Red Shadow Read Free Page B

train. Then she heard Basil Stevens say in his rather deep voice,
    â€œDon’t look like that, Miss Cameron—he hasn’t been shot.” He made quite a long pause, and then added, “ Yet .”
    The letter shook in her hand. She put out her other hand to steady it, but that shook too.
    â€œMiss Cameron—I give you my word that he’s alive.”
    â€œHow—do you—know?”
    â€œIt is my business to know. I have come here on business. I want you to pull yourself together. Have you any wine here?”
    She shook her head.
    He brought her a glass of water, and she drank a little. The first impact of the shock was over. She was numbed by it, but her head felt clear.
    â€œYou’re better? You can listen to me?”
    â€œYes.”
    â€œYou’ve read Mackenzie’s letter. He wrote it under the impression that his sentence would be carried out next day. It has not been carried out—it need never be carried out.”
    Laura’s mind was clear, but her thoughts moved slowly; they had a heavy, clogged feeling.
    Basil Stevens repeated his last words.
    â€œThe sentence need not be carried out.” He paused, and then said very distinctly, “Whether it is carried out or not depends on you.”
    The words came into Laura’s mind. Her thoughts stood round and stared at them. They made nothing of them. She said,
    â€œI don’t understand.”
    â€œPlease try and understand, Miss Cameron. Mackenzie is under sentence of death. His fate is entirely in your hands. If you do one thing, he will be shot—if you do another, he will go free. Do you understand that? He will go quite free. There is no question of prison or anything of that sort.”
    Laura looked at him.
    â€œI don’t know what you mean.”
    â€œBut you know what I’ve just been saying. It’s for you to say whether Mackenzie is shot, or whether he goes free.”
    Laura went on looking at him.
    â€œHow can it be?”
    â€œI suppose that you would be willing to make some sacrifice to save his life?”
    â€œYes,” said Laura—just the one word in a soft failing voice. All her life and strength seemed to be drawn inwards about her consciousness of Jim. Her voice failed.
    â€œWell, you can save him if you want to,” said Basil Stevens.
    Laura said, “How?” and it seemed as if he hesitated.
    At last he said, “Mackenzie can be—how shall I put it?—exchanged. He has been condemned to death for counter-revolutionary activities. The Russian Government considers that they have a claim against his life. They will press the claim unless it is to their advantage not to press it. Now it happens to be in your power to be able to offer them something which would be more to their advantage than their claim against Mackenzie.”
    Laura leaned forward, her clasped hands upon the letter. A quick colour came and went in her cheeks.
    â€œ I? ”
    Basil Stevens nodded.
    â€œYes. It is fortunate for Mackenzie—isn’t it?”
    â€œ I? ” said Laura.
    â€œYou. You have it in your power to release him.”
    â€œMr Stevens——”
    â€œYes, I am going to tell you how. It is a business matter. The Russian Government have, as you may know, embarked upon a great scheme of industrial and agricultural expansion. They want machinery, railway plant, aeroplanes, agricultural implements, like tractors—you will have seen things about it in the papers, and you will have heard Mackenzie talk about it. His firm has a contract to supply tractors.”
    â€œYes.”
    Basil Stevens made a gesture that cut across his explanations.
    â€œI cannot go any farther until I have your assurance that you will treat what I am going to say as confidential.”
    Laura’s eyes dwelt on him.
    â€œWhat do you mean by that?”
    â€œI mean that you are not at liberty to take what I am going to tell you to some friend