Through Russian Snows: A Story of Napoleon's Retreat from Moscow

by G. A. Henty

  CHAPTER VI

  A COMMISSION

  About a week after the coroner's inquest, the servant one eveningbrought in a letter that had been left at the door by a man who lookedlike a fisherman. Frank gave a shout of joy as he glanced at theaddress.

  "It is Julian's handwriting, Aunt," he shouted, and then exclaimed, asMrs. Troutbeck, who was on the sofa, gave a low cry and fell backfainting, "What an ass I am to blurt it out like that!" Then he rang thebell with a vigour that brought down the rope. "Here, Mary," heexclaimed, as the servant re-appeared at the door with a scared face,"Aunt has fainted; do what you can for her. I will run round for thedoctor directly; but I must look at this letter first. It is from Mr.Julian."

  "Lor', sir, that is good news!" the girl exclaimed, as she hurriedacross to her mistress. After the custom of her class, she had hithertolooked upon the matter in the darkest possible light, and had joined inthe general conviction that Julian had been killed.

  Julian's letter was written on board the smuggler.

  "My dear Frank, I am afraid you must all have been in a horrible frightabout me, and no wonder. I am a most unfortunate fellow, and seem to bealways putting my foot in it, and yet really I don't think I was toblame about this. In the first place, I may tell you that I am on boarda French smuggler, that we have just entered the Loire, and that in afew hours shall be at Nantes. The smugglers will bring this letter backto England, and as they say they shall probably sail again a few daysafter they get in, I hope it will not be very long before it comes tohand. And now as to how I got here."

  Julian then related the story of the quarrel with Mr. Faulkner, ofhearing the gun fired, of running in and finding the body, and of hispursuit of the murderer.

  "After a long tramp on the hills he took to a place of hiding. I ambound by oath to afford no clue as to where that place is, and can onlysay that upon my following him in, I was pounced upon by some Frenchsmugglers who were there with him, and trussed up like a fowl. Thenthere was a discussion what to do with me, in which the man I had beenfollowing joined. Of course I did not understand the language, but Icould see that the smugglers were in favour of cutting my throat forhaving discovered their hiding-place, and that the man himself was,contrary to what I should have expected, arguing in my favour. He hadbeen a smuggler as well as a poacher, but although he had murdered Mr.Faulkner, and knew that I had pursued him for that crime, he undoubtedlysaved my life. They first made me take an oath not to reveal theirhiding-place, and then said that they should carry me over to France,and would take steps so that I should not return to England for someyears.

  "What those steps will be I cannot say, but I feel sure that they willin some way prevent my coming back for a long time. They can't keep methemselves, but may hand me over as a prisoner to the Frenchauthorities. Before we sailed the man told me he had learnt that awarrant was out against me for the murder of Faulkner, and that Faulknerhad declared it was I who shot him. If I could possibly have escaped Iwould have come back to stand my trial, though I can see plainly enoughthat it might go very hard with me, for there would be only my word,which would go for nothing against Faulkner's accusation, and the factof our quarrel. However, I would have come rather than disappear withthis awful charge against me. The man has given me permission, not onlyto write and tell you this story, but even to give you his name, whichis Joseph Markham. He had only been a short time out of prison, where hehad been sent for poaching, and he killed Faulkner simply for revenge.He told me that he did not mind my getting his name as, in the firstplace, he had no idea of returning to Weymouth, and intended makingFrance his home; and, in the second place, because, although you mightbelieve my story, no one else would, and even if he showed himself inWeymouth, this letter, written by a man accused of the murder, would notbe accepted for a moment against him. However, there is no doubt thatthe fellow has behaved extremely well to me, and I should be sorry toget him into trouble over this business with Faulkner, which is noaffair of mine.

  "You can, of course, show this letter to whom you like, but I don'texpect anyone except you and Aunt to believe it. I have hopes of beingcleared some day, for Markham has promised me to write out a fullconfession of his shooting Faulkner, and to swear to it before a Frenchmagistrate. He is going to write it in duplicate, and carry one copyabout with him, directed to Colonel Chambers, or the senior magistrateat Weymouth, and to send the other copy to someone at home, who willproduce it in case of his death in France, or by drowning at sea. I donot think that, if I get away, I shall return to England until I hear ofhis death. I am awfully sorry for you, old fellow, and for Aunt. Butwith this frightful accusation hanging over me, I don't think yourposition would be better if I were to come back and be hung for murder;and I see myself that the case is so strong against me that it wouldalmost certainly come to that if they laid hands on me. I am speciallysorry that this trouble should come upon you now, just as you were goingto try to get a commission, for of course they could hardly give one toa fellow whose brother is accused of murder, and if they did, yourposition in the army would be intolerable. Now, good-bye, dear oldFrank; give my fond love to Aunt, who has always been too good to me. IfI get an opportunity I will write again, but I hardly fancy that I shallget a chance to do so, as, even if I were free to write I don't see howletters can be sent from France except through smugglers. God bless you,old fellow.

  "Your unfortunate brother,

  "JULIAN."

  Happily, by the time he had finished reading the letter, the servant hadsucceeded in restoring Mrs. Troutbeck.

  "It is exactly what we thought, Aunt. Julian was seized by smugglers,and has been taken over to France, and I am afraid it will be some timebefore he gets back again, especially as he believes that this charge ishanging over him. I won't read you the letter now, but to-morrow whenyou are strong enough you shall read it yourself. I must take it thefirst thing in the morning to Colonel Chambers, who will, I am sure, bevery glad to hear that Julian is safe, for I know that he thinks he wasshot by the man he pursued. He will be interested, too, and so will Mr.Henderson, at seeing how exactly we were right in the conclusions wearrived at."

  Mrs. Troutbeck was quite satisfied with the explanation, and was at oncetaken up to bed by the servant, while Frank, seeing that it was as yetbut eight o'clock, put on his cap and ran to Mr. Henderson's. The latterwas at home, and received with great pleasure the news that Julian wasalive. He read the letter through attentively.

  "If we had seen the whole thing happen, we could not have been closerthan we were in our conclusion as to how it all came about. Well, thenews that it is Markham who shot Mr. Faulkner does not surprise me, for,as you know, I have already a warrant out against him on the charge. Ifear that there is little chance that we shall lay hands on him now, forhe will doubtless learn from some of his associates here of the evidencegiven at the coroner's inquest, and that your brother has been provedaltogether innocent of the crime. I can understand that, believing, ashe did, the evidence against Mr. Wyatt to be overwhelming, he had nogreat objection to his giving his name; for, as the matter then stood,your brother's story would only have been regarded as the attempt of aguilty man to fix the blame of his crime on another. As it has turnedout, the letter is a piece of important evidence that might be producedagainst Markham, for all the statements in it tally with the facts wehave discovered for ourselves. Still I congratulate you most heartily. Icertainly thought that your brother had been murdered, though ourefforts to find any traces of the crime have failed altogether. I amafraid, as he says, it will be a long time before he manages to getaway; still, that is a comparatively unimportant matter, and all that Ican hope is that this fellow Markham will come to a speedy end. Ofcourse you will show this letter to everyone, for now that nobodybelieves for a moment that your brother was Mr. Faulkner's murderer,everyone will be glad to hear that the mystery is cleared up, and thathe is simply in France instead of being, as a
ll supposed, buried in somehole where his body would never be discovered.

  "All that can possibly be said against him now is that he behavedrashly in following a desperate man instead of coming back to us forassistance; but I quite see that, under the circumstance of hisrelations with the magistrate, he was doubly anxious to bring thelatter's murderer to justice, and, as we now know, the latter wouldcertainly have got away unsuspected had your brother not acted as hedid."

  Colonel Chambers was equally pleased when Frank called upon him the nextmorning, and begged him, after showing the letter to his friends, tohand it over to him for safe keeping, as, in the event of Markham everbeing arrested, it would be valuable, if not as evidence, as affordingassistance to the prosecution.

  "Do you think, Colonel Chambers, that they will be able to keep Julianaway for a long time?"

  "If his supposition is a correct one, and they intend to hand him overto the French authorities as a prisoner of war, it may be a long timebefore you hear of him. There are many towns all over France whereEnglish prisoners are confined, and it would be practically impossibleto find out where he is, or to obtain his release if you did find out,while the two nations are at war. There are very few exchanges made, andthe chances of his being among them would be very small. However, lad,things might have been a great deal worse. This tremendous war cannot goon for ever. Your brother is strong and healthy; he seems to be, fromall I hear, just the sort of fellow who would take things easily, andalthough the lot of prisoners of war, whether in England or France,cannot be called a pleasant one, he has a fairer chance than most, ofgoing through it unharmed.

  "The experience may be of benefit to him. Of course, when this matterfirst began, I made close enquiries in several quarters as to hischaracter and habits. I need not say that I heard nothing whateveragainst him; but there was a sort of consensus of opinion that it was apity that he had not some pursuit or occupation. As you know, he mixedhimself up to some extent with smugglers, he spent his eveningsfrequently in billiard-rooms, and altogether, though there was nothingabsolutely against him, it was clear that he was doing himself no good."

  "He had given up the billiard-table," Frank said. "He promised me thathe would not go there any more, and I am sure he wouldn't."

  "I am glad to hear it, lad; still I think that this experience will dohim good rather than harm. He was a kindly, good-tempered, easy-goingyoung fellow, a little deficient, perhaps, in strength of will, but verygenerally liked, and with the making of a fine man about him; and yet hewas likely, from sheer easiness of temper and disinclination to settledown to anything, to drift with the stream till he ruined his life. Thatis how I read his character from what I have heard of him, and thatbeing so, I think this complete break in his life may ultimately be ofconsiderable benefit to him."

  "Perhaps it will, sir. A better brother never lived, but he may havebeen too ready to fall in with other people's views. I think that it wasa very great pity that he did not apply for a commission in the army."

  "A great pity," Colonel Chambers agreed. "A young fellow who will startin pursuit of a desperate man who is armed with a gun, would be the sortof fellow to lead a forlorn hope. And what are you going to do, Frank?"

  "I am going to try and get a commission, sir, now that Julian iscompletely cleared. I shall set about it at once. I am sixteen now.Colonel Wilson, with whom my father served in Spain, wrote at his death,and said that if either of us wished for a commission, he would, whenthe time came, use his influence to get him one, and that after father'sservices he was sure there would be no difficulty about it."

  "None whatever. Colonel Wyatt's sons have almost a right to acommission. If you will write to Sir Robert Wilson at once, and let meknow when you get his reply, I will write to a friend at theHorse-guards and get him to back up the request as soon as it is sentin."

  Three weeks later Frank received an official document, informing himthat he had been gazetted to the 15th Light Dragoons, and was to jointhe depot of his regiment at Canterbury immediately. Mrs. Troutbeck hadbeen consulted by Frank before he wrote to Colonel Sir R. Wilson. As ithad, since Julian decided not to enter the army, been a settled thingthat Frank should apply for a commission, she had offered no objection.

  "It is only right, my dear," she said, with tears in her eyes and alittle break in her voice, "that one of my dear brother's sons shouldfollow in his footsteps. I know that he always wished you both to jointhe army, and as Julian had no fancy for it, I am glad that you shouldgo. Of course it will be a trial, a great trial to me; but a young manmust go on his own path, and it would be wrong indeed for an old womanlike me to stand in his way."

  "I don't know, Aunt, that it is so. That is my only doubt about applyingfor the commission. I can't help thinking that it is my duty to staywith you until Julian comes back."

  "Not at all, Frank. It would make me much more unhappy seeing youwasting your life here, than in knowing you were following the courseyou had marked for yourself. I shall do very well. Mary is a very goodand attentive girl, and I shall get another in to do most of her work,so that she can sit with me and be a sort of companion. Then, you know,there are very few afternoons that one or other of my friends do notcome in for an hour for a gossip or I go in to them. I take a good dealof blame to myself for all this trouble that has come to Julian. I thinkthat if, three years ago, I had pressed it upon him that he ought to gointo the army, he would have done so; but certainly anything that I didsay was rather the other way, and since he has gone I see how wrong Iwas, and I certainly won't repeat the mistake with you. Even now Julianmay come back long before you go. I don't mean before you go away fromhere, but before you go out to join your regiment, wherever that may be.You are sure to be a few months at the depot, and you know we haveagreed to write letters to Julian, telling him that the matter is allcleared up, and that everyone knows he had nothing to do with themurder, so of course he will try to escape as soon as he gets one ofthem."

  "Yes, when he gets one, Aunt. I will give the letters to men who are, Iknow, connected with the smugglers, and possibly they may be taken over,but that is a very different thing from his getting them. We may be surethat the smugglers who have taken Julian over will not troublethemselves about detaining him. They would never go to all the bother ofkeeping and watching him for years. If they keep him at all it will beon board their craft, but that would be a constant trouble, and theywould know that sooner or later he would be able to make his escape. Ifthey have handed him over to the French authorities he may have beentaken to a prison hundreds of miles from Nantes, and the smugglers wouldnot know where he was and would be unable to send a letter to him. No,Aunt, I feel confident that Julian will come home, but I am afraid thatit will be a long time first, for as to his escaping from prison, thereis no chance whatever of it. There are numbers of English officersthere; many of them must be able to speak French well, and the navalofficers are able to climb ropes and things of that sort that Juliancould not do. It is very rare indeed that any of them, even with theseadvantages, make their escape, and therefore I cannot hope that Julianwill be able to do so."

  "Well, then, my dear, I must wait patiently until he does. I only hopethat I may be spared to see him back again."

  "I am sure I hope so, Aunt. Why should you always call yourself an oldwoman? when you know that you are not old in years. Why, you said lastbirthday that you were fifty-nine, and it is only because you are such ahand at staying indoors, and live such a quiet life, that it makes youthink yourself old. I should think this war won't last very much longer.If it does all the men in Europe will be used up. Of course, as soon aspeace is made Julian will be sent home again."

  The same day that the post brought Frank the news of his commission, itbrought a letter from Colonel Wilson saying that he was at present intown, and giving him a warm invitation to come up and stay with him fora week, while he procured his necessary outfit. A fortnight later Frankarrived in town and drove to Buckingham Street, where Colonel Wilson waslodging. He received
Frank very kindly, and when the lad would haverenewed the thanks he had expressed in the letter he had written onreceiving the news of his having obtained his commission, the Colonelsaid:

  "It was a duty as well as a pleasure. Your father saved my life atAboukir. I had been unhorsed and was guarding myself as well as I couldagainst four French cuirassiers, who were slashing away at me, when yourfather rode into the middle of them, cut one down and wounded a second,which gave me time to snatch a pistol from the holster of my fallenhorse and to dispose of a third, when the other rode off. Your fathergot a severe sabre wound on the arm and a slash across the face. Ofcourse, you remember the scar. So you see the least I could do, was torender his son any service in my power. I managed to get you gazetted tomy old regiment, that is to say, my first regiment, for I have served inseveral. I thought, in the first place, my introduction would to someextent put you at home there. In the second, a cavalry man has theadvantage over one in a marching regiment that he learns to ride well,and is more eligible for staff appointments. As you know, I myself havedone a great deal of what we call detached service, and it is probablethat I may in the future have similar appointments, and, if so, I mayhave an opportunity of taking you with me as an aide. Those sort ofappointments are very useful. They not only take one out of the routineof garrison life and enable one to see the world, but they bring a youngofficer's name prominently forward, and give him chances ofdistinguishing himself. Therefore I, as an old cavalry man, should muchprefer taking an assistant from the same branch, and indeed would almostbe expected to do so. From what I hear, I think that, apart from myfriendship for your father, you are the kind of young fellow I shouldlike with me."

  Frank looked rather surprised.

  "I had a letter," Colonel Wilson went on, "from Colonel Chambers, whowas a captain in the 15th when I joined. He spoke in very high terms ofyou, and sent a copy of the proceedings and reports connected with themurder of that magistrate, and said that it was almost entirely due toyour sharpness that your brother was cleared of the suspicion that hadnot unreasonably fallen upon him, and the saddle put upon the righthorse. There is a sort of idea that any dashing young fellow will do forthe cavalry, and no doubt dash is one of the prime requisites forcavalry officers, but if he is really to distinguish himself and besomething more than a brave swordsman, more especially if he is likelyto have the opportunity of obtaining a staff appointment, he needs otherqualities, for on a reconnaissance a man who has a quick eye, goodpowers of observation and thoughtfulness, may send in a report of a mostvaluable kind, while that of the average young officer might beabsolutely useless.

  "Having said this much, I would advise you strongly to devote a coupleof hours a day regularly to the study of French and German. You may findthem invaluable, especially if you are engaged on any diplomaticmission, and much more useful at first than the study of writers onmilitary tactics and strategy. There will be plenty of time for thatafterwards. At Canterbury you will have no difficulty in finding amaster among the many French _emigres_, and as there are at present twoor three troops of one of our German Hussar regiments there, and some ofthese men belong to families who preferred exile and service in theranks to living under French domination, you may find a soldier who willbe glad enough to add to his pay by a little teaching. A draft went outonly a fortnight or so since to your regiment, and you are thereforelikely to be some time at Canterbury before you are ordered out, and asthe time in a garrison town hangs heavily on hand, a little steady workwill help to make it pass not unpleasantly."

  "I will certainly do so, sir. We had a French master at school. It wasnot compulsory to learn the language, but I thought it might be usefulif I went into the army, and so took it up. I don't say that I can speakwell at all, but I know enough to help me a good deal."

  "That is right, lad. Ah, here is supper. I am sure you must want itafter being eighteen hours on the outside of a coach in such weather asthis, though I daresay as far as food went you did not do badly."

  "No, sir; there was plenty of time at the stopping-places for meals, andas I was well wrapped up the cold was nothing."

  Frank, however, could not deny that he felt very stiff after hisjourney, and was not sorry to retire to bed as soon as he had eaten hissupper. There were few men in the army who had seen so much and suchvaried service as Colonel Sir Robert Wilson. Joining the army in 1793,he served through the campaigns of Flanders and Holland. In 1797, havingattained the rank of captain, he was detached from his regiment andserved on Major-general St. John's staff during the rebellion inIreland. Two years later he rejoined his regiment and proceeded to theHelder, and was engaged in all the battles that took place during thatcampaign. On the Convention being signed he purchased a majority in oneof the regiments of German Hussars in our service. He was then sent on amission to Vienna, and having fulfilled this, went down through Italy toMalta, where he expected to find his regiment, which formed part ofGeneral Abercrombie's command. He joined it before it landed in Egypt,and served through the campaign there. He then purchased hislieutenant-colonelcy, and exchanged into the 20th Light Dragoons. He waswith that portion of his regiment which formed part of Sir David Baird'sdivision, and sailed first to the Brazils and then to the Cape of GoodHope, which possession it wrested from the Dutch.

  On his return to England he was directed to proceed on the staff of LordHutchinson to Berlin, but on his arrival at Memel was despatched to theRussian headquarters as British commissioner. He continued with theRussian army during the next two campaigns, and on the signature of thetreaty of Tilsit returned to England, and made several journeys to St.Petersburg with confidential despatches, and brought to England thefirst news that the Czar had concluded an alliance with Napoleon and wasabout to declare war against England. In 1808 Sir Robert Wilson was sentto Portugal to raise the Portuguese legion, and, acting independently asa Brigadier-general, rendered very valuable services, until in 1809 thelegion was absorbed in the Portuguese army. He was now waiting for otheremployment.

  The colonel went out with Frank after breakfast next morning andordered his uniform and equipments. Frank was well supplied with money,for by the terms of his father's will either of his sons who entered thearmy was entitled to draw two hundred pounds a year to pay for outfit,horse, and as allowance until he came of age, when he would receive hisshare of the capital. Mrs. Troutbeck had, when he said good-bye to her,slipped a pocket-book with bank-notes for a hundred pounds into hishands.

  "Money is always useful, Frank," she said, when he protested that he wasamply supplied, "and if you should ever find that your allowance isinsufficient write to me. I know that you are not in the least likely tobe extravagant or foolish, but you see what a scrape your brother hasgot into, without any fault of your own, and you may also find yourselfin a position where you may want money. If you do, write to me at once."

  After the orders had been given, Sir Robert Wilson took Frank aboutLondon to see some of the sights. At dinner he asked him many questionsas to his studies and amusements, and the way in which his day wasgenerally spent. After dining at Sir Robert's club they returned to hislodgings.

  "I am very pleased, Frank," he said as he lighted a cigar, "both withwhat I have heard of you and with what I see for myself. Now I willspeak to you more freely than I did before, but mind, what I say isstrictly confidential. Government have obtained secret information whichpoints surely to the fact that Napoleon is meditating an offensive waragainst Russia. He is accumulating troops in Germany and Poland out ofall proportion to the operations he has been carrying on againstAustria. When that war will break out is more than I or anyone can say,but when it does take place I have Lord Wellesley's promise that I shallgo out there in the same position I held during their last war, that is,as British commissioner with the Russian army. Now, lad, in thatposition I shall be entitled to take a young officer with me as myassistant, or what, if engaged on other service, would be calledaide-de-camp. One cannot be everywhere at once, and I should often haveto depend upon him for inf
ormation as to what was taking place at pointswhere I could not be present.

  "He would, too, act as my secretary. It may possibly be a year beforeNapoleon's preparations are completed; but even in a year I shouldhardly be justified in choosing so young an officer from my oldregiment, unless he had some special qualifications for the post. Now,for your father's sake, Frank, and because I like you and feel sure thatyou are just the man I require, I should like to take you, but could notdo so unless you had some special knowledge that I could urge as areason for applying for you. There is only one such qualification that Iknow of, namely, that you should be able to speak the Russian language.When I spoke to you about learning French and German I did so on generalprinciples, and not with a view to this, for it did not seem to me thatI could possibly select you to go with me on this service; but I havesince thought it over, and have come to the conclusion that I could doso, if you did but understand Russian. It is a most difficult language,and although I can now get on with it fairly after my stay out there, Ithought at first I should never make any headway in it. It would,therefore, be of no use whatever for you to attempt it unless you areready to work very hard at it, and to give up, I should say, at leastfour hours a day to study."

  "I should be quite ready to do that, sir," Frank said earnestly, "and Ithank you indeed for your kindness. But who should I get to teach me?"

  "That we must see about. There are, I have no doubt, many Russian Polesin London who speak the language well, and who have picked up enoughEnglish for your purpose. The Poles are marvellous linguists. We will goto-morrow to the headquarters of the Bow Street runners. They are thedetectives, you know, and if they cannot at once put their hands uponsuch a man as we want, they will be able to ferret out half a dozen intwenty-four hours. One of these fellows you must engage to go down toCanterbury and take lodgings there. They are almost always in destitutecircumstances, and would be content with very moderate pay, which wouldnot draw very heavily on your resources. Thirty shillings a week wouldbe a fortune to one of them. Even if this war should not come off--but Ihave myself no doubt about it--the language might in the future be ofgreat value to you. I don't suppose there is a single officer in theEnglish army, with the exception of myself, who knows a word of Russian,and in the future it might secure you the position of military attacheto our embassy there. At any rate it will render it easy for me tosecure you an appointment on my mission when it comes off, and in thatcase you will be a witness of one of the most stupendous struggles thathas ever taken place. You think you can really stick to it, Frank? Youwill have, no doubt, to put up with a good deal of chaff from yourcomrades on your studious tastes."

  "I sha'n't mind that, sir. I have often been chaffed at school, becauseI used to insist on getting up my work before I would join anything thatwas going on, and used to find that if I took it good temperedly, itsoon ceased."

  The next day they went to Bow Street. Sir Robert's card was sufficientto ensure them attention, and several of the detectives were questioned.One of them replied, "I think that I know just the man. He occupies anattic in the house next to mine. He is a young fellow offour-and-twenty, and I know he has been trying to support himself bygiving lessons in German, but I don't think that he has ever had apupil, and I believe he is nearly starving. His landlady told me that hehas parted with all his clothes except those that he stands upright in.Of late he has been picking up a few pence by carrying luggage forpeople who land at the wharves. I have not spoken to him myself, but shetells me that he is a perfect gentleman, and though sometimes, as shebelieves, he has not so much as a crust of bread between his lips allday, he regularly pays his rent of a Saturday."

  "I should think that he would be just the man for us. Would you see himwhen you go home this afternoon, and ask him to come to No. 44Buckingham Street, either this evening at nine, or at the same hourto-morrow morning? I have written my address on this card."

  At nine o'clock that evening the landlady came upstairs and said, ratherdoubtfully, that a young man had called to see Sir Robert, and that hehad one of Sir Robert's cards.

  "That is right, Mrs. Richards. I was expecting him."

  The Pole was brought up. He was a pale young man, dressed in a thin suitof clothes that accorded but ill with the sharp frost outside. He bowedrespectfully, and said in very fair English, "I am told, sir, that youwish to speak to me."

  "Take a seat, sir. By the way, I do not know your name."

  "Strelinski," the man said.

  "I am told that you are desirous of giving lessons in languages."

  "I am, sir, most desirous."

  "Mr. Wyatt, this gentleman here, is anxious to learn Russian."

  The man looked with some surprise at Frank. "I should be glad to teachit, sir," he said doubtfully, "but Russian is not like French orEnglish. It is a very difficult language to learn, and one that wouldrequire a good deal of study. I should not like to take money withoutdoing something in return, and I fear that this gentleman would bedisappointed at the small progress he would make."

  "Mr. Wyatt has just obtained a commission, and he thinks that as thereare few, if any, officers in the army who speak it fluently, it might beof great advantage to him. He is, therefore, prepared to work hard atit. I myself," he went on in Russian, "speak it a little, as you see; Ihave already warned him of the difficulty of the language, and he is notdismayed. He is going down to Canterbury to join the depot of hisregiment in the course of a few days, and he proposes that you shouldaccompany him and take a lodging there."

  The young man's face had a look of surprise when he was addressed in theRussian language, and Frank saw a faint flush come across his face andtears flow to his eyes as he heard the offer.

  "What terms would you ask? He might require your services for a year."

  "Any terms that would keep me from starving," the man said.

  "May I ask what you were in your own country, Mr. Strelinski?"

  "I was educated for the law," the Pole said. "I took my degree at theUniversity of Warsaw, but I was suspected of having a leaning towardsthe French--as who had not, when Napoleon had promised to deliver usfrom our slavery--and had to fly. I had intended at first to enter oneof the Polish regiments in the French service, but I could not getacross the frontier, and had to make north, getting here in an Englishship. The war between you and France prevented my crossing the seaagain, and then I resolved to earn my living here, but--" and hestopped.

  "You have found it hard work. I can quite understand that, Mr.Strelinski. It is terribly hard for any foreigner, even with goodintroductions, to earn a living here, and to one unprovided with suchrecommendations well-nigh impossible. Please to sit here for a moment.Frank, come into the next room with me."

  "Well, what do you think?" he asked when they were alone.

  "I should think that he will do splendidly, sir, and his being agentleman will make it very pleasant for me. But I should not like tooffer him as little as thirty shillings a week."

  "I have no doubt that he would be delighted with it, Frank, but as hewill have to pay his lodgings out of it and furnish his wardrobe, wemight say two pounds, if you can afford it."

  "I can afford it very well, sir. My aunt gave me a hundred pounds when Icame away from home, and that will pay for it for one year. I am sure Ishall like him."

  "He impresses me very favourably too," Sir Robert said, "and perhaps Imay find a post for him here if we go out, though we need not think ofthat at present. Well, let us go in to him again. I have no doubt thatthe poor fellow is on thorns."

  "I have talked it over with Mr. Wyatt," he went on when they hadreturned to the sitting-room; "he will probably require your servicesfor a year, though possibly he may have to join his regiment sooner thanthat. He is willing to pay two pounds a week for your services as hisinstructor. Will that suit you?"

  "It is more than sufficient," the Pole said in a broken voice. "For halfof that I could keep myself."

  "Yes, but there will be your lodgings to pay, and other matt
ers; and ifyou are willing to accept two pounds, which appears to us a fair rate ofremuneration, we will consider that as settled. It is a cold night, Mr.Strelinski. You had better take a glass of wine and a biscuit before youventure out."

  He fetched a decanter of port and a tin of biscuits from the sideboard,and placed them in front of him; then he made a sign to Frank to leavethe room. In a few minutes he called him back again. Frank found thePole standing with his hat in his hand ready to leave. There was a lookof brightness and hope in his face, which was a strong contrast to hisexpression on entering. He bowed deeply to Sir Robert, and took the handthat Frank held out to him.

  "You have saved me," he said, and then, without another word, turned andleft the room.

  "I have insisted upon his taking ten pounds on account of his salary, asI told him that he must have warm clothes and make a decent figure inCanterbury. You are to deduct ten shillings a week from his pay till itis made up. The poor fellow fairly broke down when I offered it to him.There is no doubt that he is almost starved, and is as weak as a rat. Heis to come to-morrow at twelve o'clock. I have business that will takeme out all day, so you can have a quiet chat with him and break theice."