43
A FEMALE NIHILIST.
chooses her friends and even her husband from ] ing, spluttered below, casting hither and thither
the dregs of the people, where nothing but  a dull and flickering light.
jealousy,  idleness,  and revolution  are  to  be      Tlie men, some in military, a smaller number
m
found
" Pavlovna's early history also is involved in
mystery. When was she born? where does she
come from? She presents herself one day at
the Rostoff Palace; she is received there; by
degrees she gains a footing, and all the facts of
the case show her to us as exercising an extra-
ordinary influence over the Countess.
" Over Sergius too, though in a less degree,
in civil dress, were in a majority in the hall
the ladies, in somber dresses, anxious and ex-
cited, were  nearly all drawn  up iu the same
place, quite close to the barristers' bench, aud
consequently close to the accused.
The crowd swayed with impatience; but out-
side, in the neighboring streets, the assembled
masses were immense and were more eager.
The curious were in the hall,  the interested
there hangs a  mystery.    His is an indefinite  we*e in tue streets;  for the people knew that
rle throughout. His "family and antecedents
are known; he is known to be a member of the
nihilist party, for whom he edited a sort of po-
litical and religious programme. But though
we see his name everywhere, nowhere do we
see his hand at work; a fact which serves only
to present him to us in a more dangerous light.
" The principal actor in the drama of whose
catastrophe we are called to judge is absent;
at least, everything points to the conclusion
that Vladimir's murderer is a student called
Riboffski, who was lately killed in an encounter
with the agents of justice.
" This indictment is directed:
" Firstly, against the nihilists Sergius and
Pavlovna conjointly as guilty of having re-
solved upon, approved, or suffered the com-
mission of Vladimir's murder; conjointly as
guilty of being members of a political or relig-
ious sect which is not recognized by the State;
conjointly as guilty of having attempted the
overthrow of existing institutions by means of
illegal assemblies, the distribution of pamphlets,
and proceedings of every kind, sometimes in-
definite in character but always hostile to the
State.
"Secondly, against Sergius separately: For
having composed and distributed a ritual for
the.use of revolutionists, and thus taking the
initiative in a movement intended to overthrow
the existing order of things, to put an anarchy
their iuterests were at stake, and that the
assassins, of whose crime they received an ex-
aggerated account, were of no common type;
the political aspect of the trial was, in the eyes
of the masses, of far more importance than the
criminal.
The usher soon announced the opening of the
proceedings.    It was nine in the morning.
"Gentlemen, the Court!"
At these words complete and solemn silence
fell on the hall; the oak doors opened with what
seemed twice their usual noise, and when the
President of the Assizes appeared on the
threshold more than one heart beat wildly, at
sight of the majesty of justice. The indict-
ments were read by the Public Prosecutor in a
slow, somewhat monotonous, but duly accent-
uated voice.
The publicity already given to it by llie
Oolos did not take away from its effect; in fact,
the document had been given to the readers of
that journal in its abridged and not in its com-
plete form.
So the audience learnt that the young student
who had lodged Riboffski some hours before
the latter was killed in his encounter with the
police had revealed facts of the utmost im-
portance. But let us listen to the Public Pros-
ecutor.    .    .
" So far as Pavlovna is concerned there is no
doubt that she herself brought Vladimir to the
She
in its place, and to destroy the imperial family.   Countess's house for interested motives.
" Thirdly, against Pavlovna separately, for . had known her victim for years, and from what
complicity in all Sergius's proceedings.   '            the Countess tells us, wlien Pavlovna intro-
' Fourthly, against the Countess Stasia as an  duced Vladimir  to   the   Rostoff   Palace,  the
accessory, inasmuch as she had received direct
personal warning of Vladimir's murder."
The indictment was, as the reader sees, a ter-
rible one; it might, according to the disposition
of the jury, entail the capital punishment. In
any case it involved either an entire acquittal
from lack of evidence, or deportation to Si-
beria.
It may be imagined what passions were
aroused in the audience when this important
document was read; everybody had his own
opinion to give; the chances were even, an un
usual excitement prevailed throughout the
town; strange and terrible revelations were ex-
pected, and men were glad to learn of things
whose recital would at one time have filled
them with fear, but which, now that the demon
was exorcised, could no longer afford them any-
thing but pleasure.
Russian justice is chalked out on the lines of
the French, with the exception of certain local
customs wliich give a special color to the argu-
ments.. However, in the case which was now
to be investigated, the supreme decision lay
with the jury; on this occasion, chance, which
had as usual designated the jurymen, had made
a mixture of all callings and professions; in
the tribune, upon whose decision hung the fate
of the three persons more particularly named,
were doctors, artists, merchants and professors.
The composition of the jury left the public in
uncertainty; and on the whole, it was difficult
to form a opinion as to the favorable or unfa-
vorable issue of the trial. All that could with
any degree of certainty be foretold was, that
the purely political part of the accusation would
fail, whereas, cm the other hand, the charge of
murder, and complicity, which seemed well
founded, would be proved.
At last the day of the assizes came. From
an early hour in the morning the privileged
crowd had occupied the hall. It was a build-
ing with bare walls, simply hung with green
tapestry, watered with gold and worked with
a severe flowered pattern; it was filled with
benches heaped and crowded together. At one
end was the bar and above it the jury-box, a
school-mistress pretended to have met him for
the first time, but lately, and absolutely by ac-
cident. That is a fact, gentlemen of the jury,
which cannot fail to produce on you, as it has
on the authorities, a painful impression. Why
was this lie invented if the whole scheme had
not been arranged and planned beforehand?
So, then, Pavlovna acted with a view to some
objects of her own; but what object?
"Was it from love of gain? No. This
woman had no wants. The Countess used to
overwhelm her with generosity. Her object
was entirely political. Already she had won
round the Countess and attracted her towards
revolutionary and unhealthy views; her inten-
tion was to bind her still faster to the-cause by
marrying her to the nihilist Vladimir.
" How should the latter ever have thought of
contracting a marriage with a lady of such ex-
alted rank had he not been impelled towards it
by the infernal influence of this sectarian?
Pavlovna sacrificed Stasia to the revolution and
to a revolutionist. However, the latter soon
showed himself unequal to the task that Pav-
lovna had assigned to him; by his conduct he
alienated his former friends and even his wife;
and they combined to murder him.
" Pavlovna, while materials were being col-
lected for the prosecution, has not spoken, or
has at any rate said nothing to compromise her
self. This only compromises her the more in
the eyes of justice. The ritual composed by
Sergius was found at her house, and she has
long been known to the police. Once indeed
this wicked woman was taken in a low wine
shop, where she was conspiring with a swarm
of vagabonds who are at present under lock and
key.
"Pavlovna, we know you well.
" Never has a good impulse found its way
into your soul. A review of your whole life
shows nothing but evil doing and jealousy, a
natural leaning towards crime and a love of de-
struction. You had a friend. Thanks to you
she is now in the dock. You had a lover, you.
have murdered him; Petersburg gave you
your daily bread and afforded you a generous
sort of enormous octagonal counting-house of hospitality; you, wished to ruin it, and in its
oak. In a corner was the image of the Virgin, ruin to bury the imperial family, the hope of
with its sickly smile, holding the infant Jesus , Holy Russia.
tightly inclosed in its richly worked frame of i "I said that you murdered Vladimir: yes, it
harbarous splendor; a lamp, always kept burn- J was not your hand that dealt the blow, but you
it was that pointed the murderer's weapon on
that fatal night."
While these words sounded lugubriously
through the hall, falling like the blow of a
hammer upon the audience, all eyes were turned
on Pavlovna.
She was seated upon her bench, between the
two guards, and from the imperturbable calm
of her demeanor, it might have been thought
that she was the last person whom the speech
concerned. But she was pale, a bright light
gleamed from time to time iu her gray eyes, her
lips grew bloodless.
She wore her usual dress; a somber cloak, a
round black straw hat, her hairin the ordi-
nary fashioncut short.
Meanwhile the public prosecutor, after some
apostrophes, after accumulating proof upon
proof, some material and others moral, had be-
gun in the same untiring voice to read the in-
dictment against Sergius. Here the task was
difficult; there was by no means an abundance
of proof.
Tlie Public Prosecutor nevertheless went on :
" The most guilty of them all is Sergius, this
cunning dissimulator who had, as we long knew,
gained ascendancy ever the nihilists. Sergius is
one of those cold resolute men who go straight
to their aim, and never allow themselves to be
diverted from it. Like Pavlovna, Sergius is free
from pressing wants; he is like her a fanalic, but
he is more skilled in controlling his passion and
moderating his anger; he knows how to say no
more than is requisite and even when to*be
silent, which has indeed been his great art.
"This ritual, from which I have read you
extracts, is the most terrib'e arsenal that a man
ever dared to build against society. It is a
catechism of revolution, conceived in a spirit
of hatred of everything that exists, and writ-
ten in a religious tone well adapted lo impress
and carry away weak minds. The man who
invented the mystic marriage, the sterile union
of a man and woman in the name of revolution,
to which all, even love and the fruits of love,
are to be sacrificed, the high priest who orders
these infamous marriages, is Sergius, whom we
believed to be the betrothed and, in the nihilist
meaning of the word, the husband of Pav-
lovna."
It will be seen that, on this point justice was
mistaken: it was lucky. For what would have
become of Stasia had she learnt that Vladimir
when he married her was already married to
the governess according to the ceremonies pre-
scribed by the ritual? The Public Prosecutor
went on.
" Sergius urged Pavlovna, or rather they both
urged Vladimir, to go to the. Rostoff Palace.
Do you desire a proof? Scarcely had Vladi-
mir's marriage taken place wheu Sergius and
Pavlovna set out together for Moscow.
"And why was this journey taken? What
was its object?
" To bring back Vladimir and his wife to St.
Petersburg, into the midst of their web.
" From this day the intimacy between these
four persons grows continually greater. Ri-
boffski is alone excluded. Do you see, gentle-
men, the important bearing of this simple fact?
" Vladimir after some time grows discon-
tented, separates from all political action, and
leads a riotous life; Sergius and Pavlovna are
installed in his house, where they surrounded
Stasia with false caresses; a scandal arises, aud
Sergius, whom you see before you, thinks the
time has come. Vladimir has deceived his po-
litical hopes: Vladimir has married a woman
with whom he, Sergius, is possibly in love. . .
You understand, gentlemen? Vladimir must
die; a duel is fought, and as Providence deemed
that his cup was not yet fall, it is Sergius who
is wounded.
" Then a strange proceeding takes place.
" One day two women ascend the staircase of
this man who was to have been a murderer;
they knock at his door; they sit at the foot of
his bed; they console Sergius . . . It is
the Countess, and with her Pavlovna.
"This, gentlemen, is such a damning proof
of Sergius's guilt that I dwell on it no longer.
Let your own fancies paint the scene; let your
reason consider the respective position of the
actors in it.
"I have said that Sergius was the most guilty
and criminal of the three.
" Yes, Sergius, that is what we all think of
you. Born in the bourgeois class, you were rich,
you were well educated; society opened its
arms to bid you welcome, and, in return, you
have sought in every way to destroy society ; from