ARREST OF M. PERNET.271
city prison, and there placed in a cell. Such is the
account which the waiter at our inn gave to my ser
vant, who, after many questions, further learnt that
M. Pernet is a young man about twenty-six years
old, and of feeble frame, which redoubles the fears
that are entertained for him ; that he passed through
Moscow last year, when he stayed at the house of a
Russian friend, who afterwards took him into the
country. This Riissian is now absent, and the unfor
tunate prisoner has no other acquaintance here except
another Frenchman, a M. R, in whose com
pany, it is said, he has been travelling from the north
of Russia, This M. Rlodged in the same hotel
with the prisoner. His name struck me the moment
I heard it, for it is the same as that of the dark man
with whom I dined a few days before at the house of
the governor of Nijni. The reader may recollect that
his physiognomy had been to me a subject for medi
tation. Again to stumble upon this personage, in
connection with the event of the night, appeared
to me quite a circumstance for a novel, and I could
scarcely believe what I heard : nevertheless I imme
diately rose, and sought the waiter myself, to hear
from his own lips the version of the story, and to
ascertain beyond doubt the correctness of the name
of M. R, whose identity I was particularly de
sirous of ascertaining. The waiter told me, that
having been sent on an errand by a foreigner about
to leave Moscow, he was at Ivopp's hotel at the mo
ment when the police left it, and he added that M.
Kopp had related to him the affair, which he re
counted in words that exactly accorded with the
statement of Antonio.
272 CONDUCT OF HIS FELLOW TRAVELLER.
As soon as I was dressed, I repaired to M. E,,
and found, true enough, that it was the bronze-com-plexioned man of Nijni. The only difference was, that at Moseow he had an agitated air, very different from his former immobility. I found him out of bed ; we reeognised each other in a moment; but when I told him the objeet of my very early morning call, he appeared embarrassed.
" It is true that I have travelled," he said, " with M. Pernet, but it was by mere chance ; we met at Archangel, and from thence have proceeded in company : he has a very poor constitution, and his weak health gave me much uneasiness during the journey: I rendered him the sendees that humanity ealled for, but nothing more; I am not one of his friends ; I know nothing of him."
" I know still less of him," I replied; " but we are all three Frenchmen, and we owe eaeh other mutual aid in a eountry where our liberty and our life may be menaced any moment by a power which eannot be seen till it strikes."
" Perhaps M. Pernet," replied M. R, " has
got himself into this serape by some imprudence. A stranger as well as he is, and without credit, what can I do ? If he is innocent, the arrest will be followed by no serious consequenees ; if he is culpable, he will have to submit to the punishment. I ean do nothing for him, I owe him nothing ; and I advise you, sir, to be yourself very cautious in any steps you may take in his favour, as well as in your language respecting the affair."
" But what will decide his guilt ?" I exclaimed. " It will be first of all necessary to see him, to know
THE FRENCH CONSUL ЛТ MOSCOW.273
to what he attributes this arrest, and to ask him what can be said or done for him."
" You forget the country we are in," answered
M. R: " he is in a dungeon ; how could we get
access to him ? the thing is impossible."
" What is also impossible," I replied, rising, " is that Frenchmen — that any men, should leave their countryman in a critical situation, without even inquiring the cause of his misfortune."
On leaving this very prudent travelling companion, I began to think the case more serious than I had at first supposed; and I considered that, to understand the true position of the prisoner, I ought to address myself to the French consul. Being obliged to wait the usual hour for seeing that personage, I ordered back my post-horses, to the great surprise and displeasure of the feldj·äger, as they were already at the door when I cave the countermand.
At ten o'clock, I made to the French consul the above relation of facts; and found that official protector of the French full as prudent, and yet more
cold, than Doctor Rhad appeared to me. Since
he has lived in Moscow, this consul has become almost a Russian. I could not make out whether his answers were dictated by a fear founded on a knowledge of the usages of the country, or by a sentiment of wounded self-love, of ill-understood personal dignity.
"M. Pernet," he said, "passed six months in Moscow and its environs, without having thought fit, during all that time, to make the smallest approach towards the consul of France. M. Pernet must look, therefore, to himself alone to get out of the situation N 5
274
EFFECTS OF
in which his heedlessness has involved him. This answer," added the consul, " is perhaps not sufficiently distinct." He then concluded by repeating that he neither ought, nor could, nor would, mix himself up with the affair.
In vain did I represent to him, that, in his capacity as our consul, he owed to every Frenchman, without distinction of persons, and even if they failed in the laws of etiquette, his aid and protection ; that the present question was not one of ceremony, but of the liberty and perhaps the life of a fellow countryman ; and that, under such a misfortune, all resentment should be at least suspended till the danger was over. I could not extract one word, not one single expression of interest in favour of the prisoner; nor even, when I reasoned on public grounds, and spoke of the dignity of France, and the safety of all Frenclmien who travelled in Russia, could 1 make any impression ; in short, this second attempt aided the cause no better than the first.
Nevertheless, though I had not even known M. Pernet by name, and though I had no motive to take any personal interest in him, yet, as chance had made me acquainted with his misfortune, it seemed to me that it was no more than my duty to give him all the aid that lay in my power. I was at this moment strongly struck with a truth which is no doubt often present to the thoughts of others, but which had only until then vaguely and fleetingly passed before my mind—the truth that imagination serves to extend the sphere of pity, and to render it more active. I went even so far as to conclude in my own mind, that a man without imagination would be absolutely
IMAGINATION.275
devoid of feeling. All my imaginative or creative faculties were busy in presenting to me, in spite of myself, this unhappy, unknown man, surrounded by the phantoms of his prison solitude : I suffered with him, I felt his feelings, I shared his fears; I saw him, forsaken by all the world, discovering that his state was hopeless: for who would ever interest themselves in a prisoner in this land, so distant and so different from ours, in a society where friends meet together for enjoyment, and separate in adversity. What a stimulus was this thought to my commiseration! 'c You believe yourself to be alone in the world ; you are unjust towards Providence, which sends you a friend and a brother." These were the words which I mentally addressed to the victim.