IX: I MAKE A PRISONER
WE went back very deliberately to Maître le Bastien’s house. It was not the chamberlain’s habit to walk rapidly, and I dragged purposely, not only to gain time, but to plan some way of ridding myself of my companion. Vasili Ivanovitch, as Sophia called him, but more commonly Chamberlain Kourbsky, was determined to keep me close under his eye, and I was equally determined to evade him. How, it yet remained to be seen. We walked along, therefore, in grim silence, each busy doubtless with his own plots, each watchful of the other. But slowly as we walked we got to the house at last, and by that time I had made my plan, but I know not whether he had his or not; if he had, it miscarried for the time.
We entered the lower hall and I called loudly for Michaud, but the varlet, taking advantage of his master’s absence, had gone out; neither could I find Maluta; only Advotia came to stare at us stupidly, so there was nothing left but to go on up the stairs with my friend the chamberlain. And on the way he was suddenly seized with a sense of his duty.
“You must haste, Master Goldsmith,” he said pompously; “the czarevna waits.”
“Precisely,” I replied, nodding my head and passing the door of the workshop; “you will follow me, sir.”
He stared a little, having halted at the shop, supposing that the miniature was somewhere there amidst the litter of Maître le Bastien’s work.
“It is not there,” I said, replying to his glance, “it is necessary to secure the valuables. Ascend, monsieur.”
He sighed and followed me up the second flight, narrower than the first, and we reached the terem. This part of the house, occupied now only by Advotia and a female scullion, was bare and poor enough, and I saw him stare about in astonishment, but I was not yet done with him.
“Higher, monsieur,” I said blandly, and led the way to the little stairs that went to the turret, which contained one small room with three narrow, slit-like windows.
He followed, obstinate as a bull, but I heard him pant as he laboured up. The stairs were steep and narrow, and at the turn he nearly stuck fast, and I heard him mumbling some incoherent ejaculations. Up I went and he followed, blowing now and puffing out his cheeks. I was well ahead, and slipped the key from the inside to the outside of the lock; then I went into the little chamber and waited for him. On one window-sill some pigeons sunned themselves, I could see the belfry of the great tower of Ivan Veliki. I heard Kourbsky come up, blowing now like a whale. There was a chest in the room, under one window, and, as he entered, I pretended to be trying the lid. He stood getting his breath, his face as red as blood, for he was very angry.