Directly she found
herself alone the mask of her assumed nonchalance had fallen suddenly.
As long as there was an audience she had worn a disguise on her soul as
well as her body. She had been feeling moody and depressed all day,
and this last episode was the climax. Everything she had was to be her
own no longer. It was all to be for the Cause--even her green eyes!
What power it possessed over these men. They admitted it to be a
losing Cause, yet it was all they thought about, the sole thing for
which they lived--and died. She had not thought it would be like this
at first.
She remembered how gaily she had discoursed of Tolstoi and Prince
Kropotkin, and of their writings which had revealed to her a new world.
Her first interview with Sobrenski had shown the relentlessness of the
man she was to serve. She felt that he would sacrifice all alike, men
and women, to his idol, and would never stop to care whether the victim
were willing or unwilling. The fact of her sex would gain her no
consideration at his hands. Lately she had been impressed with the
sensation of being surrounded by an impassable barrier drawn round her,
a circle that was gradually becoming narrowed.
Pages:
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65