The Secret Of The Night(Fiscle Part 3) by Gaston Leroux (best business books of all time txt) 📖
- Author: Gaston Leroux
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Martyrs Already!"
Part 1 Chapter 19 (The Tsar) Pg 217
"You Have Replied To Me, Sire, In Such A Way That You Make Me
Understand There Is No Sacrifice - Even To The Sacrifice Of Your
Amour-Propre The Greatest A Ruler Can Suffer - No Sacrifice Too
Dear To Ransom From Death One Of These Martyrs."
"Ah, Ah! These Gentlemen Lay Down Conditions To Me! Money. Money.
They Need Money. And At How Much Do They Rate The Head Of The
General?"
"Sire, That Does Not Touch Your Majesty, And I Never Will Come To
Offer You Such A Bargain. That Matter Concerns Only Natacha
Feodorovna, Who Has Offered Her Fortune!"
"Her Fortune! But She Has Nothing."
"She Will Have One At The Death Of The General. Now She Engages To
Give It All To The Revolutionary Committee The Day The General Dies
- If He Dies A Natural Death!"
The Emperor Rose, Greatly Agitated.
"To The Revolutionary Party! What Do You Tell Me! The Fortune Of
The General! Eh, But These Are Great Riches."
"Sire, I Have Told You The Sercet. You Alone Should Know It And
Guard It Forever, And I Have Your Sacred Word That, When The Hour
Comes, You Will Let The Prize Go Where It Is Promised. If The
General Ever Learns Of Such A Thing, Such A Treaty, He Would Easily
Arrange That Nothing Should Remain, And He Would Denounce His
Daughter Who Has Saved Him, And Then He Would Promptly He The Prey
Of His Enemies And Yours, From Whom You Wish To Save Him. I Have
Told The Secret Not To The Emperor, But To The Representative Of
God On The Russian Earth. I Have Confessed It To The Priest, Who
Is Bound To Forget The Words Uttered Only Before God. Allow Natacha
Feodorovna Her Own Way, Sire! And Her Father, Your Servant, Whose
Life Is So Dear To You, Is Saved. At The Natural Death Of The
General His Fortune Will Go To His Daughter, Who Has Disposed Of
It."
Rouletabille Stopped A Moment To Judge Of The Effect Produced. It
Was Not Good. The Face Of His August Listener Was More And More
In A Frown.
The Silence Continued, And Now The Reporter Did Not Dare To Break
It. He Waited.
Finally, The Emperor Rose And Walked Forward And Backward Across
The Room, Deep In Thought. For A Moment He Stopped At The Window
And Waved Paternally To The Little Tsarevitch, Who Played In The
Park With The Grand-Duchesses.
Then He Returned To Rouletabille And Pinched His Ear.
"But, Tell Me, How Have You Learned All This? And Who Then Has
Part 1 Chapter 19 (The Tsar) Pg 218Poisoned The General And His Wife, In The Kiosk, If Not Natacha?"
"Natacha Is A Saint. It Is Nothing, Sire, That She Has Been Raised
In Luxury, And Vows' Herself To Misery; But It Is Sublime That She
Guards In Her Heart The Secret Of Her Sacrifice From Everyone, And,
In Spite Of All, Because Secrecy Is Necessary And Has Been Required
Of Her. See Her Guarding It Before Her Father, Who Has Been Brought
To Believe In The Dishonor Of His Daughter, And Still To Be Silent
When A Word Would Have Proved Her Innocent; Guarding It Face To Face
With Her Fiance, Whom She Loves, And Repulses Because Marriage Is
Forbidden To The Girl Who Is Supposed To Be Rich And Who Will Be
Poor; Guarding It, Above All - And Guarding It Still - In The Depths
Of The Dungeon, And Ready To Take The Road To Siberia Under The
Accusation Of Assassination, Because That Ignominy Is Necessary For
The Safety Of Her Father. That, Sire - Oh, Sire, Do You See!"
"But You, How Have You Been Able To Penetrate Into This Guarded
Secret?"
"By Watching Her Eyes. By Observing, When She Believed Herself
Alone, The Look Of Terror And The Gleams Of Love. And, Beyond All,
By Looking At Her When She Was Looking At Her Father. Ah, Sire,
There Were Moments When On Her Mystic Face One Could Read The Wild
Joy And Devotion Of The Martyr. Then, By Listening And By Piecing
Together Scraps Of Phrases Inconsistent With The Idea Of Treachery,
But Which Immediately Acquired Meaning If One Thought Of The
Opposite, Of Sacrifice. Ah, That Is It, Sire! Consider Always The
Alternative Motive. What I Finally Could See Myself, The Others,
Who Had A Fixed Opinion About Natacha, Could Not See. And Why Had
They Their Fixed Opinion? Simply Because The Idea Of Compromise
With The Nihilists Aroused At Once The Idea Of Complicity! For
Such People It Is Always The Same Thing - They Never Can See But
The One Side Of The Situation. But, Nevertheless, The Situation
Had Two Sides, As All Situations Have. The Question Was Simple.
The Compromise Was Certain. But Why Had Natacha Compromised
Herself With The Nihilists? Was It Necessarily In Order To Lose
Her Father? Might It Not Be, On The Contrary, In Order To Save
Him? When One Has Rendezvous With An Enemy It Is Not Necessarily
To Enter Into His Game, Sometimes It Is To Disarm Him With An
Offer. Between These Two Hypotheses, Which I Alone Took The
Trouble To Examine, I Did Not Hesitate Long, Because Natacha's
Every Attitude Proclaimed Her Innocence: And Her Eyes, Sire, In
Which One Read Purity And Love, Prevailed Always With Me Against
All The Passing Appearances Of Disgrace And Crime.
"I Saw That Natacha Negotiated With Them. But What Had She To
Place In The Scales Against The Life Of Her Father? Nothing
- Except The Fortune That She Would Have One Day.
"Some Words She Spoke About The Impossibility Of Immediate Marriage,
About Poverty Which Could Always Knock At The Door Of Any Mansion,
Remarks That I Was Able To Overhear Between Natacha And Boris
Mourazoff, Which To Him Meant Nothing, Put Me Definitely On The
Right Road. And I Was Not Long In Ascertaining That The Negotiations
Part 1 Chapter 19 (The Tsar) Pg 219In This Formidable Affair Were Taking Place In The Very House Of
Trebassof! Pursued Without By The Incessant Spying Of Koupriane,
Who Sought To Surprise Her In Company With The Nihilists, Watched
Closely, Too, By The Jealous Supervision Of Boris, Who Was Jealous
Of Michael Nikolaievitch, She Had To Seize The Only Opportunities
Possible For Such Negotiations, At Night, In Her Own Home, The Sole
Place Where, By The Very Audacity Of It, She Was Able To Play Her
Part In Any Security.
"Michael Nikolaievitch Knew Annouchka. There Was Certainly The
Point Of Departure For The Negotiations Which That Felon-Officer,
Traitor To All Sides, Worked At Will Toward The Realization Of His
Own Infamous Project. I Do Not Think That Michael Ever Confided To
Natacha That He Was, From The Very First, The Instrument Of The
Revolutionaries. Natacha, Who Sought To Get In Touch With The
Revolutionary Party, Had To Entrust Him With A Correspondence For
Annouchka, Following Which He Assumed Direction Of The Affair,
Deceiving The Nihilists, Who, In Their Absolute Penury, Following
The Revolt, Had Been Seduced By The Proposition Of General
Trebassof's Daughter, And Deceiving Natacha, Whom He Pretended To
Love And By Whom He Believed Himself Loved. At This Point In The
Affair Natacha Came To Understand That It Was Necessary To Propitiate
Michael Nikolaievitch, Her Indispensable Intermediary, And She
Managed To Do It So Well That Boris Mourazoff Felt The Blackest
Jealousy. On His Side, Michael Came To Believe That Natacha Would
Have No Other Husband Than Himself, But He Did Not Propose To Marry
A Penniless Girl! And, Fatally, It Followed That Natacha, In That
Infernal Intrigue, Negotiated For The Life Of Her Father Through
The Agency Of A Man Who, Underhandedly, Sought To Strike At The
General Himself, Because The Immediate Death Of Her Father Before
The Negotiation Was Completed Would Enrich Natacha, Who Had Given
Michael So Much To Hope. That Frightful Tragedy, Sire, In Which
We Have Lived Our Most Painful Hours, Appeared To Me, Confident Of
Natacha's Innocence, As Absolutely Simple As For The Others It
Seemed Complicated. Natacha Believed She Had In Michael
Nikolaievitch A Man Who Worked For Her, But He Worked Only For
Himself. The Day That I Was Convinced Of It, Sire, By My Examination
Of The Approach To The Balcony, I Had A Mind To Warn Natacha, To Go
To Her And Say, 'Get Rid Of That Man. He Will Betray You. If You
Need An Agent, I Am At Your Service.' But That Day, At Krestowsky,
Destiny Prevented My Rejoining Natacha; And I Must Attribute It To
Destiny, Which Would Not Permit The Loss Of That Man. Michael
Nikolaievitch, Who Was A Traitor, Was Too Much In The 'Combination,'
And If He Had Been Rejected He Would Have Ruined Everything. I
Caused Him To Disappear! The Great Misfortune Then Was That
Natacha, Holding Me Responsible For The Death Of A Man She Believed
Innocent, Never Wished To See Me Again, And, When She Did See Me,
Refused To Have Any Conversation With Me Because I Proposed That I
Take Michael's Place For Her With The Revolutionaries. She Would
Have Nothing To Do With Me In Order To Protect Her Secret. Meantime,
The Nihilists Believed They Were Betrayed By Natacha When They
Learned Of The Death Of Michael, And They Undertook To Avenge Him.
They Seized Natacha, And Bore Her Off By Force. The Unhappy Girl
Learned Then, That Same Evening, Of The Attack Which Destroyed The
Part 1 Chapter 19 (The Tsar) Pg 220Datcha And, Happily, Still Spared Her Father. This Time She Reached
A Definite Understanding With The Revolutionary Party. Her Bargain
Was Made. I Offer You For Proof Of It Only Her Attitude When She
Was Arrested, And, Even In That Moment, Her Sublime
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