So active were the police that it had been impossible to establish a secret press in Russia with any degree of safety; hence it was that Boris Dobroslavin and Isaac Bolomez, two working printers of Warsaw, had come to London for the purpose of printing revolutionary literature, which was afterwards smuggled across the Russian frontier.
The house in which they had established themselves was one of those small, old-fashioned, grimy private dwellings of the usual type found in the East End, and in the back parlour they had fitted up a hand-press, while in an upstairs room they did the work of composing in Russian type which they had brought from Poland.
Here the manifestoes and pamphlets issued by the Executive were printed, and by means only known to our Organisation conveyed into Russia and Siberia to be circulated secretly. For nearly a year the dissemination of Terrorist literature had been going on, and we were gradually flooding the Empire with documents advocating freedom.
Dobroslavin and Bolomez were pleasant, easy-going fellows, and one day while walking with Karelin in the Whitechapel Road I met them and introduced him. They had previously heard me speak of the blind exile, and were at once interested in him, inviting him to their house. During the weeks that followed we four often spent evenings together at Little Alie Street, although it must be remembered that no intimation was ever given to Karelin of the nature of the business that was carried on there, or was he ever shown into the work-rooms.
Elyòna sometimes accompanied her father, and on those occasions would sing some of those old Polish love-songs that touch the heart of the exiled patriotic Russian. She possessed a pretty contralto voice, and generally accompanied herself upon an old mandoline, which she played with considerable skill.
One evening an incident occurred that puzzled me greatly. We had been chatting together in the front sitting-room, and Boris and Isaac had left the room in order to consult in private upon a note they had just received from the Executive. Karelin and myself were sitting in armchairs on either side of the fireplace, when I noticed that on a table, immediately behind my companion, there lay a half-printed copy of a sixteen-page pamphlet entitled “To-morrow,” which, couched in inflammatory language, had been so largely circulated as to cause the greatest consternation among members of the “Third Section,” who were utterly at a loss to discover who was primarily responsible for the multiplication of this severe and ruthless criticism of the Imperial Autocrat.
As I sat watching the old man’s expressionless face I could not help reflecting that it was a rash proceeding to allow such a document to lie about openly. Yet I remembered that the old man was blind and could not possibly ascertain the nature of the printed paper. Just at that moment Bolomez put his head inside the door and called me into the next room to join in their conference.
When, five minutes later, I returned to the sitting-room, Karelin was still in the attitude in which I had left him, but the pamphlet was no longer there!
Its disappearance surprised me, for it seemed quite as impossible that any one had entered the room and taken it during my brief absence as that the blind man had discovered it. It was upon my tongue to remark upon it, but I hesitated, perceiving that to refer to it might whet the old man’s curiosity and arouse his suspicions.
Nevertheless, the disappearance of the pamphlet was a mystery, and I determined upon finding out whether he had purloined it, and if so, the object of the theft.