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'Neither the printing-press nor Russian propaganda nor I are in need of money; on the contrary, things are going swimmingly. Why should I take your money? But though I refuse to take it, allow me to thank you from the bottom of my heart for your kind intention.'
'No, sir, it is all decided. I have 50,000 francs. I shall take 30,000 with me to the Islands, and I shall leave 20,000 with you for propaganda.'
'What am I to do with it?'
'Well, if you don't need the money you can give it back to me if I return; but if I don't return within ten years, or if I die--use it for your propaganda efforts. Only,' he added, after a moment's thought, 'do what you like, but . . . bu t don't give anything to my heirs. Are you free to-morrow morning?'
'Certainly, if you like.'
'Do me the favour of taking me to the bank and to see Rothschild ; I know nothing about these things, I can't speak English and I speak French very badly. I want to make haste to get rid of the 20,000 and be off.'
'Very well, I shall accept the money, but on these conditions: I shall give you a receipt.'
'I don't want any receipt.'
'No, but I must give you one, and I shan't take your money without it. Now listen. In the first place, it shall be stated in the receipt that your money is entrusted not to me alone, but to me and to Ogarev. In the second, since you may get sick of the Marquesas Islands and begin to pine for your native country . . .' (he shook his head) . 'How can one know what one does not know? . . . There is no need to specify the object with which you are giving us the capitaclass="underline" we will say that the money is put at the complete disposal of Ogarev and myself; should we make no other use of it, we shall invest the whole sum for you in securities at five per cent. or thereabouts, guaranteed by the English government. Then I give you my word that we shall not touch your money except in case of extreme necessity for propaganda purposes; you may count upon it in any circumstances, except that of bankruptcy in England.'4
'If you insist on taking so much trouble, do so. And to-morrow let us go for the money! '
4 Herzen's account corresponds exactly t o the contents o f a letter of 3 1 st August, 1 857, from P. A. Bakhmetev to H. After he left London B. was not seen in Europe arrd nothing is known of his further fortunes. I n July 1 869, a t Ogarev's request, H. gave him half the money i n the fund, which was passed on to S. G. Nechayev. After H.'s death the other
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The following day was an unusually amusing and busy one. It began with the bank and with Rothschild. The money was paid in notes. Bakhmetev at first conceived the guileless intention of changing them into Spanish gold or silver. Rothschild's clerks looked at him in amazement, but when suddenly, as though half awake, he said in very broken Franco-Russian: 'Well, then, lcttre credit Ilc Marquise,' Kestner, the manager, turned on me an alarmed and anxious look, which said better than any words:
'He is not dangerous, is he?' Besides, never before in Rothschild's bank had anyone asked for a letter of credit to the Marquesas Islands.
We decided to take 30,000 francs in gold and go home; on the way we went into a cafe. I wrote the receipt; Bakhmetev for his part wrote for me that he put £800 at the complete disposal of myself and Ogarev; then he went home to get something and I went off to a bookshop to wait for him; a quarter of an hour later he came in, white as a sheet, and announced that of his 30,000 francs 250, that is £10, were missing. He was utterly overcome. How the loss of 250 francs could so upset a man who had just given away 20,000 without any secure guarantee is another psychological riddle of human nature.
'Haven't you a note too much?' he asked me.
'I haven't the money with me. I gave it to Rothschild, and here is the receipt, precisely 800.' Bakhmetev, who had changed his French notes into sovereigns with no need to do so, scattered 30,000 on Tchorszewski's counter; he counted them and counted them over again; £10 \Yere missing, and that was all about it.
Seeing his despair, I said to Tchorszewski:
'I'll take that damned £ 1 0 on myself somehow; here he has done a good deed, and he is punished for it.
'It is no use grie,·ing and discussing it,' I added to him, 'I propose going to Rothschild's at once.'
We drove there. By now it vvas after four and the bank was closed. I went in \vith the embarrassed Bakhmetev. Kestner half, too. was given hv Ogari;,. to �echaye,·. I I.'s apprehension was rpaliwd awl B.'s fund was squandered on adn•nturist PntPrpr·isPs of Ilakunin ami �Pdlil_n•v. ( A.S. ) ThP Sm·iet Academicians are. for once, pu tting it mild!,-. For thP facts on Kecha\e,·s can•Pr. h is sinister and mastprful persolli.Iit\. and his exploitation of the aging Ba kunin's idealism-and WPa l-.nPss-cf. Carr's The Romantic Eri/,·s, chapter H . .. The
'Affain• :'\Pchayev'; or· the First Tl'rTorist." For the fictional truth about him- as \'erho,·cnsky fils -and the pol itical murder that l anded him for tire rl'st of h is l ife in the Peter- Paul fort ress, cf. Dostoevsky's The Possrssrd. (D.M.)
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looked at him and smiled, took a £10 note from the table and handed it to me.
'When your friend changed the money he gave me two £10
notes instead of two £5 ones, and at first I did not notice it.'
Bakhmetev looked and looked, and commented:
'How stupid that £10 notes and £5 notes are the same colour; who would notice the difference? You see what a good thing it was that I changed the money into gold.'
His mind was at rest and he came to dine with me; I promised to go and say good-bye to him next day. He was quite ready to start. A little shabby, battered trunk such as cadets or students have, a greatcoat tied up with a strap, and . . . and . . . 30,000
francs in gold wrapped up in a thick pocket-handkerchief, as people tie up a pound of gooseberries or nuts.
This was how the man was setting off for the Marquesas Islands.
'Upon my soul!' I said to him ; 'why, you will be robbed and murdered before your ship casts off; you had better put your money in your trunk.'
'It is full.'
'I'll get you a bag.'
'Not on any account.'
And so he went off. During the first days I feared that he would be made away with and that I should incur the suspicion of having sent someone to kill him.
From that day there has been no sight nor sound of him . . . .
I put his money in Consols with the firm intention of not touching it except in the case of the printing-press or propaganda being in the utmost straits.
For a long time no one in Russia knew of this; then there were vague rumours, for which we were indebted to two or three of our friends who had given their word to say nothing about it. At last it was learnt that the money really existed and was in my keeping.
This news fell like an apple of temptation, a chronic incitement and ferment. It turned out that everyone needed the money-and I did not give it to them. They could not forgive me for not having lost the whole of my own property, and here I had a deposit given me for the propaganda ; and who were 'the propaganda' if not they? The sum quickly grew from modest francs to silver roubles, and was still more tantalising for those who desired to waste it privately for the common cause. They were indignant with Bakhmetev for having entrusted the money to me and not to someone else; the boldest among them declared