Stormlight: a story of Love and Nihilism in Switzerland and Russia

Front matter

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Prologue

. CHAP. I. THE MYSTERIOUS COUNT ... ... ... ... ... II II. THE KISS OF DEATH ... ... ... ..: ... ... 15 THE STORY EIGHTEEN YEARS AFTERWARDS. I. SCHMIDT & SONS OF ZURICH... ... ... ... ... 19 II. AMONGST TIIE ROSES .. ... ... ... ... ,,. 21 III. TELLS HOW A UTTLE SCHEME MISCARRIED ... ... ... 25 IV. A STARTLING DISCOVERY ... ... ... ... ... 27 V. GATHERING CLOUDS... ... ... ... ... ... 30 VI. BENT BUT NOT BROKEN ... ... ... ... ... 32 VII. OUT INTO THE WORLD ... ... ... ... ... ? r; VIII. THE DISTINGUISHED GUEST ... ... ... 38 IX. ON THE BRINK ... ... ... ... ... ... 4 j X. PLAYING THEIR CARDS ... ... ... ... ... ... ., XI. THE SECRET SOCIETY ... ... ... ... ... _;D XII. FISHING IN UNCERTAIN WATERS... ... ... ... ... 49 XIII. THE OATH AND TIIE TRAITOR'S DOOM ... ... ... 52 XIV. HOOKED AT LAST ... ... .. ... ... ... 56 XV.

ON A PERILOUS ERRAND ... ... ... ... ... 5S XVI. A CROSS GAME ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 62 XVII. THE STAKES ARE WON ... _. ... ... ... ' ... 63 XVIII. A MYSTERY ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 66 XIX. IN THE DEAD OF NIGHT ... ... ... ... ... 69 XX. TIIE SILENT ONE ... ... ... ... ... ... 71 XXI. THE SECRET MEETING ... ... ... ... ... 75 XXII. NICHOLAS STROVEI.LE ... ... ... ... ... ... 77 XXIII. THE ROPE OR SIBERIA ... ... ... ... ... CONTENTS. CHAP. TAGS XXIV. WHICH WAS THE WINNER? ... ... ... .« ... 83 XXV. AN UNLOOKED-FOR REVELATION ... ... ... ... S6 XXVI. THE SERVICE OR SILENCE ... ... ... ... ... SS XXVII. WITH DEEP DESIGN ... ... ... ... . . 91 XXVIII. "BETWEEN THE DEVIL AND THE DEAD SEA " ... ... ... 93 XXIX. HERR MOSSE ... ..' ... ... ... ... 95 XXX. THE TRAIL OF THE SERPENT ... ... ... ... ... 98 XXXI.

THE CHAIN TIGHTENS ... ... ... ... ... IOO XXXII. THE BLOW ... ... ... ... ... ... ... IO4 XXXIII. THE SEAL OF FAITH ... ... ... ... ... I07 XXXIV. REBECCA'S SECRET ... ... ... ... ... ... IIO XXXV. THROUGH THE LAND OF DESOLATION ... ... ... 112. XXXVI. A NEW HOPE IS BORN ... ... ... ... ... ... I15 XXXVII. IN THE HANDS OF TIIE ENEMY ... ... ... ... II7 XXXVIII. ON THE NARROW STRAND ... ... ... ... ... 120 XXXIX. THE CONFESSION ... ... ... ... ... ... I24 XL. INTO THE JAWS OF THE LION ... ... ... ... ... I2S XLI. THE MAN... ... ... ... ... ... ... 131 XLII. GIVES SOME CURIOUS INFORMATION ABOUT CERTAIN PERSONS ... 133 XLIII. THE COUNT FLUTTERS LIGHTLY INTO A WEB ... ... 136 XLIV. THE COUNT'S BETE NOIR ... ... ... ... ... 139 XLV. SIREN LIKE ... ... ... ... ... ... 141 XLVI. IN THE HANDS OF THE ENEMY... ... ... ... ... 145 XLVII.

HOW KALNOKY ESCAPED ... i.. ... ... ... 149 XLVIII. THE FRAU MAKES HER EXIT ... ... ... ... ... 151 XLIX. POOR HUMANITY ... ... ... ... ... ... 153 L. THE SHADOW OF NEMESIS ... ... ... ... ... 155 LI. SETTING THE TRAP ... ... ... ... ... 156 LII. MERCILESS ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 15S LIII. DEADLY ENEMIES ... ... ... ... ... ... 161 LIV. BLOOD FOR BLOOD ... ... ... ... ... ... 163 LV. A COMMON SORROW, A JOINT LOVE ... ... ... ... 166 LVI. FROM STORMLIGHT TO HOLY CALM OF TWILIGHT... ... ... 16S STORMLIGHT.

INTRODUCTION.

. this can be done, he strolls into France, or takes the train, or crosses one of the Passes into Italy. And, before he could be arrested, permission from the respective Governments of those countries would have to be sought. If a man murders another man in a drunken brawl and flies to an alien country, his ex tradition is simple and easy ; but, isa man slays an Emperor or King, or throws a dynamite bomb into the midst of a crowd of innocent people, so long as he does it in the name of some political agitation, most of the European Governments will afford him pro tection and shelter, and his extradition is a matter of extreme difficulty. He is looked upon as a political refugee, and political refugees are treated with peculiar leniency and toleration, though heaven knows why. The worst sinners in this respect are Switzerland and England, and in London and Geneva may be found men who might not inaptly be described as " neither ghoul nor human," but a mixture of both, with the very worst attributes of the latter.

Geneva is not an extensive city, but it has a population of 80,000 souls. Within late years it has extended and improved, and the so-called new town has, to a large extent, hidden away the squalor and dingy wretch edness of the old. As one approaches Geneva from the upper part of the lake, and beholds its site, it is impossible to prevent a mental exclamation — " What a wonderful city the French or the Italians would have put there ! " A city of marble, surely, for on the Simplon, a few hours away, are ex haustless hoards of marble, and it was from these hoards that wonder of the world, Milan Cathedral, was built. All Europe might be ransacked, and it would scarcely be possible to find a more beautiful site for GENEVA AND NIHILISM. From time immemorial Geneva has been the home of conspiracy and the refuge of political adventurers from all parts of the world.

Nihilism, exterminated from its own soil, found a congenial atmosphere there, and has taken root and flourished. When Prince Krapatkin was being tried at Lyons, the President of the Tribunal described Geneva as the "Cancer of Europe." This was severe, but it was not altogether an unde served reproach. And if nothing else had justified it, the assassination of the late Emperor of Russia would have done so, for it was in Geneva, beyond all question of doubt, that the plot for that dastardly deed was organized. The assassins are known to have gone from Geneva direct to Russia, and one of them who escaped Russian vengeance — a female — still lives, and finds a refuge and a home under the fostering care of the Swiss Republic. If one is asked why the city on the shores of Lake Leman should have been chosen as the favourite abiding-place of those who would reform society and reconstitute the world by the aid of dynamite and bornbshells, the answer is easily given.

It is due to its geographical position. One can step out of Geneva into French territory in fifteen minutes, and half-a-dozen hours will place one on Italian or German soil. The ad vantages of this will at once strike the reader. A man commits an offence in Germany say, and he flies for shelter to Geneva. In time he hears that the German police have a warrant, and are seeking permission from the Swiss Government to take him ; but, before STORMLIGHT. Pont du Mont Blanc, being a handsome structure not unworthy of the site on which the city is built. The people of Geneva, that is the Genevese themselves, are an exclusive and inhospitable people — that is, inhospitable to strangers. Calvin has left his stamp of bigotry upon them, and they are singularly intolerant and narrow-minded. As a people they are very mixed in their origin, Italy, France, and Germany being represented.

Their sympathies are French, but they themselves are Genevese. That is, they can hardly be called Swiss except by courtesy, and so high is the opinion they hold of themselves that they look with contempt upon the inhabitants of German Switzerland, frequently speaking of them as "foreigners." Of the representatives of other nations who have made Geneva their home, the Russians largely outnumber all those of other countries put together. A few years ago the English colony mustered nearly three thousand strong; but a variety of causes, not the least being the extortion that was practised upon them, served to drive them away ; they shifted farther up the lake, and are to be sound now settled in the neighbourhood of Montreux and Lausanne. a city than that occupied by Geneva at the present day. The delightful country, the superb lake stretching for fifty-six miles, the long line of the blue Juras, the elevated and rugged crags of the great and little Sal£ve that rise to the south, and the denselywooded range of the Voirons to the east ; while further away, in the dim distance, are the eternal snows of the mighty Alps, and mightiest amongst them all towers the head of hoary Mont Blanc.

These physical features, seen under the aspects of clear atmosphere and sunny skies, constitute a panorama that can hardly be outrivalled ; and even when the winter snows have whitened all the landscape it still possesses a beauty that is enchanting. The deeply-blue Rhone, with its clear sparkling water, flows through part of the town, while in the western suburbs the white Arvc, having its birth amongst the eternal snows, rushes along to wed itself to the Rhone, two miles away. Whether the traveller directs his steps east, west, north, or south of the city, he cannot fail to be struck by the beauty of his surroundings. The richness and variety of the foliage, the vivid greenness ofthe grass, the profusion of wild flowers, which everywhere grow in rank luxuriance; the magnificent chestnuts, which, finding something congenial in the soil, the atmosphere, or both, flourish amazingly ; the vine-clad slopes, the rolling country, the splendid mountains, on which the shifting lights ever play, and which are for ever passing through gradations of colour, all tend to make up a picture of chaste beauty.

And yet this site, with all its unique advantages, is occupied by an architectural excrescence, so to speak, and that excrescence has been defined as the " Cancer of Europe." Fifty years ago or less Geneva was only half its present size, and was then strongly fortified and partly walled round. The fortifications have long since been dismantled, though traces of them still remain. The old ' town abounds in steep streets, which in many ' parts are narrow and gloomy. The houses I are tall and ancient, dating back for hun- < dreds of years. Mysterious passages and < gloomy alleys everywhere meet the explorer, 1 and dismal openings in the walls are sugges- 1 tive of entrances to Hades, though they are i only the entrances to the ill-smelling, ill- < lighted, and insanitary dwellings of the ( poorer classes of people. i These old places are huddled together on r hilly ground, while the newer town has 1 grown up around them, and the streets are a for the most part level.

The Rhone is c spanned by six bridges, one of these, the s The Russian colony is stronger than the English ever was, and amongst them are to be found men and women who have made themselves notorious throughout the world for their bitter and uncompromising hatred of the rulers of their country. It is safe to say that there is hardly a Russian in Geneva who is not a Nihilist. But, unlike the Socialists from other countries, the Russians are exclusive. They keep to themselves ; they have their own booksellers, their own papers, their own cafes. Their ways are mysterious ; they do not obtrude themselves ; they are a silent, reserved, thoughtful brotherhood, bound together by common sympathies, — by the same hopes, the same aims. Patient they have proved themselves to be, as well as terrible and deadly in the execution of their revengeful purposes.

Many of these men and women are members of noble families who have been driven from Russia by a cruel despotism worse than that instituted by the tyrant Npro. In their exile they dream of the day when their country shall be regenerated ; when the intellectual darkness into which Russia is now plunged shall be chased away by the light of knowledge ; and when just laws and a humane government shall take the place of the autocratic despotism which now spreads misery from one end of Russia to the THE MYSTERIOUS COUNT. 11 the gallows, the torture practised in the reeking dungeons of St. Petersburg and Moscow; nor the unutterable horrors of Siberia break or destroy this power. Its tremendous organization ; its vast and far reaching ramifications, and the fearlessness and self-sacrificing devotion of those who uphold it were proved in the most startling manner during the lifetime of the late Czar, and by the terrible crime which, in spite of all precautions, sent him to eternity.

The schemes of these Nihilists may be visionary, and their political opinions partake of the character of frenzied enthusiasm ; but thou sands and tens of thousands of men and women arc deeply imbued with the ideas, and to the carrying out of these ideas they devote their lives, they sacrifice their for tunes, they ruin their reputations, they go into exile, and find rest in nameless graves. The organization which binds these thousands of human beings together in one com mon brotherhood is marvellous in its per fection, terrible in its rigidity, and pitiless in its vengeance for any betrayal of its secrets. The system of espionage which is exercised over the brotherhood is no less wonderful, and it extends to the farthest corners of the earth. The tail of Nihilism may be said to stretch all over the globe.

Its head is fixed in Geneva. other. But that day is far off yet, and the dreamers sink into the sleep that knows no awakening, and are laid to rest amongst their kindred who have found refuge in this lake city. The gaps, however, that death makes in the colony, do not remain long unfilled, for new-comers take their place. Who they are, where they come from, and what they come for could not be told by any one not in the secrets of the fraternity, and even if one ofthe fraternity was to divulge any of these secrets, a vengeance terrible and sharp would overtake him. Unlike the Fenians, the Socialists, the Dynamitards, and other leagues of desperate men, these Russians get not on to the housetops and proclaim their plans. They are, to all appearances, a quiet, long-suffering, and unobtrusive people ; shrinking from all publicity, keeping strictly to themselves, and carefully avoiding any interference in matters in which they have no direct concern.

Russia and things Russian alone occupy their thoughts ; and though they may be mistaken in their views, and take desperate means to give emphasis to those views, there can be little doubt that many of them are deeply sincere, and sacrifice their lives in endeavouring to bring about the results which they honestly believe must be brought about before their unhappy country can take her place in the van of civilization. It is an open secret that the Russian Nihilists are bound together by oath, and that death is the penally of any betrayal of secrets. In fact, even to be suspected of being traitorously inclined is to run the risk of assassination. And many a mysterious crime that has occurred on the Continent during the last decade or two may be laid to the charge of Nihilism or Socialism. In Geneva Nihilism has found a resting-place.

It has done more than lhat ; it has grown a mighty power ; a power silent, mysterious, and deadly as the pent-up forces of the volcano which for a time sinks into apparent quiescence, and then when least suspected suddenly bursts forth with awful and destructive fury. Nihilism has spread through every class of Russian society. Beautiful girls and promising youths have fallen under its influence, and allowing their enthusiasm to run away with their discretion have come within the merciless grip of the law, and gone down into the dust ere yet the spring of their years had passed. The Army, the Navy, the Church, the Aristocracy have all their representatives of Nihilism, and in the formidable brotherhood noble and peasant nib shoulders. Nor can the knout,

PROLOGUE.

.

Chapter I. The Mysterious Count

On each side of the Lake of Geneva runs an admirably kept road. That on the north side is some little distance from the Lake for a mile or two, but on the south it skirts the Lake for many miles. This road is adorned on the water side by a row of chestnut trees, which afford delightful shade in the burning summer months when the sun pours down its rays with tropical fierceness. Then the lake usually lies in dreamy stillness, its great expanse glittering like a stupendous silver mirror. It is pleasant at such a time to sit under these trees on the seats that are pro vided, and be fanned by the refreshing currents of air that come off the water. On the right of the road, embosomed amongst trees, and surrounded by the greenest of verdure and profusion of flowers, are innumerable villas. These are called Camfagnes, meaning rural residences.

Some STORMLIGHT. 12 grounds, and arranged with artificial cas cades, the banks of which are lined with soft cool moss and nodding ferns. The house is an old house, rambling as to its architecture and spreading itself out in an indecisive sort of way as though at first it had resolved to go up the hill and then had changed its plan and gone down. Ivy scrambled up its walls, and a magnificent westeria framed most ot the front windows, each of which, in accord ance with Swiss fashion, was provided with green shutters, useful for keeping out the glaring sunlight of summer and the icy bise of winter alike. The house was almost entirely screened from the road by trees, but a tower that rose up from the roof at one end commanded a wonderful view. There was the lake, stretching into the blue distance like an inland arm of the sea, and at its head where the arrowy Rhone enters after its long journey from the glacier of the same name, could be seen in certain states of the atmosphere the scarped and shattered snow clad aiguilles of the Dent du Midi ; on the opposite side the long range of purple Juras, with their nestling white villages and their deep mysterious-looking ravines ; and to the left the town of Geneva itself, looking pictu resque enough from here, with the ancient towers of the Cathedral dominating all the other buildings ; and backed by the precipi tous cliffs of the Saleve.

It was an enchanting scene — a scene of immense extent, of great variety, and embracing all the feature. requisite to make a perfect landscape — waters woodland, dells, and hills. of them are the summer resorts of the Gene vese, and at that season the picturesque effect of these houses dotting the hill sides and framed in settings of the most exquisite colourings is enchanting, especially when viewed from the lake, for the ground is rolling, swelling up here and there in great green mounds, or depressed into verdant dells and mossy ravines. Farther inland the land rises into hills, and further away still it crops up into rocky ridges with serrated outlines, while between these ridges one gets glimpses of the glittering snows of the solemn Alps. The greater part of these campagnes are the residences of foreigners, not a few of them being wealthy Russians.

And when, on a dreamy summer day, one drifts idlyand listlessly on the bosom of the blue lake, and gazes on these beautifully-situated houses, with their environing trees, and the magnificent expanse of country, with its shady dells, its green uplands, its shattered crags, and the eternal snows of the great mountains. one is led to think that here the weary wanderer on life's road might find rest and sweet peace far from the madding crowd, and in an earthly paradise. For Nature has made a glorious land, and endowed it with everything that tends to render the earth refreshing and beautiful to thesenses. Even in the winter, when the lake is tossed like an angry sea, and the fierce and bitter glacial wind, known as the Bise, lashes the earth with fury ; when the colouring of the landscape has faded away, and the leafless trees shiver in the pitiless blasts, there is still beauty, though of another order, for the eternal mountains are clothed from base to summit in white, which throws into strong relief the purple pine forests ; while ever shifting lights and shades play over the scene.

The villas then are deserted, save those that are inhabited by foreigners who reside all the year round ; but the Genevese themselves like to huddle in the town in winter weather, and they give the suburbs and the outskirts a wide berth. La Garence had for some years licen un tenanted owing to the high rent demanded for it. It was fast falling into decay when at last it was taken on a lease by the agent of a gentleman who with his wife and one child had been residing sor some time in the south of France. This gentleman was de scribed as a Hungarian refugee, who was known as Count Matriskie. In due course the Count and his family arrived and took up their residence at La Garence. They were accompanied by three servants, two females and a man. One of the females was a Russian peasant woman called Katrina, who acted as bonne or nurse to the child.

To one of these villas we will introduce the reader in the summer time. The campagne is known as La Garence. The house stands on rising ground, and is surrounded with an extensive garden that is silled with pines and cedars that mingle their dark foliage with the brighter colours of chestnuts, oaks, ashes, limes, and beeches. Well-kept parterres of flowers and emerald green strips of lawn are caught sight of between the trees ; while, before the house, a fountain plashes and gurgles, and its waste water is carried off by a little rocky channel cut through the Very soon after their arrival it began to be whispered that there was some mystery about this family. They never visited, and the only visitors they received were some of the leading Russians who had long lived in the town. They never left their house, and nobody save their own immediate acquaintances ever saw them.

But as they paid their way and spent freely the Genevese troubled THE MYSTERIOUS COUNT. 13 themselves not about them, for your true Genevese cares nothing as to what the foreigner may be so long as he gets his money ; for the life-long dream of the Gene vese is money, and he regards the foreigner as his natural prey. Soon after his arrival Count Matriskie increased his household by two Russian servants, a man and a woman who had lived for some time in Geneva, and who were known by the name of Fincke — Paul Fincke and his wife Julia. But the servants of the Count's menage were as silent and mysterious as their master, and nobody could learn who the Count was, what his origin was, how he derived his means, or why be had come to reside in Geneva. Count Matriskie was a little man with black hair, a swarthy complexion, and an air of deep and settled melancholy in his face.

His wife was much younger than he, a mere girl in fact, and singularly handsome. They had one child, a boy of about two years of aSe* . curiosity-mongers feel deeply injured because they could not pry into the affairs of this foreign resident, but he was not affected by it. For reasons best known to himself he chose to lead a secluded life, and his wife — young, beautiful, and accomplished — shared his seclusion, although she might have mixed in the whirl of life, and have been the ad mired of all admirers, for her beauty would have won her devoted followers. Their child was a fine boy, with his father's darkness and his mother's beauty. He was well cared for and delicately nurtured. Their servants were all devoted to the family, inasmuch as they betrayed no confidences, and no one could worm from them any of the secrets of La Garence.

At the top of the Count's house were three or four greniers, as they are termed in the country, but which in England are known as garrets. One of these the Count had fitted up as a chemical laboratory, for he was a student of chemistry, and he spent many hours of his life amongst his crucibles and retorts, working often far into the night until, weary and jaded, he would creep to his bed as the lessening darkness proclaimed the dawn of day. The laboratory was sacred to the Count. No one was allowed to enter it excepting his wife, and one or two of the people who were in the habit of visiting him. The laboratory had secrets, but they were as well kept as were the secrets of himself and his family. One evening he was occupied in his laboratory when his wife entered to him. She looked troubled and anxious, and as she threw her anns round his neck she burst into tears.

It was some minutes before he was able to console her. Many months passed, during which neither the Count nor his wife was ever known to leave the villa where they resided. Naturally, many rumours and absurd stories were spread about in reference to them, and one of these rumours said that the Count was not a Hungarian at all, but a Russian of a hiyh rank, a member of one of the best Russian families, and an ex-military officer, while the lady was said to be indirectly connected with the then reigning Czar. What ground there was for this rumour was not stated, but such was the talk of the town. The Count seldom received letters, and never posted any, and this fact, which could not be kept secret, _mly served to add to the mystery. It was known, however, that some of the most prominent Russians resident in Geneva were in the habit of visiting at La Garence, and it was whispered that the Count received his correspondence and despatched his letters through a third person, and that this precaution was observed to prevent the Count's identity being known.

Of course, it was but natural that speculation and curiosity should be aroused about people who secluded themselves so strangely as did the Count and his wife. But nothing compromising was known against them. Their papers were all en regie, and their perniis de sejour had been readily granted by the authorities.1 So far, then, the Count was in an unassail able position. Gossips might clatter, and " Danioff is below," she said. "Pie has come for the compound." She burst into tears again, and exclaimed, "Oh, Nicholas, when will this dreadful business end ? Better far that we lived as peasants on some mountain top than lead the lives that we are leading now. Let us fly from here. Let us go to England, to France, to the Arctic regions, anywhere so long as we can break these terrible bonds and rest in peace and security.