As Dr Pervoyedov cleaned out the wound now, Porfiry’s winces were more deeply felt and longer lasting than they had been.
*
Porfiry let out a small wimper of protest as he slumbered, waking himself up with a start. His arms felt down the bed and pulled a sheet of newspaper up to read. He quickly tired of the paper and let it fall to the floor, casting a glance towards Dr Pervoyedov. ‘What are you doing still here? Don’t you have proper patients to see to?’
For some reason, Dr Pervoyedov was grinning in a most unconvincing manner, affecting an insouciance that he clearly did not feel. ‘Oh, I have completed my rounds. I was just passing, and so I thought I would look in on you.’
There was a diffident knock at the door. Porfiry looked up to see Nikodim Fomich enter.
‘How is our patient?’ Nikodim Fomich gave the last word an ironic emphasis. His face wrinkled with pleasure. He had never shared Dr Pervoyedov’s disapproval of ‘the ruse’, and had in fact given his secret assent to Virginsky’s mission beforehand.
‘The wound is not healing as cleanly as I might have hoped,’ said Dr Pervoyedov, who seemed to be irritated by Nikodim Fomich’s joviality.
‘Wound? But I understood the weapon was loaded with blanks?’
‘The good doctor has rather made a mess of my face with all his fussing,’ said Porfiry.
‘I. .!’ But Dr Pervoyedov decided against articulating his protest further.
‘Exercise more care, Pervoyedov! We must look after this man. He is the jewel in our crown.’ Nikodim Fomich patted Porfiry’s leg solicitously. ‘Now then, what do you think of this? We have received a message. From Pavel Pavlovich, our man in the field. The system you set up has worked, Porfiry Petrovich!’
Porfiry waved away the compliment.
Nikodim Fomich handed a much-folded sheet of paper to Porfiry. Porfiry looked briefly at the note but handed it back to Nikodim Fomich almost immediately. ‘Read it to me.’ His hands fell heavily when the note was taken from him and he closed his eyes.
Nikodim Fomich frowned distractedly at this unexpected reaction but did as Porfiry directed. ‘Have read Dolgoruky’s printed confession. He confesses rape of child. Child subsequently killed self. Dolgoruky makes no mention of suicide in confession. I believe this provides Dolgoruky with motive to kill Pseldonimov: to suppress the confession that he came to regret. Printing press at workshop off Kalashnikovsky Prospect. Also serves as bomb-making factory. Dolgoruky promised to introduce me to 1 known as “Dyavol.” Failed. I believe Dyavol head of cell including Pseldonimov, Rakitin, Dolgoruky, Kozodavlev and three others. My first contact, Botkin. Totsky = “Bazarov” from Affair. And Tatyana Ruslanovna Vakhrameva! (Remember?) If I can meet Dyavol, will find out more. Dyavol is key to it all. We could arrest Dolgoruky for child rape. He will confess. But if he remains at liberty for present he may lead me to Dyavol. Cell is planning major atrocity involving explosives. I need to infiltrate cell further find out what. Some suspicion (of me) by revolutionists. They would be more convinced if P.P. had died! (Consider announcement to that effect? Staged funeral?) If I am discovered, they will kill me. Botkin ruthless, Dolgoruky mad. Totsky angry. Vakhrameva damaged. Dyavol? Worst of all? I sincerely hope that I am not mistaken in the man I have chosen to deliver this message. (However, advise you change man as he is becoming conspicuous.)
‘P.S.: Tatiscev lied. Did know Kozodavlev. “Stole” K’s wife many years ago.’ Nikodim Fomich directed his attention expectantly onto Porfiry.
‘Pavel Pavlovich has done well,’ declared Porfiry without opening his eyes.
‘Shall we raid the workshop?’ asked Nikodim Fomich. ‘Seize the illegal printing press and whatever materiel is there? Virginsky has very helpfully drawn a map of the location.’
‘If we do that now, the members of the cell will without doubt vanish into the night. We must allow Pavel Pavlovich to continue his operation.’
‘With all respect, Porfiry Petrovich,’ began Dr Pervoyedov, ominously. The doctor had a tendency to formality when agitated. ‘With all respect, I say, would it not be wiser to extract him now before he comes to any harm?’
‘Extracting Pavel Pavlovich prematurely will only have the same effect. The terrorists will realise they have had an agent in their midst and, once again, disappear without trace. And so, we have no choice but to ensure Pavel Pavlovich’s further advancement in the movement.’
‘You are not thinking — I hope to God you are not thinking this! — you are not thinking of taking up his preposterous suggestion?’
‘It may be possible to make an announcement along the lines that he has suggested.’
‘You would announce your own death? And would you also stage a funeral? Surely even you would hesitate to perpetrate a prank as tasteless as that.’
‘If it were merely a prank, then of course I would have nothing to do with it. And, with any luck, it will not come to that. However, if we time our announcements well, Pavel Pavlovich’s progression within the inner cabal will have reached its conclusion before there is need to go through with any such display.’
‘And what will that conclusion be, I wonder? His death?’
‘You may not believe this, Dr Pervoyedov, but I tried to talk him out of it, to no avail. I could see that he was determined to get mixed up with these people, with or without my support. I felt it better to put in place a channel of communication, should he need to contact us in an emergency.’ Porfiry’s eyes were still closed as he spoke. His weariness was such that it seemed as if the conversation, rather than his injury, was taking its toll on him.
‘You could have forbidden him.’
‘In which case, I would have lost him entirely. I fear that I may have half-lost him as it is.’
‘Oh? And what do you mean by that?’ said Nikodim Fomich.
At last Porfiry opened his eyes to look at Nikodim Fomich. ‘I mean that Pavel Pavlovich’s loyalties are, at the best of times, difficult to pin down. The poor boy is deeply conflicted, and fluctuates dangerously in his convictions. If I had forbidden him from proceeding with his plan, I fear that he would have joined the revolutionists in earnest — out of petulance, as it were. He is quite often capable of acting in such an immature way. I sometimes think the only way to understand Pavel Pavlovich is in the light of the difficult relationship he has with his father. He is torn between the desire to assert his independence — in other words, to break free from authority — and his craving for authority’s approval. We may be sure that the same complex medley of emotions is present in the relationships he is forging with the revolutionists. That is to say, he will want to destroy them at the same time as wishing to be accepted by them. That is how he looks on everything — including the department, including me.’
‘If what you have said is true, then he is the least suitable individual imaginable to send on such a mission,’ said Dr Pervoyedov.
‘I think you will find that similarly contradictory feelings exist in the hearts of us all. Some of us may gravitate to one pole, rather than the other, but the attraction may be transposed at any time — as in a magnet — because the potential for the opposite continues to reside within us. It is good news that Pavel Pavlovich has chosen to communicate with us. Something, I think, must have prompted him to incline to our side in this struggle. I only hope that nothing else occurs to reverse the polarity of his loyalties.’ Porfiry grimaced, as if the idea was physically painful to him. He sank back on his pillows. His eyelids fluttered characteristically and then closed again.
Dr Pervoyedov saw the beads of sweat forming on Porfiry’s brow. It was clear that the pain the magistrate was feeling now was not intellectual.