"Marshal, you lie with admirable grace."
"I have lived five years in Russia, you see."
"But, marshal," remonstrated Barbara, gravely, "you have placed me in a false position, by letting me pose before the Diet as the escaped victim of an assassination plot."
"A splendid way of catching votes," returned Zabern, coolly. "And votes were what we wanted."
"And you have endeavored to connect Lipski with the deed. Is that well devised, marshal?"
"Perfectly," replied the unscrupulous Zabern. "He has in his paper advocated the slaying of rulers; he is therefore a potential, if not an actual, assassin. I have but given the people of Czernova a practical illustration of his teaching. O your Highness, let me show that your consideration for Lipski is somewhat misplaced. You are doubtless aware that to his editorship of the 'Kolokol' he also adds the calling of gunsmith and armorer, and a very convenient calling it is for one who is ill-disposed to the state."
"Be plainer with me, marshal."
"I have long suspected Lipski of treasonable designs, and therefore, observing a few days ago that a private house contiguous to his establishment in the Boulevard de Cracovie was to be let, I instructed one of my spies to rent and occupy the said house, the cellar of which adjoins Lipski's. Last night my agent and I cautiously removed a few bricks from the upper part of the intervening wall, and turned the light of a lantern through the orifice thus made. Your Highness, that vault, which is a lofty and spacious one, contains more rifles than Lipski will ever be able to sell, even if he should live to be a centenarian. They lie stacked up from floor to ceiling. I probably do not overshoot the mark when I say that there cannot be less than ten thousand. The law does not permit any citizen, even a gunsmith, to possess one-twentieth of that number."
"This is a grave matter," said Barbara. "Those arms must be seized."
"Certainly, your Highness; for while it is right for us to store up arms against the Czar, it's a monstrous thing that the Czar's hirelings should be permitted to pile up arms against ourselves. Never let others do to you as you would do to them."