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BY ORDER OF THE CZAR. 355

in time I should be well enough to undergo a continuation of my sentence which belonged to the gaol and the mine : but by some unaccountable intervention I was released and carried away to a foreign city. There was one great, good friend of the Jew, who lived on the outskirts of Czar- ovna, a Russian noble, who had, under pressure of ingrati- tude and persecution from his master, joined a branch of this Brotherhood of the Dawn."

For a moment the speaker paused in response to sup- pressed but vigorous tokens of approval.

"The cause and the Brotherhood ! " almost shouted one of the unnamed, raising his glass and clinking it with those of his neighbors.

Philip watched the woman with an intent gaze of wonder.

" His name was Stravensky the Count Stravensky. He knew my father, he knew me; saw me on that fatal day, hurrying to the traitor's palace, endeavored to interpose for me on the scaffold, was rebuffed, and ordered to his home. His wealth and his early services to the Czar, the greatness of his family name, and his burning desire for vengeance, sent him to St. Petersburg, where he resolved to fight his way diplomatically to place and position, his left hand the Emperor's, his right hand for Russia. It was through his intervention that I was removed, through his intervention that I was reported dead. That was the only report the Government would accept and so Anna Kloss- tock died. In a few years there arose from that moral death a new woman. Educated in Italy by scholars, tended by devoted women ; with what object, with what ambition, they knew not, nor did I for a time half suspect how Fate was working for me. Day nor night did I ever cease to pray for vengeance upon Petronovitch, whose march of advancement I watched with a smile of hate, noted his achievements in Central Asia, his proud conquests in the field, his social and diplomatic victories. One day