The hot blood dyed her face. She was not conscious of unfaithfulness, in the sense of having preferred anyone else to David. But she was conscious of a complete change of mind with regard to him. She wished he had not written. But the letter must be opened. She drew it from her pocket with reluctant fingers, and broke the seal.
"Savlinsky Copper Mines,
"Barralinsk,
"Siberia, via Moscow.
"MY DEAR RONA,—I have not written to you for many, many weeks, and this for two reasons. The first of these is that, since you told me of your change of feeling towards me, I have found it very difficult to know what to say to you. The other concerns my own personal safety.
"I do not know whether it will interest you. Since your letter I have several times thought that my best course would be to disappear and let you hear no more of me. But the desire in me for a kind word from you is too strong for that.
"If you are not interested, simply do not read this.
"As I have told you, for a period of nearly two years I was let alone by the Brotherhood so completely that I began to think that I had shaken them off. Most of the men who had had to do with me were killed during the Russian Revolution. But one man, a Pole called Cravatz, bore me a special grudge. He has tracked me in all my movements, and at last, when he found me in Siberia, settled in a position of responsibility and trusted everywhere, he found means to communicate with me. The Governor of this Province of Barralinsk is obnoxious to the Brotherhood. He was in command of a regiment in St. Petersburg during the rising, and it was believed that he had urged the severe treatment of rebels. Knowing him as I do, I think this most unlikely; but however, he is on the proscribed list. Cravatz brought me the official command from the Brotherhood, that I was to be the instrument of their vengeance upon this man. That means that I am under orders to commit a murder. If it is not done by the last day of August my own life will not be safe for an instant.
"This was a crushing blow to me for more reasons than one. To begin with, the Governor is my personal friend. From him I have always received the utmost kindness, as well as from his daughter.
"But in addition to this, I have got on so well, and my prospects are so good, that I am in a position to gratify the only wish I have in the world, were the woman I love only brave enough to face a life in this lonely place. But I could not, of course, think of asking you to encounter the risk of my being murdered, perhaps before your eyes.
"However, Vronsky, my well-loved Vronsky, who is a second father to me, thinks he sees a way out. Cravatz is a thorough-paced scoundrel, and he has put himself within reach of the law out here.
"If we can get him arrested all will be well; there is no other member of the Brotherhood to follow the thing up.