Petersburg. First I thought it was
like all other capitals; now I have swung too far in the other
direction. He says the police of St. Petersburg would not dare arrest
him, but I'm not so sure of that. A number of things occur to me, as
usual, too late. Russia, with her perfect secret service system, must
know that Prince Lermontoff has been serving in the British Navy. They
know he returned to St. Petersburg, avoids all his old friends, and is
brought to their notice by an inexplicable explosion, and they must be
well aware, also, that he is in the company of the man who fired the
shell at the rock in the Baltic, and that he himself served on the
offending cruiser.
"As to my own affairs, I must say they are progressing slowly but
satisfactorily; nevertheless, if Jack would leave St. Petersburg, and
come with me to London or New York, where he could carry on his
experiments quite as well, or even better than here, I should depart
at once, even if I jeopardized my own prospects."
The next letter, some time later, began:
"Your two charming notes to me arrived here together. It is very kind
of you to write to a poor exile and cheer him in his banishment. I
should like to see that dell where you have swung your hammock. Beware
of Hendrick Hudson's men, so delightfully written of by Washington
Irving. If they offer you anything to drink, don't you take it. Think
how disastrous it would be to all your friends if you went to sleep in
that hammock for twenty years.
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