| CHAPTER | |
| I. | [THE MEETING] |
| II. | [I AM A NIHILIST] |
| III. | [MY SECONDS] |
| IV. | [THE DUEL] |
| V. | [GETTING DEEPER] |
| VI. | [A LEGACY OF LOVE] |
| VII. | [A LESSON IN NIHILISM] |
| VIII. | [THE RIVERSIDE MEETING] |
| IX. | [DEVINSKY AGAIN] |
| X. | ["THAT BUTCHER, DURESCQ"] |
| XI. | [DANGER FROM A FRESH SOURCE] |
| XII. | [CHRISTIAN TUESKI] |
| XIII. | [OLGA IN A NEW LIGHT] |
| XIV. | [THE DEED WHICH RANG THROUGH RUSSIA] |
| XV. | [A SHE DEVIL] |
| XVI. | [THE NEXT NIHILIST PLOT] |
| XVII. | [AN EXTRAORDINARY ADVENTURE] |
| XVIII. | [THE REASON OF THE INTRIGUE] |
| XIX. | [OLGA'S ABDUCTION] |
| XX. | [THE RESCUE] |
| XXI. | [THREE TO ONE] |
| XXII. | [THE BEGINNING OF THE END] |
| XXIII. | [CHECKMATE!] |
| XXIV. | [CRISIS] |
| XXV. | [COILS THAT NO MAN COULD BREAK] |
| XXVI. | [MY DECISION] |
| XXVII. | [THE FOUR ALDER TREES] |
| XXVIII. | [THE ATTACK ON THE CZAR] |
| XXIX. | [THE TRUTH OUT AT LAST] |
| XXX. | [AFTERWARDS] |
BY RIGHT OF SWORD.
CHAPTER I.
THE MEETING.
Moscow.
"MY DEAR RUPERT.
"Don't worry your head about me. I shall be all right. I did not see you before leaving because of the scene with your sister and Cargill, which they may perhaps tell you about. I have done with England: and as the auspices are all for war, I mean to have a shy in. I went to Vienna, thinking to offer myself to the Turks: but my sixteen years in Russia have made too much of a Russ of me to let me tolerate those lazy cruel beggars. So I turned this way. I'm going on to St Petersburg to-day, for I find all the people I knew here as a lad have gone north. I have made such a mess of things that I shall never set foot in England again. If Russia will have me, I shall volunteer, and I hope with all my soul that a Turkish bullet will find its billet in my body. It shan't be my fault if it doesn't. If I hadn't been afraid of being thought afraid, I'd have taken a shorter way half a score of times. My life is an inexpressible burden, and I only wish to God someone would think it worth while to take it. I don't want to be hard on your sister, but whatever was left in my heart or life, she has emptied, and I only wish she'd ended it at the same time. You'll know I'm pretty bad when not even the thought of our old friendship gives me a moment's pleasure. Good-bye. Don't come out after me. You won't find me if you do.
Your friend,
HAMYLTON TREGETHNER."
The letter was wretchedly inconsequential. When I sat down to write I hadn't meant to tell Rupert Balestier that his sister's treatment had made such a mess of things for me; but my pen ran away with me as it always does, and I wasn't inclined to write the letter all over again. I hate letter writing. I was to leave Moscow, moreover, in an hour or two, and when I had had my things sent to the railway station and followed them, I dropped the letter into the box without altering a word.