Page:William Le Queux - The Czar's Spy.djvu/311

Rh Majesty would order reforms and ameliorate the condition of his people, if only it were possible. But he, like his officials, is powerless. Here we speak of the great uprising with bated breath, but we, alas! know that it must come one day — very soon — and Finland will be the first to endeavour to break her bonds — and the Baron Oberg the first to fall."

For nearly an hour I sat with him, surprised to find how, although his exterior was so harsh and uncouth, yet his heart really bled for the poor starving people he was so constantly forced to oppress.

"I have ruined this town of Abo," he declared, quite frankly. "To my own knowledge five hundred innocent persons have gone to prison, and another two hundred have been exiled to Siberia. Yet what I have done is only at direct orders from Helsingfors — orders that are stern, pitiless and unjust. Men have been torn from their families and sent to the mines, women have been arrested for no offence and shipped off to Saghalien, and more children have been cast into prison on charges of political conspiracy with their elders — in order to Russify the province! Only," he added anxiously, "I trust you will never repeat what I tell you. You have asked me why I assisted the English Mademoiselle to escape from Kajana, and I have explained the reason."

We ate a hearty meal in company at the Sampalinna, a restaurant built like a Swiss châlet, and at noon I entered the train on the first stage of my slow, tedious journey through the great silent forests