“You will be surprised that my congratulations are sent from St. Petersburg; no doubt you thought of me as still in sunny India, the theatre of our mutual adventures in the war.  I should certainly have remained there till the end of the campaign, had not an English bullet temporarily put an end to my military activity—­all too soon for my ambition, as you can imagine.  Uninjured in two great battles and a number of trifling skirmishes, I was unhappily destined to be incapacitated in quite an unimportant and inglorious encounter.  Had I not been saved by an heroic woman, you would have heard no more of your old friend Tchajawadse, except that he was one of those who had remained on the field of honour.

“Can you guess the name of this woman, comrade?  I do not think you can have entirely forgotten my supposed page Georgi, and I am telling you nothing new to-day in lifting the veil of the secrecy, with which for obvious reasons I was obliged to shroud his relations to me in India.  Georgi was a girl, and for years she has been dearer to me than anyone else.  She was of humble birth, and possessed little of what we call culture.  But, nevertheless, she was to me the dearest creature that I have ever met on my wanderings through two continents; a wonderful compound of savagery and goodness of heart, of ungovernable pride and unselfish, devoted affection—­a child and a heroine.  She had given herself to me, and followed me on my journeys from pure inclination, not for the sake of any advantage.  It had been her own wish to play the part of a servant.  I do not, however, mean to say that she never made use of the power she possessed over me, for she was proud, and knew how to govern.

“Once, at the beginning of our Indian journey, extremely irritated by her obstinate pride, I raised my hand against her.  One look from her brought me to my senses before the punishment followed.  Afterwards, when my blood had long cooled, she said to me, her eyes still blazing with anger, ’If you had really struck me I should have left you at once, and no entreaties would ever have induced me to return to you.’  I laughed at her words, but from that time exercised more control over myself.  We lived in perfect harmony till the day when Georgi saved your life in Lahore, my valued comrade.  It was she who brought me the terrible news that you were being led away to death.  I had never seen the girl so fearfully excited before.  Her eyes glistened and her whole frame trembled.  It seemed as if she would have driven me forward with the lash, that I might not be too late.  I myself was too anxious to worry my head much about the girl’s singular excitement.  But after you were happily saved, when you were concealed in my tent, and I looked for Georgi to tell her of the result of my intervention, she fell into such a paroxysm of joy that my jealous suspicions were aroused.  Carried away by excitement I flung an insult at her, and then, when she answered