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Not one of those who heard it but had good reason to know what it meant
for a revolutionist to fall into the hands of Russia. For a man it meant
the last extremity of human misery that flesh and blood could bear, but
for a young and beautiful woman it was a fate that no words could
describe--a doom that could only be thought of in silence and despair;
and so the friends of Natasha were silent, though they did not yet
despair. Roburoff bowed his head in acknowledgment of the inarticulate
but eloquent endorsement of his words, and went on--
"You already know the outcome of Richard Arnold's visit to Russia; how
he was present at the trial of the Tsar's war-balloon, and was compelled
to pronounce it such a complete success, that the Autocrat at once gave
orders for the construction of a fleet of fifty aerostats of the same
pattern; and how, thanks to the warning conveyed by Anna Ornovski, he
was able to prevent his special passport being stolen by a police agent,
and so to foil the designs of the chief of the Third Section to stop him
taking the secret of the construction of the war-balloon out of Russia.
You also know that he brought back the Chief's authority to build an
air-ship after the model which was exhibited to us here, and that since
his return he has been prosecuting that work on Drumcraig Island, one of
the possessions of the Chief in the Outer Hebrides, which he placed at
his disposal for the purpose.
"You know, also, that Natasha and Anna Ornovski went to Russia partly to
discover the terms of the secret treaty that we believed to exist
between France and Russia, and partly to warn, and, if possible, remove
from Russian soil a large number of our most valuable allies, whose
names had been revealed to the Minister of the Interior, chiefly through
the agency of the spy Martinov, who was executed in this room six months
ago.
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