When I Was Czar

by Arthur W. Marchmont

But where should I tell them to look for the body? To bring them after it to Brabinsk would only put them on the scent after Helga, a result full of dangerous possibilities.

Yet how to get it away? It occurred to me that Ivan and I might carry it off some miles from the house and hide it in a wood or pond or somewhere; but the personal risks attending such a venture were too considerable, and in a way unnecessary.

Thus in the end I was driven back upon the decision to leave it at Brabinsk; and Ivan and I had to undertake the exceedingly gruesome and revolting task of burying it under the floor of a distant out-house.

I shall not readily forget that experience. Ivan was cool enough; but for my part I felt nearly as bad as any murderer could have felt when seeking to hide the body of his victim; and when I got back to the house, a stiff glass of brandy was necessary to enable me to shake off the feeling of chilly horror.

Then I had to plan my further movements. Roughly, my intention was to get back to the Palace and obtain an audience of the Emperor at the earliest possible moment, and beg him to see Helga.

Prince Kalkov I did not wish to see until after that. I took Helga’s view of matters, and believed that if she could get the story of her father’s ruin straight to the Emperor, before the Duchess Stephanie could influence him, she would succeed in working upon his old friendship for her father sufficiently at least to cause some kind of investigation into the affair.

But in that we should have to reckon with Prince Kalkov, of course; and he would be an ugly enemy. Fight he would, naturally, to the last gasp; and his influence, position, and parts would ensure that such a struggle would be a desperate one. It was like challenging the whole force of the Government; and however good our case might be, there were a hundred things likely to arise to defeat us.

When I am trying to think out a course coolly, I have an unfortunate knack of seeing all the dangers and obstacles through a kind of mental magnifying glass; and I saw so many now, and they all appeared so great that I could only regard our chances as little short of hopeless.

Then added to everything was this infernal Nihilist complication. Not only would it afford Kalkov a lever of tremendous power against Helga, but it threatened to dog our every movement with perilous personal risk.

It was in this respect that Vastic’s death was so threatening. The instant I told Kalkov of it he would be in possession of the fact that Helga was implicated with the brotherhood. He would recognize in a moment the importance to him of denouncing his accuser as a Nihilist of the Nihilists, and would find or invent a thousand proofs in support of the charge; and her whole case would be instantly tainted and ruined.