"
"And who is the commandant of this fortress?"
"Colonel Smirnoff. If he knew that I had admitted you, you would never
leave this place alive. This is the Schusselburg of Finland--the place
of imprisonment for those who have conspired against the State."
"The prison of political conspirators, eh?"
"Alas, m'sieur, yes! The place in which some of the poor creatures are
tortured in order to obtain confessions and information with as much
cruelty as in the black days of the Inquisition. These walls are thick,
and their cries are not heard from the oubliettes below the lake."
I had long ago heard of the horrors of Schusselburg. Indeed who has not
heard of them who has traveled in Russia? The very mention of the modern
Bastille on Lake Ladoga, where no prisoner has ever been known to come
forth alive, is sufficient to cause any Russian to turn pale. And I was
in the Schusselburg of Finland!
I turned over the sheet of paper and wrote the question--
"Did Baron Oberg send you here?"
In response, she printed the words--
"I believe so.
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