"
"Only on the estate?"
"Yes, Excellency."
"Are you sure of that?"
"Yes, Excellency."
Paul walked on in silence for some paces. The third man followed them
without catching them up.
"I do not understand, Excellency," said the starosta anxiously. "It is
not the Nihilists."
"No; it is not the Nihilists."
"And they do not want money, Excellency; that seems strange."
"Very!" admitted Paul ironically.
"And they give vodka."
This seemed to be the chief stumbling-block in the starosta's road to a
solution of the mystery.
"Find out for me," said Paul, after a pause, "who this man is, where he
comes from, and how much he is paid to open his mouth. We will pay him
more to shut it. Find out as much as you can, and let me know
to-morrow."
"I will try, Excellency; but I have little hope of succeeding. They
distrust me. They send the children to my shop for what they want, and
the little ones have evidently been told not to chatter. The moujiks
avoid me when they meet me. What can I do?"
"You can show them that you are not afraid of them," answered Paul.
"That goes a long way with the moujik."
They walked on together through the lane of cottages, where furtive
forms lurked in door-ways and behind curtains. And Paul had only one
word of advice to give, upon which he harped continually: "Be thou very
courageous--be thou very courageous.
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