"
"Do you speak French?" asked the Prince.
"Net."
"English?"
"Net."
"Italian?"
"Net."
"German?"
"Da."
"Then," continued Lermontoff in German, "I desire to say a few words
to you which I don't wish this gaoler to understand. I am Prince Ivan
Lermontoff, a personal friend of the Czar's, who, after all, is master
of the Grand Dukes and the Navy also. If you will help to put me into
communication with him, I will guarantee that no harm comes to you,
and furthermore will make you a rich man."
The Governor slowly shook his head.
"What you ask is impossible. Riches are nothing to me. Bribery may do
much in other parts of the Empire, but it is powerless in the
Trogzmondoff. I shall die in the room adjoining this, as my
predecessor died. I am quite as much a prisoner in the Trogzmondoff as
is your Highness. No man who has once set foot in this room, either as
Governor, employee, or prisoner, is allowed to see the mainland again,
and thus the secret has been well kept. We have had many prisoners of
equal rank with your Highness, friends of the Czar too, I dare say,
but they all died on the Rock, and were buried in the Baltic."
"May I not be permitted to receive certain supplies if I pay for them?
That is allowed in other prisons."
The Governor shook his head.
"I can let you have a blanket," he said, "and a pillow, or a sheepskin
if you find it cold at first, but my power here is very limited, and,
as I tell you, the officers have little more comfort than the
prisoners.
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