' As soon as a vessel was on the point of being wrecked, the baron proceeded to the shore, and secretly
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embarked with numerous active and determined men, whom he kept for the purpose of aiding him in these nocturnal expeditions. He then gathered together the stranger mariners and, instead of affording them the expected succour, murdered them under cover of the dark; after which he pillaged their slup, although actuated throughout much less by a desire of gain than by a pure love of evil, and a disinterested pleasure in destruction.
' Doubting all things, and disbelieving the principle of justice, he considered moral and social disorder as being most analogous to the state of man here below, and civil and political virtues as chimeras that only oppose nature without subduing it.
' He pretended that, in putting an end to the life of his fellow creatures, he was subservient to the schemes of Providence, who was pleased, he said, to extract life out of death.
' One evening, towards the end of autumn, when the nights were very long, he had exterminated the crew of a Dutch merchantman, and the pirates, whom he kept under the title of guards, among the servants belonging to his house, were for several hours occupied in landing the cargo of the wrecked vessel, without observing that, during the massacre, the captain had profited by the darkness, and had saved himself in a boat which had followed him with some of the sailors of his vessel.
' Day-break surprised the baron and his emissaries
at their work of darkness, and announced to them also
the approach of a small boat. They immediately
shut the gates of the secret vaults, where the produce
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of their pillage was disposed; after which the drawbridge was let down before the stranger.
' The baron, with that elegant hospitality whieh is an indelible characteristic of Russian manners, hastened to receive the leader of the new comers.
' Affecting the most perfect security, he repaired to a saloon near the apartment of his son who was yet sleeping, and there awaited him. The tutor of his child was also in bed dangerously ill. The door of his chamber, which opened into the saloon, remained unclosed. The stranger was introduced.
'
' The baron, without replying, arose and gently closed the door of the tutor's chamber. The stranger continued —
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i? The baron ali this tune maintained a profound silence. The expression of his countenance was grave but not sinister. He requested a little time to reflect upon the course he should take, and withdrew, saying that in a quarter of an hour he would give his answer.
' Some minutes before the expiration of the stipulated time, he suddenly burst into the saloon tlmough a secret door, threw himself upon the too adventurous stranger, and stabbed him to the heart.
' Orders had been meantime given to destroy the last man of the boat's crew. Silence, for a moment disturbed by so many murders, again reigned in this den of robbers. The tutor of the child had, however, overheard all that had passed: he continued to listen, but could at length only hear the step of the baron, and the deep snore of the Corsairs as, wrapped in their sheep-skins, they slept on the stairs of the tower.
' The baron, uneasy and siispicious, entered the chamber of this man; and examined his features with scrupulous attention. Standing near the bed, with the still bloody poniard in his hand, he watched a long time for the least signs which could betray a feigned slumber. At length, convinced that he was in a deep sleep, he resolved to let him live.
' Perfection in crime is as rare as in anything
else,' said the Prince К, interrupting his narra
tion.
We made no answer, for we were impatient to know the end of the history. He continued: —
' The suspicions of the tutor had been roused for some time past. As soon as the first words of the Dutch captain had met his ear he rose up, and wit-F 3
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nessed through the chinks of the door, which the baron had locked upon him, all the circumstances of the murder. The instant afterwards he acted with the presence of mind before related, which deceived the assassin, and saved his life. After the baron had retired he rose, dressed, and, in spite of the fever that was upon him, let himself down from the window by cords, detached a skiff which he found fastened at the foot of the rampart, and pushed out to sea, steering towards the mainland, which he reached without accident, and where he immediately proclaimed the crime that he had witnessed.
' The absence of the sick man was soon noticed in the castle of Dago. The baron, blinded by the infatuation of crime, imagined at first that he had cast himself into the sea while under the delirium of fever. Entirely occupied in searching for his body, he thought not of flight, although the cord attached to the window and the disappearance of the skiff were irrefragable proofs of the real fact.
' Convinced, at length, by these evidences, he was beginning to prepare for escape, when he found his castle surrounded by troops which had been instantly despatched against him. For one moment he thought of defence, but his people all forsook him. He was taken and sentenced by the Emperor Paul to hard labour for life in Siberia.
