William Le Queux

Name: The Czar's Spy — Chapter 13: I Show My Hand
Author: William Le Queux

The Czar's Spy — Chapter 13: I Show My Hand (1905)

Summary

“The Czar's Spy — Chapter 13: I Show My Hand”, published in 1905, is a work by William Le Queux. It explores elements such as Petersburg, Kajana and Woodroffe.

Quotes from The Czar's Spy — Chapter 13: I Show My Hand (William Le Queux)

William Le Queux, The Czar's Spy — Chapter 13: I Show My Hand (1905)

“ Then I entered a café in order to while away the hours until the vessel from Finland was due.
At four o'clock I was out upon the quay, straining my eyes seaward for any sign of smoke, but could see nothing. The sun was sinking, and the broad expanse of water westward danced like liquid gold. The light died out slowly, the cold gray of evening crept on. A chill wind sprang up and swept the quay, causing me to shiver. I asked of a dock laborer whether the steamer was usually late, whereupon he told me that it was often five or six hours behind time, depending upon the delay at Helsingfors. ”

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William Le Queux, The Czar's Spy — Chapter 13: I Show My Hand (1905)

“ The fellow meant mischief--that I knew. If Elma was flying in secret and he watched me, he would know that she was in Petersburg. At all hazards, for my love's sake as well as for mine, I saw that I must escape him. The ingeniousness and cleverness of Oberg's spies was proverbial throughout Finland, therefore he might not be alone, or in any case, on arrival in Petersburg would obtain assistance in keeping observation upon me. I knew that the Baron desired my death, and that therefore I could not be too wary of pitfalls. ”

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Source: Wikisource

William Le Queux, The Czar's Spy — Chapter 13: I Show My Hand (1905)

“ If he had desired to rescue her he would have taken her in the opposite direction--to Stockholm, where she would be free--whereas he took her, an escaped prisoner, into the very midst of peril. It was true that her passport was in order, yet I remembered that an order had been issued for her transportation to Saghalien, and now once arrested she must be lost to me for ever. This thought filled me with fierce anxiety. She was in Petersburg, that city where police spies swarm, and where every fresh arrival is noted and his antecedents inquired into. ”

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Source: Wikisource

William Le Queux, The Czar's Spy — Chapter 13: I Show My Hand (1905)

“ Such a thing is not unusual in Finland."
"Abominable!" I cried. "Oberg is a veritable fiend."
But the man only shrugged his shoulders, saying--
"The orders of his Excellency the Governor-General have to be obeyed, whatever they are. We often regret, but we dare not refuse to carry them out."
"Russian rule is a disgrace to our modern civilization," I declared hotly. "I have every sympathy with those who are fighting for freedom." ”

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Source: Wikisource

William Le Queux, The Czar's Spy — Chapter 13: I Show My Hand (1905)

“ If I confess, he intends to give me up to the police, who will send me to the mines."
"Does your secret concern him?" I asked in writing.
"Yes," she wrote in response. "It would be equally in his interests as well as those of Baron Oberg if I were sent to Saghalien and my identity effaced. I am a Russian subject, as I have already told you, therefore with a Ministerial order against me I am in deadliest peril."
"Trust in me," I scribbled quickly. "I will act upon any suggestion you make. Have you any female friend in whom you could trust to hide you until this danger is past?" ”

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Source: Wikisource

William Le Queux, The Czar's Spy — Chapter 13: I Show My Hand (1905)

“ I thought you were still in Abo. Woodroffe has an appointment at eight o'clock on the other side of the city, therefore come to me at 8.15. I must see you, and at once. I am in peril.--ELMA HEATH.
My love was in peril! It was just as I had feared. I thanked Providence that I had been sent to help her and extricate her from that awful fate to which "The Strangler of Finland" had consigned her.
At the hour she named, after the waiter had come to me and announced the Englishman's departure, I descended to her sitting-room and entered without rapping, for if I had rapped she could not, alas! ”

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Source: Wikisource

William Le Queux, The Czar's Spy — Chapter 13: I Show My Hand (1905)

“ I have been once in Petersburg. But is it not best that we should escape at once from Russia?"
"Impossible at present," she wrote. "We should both be arrested at the frontier. It would be best to go into hiding here in Petersburg. I believed Woodroffe to be my friend, but I have found only this day that he is my enemy. He knew that I was in Kajana, and was in Abo when he learned of my escape. ”

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Source: Wikisource

William Le Queux, The Czar's Spy — Chapter 13: I Show My Hand (1905)

“ Woodroffe must have followed you from England. He is my enemy. You must take me from here and hide me. They intend to send me into exile. Have you ever been in Petersburg before? Do you know anyone here? ”

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Source: Wikisource

William Le Queux, The Czar's Spy — Chapter 13: I Show My Hand (1905)

“ Then he remarked suddenly--
"You are English, I presume--possibly from Helsingfors?"
"No," I answered. "From Abo. I crossed from Stockholm, and am going to Petersburg."
"And I also. I live in Petersburg," he added. "We may perhaps meet one day. Do you know the capital?" ”

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Source: Wikisource

William Le Queux, The Czar's Spy — Chapter 13: I Show My Hand (1905)

“ Yet what I have done is only at direct orders from Helsingfors--orders that are stern, pitiless and unjust. Men have been torn from their families and sent to the mines, women have been arrested for no offense and shipped off to Saghalien, and mere children have been cast into prison on charges of political conspiracy with their elders--in order to Russify the province! Only," he added anxiously, "I trust you will never repeat what I tell you. You have asked me why I assisted the English Mademoiselle to escape from Kajana, and I have explained the reason." ”

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Source: Wikisource

William Le Queux, The Czar's Spy — Chapter 13: I Show My Hand (1905)

“ Rewards without number had been offered by the Ministry of the Interior for the betrayal and arrest of the unseen man whose power in Russia, permeating every class, was greater than that of the Emperor himself--at whose word one day the people would rise in a body and destroy their oppressors. ”

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Source: Wikisource

William Le Queux, The Czar's Spy — Chapter 13: I Show My Hand (1905)

“ The fellow had, no doubt, stolen it from my pocket believing I carried my paper money in the flap.
"The affair of the English lady is a most extraordinary one," remarked the Chief of Police, toying with his pen as he sat at his big table. "She seems to have met this Englishman up at Tammerfors, or at some place further north, yet it is curious that her passport should be in order even though she fled so precipitately from Kajana. ”

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Source: Wikisource

William Le Queux, The Czar's Spy — Chapter 13: I Show My Hand (1905)

“ She will find a safe place of concealment. But go quickly, for every moment places you both in more deadly peril. Hide yourself there also."
I thanked him and left at once, but as I stepped out of the house and re-entered the drosky I saw close by, lurking in the shadow, the spy of "The Strangler of Finland," who had traveled with me from Abo. ”

William Le Queux

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Quotes from The Czar's Spy — Chapter 13: I Show My Hand (William Le Queux)

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