Baroness Orczy

“ When we can, let us strike in the dark, at all times swiftly and surely, so that in days to come, very soon, they will look at each other with blanched faces and trembling lips, and murmur what they dare not say out loud, 'My turn next, perhaps.' It is then, and then only, that we shall be the masters, when cowardly fear will place them grovelling at our feet. ”

“ The very fact that we are still, all of us, free men proves that our papers are safe."
"Our papers might be," rejoined one of the brethren, "but what about our messenger?"
"He might, before being arrested, have succeeded in destroying the papers, you mean," said another.
"I feel sure," asserted one of the older men, "that Iván would sooner part with his life than with our secret."
There was once more silence in the room. Mirkovitch's grim eyes travelled mockingly, perhaps even contemptuously, on those assembled round him. ”

“ Once their papers were in the hands of the Third Section, probably not one of them could hope to escape. And what was more galling, more bitter even than the fear of death, was the fact that their plot, so magnificently planned, so daringly carried out, would end but in their own perdition, with nothing gained save a gang of convicts tramping to Siberia. ”

“ That was so, it seemed such a hard and dry fact, and yet there was some slight satisfaction, even in these vague conjectures, shared with one's neighbour, in hearing what the other comrades' thoughts and fears were, and every now and then in provoking a reassuring remark from their calm president.
"For my part," added Mirkovitch, "I think Volenski's silence is exceedingly ominous. There could have been no possible danger in his sending a wire to the president–who is known to be a great friend of his–apprising him of his arrival in Petersburg. ”

“ Every second heightens our peril and diminishes the chances of our triumph. At least if we fall, for there seems no likelihood of our being able to escape undetected, let us have accomplished something that will leave our names for ever glorified in the eyes of every patriot in Russia. ”

“ My friends, though you may be gentlemen, you must not be weak and effete like those of your class. For God's sake, look the facts straight in the face, and try to forget yourselves and your own petty feelings for the good of our country and our people which we serve. ”