“I shall take the precaution of wrapping our papers in an envelope which I shall stamp with the seal of the Papal Legation. My position is well known, and the papers will be safe enough.”
“Fairly safe, shall we say?” retorted a grim voice from the further end of the room.
“Anyhow, it is obvious that we can have no safer messenger than Iván,” decided the president; “his is the only plan that promises the slightest measure of safety.”
A general murmur of approval confirmed this decision.
“In four days, then, from now, I pledge you my word that these papers will be safely handed over by me to Taranïew and the Petersburg committee,” said the young Pole with fervour, “together with the news of the glorious act we have accomplished to-night, which is to result in the freedom of Dunajewski and our other comrades, whom we had looked upon as lost. And will you tell me now, as my duties with his Eminence may prevent my seeing you before I start, what you propose doing in the meanwhile?”
“There is very little that we can do,” said the president; “some of us will watch Lavrovski; others, Madame Demidoff. If there is the slightest suspicion of their moving in the matter and calling in police aid, we will convey to them the same warning that Taranïew will submit at headquarters.”
“Remember, Volenski,” added another member of the committee, “that our anxiety for the safety of our papers and of you, our messenger, will have reached its culminating point on the fourth day from this; and that if you can do so with prudence, try to communicate with us as soon as you have seen Taranïew.”
“I will most certainly do so,” said Iván. “Never fear, the papers will be quite safe; as soon as I have delivered them I shall find my way towards the frontier, where I shall await Dunajewski and our comrades with the money, the committee has entrusted me with, for them. They will be in need of that. Moreover, I shall be very happy to shake hands with them and tell them—for they will still be ignorant of it—how we effected their release.”
The discussion was closed now; cigarettes and pipes appeared once more, and a quiet hum of conversation, where no mention of plot or Tsar was made, took the place of enthusiastic discussion. The president was chatting quietly with Volenski, who had slipped the precious papers into his breast-pocket.
Iván was the first to rise.