The Mission of Poubalov — page 53: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

LITIZKI AT WOKK, — 49 avowed purpose of which was the disruption of the empire.”’ _ Poubalov paused, and puffed at his cigarette deliber- ately. You want me to say something,’’ cried Clara in des- _ peration, ‘‘andI don’t know what to say.”’ ‘*Pardon me,’’ said the spy, suavely, ‘‘a woman of your cleverness will not resent it when I tell you that you _misstate your difficulty. You could say much, perhaps, _ but you are afraid to.”’ - Clara’s silence was an admission that Poubalov had spoken correctly, and after giving her ample time to deny _ his accusation, he continued: _ “You are afraid—and again you will pardon plain lan- - guage—that you willinvolve your lover in fresh difficulties. Let me point out again that, so far as his offenses against _ the government of the czar are concerned, they were purely _ political offenses, and he is therefore ina perfectly secure asylum as long as he is on American soil, whether he _ be simply a refugee or a naturalized citizen. You must _ seek for his enemies, Miss Hilman, elsewhere than among _ the representatives of Russian authority.’’ _ “You give me too much credit for cleverness,’’ said Clara, ‘“‘for I cannot follow you.’’ | _ **You know that the secret society to which I referred _ adopted the term nihilism as a definition of its principles, ‘do you not? And you must know, even if Mr. Strobel ‘never told you so, that the Nihilists were bound by the most awful oaths never to betray the secrets of their as- sociation. ”’ _ ‘Do you mean to say that Mr. Strobel was a Nihilist?”’ “Certainly; that was what I was driving at from the beginning. It was for that he was compelled tu fly from Russia, and that is why he cannot return to his native dland. The government has done much to stamp out the ' curse of nihilistic propaganda, and many members of the “sc ciety have fled. Some are in Switzerland, some in Eng- (C(O) yg ad, others are here, here in Boston. Far from the, field