May 16, 2025 • 33 mins
When the British Consulate in Leghorn falls victim to a puzzling burglary, and an enigmatic English yacht pays an unexpected visit, it sparks an enthralling journey of espionage and hidden criminal machinations. This thrilling tale sweeps the reader from London to Scotland, and finally to the oppressed lands of Finland, under the harsh rule of imperial Russia. Our protagonist is a man of exceptional acumen, a precursor to the likes of Double O Seven, who finds himself pushed to his limits as he navigates this web of intrigue and deception to uncover the truth. - Summary by Nicholas Clifford
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
Chapter thirteen of The Tsar's Spy. This Liebervots recording is
in the public domain recording by Tom Weiss. The Tsar
Spy by William Leque, chapter thirteen, A Double Game and
its Consequences. I went to the railway station, and from
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the timetable gathered that if I left a beau by
rail at noon, I could be in Petersburg an hour
before noon on the morrow, or about four hours before
the arrival of the steamer by which the Silent girl
and her companion were passengers. This I decided upon doing.
But before leaving I paid a visit to my friend Baranski, who,
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to my surprise and delight, handed me my wallet with
the Tsar's letter intact, saying that it had been found
upon a German thief who had been arrested at the
harbor on the previous night. The fellow had no doubt
stolen it from my pocket, believing I carried my paper
money in the flat. The affair of the English lady
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is a most extraordinary one, remarked the Chief of police,
toying with his pen as he sat at his big table.
She seems to have met this englishman up at Tamarfores
or at some place further north. Yet it is curious
that her passport should be in order, even though she
fled so precipitately from Kajana. There is a mystery connected
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with her disappearance from the woodcutter's hut that I confess
I cannot fathom. Neither can I, I said, I know
the man who is with her, and cannot help fearing
that he is her bitterest enemy, that he is acting
in concert with the baron. Then why is he taking
her to the capital beyond the jurisdiction of a governor general.
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I am going straight to Petersburg to a certain I said,
I have only come to thank you for your kindness
in this matter. Truth to tell, I have been somewhat
surprised that you should have interested yourself on my behalf,
I added, looking straight at the uniformed official. It was
not on yours, but on hers. He answered, somewhat ignomatically.
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I know something of the affair, but it was my
duty as a man to help the poor girl to
escape from that terrible place. She has, I know, been
unjustly condemned for the attempted assassination of the wife of
a General condemned with a purpose. Of course, such a
thing is not unusual in Finland. Abominable, I cried, Obert
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is a veritable fiend. But the man only shrugged his shoulders, saying,
the orders of his excellency, the Governor General have to
be obeyed. Whatever they are, we often regret, but we
dare not refuse to carry them out. Russia is a
disgrace to our modern civilization, I declared hotly. I have
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every sympathy with those who are fighting for freedom. Ah,
you are not alone in that, he sighed, speaking in
a low whisper and glancing around. His majesty would order
reforms and ameliorate the condition of his people, if only
it were possible. But he, like his officials, are powerless.
Here we speak of the great uprising with bated breath,
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but we alas know that it must come one day,
very soon, and Finland will be the first to endeavor
to break her bonds, and the Baron Oberg the first
to fall. For nearly an hour I sat with him,
surprised to find how although his exterior was so harsh
and uncouth, yet his heart really bled for the poor
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starving people. He was so constantly forced to oppress. I
have ruined this town of a beau, he declared, quite frankly.
To my own knowledge, five hundred innocent persons have gone
to prison, and another two hundred have been exiled to Siberia.
Yet what I have done is only at direct orders
from Helsingfors, orders that are stern, pitiless, and unjust. Men
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have been torn from their families and sent to the mines.
Women have been arrested for no offense and shipped off
to Sukhulian and mere children have been cast into prison
on charges of political conspiracy with their elders in order
to Russify the province. Only, he added anxiously, I trust
you will never repeat what I tell you. You have
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asked me why I assisted the English mademoiselle to escape
from Kajana, and I have explained the reason. We ate
a hearty meal in the company at the Sampollina, a
restaurant built like a Swiss chalet, and at noon I
entered the train on the first stage of my slow,
tedious journey through the great Silent forests and along the
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shores of the lakes of southern Finland by way of
Travestius and Vayborg to Petersburg. I was alone in the
and sat moodily watching the panorama of wood and river
as we slowly wound up the tortuous ascents and descended
the steep radiance. I had not even a newspaper with
which to while away the time, only my own apprehensive
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thoughts of whither my helpless love was being conducted. Surely
to no man was there ever presented such a complicated
problem as that which I was now trying so vigorously
to solve. I loved Elma Heath. The more I reflected,
the deeper did her sweet countenance and tender grace impress
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themselves upon my heart. I loved her. Therefore I was
striving to overtake her. The steamer, I learned, would call
at Hango and helsingfors would they, I wonder, disembark at
either of those places? Was the man whom I had
known as Hornby, the owner of the Lola, taking her
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to place her again in the fiendish hands of Xavier Oberg.
The very thought of it caused me to hold my breath.
Daylight came at last, cold and gray over those dreary,
interminable marshes, were game especially snipe seemed abundant, and at
a small station at the head of a lake called
david Stadt, I took my morning glass of tea. Then
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we resumed our journey down to Vyborg, where a short,
thick set Russian of the commercial class but something of
a dandy, entered my compartment, and we left express for Petersburg.
We had passed by a small station called Galatzina, near
which were many villas occupied in summer by families from Petersburg,
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and were traveling through the dense, gloomy pine woods, when
my fellow traveler, having asked permission to smoke, commenced to
chat affably. He seemed a pleasant fellow and told me
that he was a wool merchant and that he had
been having a pleasant vacation trout fish in Nvoski, above
the falls of Amatra, where the pools between the rapids
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abound with fish. He had told me that on account
of the shore being so full of weeds and the
clearness of the water, fishing from the banks was almost
an impossibility, and how they had to accustom themselves to
troll from a boat so small as to only accommodate
the rower and the fishermen then he remarked, suddenly you
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are English, I presume, possibly from helsingfors No, I answered,
from a bow, I crossed from Stockholm and am going
to Petersburg. And I also I live in Petersburg. He added,
we may perhaps meet one day. Do you know the capital?
I explained that I had visited it once before and
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had done the usual round of sight seeing. His manner
was brisk and to the point, as became a man
of business. But when we stopped at billie Ostrov, on
the opposite side of the small winding river that separates
Finland from Russia proper, the customs officer who came to
examine our baggage exchanged a curious meaning look with him.
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My fellow traveler believed that I had not observed yet
keenly on the alert as I now was, I was
shrewd to detect the least sign or look, and I
at once resolved to tell the fellow nothing further of
my own affairs. He was, no doubt a spy of
the stranglers, who had followed me all the way from
a bow and had only entered my carriage for the
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final stage of the journey. This revelation caused me some uneasiness,
for even though I was able to evade the man,
on arrival in Petersburg, he could no doubt quickly obtain
news of my whereabouts from the police, to whom my
passport must be sent. I pretended to doze and lay
back with my eyes half closed, watching him. When he
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found me disinclined to talk further, he took up the
paper he had bought and became engrossed in it, while I,
on my part, endeavored to form some plan by which
to mislead and escape his vigilance. The fellow meant mischief
that I knew if Elma was flying in secret, and
he watched me, he would know that she was in
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Petersburg at all hazards. For my love's sake as well
as for mine, I saw that I must escape him.
The ingeniousness and cleverness of Oberg's spies was proverbial throughout Finland.
Therefore he might not be alone, or in any case,
on arrival in Petersburg, would obtain assistance in keeping observation
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upon me. I knew that the Baron desired my death,
and that therefore I could not be too wary of pitfalls.
That fatal chair so cunningly prepared for me in Lambeth
was still vividly within my memory. As we passed Lanskaya
and ran through the outer suburbs of Petersburg, my fellow
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traveler became inquisitive as to where I would going, but
I was somewhat unresponsive and busied myself with my bag
until we entered the great Echoing Terminus, whence I could
see the Neva gleaming in the pale sunlight and the
city beyond. The fellow made no attempt to follow me.
He was too clever a secret agent for that. He
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merely wished me Trastudare, raised his hat politely and disappeared.
A porter carried my bag out of the station, and
I drove across the bridge to the large hotel where
I had stopped before the Europe, on the corner of
the Nevsky Prospect and the Michael Street. There I engaged
a front room, looking down into the broad Nevsky, had
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a wash, and then watched at the window for the
appearance of the spy. I had already a good four
hours before the steamer from a Bow was due, and
I intended to satisfy myself whether or not I was
being followed. Within twenty minutes, the fellow lounged alongside the
opposite side of the road. Just as I had expected,
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he had changed his clothes and presented such a different
appearance that at first sight I failed to recognize him.
He knew that I had driven there, and intended to
follow me if I came forth. My position was one
of extreme difficulty, for if I went down to the quay,
he would most certainly follow me. Having watched his movements
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for ten minutes or so, I descended to the big
sally moucherer and there ate my luncheon, chatting to the
French waiter. The while I sat purposely in an alcove,
so as to be away from the other people lunching there,
and in order that I might be able to talk
with the waiter without being overheard. Just as I had
finished my meal and he was handing me my bill,
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I bent towards him and asked, do you want to
earn twenty roubles? Well, monsieur, he answered, looking at me
with some surprise, they would be acceptable. I am a
married man. Well, I want to escape from this place
without being observed. There is a disagreeable little matter regarding
a lady, and I fear a frakus with a man
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who is awaiting me outside in the nevski. Then, seeing
that he hesitated, I assured him that I had committed
no crime and that I should return for my baggage.
That evening. You could pass through the kitchen and out
by the servant's entrance. He said, after a moment's reflection,
if Monsieur so desires, I will conduct him out. The
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exit is in the back street, which leads on to
the Catherine Canal. Excellent, I said, let us go. Of course,
you will say nothing, not a word, monsieur, and he
gathered up the notes plus twenty roubles with which I
paid my bill, and taking my hat, I followed him
to the end of Le Salle Maucher, behind a high
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wooden screen, across the huge kitchen, and then through a
long stone corridor at the end of which sat a
gruff old door keeper. My guide spoke a word to him,
and then the door opened, and I found myself in
a narrow back slum with the canal beyond. My first
visit was to a clothier's, where I purchased and put
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on a new light overcoat, and then to a hatter's
for a hat of different shape to that I was wearing.
I carried the hat back to a quiet alley which
I had noticed, and quickly exchanged the one I was
wearing for it, leaving my old hat in a corner.
Then I entered a cafe in order to while away
the hours until the vessel from Finland was due. At
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four o'clock I was out upon the quay, straining my
eyes seaward for any sign of smoke, but could see nothing.
The sun was sinking, and the broad expanse of water
westward danced like liquid gold. The light died out slowly,
the cold gray of evening crept on. A chill wind
sprang up and swept the quay, causing me to shire.
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I asked of a dock laborer whether the steamer was
usually late, whereupon he told me that it was often
five or six hours behind time, depending upon the delay
at helsingfors. Twilight deepened into night and the rain fell heavily.
Yet I still paced the wet flags in patience, my
eyes ever seaward for the light of the vessel, which
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I hoped bore my love my presence there aroused some
speculation among the loungers, I think. Nevertheless, I waited in
deepest anxiety whether after all Alma and Hornby had not
disembarked at Helsingfors. Soon after ten o'clock a light shone
afar off, and the movement of the police and porters
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on the quay told me that it was the vessel.
Then after a further anxious quarter of an hour, it came,
amid great shouting and mutual imprecations, slowly alongside the quay,
and the passengers at last began to disembark in the
pelting rain. One after another, they walked up the gangway,
filing into the passport office and on into the custom house.
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People of all sorts and all grades, Swedes, Germans, Fins
and Russians, until suddenly I caught sight of two figures,
one a man in a big tweed traveling coat and
a golf cap, and the other the slight figure of
a woman in a long dark cloak and a woolen
tam O'Shanter. The electric rays fell upon them as they
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came up the wet gangway together, and there once again
I saw the sweet face of the silent woman whom
I had grown to love with such fervent desperation. The
man behind her was the same one who had entertained
me on board the Lola, the man who was said
to be the lover of the fugitive Muriel life court.
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Without betraying my presence, I watched them pass through the
passport office and custom house, and then overhearing the address
which Martin Woodruff gave the Isvasishchik, I stood aside, wet
to the skin, and saw them drive away. At eleven o'clock.
On the following day, I found myself installed in the
Hotel de Paris, a comfortable hostelery in the little mors Kaya,
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having succeeded in evading the vigilance of the spy who
had so cleverly followed me from a bow, and in
getting my suit case round from the Hotel Europe. I
was beneath the same roof as Elma, although she was
in ignorance of my presence. Anxious to communicate with her
without Woodru's knowledge, I was now awaiting my opportunity. He had,
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it appeared, taken for her a pleasant front room with
sitting room adjoining on the first floor, while he himself
occupied a room on the third floor. The apartments he
had engaged for her were the most expensive in the hotel,
and as far as I could gather from the French waiter,
whom I judiciously tipped, he appeared to treat her with
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every consideration and kindness. Ah, poor lady, the man exclaimed,
as he stood in my room answering my questions. What
an affliction she writes down all her orders, for she
can utter no word. Has the Englishman received any visitors?
I asked one man, a Russian, an official of police.
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I think if he receives any one else, let me know,
I said, And I want you to give Mademoiselle a
letter from me in secret. Viennoucheur, I turned to the
little writing table and scribbled a few hasty lines to
my love, announcing my presence and asking her to grant
me an interview in secret. As soon as Woodruff was absent.
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I also warned her of the search for her instigated
by the Baron, and urged her to send me a
line in reply. The note was delivered into her hand,
but although I waited in suspense nearly all day, she
sent no reply. While Woodruff was in the hotel. I
dared not show myself lest he should recognize me. Therefore,
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I was compelled to sham indisposition and to eat my
meals alone in my room. Both the means by which
she had met Martin Woodruf and the motive were equally
an enigma. By that letter she had written to her schoolfellow,
it was apparent that she had some secret of his.
For had she not wished to send him a message
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of reassurance that she had divulged nothing, this would seem
that they were close friends. Yet on the other hand,
something seemed to me that he was acting falsely and
was really an ally of the barons. Why had he
brought her to Petersburg. If he had desired to rescue her,
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he would have taken her in the opposite direction, to Stockholm,
where she would be free, whereas he took her, an
escaped prisoner, into the very midst of peril. It it
was true that her passport was in order, yet I
remembered that an order had been issued for her transportation
to Succhhelian, and now, once arrested, she must be lost
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to me forever. This thought filled me with fierce anxiety.
She was in Petersburg, that city where police spies swarm,
and where every fresh arrival is noted and his antecedts
inquired into. No attempt had been made to disguise who
she was. Therefore, before long the police would undoubtedly come
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and arrest her as the escaped criminal from Kajana. For
several hours, I sat at my window, watching the life
and movement down in the street below. My mind full
of wonder and dark forebodings. Was Martin Woodruff playing her
false Just after half past six o'clock, the waiter entered,
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and handing me a note on a salver, said, mademoiselle,
has I believe only this moment been able to write
in secret. I tore it open and read as follows,
Dear friend, I am so surprised. I thought you were
still in the bow. Woodruf has an appointment at eight
o'clock on the other side of the city. Therefore, come
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to me at eight fifteen. I must see you, and
at once I am in peril. Elma Heath, my love
was in peril. It was just as I had feared.
I thanked providence that I had been sent to help
her and extricate her from that awful fate to which
the Strangler of Finland had consigned her. At the hour
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she named after the waiter had come to me and
announced the englishman's departure. I descended to her sitting room
and entered without wrapping, for if I had rapped, she
could not alas have heard. The apartment was spacious and comfortable,
thickly carpeted with heavy furniture and gilding. Before the long
window were drawn curtains of dark green plush, and on
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one side was the high stove of white porcelain with
shining brass bands. While from her low lounge chair, a
slim wan figure sprang up quickly and came forward to
greet me, holding out both her hands and smiling happily.
I took her hands in mine and held them tightly
in silence for some moments. As I looked earnestly into
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those wonderfully brilliant eyes of hers. She turned away, laughing,
a slight flush rising to her cheeks in her confusion.
Then she led me to a chair and motioned me
to be seated. Ours was a silent meeting, but her
gestures and the expression of her eyes were surely more
eloquent than mere words. I knew well what pleasure that
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re encounter caused her equal pleasure with that it gave
to me. Until that moment, I had never really loved.
I had admired and flirted with women what man has not. Indeed,
I had admired Muria life court, But never until now
had I experienced in my heart the real flame of
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true burning affection. The sweetness of her expression, the tender
caress of those soft, tapering hands, the deep, mysterious look
in those magnificent eyes, and the incomparable grace of all
her movements combined to render her the most perfect woman
I had ever met, perfect in all alas save speech
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and hearing, of which with such dastard wantonness she had
been deprived. She touched her red lips with the tip
of her forefinger, opened her hands, and shrugged her shoulders
with a sad gesture of regret. Then, turning quickly to
some paper on the little table at her side, she
wrote something with a gold pencil and handed it to me.
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It read, surely Providence has sent you here. Mister Woodruff
must have followed you from England. He is my enemy.
You must take me from here and hide me they
in ten to send me into exile. Have you ever
been in Petersburg before? Do you know any one here? Then,
when I had read, she handed me her pencil, and
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below I wrote, I will do my best. Dear friend,
I have been once in Petersburg. But is it not
possible that we should escape at once from Russia? Impossible?
She wrote? We should both be arrested at the frontier.
It would be best to go into hiding here in Petersburg.
I believed Woodruff to be my friend, but I have
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found only this day that he is my enemy. He
knew that I was in Kajana and was in a bow.
When he learned of my escape, he went with two
other men in search of us, and discovered us that
night when we sought shelter at the woodcutter's hut. Without
making his presence known. He waited outside until you were asleep,
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and then he came and looked in at my window.
At first I was alarmed, but quickly I saw that
he was a friend. He told me that the police
were in the vicinity and intended to raid the hut.
Therefore I fled with him, first down to the tamaphores
and then to a beau and on here. At that
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time I did not see the dastardly trap he had
laid in order to get me out of the Baron's
clutches and wring from me my secret. If I confess,
he intends to give me up to the police, who
will send me to the mines. Does your secret concern him?
I asked, in writing, Yes, she wrote in response, it
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would be equally in his interests, as well as those
of Baron Obert, if I were sent to sug Helian
and my identity effaced. I am a Russian subject, as
I have already told you. Therefore, with a ministerial order
against me, I am in deadliest peril. Trust in me,
I scribbled quickly. I will act upon any suggestion you make.
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Have you any female friend in whom you could trust
to hide you until this danger is passed. There is
one friend, a true friend. Will you take a note
to her? She wrote, to which I instantly nodded in
the affirmative. Then rising, she obtained some ink and pen
and wrote a letter, the contents of which she did
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not show me before she sealed it. I sat watching
her beautiful head bent beneath the shaded lamplight, catching her
profile and noticing how eminently handsome it was, superb and
unblemished in her youthful womanhood. I watched her write the
superscription upon the envelope, Madame Olga starsuleed Modista scredna prospect
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two three one vacilly austro. I knew that the district
was on the opposite side of the city, close to
the Little Neva. Take Drosky at once see her and
await a reply. In the meantime, I will prepare to
be ready when you return, she wrote. If Olga is
not at home, asked to see the red priest in
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Russian krasnpostor returned quickly, as I fear Woodruff may come back.
If so I am lost, I assured her I would
not lose a single instant, and five minutes later I
was tearing down the Moiskaya in Drovsky, along the canal
and across the Nicholas Bridge to the address upon the envelope.
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The house was I found somewhat smaller than its neighbors,
but not let out in flats as the other. Upon
the door was a large brass plate bearing the name
Orgastrassuleedek modes. I pressed the electric button, and in answer,
a tall, clean shaven Russian servant opened the door. Madame
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is not at home, was his brief reply to my inquiry.
Then I will see the red priest, I said, in
a lower tone, I come from elma Heath. Thereupon, without
further word, the man admitted me into the long dark
hall and closed the door, with an apology that the
gas was not lighted. But striking a match, he led
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me up the broad staircase and into a small, cozy,
well furnished room on the second floor, evidently the sitting
room of some studious person, judging from the books and
critical reviews lying about. For a few minutes. I waited
there until the door reopened, and there entered a man
of medium height with a shock of long, snow white hair,
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an almost patriarchal beard, whose dark eyes that age had dimmed,
flashed out at me with a look of curious inquiry,
and whose movements were those of a person not quite
at his ease. I have called on behalf of Mademoiselle
elma Heath to give this letter to Madame Strasslevitch, for
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if she is absent, to place it in the hands
of the red Priest, I explained in my best Russian.
Very well, sir, the old man responded in quite good English,
I am the person you seek. And taking the letter,
he opened it and read it through. I saw by
the expression on his furrowed face that its contents caused
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him the utmost consternation. His countenance, already pale, blanched to
the lips, while in his eyes there shot a fire
of quick apprehension. The thin, almost transparent hand holding the
letter trembled visibly. You know, mademoiselle, eh, he asked in
a hoarse, strained voice, as he turned to me. You
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will help her to escape. I will risk my own
life in order to save hers, I declared, And your
devotion to her is prompted by what he inquired suspiciously.
I was silent for a moment. Then I confessed the
truth my affection. Ah, he sighed deeply. Poor young lady,
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she who has enemies on every hand, sadly needs a friend.
But can we trust you? Have you no fear of
what of being implicated in the coming revolution in Russia?
Remember I am the red priest. Have you never heard
of me? My name is Otto Kampf, Otto Kampf. I
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stood before him open mouthed. Who in Russia had not
heard of that mysterious unknown person who had directed a
hundred conspiracies against the Imperial Autocrat, and yet the identity
of whom the police had always failed to discover. It
was believed that comp had once been professor of chemistry
at Moscow University, and that he had invented that most
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terrible and destructive explosive used by the revolutionist the ingredients
of the powerful compound and the mode of firing. It
was the secret of the nilist alone, and Otto Kampf,
the mysterious leader, whose personality was unknown even to the
conspirators themselves, directed those constant attempts which held the Emperor
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and his government in such hourly terror. Rewards without number
had been offered by the Ministry of the Interior for
the betrayal and arrest of the unseen man, whose power
in Russia, permeating every class, was greater than that of
the Emperor himself, at whose word one day the people
would rise in a body and destroy their oppressors. The Emperor,
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the ministers, the police, and the bureaucrats knew this, yet
they were powerless. They knew that the mysterious professor, who
had disappeared from Moscow fifteen years before and had never
since been seen, was only waiting his opportunity to strike
a blow that would stagger and crush the Empire from
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end to end. Yet of his whereabouts they were in
utter ignorance. You are surprised, the old man laughed, noticing
my amazement. Well, you are not one of us. Yet
I need not impress upon you the absolute necessity for
Mademoiselle's sake to preserve the secret of my existence. It
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is because you are not a member of the will
of the people that you have never heard of the
red priest read. Because I wrote my ultimatum to the
Tsar in the blood of one of his victims, knouted
in the fortress of Peter and Paul, and priest, because
I preached the gospel of freedom and justice, I shall
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say nothing, I said, gazing at the strangely striking figure
before me, the unknown man who directed the great upheaval
that was to revolutionize Russia. My only desire is to
save Mademoiselle Heath, and you are prepared to do so
at risk of your own liberty, your own life. Ah,
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you said, you love her, would not this be a
test of your affection. I am prepared for any test,
as long as she escaped the trap which her enemies
have set for her. I succeeded in saving her from Gajana,
and I intend to save her. Now. Was it you
who actually entered Kajana and snatched her from that tomb?
He exclaimed, And he took my hand enthusiastically, adding I
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have no further need to doubt you, And turning to
the table, he wrote an address upon a slip of papers, saying,
take mademoiselle. There. She will find a safe place of concealment.
But go quickly, for every moment places you both in
more deadly peril. Hide yourself there also. I thanked him
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and left it once. But as I stepped out of
the house and re entered the drusky, I saw close by,
lurking in the shadow, the spy of the Strangler of Finland,
who had traveled with me from a bow. Our eyes
met and he recognized me, notwithstanding my light overcoat and
new hat. Then, with heart sinking, the ghastly truth flashed
(32:59):
upon me. All had been in vain Alma was lost
to me. End of Chapter thirteen, Recording by Tom Weiss,
Chapter thirteen of The Tsar's Spy. This Liebervots recording is
in the public domain recording by Tom Weiss. The Tsar
Spy by William Leque, chapter thirteen, A Double Game and
its Consequences. I went to the railway station, and from
(00:23):
the timetable gathered that if I left a beau by
rail at noon, I could be in Petersburg an hour
before noon on the morrow, or about four hours before
the arrival of the steamer by which the Silent girl
and her companion were passengers. This I decided upon doing.
But before leaving I paid a visit to my friend Baranski, who,
(00:45):
to my surprise and delight, handed me my wallet with
the Tsar's letter intact, saying that it had been found
upon a German thief who had been arrested at the
harbor on the previous night. The fellow had no doubt
stolen it from my pocket, believing I carried my paper
money in the flat. The affair of the English lady
(01:06):
is a most extraordinary one, remarked the Chief of police,
toying with his pen as he sat at his big table.
She seems to have met this englishman up at Tamarfores
or at some place further north. Yet it is curious
that her passport should be in order, even though she
fled so precipitately from Kajana. There is a mystery connected
(01:29):
with her disappearance from the woodcutter's hut that I confess
I cannot fathom. Neither can I, I said, I know
the man who is with her, and cannot help fearing
that he is her bitterest enemy, that he is acting
in concert with the baron. Then why is he taking
her to the capital beyond the jurisdiction of a governor general.
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I am going straight to Petersburg to a certain I said,
I have only come to thank you for your kindness
in this matter. Truth to tell, I have been somewhat
surprised that you should have interested yourself on my behalf,
I added, looking straight at the uniformed official. It was
not on yours, but on hers. He answered, somewhat ignomatically.
(02:14):
I know something of the affair, but it was my
duty as a man to help the poor girl to
escape from that terrible place. She has, I know, been
unjustly condemned for the attempted assassination of the wife of
a General condemned with a purpose. Of course, such a
thing is not unusual in Finland. Abominable, I cried, Obert
(02:37):
is a veritable fiend. But the man only shrugged his shoulders, saying,
the orders of his excellency, the Governor General have to
be obeyed. Whatever they are, we often regret, but we
dare not refuse to carry them out. Russia is a
disgrace to our modern civilization, I declared hotly. I have
(02:58):
every sympathy with those who are fighting for freedom. Ah,
you are not alone in that, he sighed, speaking in
a low whisper and glancing around. His majesty would order
reforms and ameliorate the condition of his people, if only
it were possible. But he, like his officials, are powerless.
Here we speak of the great uprising with bated breath,
(03:21):
but we alas know that it must come one day,
very soon, and Finland will be the first to endeavor
to break her bonds, and the Baron Oberg the first
to fall. For nearly an hour I sat with him,
surprised to find how although his exterior was so harsh
and uncouth, yet his heart really bled for the poor
(03:43):
starving people. He was so constantly forced to oppress. I
have ruined this town of a beau, he declared, quite frankly.
To my own knowledge, five hundred innocent persons have gone
to prison, and another two hundred have been exiled to Siberia.
Yet what I have done is only at direct orders
from Helsingfors, orders that are stern, pitiless, and unjust. Men
(04:08):
have been torn from their families and sent to the mines.
Women have been arrested for no offense and shipped off
to Sukhulian and mere children have been cast into prison
on charges of political conspiracy with their elders in order
to Russify the province. Only, he added anxiously, I trust
you will never repeat what I tell you. You have
(04:30):
asked me why I assisted the English mademoiselle to escape
from Kajana, and I have explained the reason. We ate
a hearty meal in the company at the Sampollina, a
restaurant built like a Swiss chalet, and at noon I
entered the train on the first stage of my slow,
tedious journey through the great Silent forests and along the
(04:52):
shores of the lakes of southern Finland by way of
Travestius and Vayborg to Petersburg. I was alone in the
and sat moodily watching the panorama of wood and river
as we slowly wound up the tortuous ascents and descended
the steep radiance. I had not even a newspaper with
which to while away the time, only my own apprehensive
(05:15):
thoughts of whither my helpless love was being conducted. Surely
to no man was there ever presented such a complicated
problem as that which I was now trying so vigorously
to solve. I loved Elma Heath. The more I reflected,
the deeper did her sweet countenance and tender grace impress
(05:36):
themselves upon my heart. I loved her. Therefore I was
striving to overtake her. The steamer, I learned, would call
at Hango and helsingfors would they, I wonder, disembark at
either of those places? Was the man whom I had
known as Hornby, the owner of the Lola, taking her
(05:57):
to place her again in the fiendish hands of Xavier Oberg.
The very thought of it caused me to hold my breath.
Daylight came at last, cold and gray over those dreary,
interminable marshes, were game especially snipe seemed abundant, and at
a small station at the head of a lake called
david Stadt, I took my morning glass of tea. Then
(06:20):
we resumed our journey down to Vyborg, where a short,
thick set Russian of the commercial class but something of
a dandy, entered my compartment, and we left express for Petersburg.
We had passed by a small station called Galatzina, near
which were many villas occupied in summer by families from Petersburg,
(06:42):
and were traveling through the dense, gloomy pine woods, when
my fellow traveler, having asked permission to smoke, commenced to
chat affably. He seemed a pleasant fellow and told me
that he was a wool merchant and that he had
been having a pleasant vacation trout fish in Nvoski, above
the falls of Amatra, where the pools between the rapids
(07:03):
abound with fish. He had told me that on account
of the shore being so full of weeds and the
clearness of the water, fishing from the banks was almost
an impossibility, and how they had to accustom themselves to
troll from a boat so small as to only accommodate
the rower and the fishermen then he remarked, suddenly you
(07:23):
are English, I presume, possibly from helsingfors No, I answered,
from a bow, I crossed from Stockholm and am going
to Petersburg. And I also I live in Petersburg. He added,
we may perhaps meet one day. Do you know the capital?
I explained that I had visited it once before and
(07:44):
had done the usual round of sight seeing. His manner
was brisk and to the point, as became a man
of business. But when we stopped at billie Ostrov, on
the opposite side of the small winding river that separates
Finland from Russia proper, the customs officer who came to
examine our baggage exchanged a curious meaning look with him.
(08:05):
My fellow traveler believed that I had not observed yet
keenly on the alert as I now was, I was
shrewd to detect the least sign or look, and I
at once resolved to tell the fellow nothing further of
my own affairs. He was, no doubt a spy of
the stranglers, who had followed me all the way from
a bow and had only entered my carriage for the
(08:28):
final stage of the journey. This revelation caused me some uneasiness,
for even though I was able to evade the man,
on arrival in Petersburg, he could no doubt quickly obtain
news of my whereabouts from the police, to whom my
passport must be sent. I pretended to doze and lay
back with my eyes half closed, watching him. When he
(08:51):
found me disinclined to talk further, he took up the
paper he had bought and became engrossed in it, while I,
on my part, endeavored to form some plan by which
to mislead and escape his vigilance. The fellow meant mischief
that I knew if Elma was flying in secret, and
he watched me, he would know that she was in
(09:14):
Petersburg at all hazards. For my love's sake as well
as for mine, I saw that I must escape him.
The ingeniousness and cleverness of Oberg's spies was proverbial throughout Finland.
Therefore he might not be alone, or in any case,
on arrival in Petersburg, would obtain assistance in keeping observation
(09:36):
upon me. I knew that the Baron desired my death,
and that therefore I could not be too wary of pitfalls.
That fatal chair so cunningly prepared for me in Lambeth
was still vividly within my memory. As we passed Lanskaya
and ran through the outer suburbs of Petersburg, my fellow
(09:57):
traveler became inquisitive as to where I would going, but
I was somewhat unresponsive and busied myself with my bag
until we entered the great Echoing Terminus, whence I could
see the Neva gleaming in the pale sunlight and the
city beyond. The fellow made no attempt to follow me.
He was too clever a secret agent for that. He
(10:18):
merely wished me Trastudare, raised his hat politely and disappeared.
A porter carried my bag out of the station, and
I drove across the bridge to the large hotel where
I had stopped before the Europe, on the corner of
the Nevsky Prospect and the Michael Street. There I engaged
a front room, looking down into the broad Nevsky, had
(10:40):
a wash, and then watched at the window for the
appearance of the spy. I had already a good four
hours before the steamer from a Bow was due, and
I intended to satisfy myself whether or not I was
being followed. Within twenty minutes, the fellow lounged alongside the
opposite side of the road. Just as I had expected,
(11:03):
he had changed his clothes and presented such a different
appearance that at first sight I failed to recognize him.
He knew that I had driven there, and intended to
follow me if I came forth. My position was one
of extreme difficulty, for if I went down to the quay,
he would most certainly follow me. Having watched his movements
(11:25):
for ten minutes or so, I descended to the big
sally moucherer and there ate my luncheon, chatting to the
French waiter. The while I sat purposely in an alcove,
so as to be away from the other people lunching there,
and in order that I might be able to talk
with the waiter without being overheard. Just as I had
finished my meal and he was handing me my bill,
(11:47):
I bent towards him and asked, do you want to
earn twenty roubles? Well, monsieur, he answered, looking at me
with some surprise, they would be acceptable. I am a
married man. Well, I want to escape from this place
without being observed. There is a disagreeable little matter regarding
a lady, and I fear a frakus with a man
(12:10):
who is awaiting me outside in the nevski. Then, seeing
that he hesitated, I assured him that I had committed
no crime and that I should return for my baggage.
That evening. You could pass through the kitchen and out
by the servant's entrance. He said, after a moment's reflection,
if Monsieur so desires, I will conduct him out. The
(12:32):
exit is in the back street, which leads on to
the Catherine Canal. Excellent, I said, let us go. Of course,
you will say nothing, not a word, monsieur, and he
gathered up the notes plus twenty roubles with which I
paid my bill, and taking my hat, I followed him
to the end of Le Salle Maucher, behind a high
(12:53):
wooden screen, across the huge kitchen, and then through a
long stone corridor at the end of which sat a
gruff old door keeper. My guide spoke a word to him,
and then the door opened, and I found myself in
a narrow back slum with the canal beyond. My first
visit was to a clothier's, where I purchased and put
(13:15):
on a new light overcoat, and then to a hatter's
for a hat of different shape to that I was wearing.
I carried the hat back to a quiet alley which
I had noticed, and quickly exchanged the one I was
wearing for it, leaving my old hat in a corner.
Then I entered a cafe in order to while away
the hours until the vessel from Finland was due. At
(13:38):
four o'clock I was out upon the quay, straining my
eyes seaward for any sign of smoke, but could see nothing.
The sun was sinking, and the broad expanse of water
westward danced like liquid gold. The light died out slowly,
the cold gray of evening crept on. A chill wind
sprang up and swept the quay, causing me to shire.
(14:00):
I asked of a dock laborer whether the steamer was
usually late, whereupon he told me that it was often
five or six hours behind time, depending upon the delay
at helsingfors. Twilight deepened into night and the rain fell heavily.
Yet I still paced the wet flags in patience, my
eyes ever seaward for the light of the vessel, which
(14:23):
I hoped bore my love my presence there aroused some
speculation among the loungers, I think. Nevertheless, I waited in
deepest anxiety whether after all Alma and Hornby had not
disembarked at Helsingfors. Soon after ten o'clock a light shone
afar off, and the movement of the police and porters
(14:44):
on the quay told me that it was the vessel.
Then after a further anxious quarter of an hour, it came,
amid great shouting and mutual imprecations, slowly alongside the quay,
and the passengers at last began to disembark in the
pelting rain. One after another, they walked up the gangway,
filing into the passport office and on into the custom house.
(15:08):
People of all sorts and all grades, Swedes, Germans, Fins
and Russians, until suddenly I caught sight of two figures,
one a man in a big tweed traveling coat and
a golf cap, and the other the slight figure of
a woman in a long dark cloak and a woolen
tam O'Shanter. The electric rays fell upon them as they
(15:31):
came up the wet gangway together, and there once again
I saw the sweet face of the silent woman whom
I had grown to love with such fervent desperation. The
man behind her was the same one who had entertained
me on board the Lola, the man who was said
to be the lover of the fugitive Muriel life court.
(15:54):
Without betraying my presence, I watched them pass through the
passport office and custom house, and then overhearing the address
which Martin Woodruff gave the Isvasishchik, I stood aside, wet
to the skin, and saw them drive away. At eleven o'clock.
On the following day, I found myself installed in the
Hotel de Paris, a comfortable hostelery in the little mors Kaya,
(16:18):
having succeeded in evading the vigilance of the spy who
had so cleverly followed me from a bow, and in
getting my suit case round from the Hotel Europe. I
was beneath the same roof as Elma, although she was
in ignorance of my presence. Anxious to communicate with her
without Woodru's knowledge, I was now awaiting my opportunity. He had,
(16:42):
it appeared, taken for her a pleasant front room with
sitting room adjoining on the first floor, while he himself
occupied a room on the third floor. The apartments he
had engaged for her were the most expensive in the hotel,
and as far as I could gather from the French waiter,
whom I judiciously tipped, he appeared to treat her with
(17:02):
every consideration and kindness. Ah, poor lady, the man exclaimed,
as he stood in my room answering my questions. What
an affliction she writes down all her orders, for she
can utter no word. Has the Englishman received any visitors?
I asked one man, a Russian, an official of police.
(17:22):
I think if he receives any one else, let me know,
I said, And I want you to give Mademoiselle a
letter from me in secret. Viennoucheur, I turned to the
little writing table and scribbled a few hasty lines to
my love, announcing my presence and asking her to grant
me an interview in secret. As soon as Woodruff was absent.
(17:45):
I also warned her of the search for her instigated
by the Baron, and urged her to send me a
line in reply. The note was delivered into her hand,
but although I waited in suspense nearly all day, she
sent no reply. While Woodruff was in the hotel. I
dared not show myself lest he should recognize me. Therefore,
(18:08):
I was compelled to sham indisposition and to eat my
meals alone in my room. Both the means by which
she had met Martin Woodruf and the motive were equally
an enigma. By that letter she had written to her schoolfellow,
it was apparent that she had some secret of his.
For had she not wished to send him a message
(18:28):
of reassurance that she had divulged nothing, this would seem
that they were close friends. Yet on the other hand,
something seemed to me that he was acting falsely and
was really an ally of the barons. Why had he
brought her to Petersburg. If he had desired to rescue her,
(18:49):
he would have taken her in the opposite direction, to Stockholm,
where she would be free, whereas he took her, an
escaped prisoner, into the very midst of peril. It it
was true that her passport was in order, yet I
remembered that an order had been issued for her transportation
to Succhhelian, and now, once arrested, she must be lost
(19:11):
to me forever. This thought filled me with fierce anxiety.
She was in Petersburg, that city where police spies swarm,
and where every fresh arrival is noted and his antecedts
inquired into. No attempt had been made to disguise who
she was. Therefore, before long the police would undoubtedly come
(19:32):
and arrest her as the escaped criminal from Kajana. For
several hours, I sat at my window, watching the life
and movement down in the street below. My mind full
of wonder and dark forebodings. Was Martin Woodruff playing her
false Just after half past six o'clock, the waiter entered,
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and handing me a note on a salver, said, mademoiselle,
has I believe only this moment been able to write
in secret. I tore it open and read as follows,
Dear friend, I am so surprised. I thought you were
still in the bow. Woodruf has an appointment at eight
o'clock on the other side of the city. Therefore, come
(20:15):
to me at eight fifteen. I must see you, and
at once I am in peril. Elma Heath, my love
was in peril. It was just as I had feared.
I thanked providence that I had been sent to help
her and extricate her from that awful fate to which
the Strangler of Finland had consigned her. At the hour
(20:37):
she named after the waiter had come to me and
announced the englishman's departure. I descended to her sitting room
and entered without wrapping, for if I had rapped, she
could not alas have heard. The apartment was spacious and comfortable,
thickly carpeted with heavy furniture and gilding. Before the long
window were drawn curtains of dark green plush, and on
(21:00):
one side was the high stove of white porcelain with
shining brass bands. While from her low lounge chair, a
slim wan figure sprang up quickly and came forward to
greet me, holding out both her hands and smiling happily.
I took her hands in mine and held them tightly
in silence for some moments. As I looked earnestly into
(21:20):
those wonderfully brilliant eyes of hers. She turned away, laughing,
a slight flush rising to her cheeks in her confusion.
Then she led me to a chair and motioned me
to be seated. Ours was a silent meeting, but her
gestures and the expression of her eyes were surely more
eloquent than mere words. I knew well what pleasure that
(21:42):
re encounter caused her equal pleasure with that it gave
to me. Until that moment, I had never really loved.
I had admired and flirted with women what man has not. Indeed,
I had admired Muria life court, But never until now
had I experienced in my heart the real flame of
(22:03):
true burning affection. The sweetness of her expression, the tender
caress of those soft, tapering hands, the deep, mysterious look
in those magnificent eyes, and the incomparable grace of all
her movements combined to render her the most perfect woman
I had ever met, perfect in all alas save speech
(22:25):
and hearing, of which with such dastard wantonness she had
been deprived. She touched her red lips with the tip
of her forefinger, opened her hands, and shrugged her shoulders
with a sad gesture of regret. Then, turning quickly to
some paper on the little table at her side, she
wrote something with a gold pencil and handed it to me.
(22:48):
It read, surely Providence has sent you here. Mister Woodruff
must have followed you from England. He is my enemy.
You must take me from here and hide me they
in ten to send me into exile. Have you ever
been in Petersburg before? Do you know any one here? Then,
when I had read, she handed me her pencil, and
(23:10):
below I wrote, I will do my best. Dear friend,
I have been once in Petersburg. But is it not
possible that we should escape at once from Russia? Impossible?
She wrote? We should both be arrested at the frontier.
It would be best to go into hiding here in Petersburg.
I believed Woodruff to be my friend, but I have
(23:33):
found only this day that he is my enemy. He
knew that I was in Kajana and was in a bow.
When he learned of my escape, he went with two
other men in search of us, and discovered us that
night when we sought shelter at the woodcutter's hut. Without
making his presence known. He waited outside until you were asleep,
(23:54):
and then he came and looked in at my window.
At first I was alarmed, but quickly I saw that
he was a friend. He told me that the police
were in the vicinity and intended to raid the hut.
Therefore I fled with him, first down to the tamaphores
and then to a beau and on here. At that
(24:15):
time I did not see the dastardly trap he had
laid in order to get me out of the Baron's
clutches and wring from me my secret. If I confess,
he intends to give me up to the police, who
will send me to the mines. Does your secret concern him?
I asked, in writing, Yes, she wrote in response, it
(24:36):
would be equally in his interests, as well as those
of Baron Obert, if I were sent to sug Helian
and my identity effaced. I am a Russian subject, as
I have already told you. Therefore, with a ministerial order
against me, I am in deadliest peril. Trust in me,
I scribbled quickly. I will act upon any suggestion you make.
(24:59):
Have you any female friend in whom you could trust
to hide you until this danger is passed. There is
one friend, a true friend. Will you take a note
to her? She wrote, to which I instantly nodded in
the affirmative. Then rising, she obtained some ink and pen
and wrote a letter, the contents of which she did
(25:20):
not show me before she sealed it. I sat watching
her beautiful head bent beneath the shaded lamplight, catching her
profile and noticing how eminently handsome it was, superb and
unblemished in her youthful womanhood. I watched her write the
superscription upon the envelope, Madame Olga starsuleed Modista scredna prospect
(25:44):
two three one vacilly austro. I knew that the district
was on the opposite side of the city, close to
the Little Neva. Take Drosky at once see her and
await a reply. In the meantime, I will prepare to
be ready when you return, she wrote. If Olga is
not at home, asked to see the red priest in
(26:07):
Russian krasnpostor returned quickly, as I fear Woodruff may come back.
If so I am lost, I assured her I would
not lose a single instant, and five minutes later I
was tearing down the Moiskaya in Drovsky, along the canal
and across the Nicholas Bridge to the address upon the envelope.
(26:29):
The house was I found somewhat smaller than its neighbors,
but not let out in flats as the other. Upon
the door was a large brass plate bearing the name
Orgastrassuleedek modes. I pressed the electric button, and in answer,
a tall, clean shaven Russian servant opened the door. Madame
(26:50):
is not at home, was his brief reply to my inquiry.
Then I will see the red priest, I said, in
a lower tone, I come from elma Heath. Thereupon, without
further word, the man admitted me into the long dark
hall and closed the door, with an apology that the
gas was not lighted. But striking a match, he led
(27:11):
me up the broad staircase and into a small, cozy,
well furnished room on the second floor, evidently the sitting
room of some studious person, judging from the books and
critical reviews lying about. For a few minutes. I waited
there until the door reopened, and there entered a man
of medium height with a shock of long, snow white hair,
(27:33):
an almost patriarchal beard, whose dark eyes that age had dimmed,
flashed out at me with a look of curious inquiry,
and whose movements were those of a person not quite
at his ease. I have called on behalf of Mademoiselle
elma Heath to give this letter to Madame Strasslevitch, for
(27:54):
if she is absent, to place it in the hands
of the red Priest, I explained in my best Russian.
Very well, sir, the old man responded in quite good English,
I am the person you seek. And taking the letter,
he opened it and read it through. I saw by
the expression on his furrowed face that its contents caused
(28:15):
him the utmost consternation. His countenance, already pale, blanched to
the lips, while in his eyes there shot a fire
of quick apprehension. The thin, almost transparent hand holding the
letter trembled visibly. You know, mademoiselle, eh, he asked in
a hoarse, strained voice, as he turned to me. You
(28:37):
will help her to escape. I will risk my own
life in order to save hers, I declared, And your
devotion to her is prompted by what he inquired suspiciously.
I was silent for a moment. Then I confessed the
truth my affection. Ah, he sighed deeply. Poor young lady,
(28:58):
she who has enemies on every hand, sadly needs a friend.
But can we trust you? Have you no fear of
what of being implicated in the coming revolution in Russia?
Remember I am the red priest. Have you never heard
of me? My name is Otto Kampf, Otto Kampf. I
(29:20):
stood before him open mouthed. Who in Russia had not
heard of that mysterious unknown person who had directed a
hundred conspiracies against the Imperial Autocrat, and yet the identity
of whom the police had always failed to discover. It
was believed that comp had once been professor of chemistry
at Moscow University, and that he had invented that most
(29:44):
terrible and destructive explosive used by the revolutionist the ingredients
of the powerful compound and the mode of firing. It
was the secret of the nilist alone, and Otto Kampf,
the mysterious leader, whose personality was unknown even to the
conspirators themselves, directed those constant attempts which held the Emperor
(30:05):
and his government in such hourly terror. Rewards without number
had been offered by the Ministry of the Interior for
the betrayal and arrest of the unseen man, whose power
in Russia, permeating every class, was greater than that of
the Emperor himself, at whose word one day the people
would rise in a body and destroy their oppressors. The Emperor,
(30:30):
the ministers, the police, and the bureaucrats knew this, yet
they were powerless. They knew that the mysterious professor, who
had disappeared from Moscow fifteen years before and had never
since been seen, was only waiting his opportunity to strike
a blow that would stagger and crush the Empire from
(30:50):
end to end. Yet of his whereabouts they were in
utter ignorance. You are surprised, the old man laughed, noticing
my amazement. Well, you are not one of us. Yet
I need not impress upon you the absolute necessity for
Mademoiselle's sake to preserve the secret of my existence. It
(31:10):
is because you are not a member of the will
of the people that you have never heard of the
red priest read. Because I wrote my ultimatum to the
Tsar in the blood of one of his victims, knouted
in the fortress of Peter and Paul, and priest, because
I preached the gospel of freedom and justice, I shall
(31:31):
say nothing, I said, gazing at the strangely striking figure
before me, the unknown man who directed the great upheaval
that was to revolutionize Russia. My only desire is to
save Mademoiselle Heath, and you are prepared to do so
at risk of your own liberty, your own life. Ah,
(31:52):
you said, you love her, would not this be a
test of your affection. I am prepared for any test,
as long as she escaped the trap which her enemies
have set for her. I succeeded in saving her from Gajana,
and I intend to save her. Now. Was it you
who actually entered Kajana and snatched her from that tomb?
He exclaimed, And he took my hand enthusiastically, adding I
(32:16):
have no further need to doubt you, And turning to
the table, he wrote an address upon a slip of papers, saying,
take mademoiselle. There. She will find a safe place of concealment.
But go quickly, for every moment places you both in
more deadly peril. Hide yourself there also. I thanked him
(32:37):
and left it once. But as I stepped out of
the house and re entered the drusky, I saw close by,
lurking in the shadow, the spy of the Strangler of Finland,
who had traveled with me from a bow. Our eyes
met and he recognized me, notwithstanding my light overcoat and
new hat. Then, with heart sinking, the ghastly truth flashed
(32:59):
upon me. All had been in vain Alma was lost
to me. End of Chapter thirteen, Recording by Tom Weiss,
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