“The knout. What is that?” asked Wilfrid with assumed innocence.
“Now you jest, gospodin. ’Tis a whip.”
“Does it—ah!—hurt?”
“You’ll soon be in a position to judge.”
“How so?”
“You heard the Czar say that you are to be brought to the Red Square at the first parade in the morning.”
“You mean that I am to be knouted?”
“As surely as the sun will rise to-morrow. If the gospodin has any money or jewelry upon him, he had better entrust them to me.”
“For what purpose?”
“To bribe the executioner, so that he may accommodate you according to your taste.”