Читать книгу When I Was Czar онлайн

102 страница из 105

“Don’t I look like an American, Ivan?” I asked, smiling.

“Your honour has shaved since I first saw you. Then I thought you were the—— I trembled at your look, my lord.”

“Had I been what you thought, you looked for danger then?”

“God would have given me strength to protect His Majesty. I am mystified; but it is not for me to ask questions.”

“You know this Vastic, then?” I asked next.

“He is a good man, absolutely sincere, your—your honour,” he fumbled now over the way he should address me, and his manner had changed from frankness to nervous excitement. “Quite sincere; but a madman on one point; and his madness makes him dangerous and reckless.”

“A fanatic you mean against the Government?”

“Against the Emperor. We have fought once for that, and he nearly killed me. But we shall fight again, and then I shall win.”

“How do you know that?”

“It is fate, your honour; and, besides, I have practised.”

The combination of fatalism and deliberate preparation tickled me, and I smiled.

“And you were afraid for my life then?”