll-keepers would see him; the canal was frozen, so,descending the steps of the stone quay, Ghedimin prepared to cross theice in order to reach the other side.
Scarce had he gone two steps before he heard his name whispered behindhim. Startled, he turned. From under one of the arches peeped awell-known face--that of Duke Odojefski, a bloodthirsty braggart, whobut that morning would have mown men down right and left; now all hiscourage had oozed out, and he was hiding under the arch of a bridge!
"Don't venture near Zeneida's! Her palace is surrounded!" whispered he,and crept back into his hiding-place again.
What a sight! Odojefski in hiding! The colonel, whose battalion is evennow fighting on Isaacsplatz; the duke, whose palace is among thegrandest of the capital, whose family name is renowned in history, whohimself has claimed a place between Brutus and Riego--in hiding behind asnow-drift! And what is he about there? Scarring his face with a stickof caustic to render himself unrecognizable.
Ghedimin lost his head completely. Turning back by the other bank, hehurried home. There arrived, he wrote on a visiting-card, "I entreatyou, for Heaven's sake, to come across to my grandmother's house. I haveimportant secrets to confide to you."
This card he sent up by his house-porter to Korynthia. He himself thenrepaired to his grandmother's. It was his last refuge.
Without it was already night. The roar of cannon did not cease. Thewatch-fires were the only lights in the imperial capital.
* * * * *
Good old Anna Feodorovna was still alive among her fortune-tellingcards, her purring cats, and her faithful Ihnasko, with whom she countedthe days still remaining before the New-year.
"Another New-year! What will it bring with it? Who will live throughit?"
It is the day after Christmas day. If two tapers of equal length arelighted on that evening, one can tell who will die first, the husband orthe wife, by seeing whose taper is the first to burn out.
This time it was the wife's taper.
"Well, God's will be done," sighed the old woman, "if I must go first.And it is time; I have lived long enough! But I cannot but pity the poorold man, whose life will be so lonely without me. He must not be toldthat I am dead. Let him think I am still alive. And see that everybirthday and name-day he gets one of the red nightcaps I always givehim. Do you hear, Ihnasko?"
"Oh, don't keep on talking so much about dying, your Highness,"ejaculated the old man, with chattering teeth. "All my bones areshaking, without that, from the thunder of those cannons."
"Because you are a coward, and because you have never been a soldier.The idea of being frightened at the sound of cannon that are onlyinviting people to join the great Christmas procession! The Czar is nowgiving a gala banquet to the court and a display of fireworks to thepeople. Do you hear those reports? They are rockets. Now the great setpiece is going off! And when six such volleys are fired, one afteranother, it means that the Czar is raising his glass for a toast. Oho!how often have I attended such festivities! Not one took place withoutme. Ah, I was beautiful as a young woman, and my voice was musical assilver. Czar Paul was constantly asking me to sing him his favoritesong--_When by Evening's Latest Rays_. It is a pretty song still. But Ihave no one now to sing it to."
At that very moment came some one who liked to listen to the "pretty"song.
"Blessed be the Lord of all!" cried Anna Feodorovna, clapping her hands."Has her nest-bird remembered his old grandmother? What? You have leftthe Czar's brilliant banquet in the lurch, to come and pay a visit toyour poor old grandam on this second Christmas day? Now that is reallyvery good of you, Ivan Maximovitch. But you must be going back. Don't onmy account do anything to excite the Czar's displeasure. For the favorof the Czar is like a virgin's innocence; there must not be a breathupon it. If he has happened to notice that you have left before thetime, seek an audience with him. Confess to him that you came away earlyin order to visit your old grandmother. He knows me, and used to be veryfond of me as a little boy. Ah! I was quite a young woman then!"
The old lady was talking of Czar Alexander, only twenty-seven yearsyounger than herself.
"How often have I hushed him on my lap when, to please his father, Isang the song he was so fond of--_When by Evening's Latest Rays_. Don'tyou know it? Come; I will sing it. Sit down on my footstool and restyour head on my hands."
Ivan sat at his grandmother's feet. How restful it was to be a childonce more! And the old lady began her song. True, her voice sounded likesome old harpsichord hidden away and forgotten in some king's palace forfive-and-twenty years, out of tune, and with some of the strings broken;but, all the same, she sang to her grandson:
"'When by evening's latest rays Thou art resting 'neath the trees, And a silent peaceful form Wakes thee out of sweetest dreams, Thy true friend it is who nears-- Seek, oh, seek, not to avoid him; For he thinks of you and brings
Joy, true joy, upon his wings.'"
Ivan kissed his grandmother's hand for her sweet song.
"But you are so sad to-day, Ivan! Tell me, what is troubling you? Areyou going, perhaps, on some journey--a long, far journey?"
"A very far journey."
"Ah, I can guess whither!" she said, laughing. "You are going to seeyour father, my beloved Maxim."
She had guessed truly!
"You are right, dear granny. That is where I am going." (To the otherworld.)
"Then take him these kisses--and a hundred more! See, I cannot cry. Oldeyes are forever weeping--that is, when one does not want to weep; whenone fain would, there are no tears to shed."
Ivan Maximovitch wept in her stead. He was such an "affectionate boy."
"Now, you see, you are going away and leaving me here. And going withouthaving married, without being able to leave me your wife here in yourstead."
"But I have married, granny dear," returned Ivan. "And I came purposelyto-night to present my wife to you."
"Oh, what a happy day! You are married--you have a little wife! A dear,charming little angel of a wife! And I shall see her soon? That I callindeed a Christmas present!"
But then the old lady must needs temper the joyful news with a littlereproach.
"But why have you kept this to yourself until after your wedding, when Ihave so often told you that I specially wished that your wife shouldreceive her bridal tiara from my hands? That was not right of you! Ihope she is of noble blood."
"She is a Princess Narishkin."
"I suppose you sought the Czar's permission to your marriage?"
"He granted it, grandmother."
"Then I cannot guess why you should have kept it secret from me. Perhapsshe did not know Russian when you married, and you were obliged to teachit her first, that she might be able to speak to me, for I know no otherlanguage--I am a Muscovite."
Ivan let her suppose that to have been the reason. It was nothingunusual. The St. Petersburg princesses know but little Russian--aslittle as, at that period, the great ladies of Hungary knew Hungarian.
The sound of the bell at the outer door interrupted their talk. Therustle of a silk dress was heard in the adjoining room. Then Korynthiahad fulfilled her husband's wish; she had come, at his entreaty, to meethim at his grandmother's. There were good reasons why Ivan had not goneto her instead of begging her to come here to him--reasons his wife knewwell. In society they were to be seen, she leaning on his arm, allaffection. But did the husband knock at his wife's door the answer was"You cannot come in." So it had been ever since the night of the 21st ofJune. Korynthia was unusually pale; her expression cold and resolute.
"Thank you for coming," said her husband to her, in a whisper; and,taking her hand, led her to his grandmother. "My wife, grandmother."
Korynthia bent one knee to Anna Feodorovna, then presented her cheek tothe kiss of the "mummy." To-day she was bent on doing all that wasrequired of her. Even the old lady's hand--that hand so withered andparchment-like--she kissed.
The good old woman was beside herself with happiness.
"What a splendid creature! How charming, how lovely she is! Howbeautifully brought up! And what an exquisite ball-dress she is wearing.It is easy to see that she has come from the Czar's ball."
Good old lady! She took Korynthia's gown for a ball-dress. In her daysilk dresses, trimmed with the delicate lace Korynthia wore upon herdressing-gown, were only worn at court balls. The grandmother had notseen a fashion-book or interviewed a dressmaker for the pastfive-and-twenty years. So she thought it was a ball-dress.
"I do not know how the tiara I have been keeping for you will suit thatdress. Ihnasko, bring me my jewel-case."
The old lady looked out the antique ornament set with pearls andbrilliants, almost worth an earl's ransom, and was in sore perplexityhow to place it upon Korynthia's giraffe-like mode of wearing her hair,not arranged to support it. Yet she must, at any price, see it worn.
Korynthia suffered herself to be adorned.
"Ah! now you are handsomer than ever! Wearing that tiara, you can welltake her back to the Czar's ball, to be the envy of all."
"No, grandmother, we are not going back," said Ivan. "If you will allowus we will stay with you and pass our Christmas evening here."
"But what will the Czar say to that?"
"He knows that we are here, and has given us permission to remain."
"Oh, if you have his permission, that is quite another thing, and Ishall be glad to have you here. But how can I amuse you? Can your wifeplay ombre?"
"Oh yes."
"But my cards I play with every day are soiled. I should be ashamed tobring them out."
"My wife will see about getting a fresh pack. Give me permission to tellher where she will find some."
"Of course, dear boy. Ihnasko, you meanwhile can be getting thecard-table ready. Dear me! How long it is since I had a game of ombre!Never since the little dark duchess and the general's wife have beenunable to mount the stairs. Then put out tea and cakes. Now some logs onthe fire. We will see who will be the first to get sleepy when once wehave warmed to our game. I know I shall not!"
Meanwhile Ivan began speaking in French to his wife, constraining hisface to wear as calm an expression as though he were merely explainingwhereabouts in his room she would find the cards.
"I am lost. The insurrection which has broken out to-day, and which, Ibelieve, is already quelled, was secretly instigated by me. PrinceTrubetzkoi was the _nominal_ Dictator; in reality it was I. I was theguiding hand, he only the mask. Trubetzkoi has already washed his handsof it; he has been to the commander-in-chief and taken the oath ofallegiance to the Czar. This leaves me alone in the post of danger. Theleadership falls upon me. Nor would I put it back upon his shoulders.The poor fellow has a young wife who is devotedly fond of him. That Ihave taken no part in to-day's revolt helps me not in the slightest,for, all the same, I was Dictator. If the papers connected with thismovement are discovered I am irrevocably lost, and with me thousands ofthe highest in the land whose names are inscribed in a book we call 'thegreen book.' This book must be destroyed!"
"Will you intrust that to me?"
"To whom else? All that I have I possess in common with you. My name, mywealth, my rank are yours; my honor, too, is yours. All this is now atstake; and you can help me--none other."
"Command what shall I do."
"Oh, do not speak so! It is not command, but entreaty. For what I nowask of you I crave as ardently as a man craves forgiveness from hisMaker for his sins. That book is in Zeneida Ilmarinen's keeping."
"Ah!"
"I know that you hate her; but without reason, I swear to you! But ofwhat value is the oath of a desperate man? No feeling has ever bound meto that lady that could in any way hurt your woman's pride. It wasanother tie--far more dangerous to me--but innocuous to you. But you donot believe me. Nor do I ask it. What I do implore is that in this hourof supreme danger you should show yourself magnanimous. If you have hadcause of anger against me, forget it for the sake of the honor of theGhedimin escutcheon, and lose no time in going to Fraeulein Ilmarinen'shouse with this key, which unlocks the hiding-place. I well know thesacrifice I ask of you in begging you to cross that threshold. But Idare not go myself, for were I to be seen in the vicinity of that houseI should be at once arrested. But no one will suspect you. See FraeuleinIlmarinen without delay, and tell her of the imminence of the danger, ofwhich she may know nothing. She may have been informed, and, in thatcase, would certainly have destroyed 'the green book' were it not lockedaway in a place of safety, only to be broken open with great strengthand much loss of time. Throw the book on the fire, and wait until youhave seen it reduced to ashes; then hasten back to rescue me from mydesperate situation!"
"I will act as beseems a Princess Ghedimin."
"My life and honor I give into your hands."
"I know it." And, taking the key, Korynthia hurried away.
"What a hurry the child is in!" sai
d the old lady.
"She will soon be back."
"With the cards?"
"Yes; with the cards."
"Then, meanwhile, I will make myself smart, that she does not find melooking so untidy."
The smartness consisted in the old lady's having her new cap--fashionedin 1807--brought to her with its large yellow ostrich feather. This sheduly put on, and with it her two false curls. Her hair was white, thecurls black.
A full hour went slowly by.
"What a long time the child is finding the cards! She will be changingher dress, taking off her grand ball-dress, and slipping into a cottonmorning-wrapper. Wait a minute; it will be such fun. How it will makeher laugh! I will sing the Matrimonial Ditty. It is really very pretty.Bring me my guitar, Ihnasko. Ah, how well I used to play it!"
And the good matron took the ancient instrument, and, encouraged by herprevious success, set about amusing her little nest-bird with a cheeryold song--he sitting there, the drops of cold perspiration on his brow.
"Listen--
"'It is a good wife's part To honor and obey, In gossiping and dress Time ne'er to pass away. By daybreak she is up, His breakfast to prepare; Then a good roast and wine With him at noon to share.'
Isn't it pretty? This is the second verse:
"'A husband's part it is With her wishes to comply, And whatsoe'er she ask In no case to deny. Through fire itself to go, If but her hand to kiss, And ever to be slow To mark what's done amiss.'
Ha, ha, ha!" laughed the good old grandmother, in praise of her ownmerry ditty, and quite disposed, had Ivan expressed but the slightestword of entreaty, to repeat it for his benefit. "I only hope your littlewife will soon come back to hear it."
But Ivan was no longer paying attention to her--a sound was audible fromwithout. There had been time for Korynthia to have gone to Zeneida'sand to have returned. He hurriedly opened the door.
But it was not the expected Korynthia who entered, but one whom of allothers he desired least to meet with in this sublunary world--Galban.
The Chevalier was not alone; four grenadiers of the Finnish regimentstood behind him.
The Chevalier, without taking off his hat in presence of the lady of thehouse, or in any way saluting her into whose apartment he was thusforcing an entrance, exclaimed:
"Ivan Maximovitch Ghedimin, you are my prisoner! Surrender your sword!"
Without a word, Ivan, unbuckling his sword, handed it to him.
Anna Feodorovna was furious.
"What does this fellow mean by breaking into my apartment and presumingto take away my grandson's sword, the sword of a Duke Ghedimin? Who isthis gentleman?"
"Who I am, madame, it is absolutely unnecessary for you to know; but Iwill tell you who your grandson is. He is the _Dictator of yondermutinous rebels_ who attempted to murder the Czar and have beendefeated."
"Ihnasko! Ihnasko!" shrieked the matron, "come here, and laugh insteadof me! I cannot; help me to laugh. Look at this carnival buffoon who isperforming here. He says that my nest-bird is the Dictator of therebels! Where have you crept to? Laugh--laugh!"
Ivan said in a low voice, and in French, to Galban, "I can exculpatemyself to the Czar. There is no proof against me."
"How about 'the green book?'"
"I know nothing of it."
"Do not build up vain hopes, Ivan Maximovitch! You are thoroughlyundone. Your wife has betrayed you. No sooner did you give over into herhands a certain key which, as you are aware, opens a certainroulette-bank at Fraeulein Zeneida's than she went directly to thePresident of Police and placed that key in his hands. 'The green book'is now in good keeping."
Ghedimin felt his knees totter at these words, as though the stars hadfallen from the skies upon his head. His head sank upon his breast.Horror so illimitable numbed his power of thought. The next moment,however, the blood within him took fire; he trembled with rage andindignation.
"No, no! It is impossible that a woman should betray her own husband,and sacrifice her honor, her means, by so doing! Such a monster theworld has never known! Nor have I ever committed such grave sins as todemand such sore punishment at God's hands!"
"You have a short memory, Ivan Maximovitch," whispered Galban in hisear. "Remember the night on which you conveyed to Korynthia the news ofSophie Narishkin's death, and with it the news of Bethsaba's flight withPushkin. Did you not know that Sophie Narishkin was her daughter, andthat even then she was awaiting Pushkin and not you?"
This disclosure was a heavier blow to Ghedimin than even his disgrace.With rigid, wide-open mouth he gasped for breath; his hands convulsivelygrasped at some invisible phantom, his heart was nigh to bursting.
"But do not disturb yourself with jealousy, either on account of Pushkinor of your wife. Pushkin will have a ball through his head when andwherever he is found. Your wife will receive back her wealth and rank,and husband also, in compensation. You will perform your little walk tothe scaffold; but your fine possessions and titles--most probably yourwife into the bargain--will be inherited by one who knows better how tovalue them than you have done--possibly by Chevalier Galban!"
At these words Ivan's arms sank helplessly to his side. He saw and heardno further. Chevalier Galban's next duty was to finish the condemnedman's "toilet."
First he tore the orders from his breast, then the epaulettes from hisshoulders; finally cut off every regimental button bearing the imperialarms.
The grandmother did not understand the subject of their talk, but whenshe saw her grandson being stripped of every vestige of his military andcivil rank, and of all his orders, she found herself endowed withstrength, if not to rush to his assistance, still to rise from herchair, and, supporting herself by the table, to cry to the audaciousintruders:
"You murderer! Godless man! how dare you assail my grandson? Stop!Insult him no further. Your accusations are lies! I will go myself tothe Czar; he will hear me. He has ever been gracious to me. Ihnasko,give me my mantle; I will go myself to the Czar! Leave off yourmutilations, you executioner! You shall not put a convict's dress uponmy grandson, my Ivan! A convict's dress! Before my very eyes! Youvarlets! And cut off his hair! Where is the Czar? I will go to theCzar--to Czar Alexander, to implore mercy!"
Her strength of will worked miracles. Her infirm, paralyzed body seemedto be galvanized into life like a walking ghost. She succeeded instaggering up to where Galban stood, and seized his hands.
"To Czar Alexander," she breathed, "for pardon!"
"He has already gone to heaven," said the Chevalier, brutally.
"Then I will go after him," sighed the venerable lady, and fell whereshe stood. She had said truly.
She had gone after him--thither where even the Czars of All the Russiasdo not grant, but must entreat, pardon.
* * * * *
The last locks of hair were severed from the head of Ghedimin, no longera prince. This is the tonsure of those condemned to death. He stoodalone. He had no one to mourn his fate. The old servant, concealedbehind the stove, sobbed uninterruptedly over the shameful operation.
Ivan was not even permitted to raise his dead grandmother from theground. A condemned rebel has henceforth no family either among theliving or the dead.
They fettered him hand and foot with the heavy iron fetters, of whichthe Counsellor of Enlightenment was wont to say, "Never you fear, youwon't have to pay for them!" And, being an officer of high rank, he hadreceived as distinction a heavy ball fastened to the end of his chain,which he was compelled to drag along at every step.
"Now, shoulder arms! The prisoner in the middle! Forward--march!"
But in the doorway their advance was hindered by some one with thewords:
"In the name of the Czar!"
It was Zeneida Ilmarinen.
Chevalier Galban looked at her in astonishment.
"Ah, Fraeulein, you still at large?"
"As you see. I come from the Czar."
&nbs
p; "How could you get to him?"
"Did not my countrymen, the Kalevaines, take the son, mother, and wifeof the Czar under their protection to-day?"
"I see; it was they who gave you admission to the Czar. And then?"
"The Czar has pardoned Ivan Maximovitch Ghedimin. Here is his pardon."
"Ah! you have saved Ivan Ghedimin from the scaffold?"
"And also from the mines. The Czar is graciously pleased to exile him toTobolsk among the sable-hunters, whither he will go at once."
"On foot, it is to be hoped."
"Not so--in his own sledge, and alone!"
"And all this has been effected by your dark eyes, fair lady? But allowme, an instant. At the time that the Czar signed this pardon he was notaware that 'the green book' had been discovered."
"What 'green book?'"
"Ah, my charming _diva_, you are playing the unconscious innocent! Butthe part does not suit you. This time I fear I shall have to hiss. Doyou not know that the key to your secret roulette-bank is in the handsof the police?"
"I know; and then?"
"And this time the police will not be fooled as I once was, when MichaelTurgenieff said, '_Je suis un president sans phrase. Messieurs, faitesvos jeux._' 'The green book' has been found!"
"As far as I know a _yellow_ book has been found."
"And in it the conspirators had signed their names to the Constitution,and the several schemes of rebellion were traced."
"In it were the names of those gentlemen who remained debtors to thebanker of the roulette-table and those whose debts of honor wereunredeemed."
"You act comedy well, exceedingly well, Fraeulein; but, all the same,you will be hissed off the stage. _Written characters_ must witnessagainst you."
"They will witness against no one. Knowing that roulette is a forbiddengame, being unable to open the safe, I took the precaution to pouraquafortis through the keyhole; and they into whose hands the 'yellow'book has fallen have not found a single name inscribed upon its pages,for they are all effaced. I was present when it was produced; there wasno writing to be seen."
At these words there was a loud clanking of chains, Ivan strikingtogether those which fettered his hands.
Chevalier Galban was wild with rage.
"You are truly an imp of Satan, Zeneida Ilmarinen. By this demoniacalact you have deprived Siberia and the scaffold of ten thousandconspirators!"
"Let us add their families, and reckon it at a hundred thousand."
"Only a woman could be capable of such an abomination. And you dare totell it to me?"
"What have I to fear from you? I have in my possession a letter from theCzar, authorizing me to leave this unhappy country and to go wherever Ilike."
Chevalier Galban, seeing that she was thus outside the pale of hiscastigation, wished to return to his tone of studied French courtesy.
"The world of St. Petersburg, madame, will deeply regret its loss afterthis 'farewell' performance of yours to-day. And where may you be going,if I may take the liberty of asking, that I may instruct the police toallow you to pass unmolested?"
"Where else than where my _master_ leads--to Tobolsk?"
"What! You are going with Ghedimin to Siberia?"
"Why not? I am not his wife, to separate from him when misfortuneovertakes him. I am only his friend; I cannot desert him." And, going tothe chained prisoner, she took the heavy ball hanging to his feet in herhands; it was her bridal dowry. "We can go now, master."
At this moment Ivan proudly raised his head, a glow upon his face. Theattitude of the shaven head was what it should have been before--that ofa hero--the statuesque head of one fighting for his country's freedom.With his fettered hands he raised Zeneida's to his lips and cried, inthe full metallic tones of his manly voice:
"I thank thee, O my God! Thou hast made me richer now than ever I wasbefore!"
Zeneida, nestling up to him, put her arms about him.
"Now you may hiss to your heart's content, Chevalier Galban. The play isover!"
But Galban had no desire to do so. Even his despicable heart was touchedby so much nobility of spirit. The four grenadiers, too, stood withsunken heads, against all military discipline.
"But, Fraeulein," stammered the Chevalier, "only consider what is instore for you if you seriously carry out this tremendous determination."
Zeneida looked at Ivan Maximovitch, her whole soul in that look.
"I will be a _nameless wife_ to this _nameless man_. Let us go."
The heavy chains clanked at each step. In the deserted room the onlysound now heard was the sobbing of the faithful old serving-man; but onthe face of the dead, stretched upon the floor, all lines had beensmoothed away. She smiled.
Similar figures, sketched in with equally grand lines, were abundant inthat great historic epoch. Thus the young wife of Trubetzkoi, thenominal Dictator, accompanied him to Siberia; so did the wives of thetwo Muravieffs and Narishkins. Ryleieff's widow haughtily refused toaccept the pension assigned her by the Czar. A young governess, who hadhad the strength to shut up within her own heart her love for a Russianprince while his rank raised him so high above her, confessed herfeelings for him to his parents when he was degraded and sentenced toserfdom in Siberia. She became his wife and went with him into exile.
But the dark side of the picture stood out also in grewsome detail. ThePrince Odojefski, who hid himself under the bridge, was betrayed by hisown relatives; and one might form a long list of those who, on the samemelancholy day that their people were setting out for Siberia, crossedhands with Korynthia Ghedimin in a country-dance at the Winter Palace.