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And yet the present dangers are nothing compared to those she must undergo. Siberia! Irkutsk! I am about to dare all risks for Russia, for the Czar, while she is about to do so For whom? For what? She is authorized to cross the frontier! The country beyond is in revolt! The steppes are full of Tartar bands!" Michael Strogoff stopped for an instant, and reflected.
They therefore knew who he was and what depended on him. Michael Strogoff rapidly made up his mind. "Nadia," said he, "when they step on board, ask them to come to me!" It was, in fact, Blount and Jolivet, whom the course of events had brought to the port of Livenitchnaia, as it had brought Michael Strogoff.
"First of all I've a big luncheon-party; then in the afternoon I am going to a friend's house to see King Theodosius arrive from her windows; won't that be splendid? and then, next day, I'm going to Michel Strogoff, and after that it will soon be Christmas, and the New Year holidays! Perhaps they'll take me south, to the Riviera; won't that be nice?
"You shall know all," replied the girl, with a faint smile. "A sister should hide nothing from her brother. But I cannot to-day. Fatigue and sorrow have broken me." "Will you go and rest in your cabin?" asked Michael Strogoff. "Yes yes; and to-morrow " "Come then " He hesitated to finish his sentence, as if he had wished to end it by the name of his companion, of which he was still ignorant.
Divided, perhaps forever, from her father, after so many happy efforts had brought her near him, and, to crown her grief, separated from the intrepid companion whom God seemed to have placed in her way to lead her. The image of Michael Strogoff, struck before her eyes with a lance and disappearing beneath the waters of the Irtych, never left her thoughts. Could such a man have died thus?
But Marfa Strogoff, from a caution which may be easily understood, never spoke about herself except with the greatest brevity. She never made the smallest allusion to her son, nor to the unfortunate meeting. Nadia also, if not completely silent, spoke little.
The young girl would no doubt have preferred not to leave her companion, but she felt that he would rather be alone, and she made ready to go to her room. Just as she was about to retire she could not refrain from going up to Michael to say good-night. "Brother," she whispered. But he checked her with a gesture. The girl sighed and left the room. Michael Strogoff did not lie down.
But in the compartment occupied by Michael Strogoff, there was no one who seemed a military man, and the Czar's courier was not the person to betray himself. He listened, then. "They say that caravan teas are up," remarked a Persian, known by his cap of Astrakhan fur, and his ample brown robe, worn threadbare by use. "Oh, there's no fear of teas falling," answered an old Jew of sullen aspect.
As the gypsy took two or three steps forward, and was about to interrogate Michael Strogoff more closely, the door of the cottage opened. He could just see a woman, who spoke quickly in a language which Michael Strogoff knew to be a mixture of Mongol and Siberian. "Another spy! Let him alone, and come to supper. The papluka is waiting for you."
Michael Strogoff knew from former experience what a storm in the mountains was, and perhaps this would be as terrible as the snowstorms which burst forth with such vehemence in the winter.
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