When I regained consciousness I found myself in a small room within the convent. This was the tiny ante-room, built out separately from the parent building, a room in which the friends of the nuns might have interviews with their acquaintances; and here I speedily became aware that the old nun (who, I learned, was the Superior of the community) was busily fastening bandages about my head, which—presumably—had been somewhat roughly used.
‘How did I get here?’ I asked. ‘And who has broken my head for me? Was it Rachmanof?’
‘You were overcome by treachery. Yet the victory was yours, as for ever it has been and shall be on the side of those who espouse the cause of right and fight as the champions of Christ; for see, Rachmanof is wounded and has driven away worsted, and his sister is here and safe, thanks to your intervention. Be sure the good nuns shall pray for you, Cossack, for this service, and I also. The prayers of the righteous travel far. You shall prosper in the world and shall have your desires.’
‘You would not promise so glibly if you knew what they are, Mother,’ I laughed. ‘I am very ambitious.’
‘So long as your ambitions do not transgress the law of Christ who is our Master, I shall pray that they may be fulfilled to your comfort.’
‘Oh, I mean no ill to any living soul,’ I said. ‘I would climb, certainly, but that need not be over the backs of others! Pray for me, Mother, that the deceitful may not triumph over me.’ I thought of Mazeppa as I made this request, and when the Superior replied that both she and her nuns would pray heartily that I might prevail in a just cause, against devils, principalities, powers, and I know not what, I felt that I had scored many points against my fox-friend, Mazeppa.
‘Moreover,’ said the good woman, ‘if there be any young maiden in whom you are interested whom you would rather see in this sanctuary than exposed to the degradation of the Tsar’s bride-choosing in the terem, let her come here, in God’s name, and we will take her in and cherish her for the sake of your service this day.’
I laughed and thanked the good soul—‘Though I am a stranger and therefore not likely to desire sanctuary for any maiden consigned to the terem’—yet when I left the convent, presently, to return to my lodging, it occurred to me that the offer of the Superior might, after all, prove useful in case matters should become urgently dangerous for Vera Kurbatof.
CHAPTER XIV
And now for my second adventure.