“Ivan Galetzoff! you have shewn that you can go through the lesser dangers and difficulties of life without shrinking; but have you courage to face the worst, for what you have just undergone is as nothing to what you must suffer, before we can confide in you.”
“I am prepared for the most terrific dangers, and fear nothing.”
“Stay then,” said the voice; “answer our questions. Wherefore did you come hither?”
“To meet those who are lovers of true freedom,” answered Ivan.
“You speak well,” said the voice; “are you ready to devote your talents, your fortune, and your life, to their sacred cause?”
“Most willingly would I do my utmost to win true Liberty for Russia,” he answered.
“Are you willing to take the oaths which bind all the members of this association?”
“I would be equally bound to support others, as they are to support me, but I cannot pledge myself to measures of which I know not the aim.”
“You speak sensibly,” said the voice, “that we do not demand. Inviolable secrecy and fidelity are all that is required of you, but oaths must not be taken in the dark: from henceforth, may the light of liberty shine as bright and purely as this flame.”
At that moment, the bandage fell from Ivan’s eyes, and he was almost blinded by a dazzling and brilliant flame which burned before him. On recovering his sight, he found himself standing in the midst of a circle of persons, the points of whose swords radiated towards him.