retcher again and carried away. This time he
was taken, not to the room where he had been placed while ill, but to a
dark cell where scarce a ray of light penetrated. There was a heap of
straw in one corner, a loaf of black bread, and a jug of water. Godfrey
when left alone shook up the straw to make it as comfortable as he
possibly could, then sat down upon it with his back against the wall.

"Well, this is certainly a go," he said to himself. "If there was one
thing that seemed less likely than another, it was that I should get
involved in this Nihilist business. In the first place, the governor
specially warned me against it; in the second place, I have been
extremely careful never to give any opinion on public affairs; and in
the third place, if there is one thing I detest more than another it is
assassination. I cannot say it is cowardly in these men. The Nihilists
do more than risk their lives; they give their lives away to carry out
their end. Still, though I own it is not cowardly, I hate it. The
question is, what next? Petrovytch will, of course, write home to say
that I am missing. I don't suppose he will have the slightest idea that
I have been arrested as a Nihilist. I don't see how he could think so.
He is more likely to think that I have been made away with somehow. No
doubt my father will come out; but, of course, he won't learn any more
than Petrovytch, unless they choose to tell him. I don't suppose they
will tell him. I have heard that generally families of people they seize
know nothing about it, unless they are arrested too. They may guess what
has happened, but they don't know. In my case I should fancy the police
would say nothing.

"They will hear from the inquiries that my father makes that he has no
suspicion of what has happened to me, and they will know if they did
tell him our ambassador would be making a row. But even if the governor
were to learn what had become of me, and were to insist upon learning
what crime I am accused of committing, I do not see that things would be
much better. They would hand over the notes of the evidence on which I
was convicted, and, taking it altogether, I am bound to say I do not see
how they could help convicting me. Short of catching me like a sort of
Guy Fawkes blowing up the palace, the case is about as strong as it
could be. I certainly have put my foot in it. I was acquainted with
these two conspirators; through them I got acquainted with that
confounde