' And please give me a chance of pleading my
case in person, if you use the longer word. Ah, I hear Jack's step on
the stair. Very stealthily he is coming, to surprise me, but I'll
surprise--"
Here the writing ended. She folded the letter, and placed it in her
desk, sitting down before it.
"Shall I make the check payable to you, or to the Society?"
"To the Society, if you please, Madam."
"I shall write it for double the amount asked. I also am a believer in
liberty."
"Oh, Madam, that is a generosity I feel we do not deserve. I should
like to have given you the letter after all you have done for us with
no conditions attached."
"I am quite sure of that," said Dorothy, bending over her writing. She
handed him the check, and he rose to go.
"Sit down again, if you please. I wish to talk further with you. Your
people in St. Petersburg think my friends have not been sent to
Siberia? Are they sure of that?"
"Well, Madam, they have means of knowing those who are transported,
and they are certain the two young men were not among the recent gangs
sent. They suppose them to be in the fortress of 'St. Peter and St.
Paul', at least that's what they say."
"You speak as if you doubted it."
"I do doubt it."
"They have been sent to Siberia after all?"
"Ah, Madam, there are worse places than Siberia. In Siberia there is a
chance: in the dreadful Trogzmondoff there is none.
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