CHAPTER IV.—PRINCE LORIS.

Otago Witness, Issue 2437, 28 November 1900, Page 57

CHAPTER IV.— PRINCE LORIS.

-About three years after the conviction

of - Stephen Lome and his accomplices at the Old- Bailey, the cause to which he had vowed to devote the rest of his life, after . h& had regained his freedom, had received, quite by chance, a new'- and powerful recruit wno was destined to mingle his ■ fate very closely with the destinies of those who are chiefly concerned with the present narrative. It often happens that the unscrupulous tyranny of a- despotic government transforms those who, under juster conditions, would be its most faithful supporters into the allies of its most desperate enemies. It was * thus with Prince Loris Stanislas, a young and wealthy Polish noble whose liberal opinions had given such offence to "the Russian Government that he had been forced to save himself from very unpleasant -consequences — which are not supposeSAto * occur;;-, nowadays— by mortgaging -all -his -. possessions in one big speculation on tJie~Jßerlin Bourse, and then removing >himsdi 'as i speedily ~% possible be-yond--the reach "of the paternal government of the Little Father. The speculation had turned out fortunate, and he found himself in exile a much richer man than he had been on his own estates ; but the fact of exile rankled in his soul, for the paternal acres which Russian tyranny had forced him to sell to the Jews were dearei to him than money. At" 55 he had tasted f>nd got tired of most of the ordinary pleasure's of life. He had "toeen married at 22, and made a widower, at' 25. - _ In Vienna he had, by the merest chance, me]b and made the acquaintance of a beautiful Spanish woman with a daughter already so tall, so learned, and so grave beyond her years that she might have been ' her younger sister. The chance-acquaint-ance ripened quickly into intimacy, not altogether disinterested on his side,- perhaps, but this intimacy soon became friendship of another order when a chance question prompted Prince Loris to tell* the story ■ of his life and' wrong to the wife of Stephen Lome. Confidence begat confi/dence, and so she gave him her husband's /story in return for his own. ! "It is an infamy !" he had said when she finished, "an infamy which only the lives of his oppressors could pay for even in part. Madame, as you know, I have my wrongs. lam an exile, an outcast from the "home and country of my fathers ; but at least my oppressors have not beggared me. lam rich, and I have nothing ; to do with my money. It shall be spent, every franc of it, if necessary, in righting such wrongs as those which you and yours have suffered." •„ The result of this conversation, which ( "Stephen Lome's wife looked upon at the time . merely' as a sort, of chivalrous rhap- j sody, was that the. Prince went to London and" sought out and gathered, together^ the scattered .remnant* of the- -Atomist. Club, discarded those who seemed unlikely to j mak*e useful instruments, and affiliated the | rest to tHe Central Nihilist Society in , London, ,w3ic&~ had, ve.ry naturally received a> man of such position and wealth as himself.with open 'arms-. .-__-'. All this time he had held no further communication with Stephen Lome's wife or "daughter. Ascertain delicacy of feeling which, as he sometimes confessed to himself, was blended with a yet more tender , sentiment, prompted him to finish the work \ which he had set himself to do before he j 'approached hei' again, as h& hoped to do, with the fruits of his work in his hands. It was only natural that a man of his position and wealth, still young, gifted j with tire- dark commanding beauty of his race, and possessing all the .advantages of his romantic history, should have very little difficulty in finding his way into the j inner circles of English society. In fact, I there was only one, the innermost and most j select of all, that of the court itself, winch was closed to him ; and that was 'only closed because -vis presentation at court would under the • circumstances have been a breach of international etiquette. ' Still he went everywhere' and did everything, and after he had run a horse at Doncaster and got it beaten by a short Ihead by one 1 .belonging to the Prince of i sWales, he had.been introduced to his Royal 'Highness, who found him an exceedingly good fellow and a sportsman after his own heart ; and after that, of course, everything was easy, saving only the- one formality, which, to a man who had been a ivelcome guest .at half the courts of .Europe/ was not an absolute essential' to worldly happiness. , Thus ifc came about that Prince Loris was able to play with perfect safety the Rouble role of the man about town, the | welcome guest of the best houses "in London .tod the country, and the conspirator, the head-centre, us he 'became a couple of years after his conversation with Concha Lome Yin"d her daughter, of the London Nihilist Society, the executive which controls the (work and movements of Nihilism, and that offspring of. it which is called Anarchism ■ Uiroughout the world. »\lany things ha"d happened in different iioantriess of Europe since Prince Loris had become the head of the London Nihilist ..Centre, birfc not a single outrage had occurred within the limits of the United fcingdom ; for he liad impressed upon his associates, and -subordinates not only the Vie.cessity, but the duty of respecting the of the country - whose too liberal laws- gave them an asylum which they icoiild not have found elsewhere. Yet yjomething might be done by peaceful meSfchods, and if Stephen Lome could have Jknown what influences had led to his Veleasr. when little more than half his \legal sentence nad expired, he .would have found that the first of them emanated from uPrince Loris Stanislas, who made it his Business to -become a friend of the Home '^Secretary of the day and a liberal supporter 'pi the party to which he belonged. h He had also"tried indirectly to intercede .Vor/Marcus ' Crane"; but, although the intercession was very skilfully y managed, and j Prince Loris only appeared in it ! fys a sort of romantic sentimentalist with Exceedingly -liberal views, not even the -Very Liber a/I .Government which, was then j hi power could see its way to meet his

"No, my dear Px'ince," said the Undersecretary to whom he put the request, , somewhat in the shape of a personal fa1 your. "I'm afraid it can't be done. I [ daren't even suggest it to the H.S. You ' see the history of the case shows quite 1 clearly that this man Lome, who, I think, I will be respited, and at any rate shall be i if I can do anything in the matter, was ! really not a criminal. He was a disapj rjointed visionary who fancied that he was ' suffering under " some great wrong ; no doubt an imaginary one. Still that does not matter, and, like other visionaries in similar circumstances, he fancied that he had a right to revenge himself upon society at large, just, you know, as these nihilist and anarchist Johnnies think they have, and he did it by blowing up a corner of the Law Courts. Well, you know, my 'dear Prince, we have to punish that kind of. thing.'"- ' - •-; "OL couivse," murmured Prince-Loris with a "smile and a. gesture which the Undersecretary, who considered himself something I of "a squire of dames, would have given anything to be able to imitate. "Of course, I understand you. It would be impossible for, any. civilised society to exist if such precautions were not taken. When the visionary translates his visions into explosives he must be suppressed, no matter hew excellent he may believe his motives to be.. That would be right even in Russiaf But there," he- went on with another smile, , "I must not trench upon I international' matters in talking with ■ a I statesman. . Then you think this other maE — what is it? — Crane'/ — was that the name that my friend told me? — that he is, as we may say, impossible';" i , '.'Quite impossible, I am afraid, my dear Prince," said the Under-secretary, exceedingly pleased by the half- deferential tone in ' which the word "statesman" had been uttered. "I am very sorry. I hope you believe that I would do anything 1 could to oblige a friend of yours, evSn though he were a nihilist in disgrace — which, of course, would be quite impossible. But, ically, the fact of the matter is that' this i Marcus Crane was the most dangerous criminal .of them all. He was, as I might put it, the Bakounine of tne gang — a combination of philosopher and wild beast ; a man, as we have learnt since, of extraordinary mental attainments • a perfect linguist, a wonderful qrganiser, Avho - possessed that most essential of all gifts, , the faculty of finding the .right men to do the 1 -work he wanted done. It was by -the merest accident that we caught him over this trivial little affair, for, after all, it was nothing more, when all is said and done. If we hadn't just nabbed Mm then 1 there is no telling • what the man might I have accomplished. Of course, we had ' his whole record worked out before the .trial, and Hawkins ,was perfectly right -in giving him the most; lie could — twenty' ■ years ; and the only pity is that if he i manages to behave himself perfectly in ' prison he'll get out when he's done between 1 fifteen and sixteen. I'm very sorry, my dear Prince, very sorry, but in his case 1 cannot move ; and if I did I should just •get a snub from the Secretary, which would ! ;dc no one any good, and myself a certain 'amount of harm." "My dear sir," said the Prince, "pray don't say anything -fusther on the subject, i After all, what is it to me? You have 1 been very good to me already, or rathea 1 to this enthusiastic friend of mine who, for some' reason or other, interests himself about criminals who, no doubt, are much better under lock and key than in freedom, i Certainly such a wild beast as this Marcus Crane, when once locked up, should never be let loose again. Even in Russia I would send him to the mines. And now j I have kept you talking a great deal too j long about matters which don't concern either of us very particiilarly. I have the Tionour to thank you,- " and i>o wish you a very good morning.? '" As they shook hands the- Under-secretary experienced a feeling of great gratification. He had obliged a Prince and a friend of princes. He had maintained his own dignity, and he had duly impressed this courtly visitor of his "with the majesty and impartiality of English law. He knew, too, that Prince Loris- was not without a cer.tain social influence in smart sets, and altogether he: felt entirely satisfied with himself. He "would have, felt considerably mystified and a great deal less satisfied if he could have seen Prince Loris about six hours later sitting in an upper chamber in the Euston road at the head of a table, round which were seated a dozen keenfaced men belonging to half the -nationalities of "Europe; planning the escape from Parkhurst of that same Marcus Crane whom he had just described as a wild beast which, once caged, should never be set free. (To be continued.)