“Not more so than any man would have been in like case,” I said; “he had been knocked about until there was but little breath left in him. A miserable knave he is, too, and deserved it all. By the way, Pierrot,” I added with a sudden resolution, “where is Prince Dolgoruky’s man Tikhon? I had forgotten him.”
“I have him yet, monsieur,” Pierrot replied, with his usual imperturbable calm; “he is below, in the ironed room, and I have seen to his comfort.”
I laughed a little. “The rascal deserved punishment,” I said; “but it seems to me that he has received a fair portion. You must let him go, Pierrot; he can do no harm now, and a longer detention will only increase the ill-will of the prince his master, and I have enough of that already, without going on to accumulate it.”
“I will let him go immediately, M. le Vicomte,” Pierrot replied quietly; “but I think he richly merited all he has received and more. He is but a spy and a coward, in any case.”
“We must show mercy if we expect it, Pierrot,” I said gravely, “and Tikhon will surely reap his own reward. A man who has no higher aim than to be another’s spy and tale-bearer and hired assassin soon finds his compensation. If he does not die by a pistol-shot or a knife-thrust, he will presently get his head into a halter; therefore let him go with a light heart.”
My toilet being now accomplished, I left my bedroom, and, walking leisurely through the ante-rooms, entered the salon, where the imperial messenger awaited me with great impatience. He was a young man by the name of Shein, a relative of the Boyar Shein, whom I knew to be close to the person of the czar; he was chafing under the delay which on my part was intentional. He greeted me with the respect due to my person, but came immediately to the substance of his errand.
“M. de Brousson,” he said, with an air of importance, “I am charged with a message from his imperial Majesty the Czar, bidding M. de Lambert, a gentleman of your suite, to be present at the palace this morning by ten o’clock to receive certain instructions and commands from his Majesty.”
I listened with a composure that ruffled the young fellow, who was elated with the importance of his errand. Without immediately replying, I seated myself in the great chair by the hearth, and, looking around at him, allowed him to see that I was so little disturbed by the order that I could take time to reflect upon my reply.
“Your master should have sent this message twelve hours ago,” I remarked calmly. “His Majesty had impressed upon me his desire that M. de Lambert should leave Moscow, and, acting solely from deference to his wishes, I endeavored to fulfil his commands to the letter; therefore this order is unhappily too tardy for me to respond to it with the alacrity that I should desire to show to any command of the czar.”
Shein looked at me anxiously. “Do you mean, M. le Vicomte, that the bird has flown?” he asked eagerly.