Guilty Bonds

“My uncle – always a scheming villain – laid his plans deeply in this, as in other things. I was the instigator of the attempt to be made, and was at my wits’ ends to know how to get the instrument conveyed to Petersburg. The police were keeping a sharp look-out, and for any of our Circle to have entered Russia would have been highly dangerous. Notwithstanding this, I was determined to succeed. Meanwhile our affection was not unnoticed by Orselska, who spoke to me upon the subject. Remember, he was my guardian, and, not being of age, I was bound to obey him in a certain measure. When I admitted that I loved you and that you had asked me to be your wife, he flew into a passion, and said he would never give his consent. For several days he was harsh and unkind, when suddenly his manner changed and he again referred to the matter. He said he would give his consent with one stipulation: that I should, as a test of your love, get you to take the instrument to Petersburg, the – ”

“The instrument! What do you mean?” I asked.

“I mean, that the box you took to the Russian capital did not contain jewels at all; it was dynamite clock!”

“An infernal machine!”

“Yes. It was that which wrecked the Winter Palace on the day you were arrested. But listen, and you will learn the depth of Orselska’s villainy. Already by his treachery my poor father had been degraded and killed, and the fortune left to me was in his hands. He was determined to keep it, and there were but two ways of doing this: either I, too, must be killed, or marry his son Demetrius. Now you see why he schemed that you should be sent upon that dangerous errand. You were sent, Frank dear, so that on your arrival he, as a police spy, could give information which would secure your arrest and exile?”

“Impossible!” I cried. “Yet the explosion accounts for the excitement on the night of my arrest.”

“It is true, every word,” my wife asserted.

“I was arrested, nevertheless.”

“Yes, and it was with difficulty that we planned your escape. Partisans of Czaricide, those assisting in the struggle of freedom, however, are to be found in every class of society in my downtrodden country. The military and prison officials are no exception. My brother Boris, who was not – after all – dead, had allied himself with the Nihilists from the same motives as myself, and chanced to be the officer in command of the escort ordered to take your convoy to Siberia. Two of the prison warders were members of my Circle. Your trial was avoided by the judicious exercise of stratagem. When you changed clothes with the dead convict you ceased to exist in the eyes of the law, and your subsequent escape, due mainly to the exertions of Boris, was rendered easy.”

“Why did you remain silent so long after my return to England?”

She gazed upon me with loving eyes, and ran her fingers tenderly through my hair as she replied, – “Because I strove to forget you. I was ashamed at the deceit I had been compelled to practise, and felt that you could never forgive me sufficiently to again have confidence in me.”

“But I have done so, Vera.”

“Yes, that is why I am so happy – or – or rather, I shall be happy,” she replied, endeavouring to smile.

“Finish your story, and we shall no longer be alienated.”

“My confession is unpleasant, nay, horrible, but I must continue it,” she sighed. “After your escape from Russia my uncle, from some inexplicable cause, turned against me, and I had but one friend, Demetrius. As the playmate of my youth who had been absent many years, he renewed his acquaintanceship with a kindness and tenderness that caused me to suspect his intentions. My surmise proved correct. He asked me to marry him; and I, having in a manner pledged myself to you, refused.”

“And what did he do?”

“It made but little difference. We were none the less friends; for even though the father is a vile schemer, the son is not.”

“You refused him because you loved me so well?”

“Yes, dear, I did,” she replied.

Then she bent, and our lips met.

Chapter Thirty Four

A Strange Disclosure

The door opened, and Boris Seroff stood before us.

Little introduction was necessary. We grasped each other’s hands.

“My brother! The man of whom you were jealous,” laughed Vera, as she nervously twisted the ribbons of her wrap around her hand.

“Well,” said Boris, heartily, “I’m pleased we are relatives, and that we have at last met. The mystery you have so long tried to solve can now be cleared up.”

“I have just been relating my history,” said Vera, naïvely.

“Then I will explain something of mine, although it is a story not enticing to tell,” Boris exclaimed, a shadow of pain crossing his face.

“Let me know all!” I urged, impatiently. “What I have already heard has almost bewildered me; I can scarcely realise its truth.”