“You miserable dog!” I exclaimed. “Do you think I have forgotten who lay outside the czarevna’s door? Give me the packet that the Boyar Ramodanofsky gave you, or I will send you into eternity by the shortest road you can travel!”
He was terribly frightened; having no idea how I came by my accurate information, he evidently imagined that I was acquainted with the black arts. He made no further effort to resist me, but after a little search in his pockets, produced the packet and handed it to me. I released his throat to take it, but kept my pistol at his head until I could examine the seals, and was satisfied that it was the identical packet, and strange to relate, not a seal was broken.
“Knave,” I said, “where were you taking this?”
A gleam of malicious satisfaction shone in Homyak’s eyes, and yet I was satisfied that he told the truth when he replied, only enjoying the thought of my probable discomfiture when I heard who was arrayed against me.
“I was to take it to the patriarch,” he said.
I started. The patriarch! Yes, it might be so, for he was a member of the Sabelief family, and a strong adherent of the Naryshkins; but what a complication! Sophia’s secret intrigues to be laid bare before Joachim.
I released the dwarf with a hearty kick. “Go,” I exclaimed; “and if I ever find you meddling with my affairs again, I will cut off your head just behind your ears!”
Homyak did not wait for further admonition, but scurried away like a rabbit, only too thankful to get my fingers off his throat.
CHAPTER XIII.
PRINCE BASIL GALITSYN.
Although the packet was again safe in my possession, I was in some perplexity. The czarevna’s directions were emphatic. I was to have delivered it into Prince Galitsyn’s hands on the previous evening, and he was then temporarily at the house of the Boyar Urusof. Where the prince was now, and what the czarevna’s present wishes in regard to the ill-fated packet, I was at loss to conjecture. Yet it did not occur to me to go back to the Kremlin, and restore her missive with only the plain story of my defeat. While I was casting about in my mind for a ready solution of my difficult problem, I heard the sound of a horse’s hoofs, and a rider entered the farther end of the lane; as he approached, I recognized Pierrot. He uttered an exclamation, and slipping from the saddle, stood before me, as stoical as ever, save for a gleam of relief in his eyes. I was more glad to see the knave than I let him know.