“Now, however, the position was changed.  As ex-guardsman and as late ordnance officer to the Emperor, this rebel ran a serious risk of being given special attention in the shape of a firing squad at ten paces.  For more than a month he remained lost in the miserable crowd of prisoners packed in the casemates of the citadel, with just enough food to keep body and soul together but otherwise allowed to die from wounds, privation, and disease at the rate of forty or so a day.

“The position of the fortress being central, new parties, captured in the open in the course of a thorough pacification, were being sent in frequently.  Amongst such newcomers there happened to be a young man, a personal friend of the Prince from his school days.  He recognized him, and in the extremity of his dismay cried aloud:  ’My God!  Roman, you here!’

“It is said that years of life embittered by remorse paid for this momentary lack of self-control.  All this happened in the main quadrangle of the citadel.  The warning gesture of the Prince came too late.  An officer of the gendarmes on guard had heard the exclamation.  The incident appeared to him worth inquiring into.  The investigation which followed was not very arduous because the Prince, asked categorically for his real name, owned up at once.

“The intelligence of the Prince S---------- being found amongst the
prisoners was sent to St. Petersburg.  His parents were already there
living in sorrow, incertitude, and apprehension.  The capital of the
Empire was the safest place to reside in for a noble whose son had
disappeared so mysteriously from home in a time of rebellion.  The old
people had not heard from him, or of him, for months.  They took care
not to contradict the rumours of suicide from despair circulating in the
great world, which remembered the interesting love-match, the charming
and frank happiness brought to an end by death.  But they hoped secretly
that their son survived, and that he had been able to cross the frontier
with that part of the army which had surrendered to the Prussians.

“The news of his captivity was a crushing blow.  Directly, nothing could be done for him.  But the greatness of their name, of their position, their wide relations and connections in the highest spheres, enabled his parents to act indirectly and they moved heaven and earth, as the saying is, to save their son from the ‘consequences of his madness,’ as poor Prince John did not hesitate to express himself.  Great personages were approached by society leaders, high dignitaries were interviewed, powerful officials were induced to take an interest in that affair.  The help of every possible secret influence was enlisted.  Some private secretaries got heavy bribes.  The mistress of a certain senator obtained a large sum of money.