Because it’s the automobile the tsar frequently uses, Clementine and Vladimir want to believe the tsar will be traveling inside. It’s well worth their while to concoct a plan, the perfect opportunity for them to plant a bomb. Vladimir is inspired first: Clementine will cross Nevsky Prospekt precisely at the moment the automobile carrying the tsar is passing, forcing it to halt.

“If it doesn’t slow down, run for your life, the plan won’t work.”

“I don’t understand how those creatures work, the ones that consume kerosene and fascinate the enemies of the people.”

“They’re just like a horse and carriage, just faster and quite a bit noisier.”

“I know how a horse moves, not these things.”

“Watch them. Starting today, pay attention to their speed and how they run. That’s the first thing, then …”

The two of them get more and more excited as they formulate their plan: “When you see the automobile coming, cross Nevsky with your back to the car. They’ll slow down, and I’ll cross the street behind them and put our bomb on the rear bumper.”

“At least the wonderful invention of the bumper is good for something!”

“But how will we fasten it there?”

“It’ll fall off!”

“Let’s put it inside a cushion!”

“A cushion?”

“Yes, a nice plump cushion, that way it will fit wherever we put it, and we’ll stuff it with explosives.” The idea of putting a bomb inside a cushion would occur only to a seamstress. “A well-made, pretty pillow that looks like a gift for the tsar.”

“Embroidered with the words ‘Our Father.’”

“We’ll light the fuse, which we’ll run through a buttonhole, before we plant it.”

“How will you keep the fuse from blowing out when it reaches the cushion?”

“It won’t blow out, the cushion will catch fire, it will feed the flames.”

“The automobile will start moving again, the bomb will explode a few seconds later, and farewell tyrant!”

“We’ll set Russia free!”

Anyone with a little common sense would realize it’s an absurd idea, but with the cushion hiding a bomb in their minds, and their plan to attach it to the automobile the tsar will be traveling in, Clementine and Vladimir set to work.

41. The Boxes

41. The Boxes

The wind blows constantly in St. Petersburg; it rests only six days each year. Today is one of those days: there is no wind when the portrait of Anna Karenina wends its way to the museum.