The Red Symbol Part 34

He made as if to move on, and I couldn't detain him forcibly and insist on his accompanying me, for that would have drawn attention to us.

Fortunately there were few people hereabouts, but those few were already looking askance at us.

An inspiration came to me. I thought of the red symbol that had dangled from the key of Ca.s.savetti's flat that night, and of the signal and pa.s.sword Mishka had taught me in Petersburg.

In two strides I caught up with him, touched his shoulder with the five rapid little taps, thumb and fingers in succession, and said in his ear: "You will come to Barzinsky's within the hour,--'For Freedom.' You understand?"

I guessed that would fetch him, for I felt him thrill--it was scarcely a start--under the touch.

"I will come, Excellency; I will not fail," he answered promptly. "But go you now,--not hurriedly."

I hadn't the least intention of hurrying, but pa.s.sed on without further parley, and reached the inn unhindered. Mishka had not yet returned, and I told the landlord a pedler was coming to see me, and he was to be brought up to my room at once.

As I closed the shutters I wondered if he would come, or if he'd give me the slip as he did in Westminster, but within half an hour Barzinsky brought him up. The landlord looked quite scared, his ear-locks were quivering with his agitation.

"Yossof is here, Excellency," he announced, so he evidently knew my man.

I nodded and motioned him out of the room, for he hovered around as if he wanted to stay.

Yossof stood at the end of the room, in an att.i.tude of humility, his gray head bowed, his dingy fur cap held in his skinny fingers; but his piercing dark eyes were fixed earnestly on my face, and, when Barzinsky was gone and the door was shut, he came forward and made his obeisance.

"I know the Excellency now, although the beard has changed him," he said quietly. His speech was much more intelligible than it had been that time in Westminster. "I remember his goodness to me, a stranger in the land. May the G.o.d of our fathers bless him! But I knew not then that he also was one of us. Why have you not the new pa.s.sword, Excellency?"

"I have but now come hither from England at the peril of my life, and as yet I have met none whom I knew as one of us," I answered evasively.

"What is this new word? It is necessary that I should learn it," I added, as he hesitated.

"I will tell you its meaning only," he answered, watching me closely.

"It means 'in life and in death,'--but those are not the words."

"Then I know them: _a la vie et a la mort_; is it not so?" I asked, remembering the moment he spoke the names by which Anne was known to others besides members of the League; for the police officer who had superintended the searching of my rooms at Petersburg, and later, young Mirakoff, had both mentioned one of them.

I had hit on the right words first time, and Yossof, evidently relieved, nodded, and repeated them after me, giving a queer inflection to the French.

"And where is she,--the gracious lady herself?" I asked. It was with an effort that I forced myself to speak quietly; for my heart was thumping against my ribs, and my throat felt dry as bone dust. What could--or would--this weird creature tell me of Anne's present movements; and could--or would--he tell me the secret of Ca.s.savetti's murder? Through all these weeks I had clung to the hope, the belief, that he himself struck the blow, and now, as he stood before me, he appeared more capable, physically, of such a deed than he had done then. But yet I could scarcely believe it as I looked at him.

He met my question with another, as Mishka so often did.

"How is it you do not know?"

"I have told you I have but now come to Russia."

He spread his hands with a deprecatory gesture as if to soften his reply, which, however, was spoken decisively enough.

"Then I cannot tell you. Remember, Excellency, though you seem to be one of us, I have little knowledge of you. In any matter touching myself I would trust you; but in this I dare not."

He was right in a way. Such knowledge as I had of the accursed League was gained by trickery; and to question him further would arouse his suspicion of that fact, and I should then learn nothing at all.

"Listen," I said slowly and emphatically. "You may trust me to the death in all matters that concern her whom you call your gracious lady. I was beside her, with her father and one other, when the Five condemned her,--would have murdered her if we had not defended her. She escaped, G.o.d be thanked, but that I only learned of late. I was taken, thrown into prison, taken thence back to England, to prison again, accused of the murder of Vladimir Selinski,--of which I shall have somewhat more to say to you soon! When I was freed, for I am innocent of that crime, as you well know, I set out to seek her, to aid her if that might be; and, if she was beyond my aid, at least to avenge her. I was about to start alone when I heard that she was no longer threatened by the League; that she was, indeed, once more at the head of it; but I failed to learn where I might find her. Therefore I go to join one who is her good friend, in the hope that I may through him be yet able to serve her. For the League I care nothing,--all my care is for her. And therefore, as I have said, you may trust me."

He watched me fixedly as I spoke, but his gaunt face remained expressionless; though his next words showed that he had understood me well enough.

"I can tell you nothing, Excellency. You say you care for her and not for the League. That is impossible, for she is its life; her life is bound up in it; she would wish your service for it,--never for herself!

This I will do. If she does not hear otherwise that you are at Zostrov, as you will be to-morrow--though it is unlikely that she will not have heard already--I will see that she has word. That is all I can do."

"That must serve. You will not even say if she is near at hand?"

"Who knows? She comes and goes. One day she is at Warsaw; the next at Wilna; now at Grodno; again even here. Yes, she has been here no longer than a week since, though she is not here now."

So I had missed her by one week!

"I do not know where she is to-day, nor where she will be to-morrow; in this I verily speak the truth, Excellency," he continued. "Though I shall perchance see her, when my present business is done. Be patient.

You will doubtless have news of her at Zostrov."

"How do you know I am going there?"

"Does not all the countryside know that a foreigner rides with Mishka Pavloff? G.o.d be with you, Excellency."

He made one of his quaint genuflexions and backed rapidly to the door.

"Here, stop!" I commanded, striding after him. "There is more,--much more to say. Why did you not keep your promise and return to me in London? What do you know of Selinski's murder? Speak, man; you have nothing to fear from me!"

I had clutched his shoulder, and he made no attempt to free himself, but drooped pa.s.sively under my hand. But his quiet reply was inflexible.

"Of all that I can tell you nothing, Excellency. It is best forgotten."

There was a heavy footstep on the stair and next moment the door was tried, and Mishka's voice exclaimed: "It is I. Open to me, Herr Gould."

There was no help for it, so I drew back the bolt. The door had no lock,--only bolts within and without.

As Mishka entered, the Jew bowed low to him, and slipped through the doorway. Mishka glanced sharply at me, muttered something about returning soon, and followed Yossof, closing the door behind him and shooting the outer bolt.

CHAPTER x.x.xVI

STILL ON THE ROAD

"Will you never learn wisdom?" demanded Mishka, when, after a few minutes, he returned. "Why could you not rest here in safety?"

"Because I wanted to walk some of my stiffness off," I replied coolly.

"I had quite a good time, and met an old acquaintance."

"Who gave you much interesting news?" he asked, with a sardonic inflection of his deep voice that made me guess Yossof had told him what pa.s.sed at our interview.

"Why, no; I can't say that he did that," I confessed. Already I realized that I had learned absolutely nothing from the Jew save the new pa.s.sword, and the fact that he was, or soon would be, in direct communication with Anne.

Mishka gave an approving grunt.