assassinate the late Czar? The idea would have made him laugh had
he been in England. In St. Petersburg, and under these
circumstances, it made him tremble.

"There is some terrible mistake," he said. "I have never had the
slightest connection with the revolutionary party."

The pristav shrugged his shoulders, and Sigismund, feeling like one
in a dream, took leave of his relations, and was escorted at once to
the House of Preventive Detention.

Arrived at his destination, he was examined in a brief,
unsatisfactory way; but when he angrily asked for the evidence on
which he had been arrested, he was merely told that information had
been received charging him with being concerned in the assassination
of the late Emperor, and of being an advanced member of the Nihilist
party. His vehement denials were received with scornful
incredulity, his departure for England just after the assassination,
and his prolonged absence from Russia, of course gave colour to the
accusation, and he was ordered off to his cell "to reflect."



MY TRIUMPHANT FINALE



Words are mighty, words are living;
Serpents with their venomous stings,
Or bright angels crowding round us,