Russia in 1839 -Empire of the Czar: A Journey Through Eternal Russia

64MYSTERIOUS DISAPPEARANCE OF

the Sunday. Night came, and this person did not return. On the following morning the lady, very uneasy, sent to obtain information from the police.*

They replied that no aecident had occurred in Petersburg on the preceding night, and that no doubt the ƒemme-de-chambre had lost herself, and would soon return safe and sound.

The day passed in deceitful security. On the day following a relation of the girl's, a young man tolerably versed in the secrets of the police, coneeived the idea of going to the Hall of Surgery, to which one of his friends procured him an admission. Scarcely had he entered when he recognised the corpse of his cousin, which the pupils were just about to commence dissecting. Being a good Russian, he preserved self-command sufficient to conceal his emotion, and asked — " Whose body is this ?"

" No one knows : it is that of a girl's who was

found dead the night before last, instreet; it

is believed that she has been strangled in attempting to defend herself against men who endeavoured to violate her."

" Who are the men?"

í( We do not know : one can only form conjectures on the event; proofs are wanting."

" How did you obtain the body ?"

" The police sold it to us secretly; so we will not talk about it."

This last is a common expression in the mouth of a Russ, or an acclimated foreigner. I admit that

* I have been obliged to conceal names, and to change such circumstances as might allow of this account being traced to individuals ; but the facts are essentially preserved.