While an examination of the train was made to see how much of it could proceed, my wounds were roughly dressed, and as soon as it was ascertained that only one of the saloons could go on, the Emperor said that I should travel in it with himself and his immediate party, and instructions were wired to Moscow that a doctor should be sent out to the small station just outside the city, where it had been arranged already that the Emperor should change into the Imperial train that had passed empty. The object of this was that the entry into the city should be made from the royal train, and thus no comment be raised.
As I was being moved into the other carriage an incident happened which I knew might have a very sinister effect upon my fortunes. My men cheered lustily as soon as they caught sight of me; but when the cheers had died away a wild and vehement curse greeted me from the only one of the five Nihilists who had life enough left in him to grind his teeth and hiss out an imprecation.
"He was our leader, damn him," cried the man, "and betrayed us. To hell with such a traitor!" and he poured out his curses with tremendous volubility, till a soldier standing by, clapped his hand on his mouth and silenced him.
"Your Majesty hears that?" said the Grand Duke, and I saw the Emperor was greatly impressed and looked at me doubtingly.
I could not speak then, but I had sense enough left to understand my peril; and during the short journey I was thinking busily.
All the time the Emperor was in close consultation with the Grand Duke, and it was easy to see that poison was being poured into the Imperial ear to prejudice me. But I could do nothing until my wounds had been properly dressed and the power to speak freely restored. At present I could not utter a word without bringing the blood into my mouth: and I lay chafing and fretting and fevering myself, as I watched what I read to be the conviction of my treachery stealing over the face of the Czar.
I knew his character well enough to appreciate my danger fully. The one subject on which his mind was warped and morbid in its sensitiveness was the fear of assassination: and under its influence he would believe almost anything that was told to him. The personal influence of the Grand Duke was, moreover, enormous.
As we were nearing the little station where the change of trains was to be made, the Emperor crossed the saloon and spoke to me.
"Lieutenant Petrovitch, can you hear me?"
I looked at him and tried to raise my bandaged, mangled hand to the salute, but could not.
"Don't move," he said, hastily, seeing the attempt. "The charges made against you are of the most terrible kind and there certainly seems to be much more ground than I at first thought. But my own eyes saw what you did, and you will have the fullest opportunity of explaining everything. For the time you are under arrest, necessarily; but it will be my personal charge to see that everything is done for you that surgical skill can do. A few hours and proper treatment will, I hope, render you able to give the necessary explanation, and in the mean time you will see no one but the doctors. I myself shall then see and question you."
He was turning to leave me then, when I made a sign that I wished to answer, and he bent forward to listen.
"Your Majesty will have a care," cried the Grand Duke, who had heard and watched everything closely.
"Do you think the man breathes poison that I should be afraid of him, maimed and bleeding and helpless as he is?" was the reply.
I made a great effort to speak, but it nearly killed me, and with all my struggle I could get only a word at a time, and that with tremendous difficulty.
"Your—Majesty—keep—my—men—watching—line—where—I—stood—by— alder—trees."
"It shall be done," he said; and I saw him exchange looks with the Grand Duke and then shrug his shoulders and lift his eyebrows as he left the saloon.
Directly he had left, the doctors came round me, and I resigned myself cheerfully and completely into their hands. But the Czar had given me the tonic that had done more than all the doctor's efforts to pull me round quickly. I was to have a private audience; and it would not be my fault, if I did not win my way to freedom and Olga.
Some three or four hours after the Czar had left me I was moved on to Moscow in the saloon where I lay; and my reception there was most mingled. Some garbled accounts of the attempt on the Emperor's life had got about, and when I was carried from the saloon and placed in a State carriage and then driven away in the midst of a large military escort, the people were at a loss to know who I was, and whether I was a Nihilist to be hooted or a hero to be cheered. They were in a noisy mood that day, and did both therefore, until the party neared the Palace and it was clear I was being taken there. This decided that I must be a hero and the hooting ceased and the cheering shouts rang out with a deafening roar.
I was glad to be done with that part of the business. I knew well that the same throats that had been stretched in shouts of acclamation were quite as ready to be strained in yelling for my death. The populace wanted an excuse for a noise; and it was all one to them, so far as personal gratification went, whether they yelled in a man's honour, or roared for his death.
The day's round of festivities was a particularly full one for the Emperor, and it was many hours before he could possibly be at liberty; but every hour added to my strength. The doctors soon ascertained that the wound in the neck was not a very dangerous one, though it had been a ghastly one enough to look upon. The thrust had been within an ace of killing me; but the man's weapon had missed the arteries and the vertebrae, though it had sliced an ugly wound in the windpipe, having let the blood into it, and thus nearly choked me. My hands were badly cut, very badly mangled indeed; and the doctors thought more seriously of them than of the wound in the neck, so far as after-consequences were concerned. But they soon patched me up sufficiently to enable me to speak if necessary.
With this knowledge I awaited the Emperor's coming with such patience as I could command.
It was past midnight before he came; and then only to ask as to my condition. He seemed pleased that I was so much better: and closely questioned the doctor who had remained in constant attendance on me as to the exact nature of my wounds and when I should be able to undertake the fatigue of a long conversation. I might do it at once with care, was the doctor's report; but it would be better after a night's rest.
"Then it shall be to-morrow evening. Certain matters have yet to be investigated," said the Czar, turning to me, "and you will have full opportunity of answering all that may be said." His manner had ceased to shew the kindliness I thought I had detected in the earlier questions about my condition, and I judged that his mind had received further prejudice against me.
I felt that delay was dangerous to me; but I could not help myself. I said I should prefer to answer all his questions at once and tell him all I had to say; but he turned from me somewhat peremptorily with a short reply that he had made his decision. And with that he left the room.
I augured ill from the Emperor's demeanour; but as any change in him would only increase my need for the greatest possible amount of strength, I thrust all my troubles resolutely out of my thoughts and went to sleep. I slept into the next day when the doctor's report was altogether favourable. My head, too, was clear and my wits vigorous for the ordeal that was in store for me.
In the morning, the Emperor sent to inquire my condition, instead of coming in person, and I interpreted this as a sign that the thermometer of favour was still going down.
When he came in the evening the Grand Duke was with him, and I saw by the expression of the latter's face that he at any rate was anticipating a triumph and my downfall.
"Now, Lieutenant, you are well enough to answer questions, tell the truth. I warn you it must be the whole truth; for I have had many surprising facts brought to my knowledge, and all your answers can be at once tested—and will be."
"Your Majesty, I pledge myself to answer every question. But before I do that there is one communication I should like to make to yourself alone."
"You can make any statement you like afterwards. Now, tell me, are you a Nihilist?"
"I am not," I answered firmly.
"Well, what have been—Stay, you acted bravely yesterday, you are charged with this: that you are and have been a Nihilist for years and that your sister is one also; that you were concerned twelve months ago in the attack upon the Governor of Moscow; that before and since then you have been in constant communication with the Nihilist leaders; that with your own hand you assassinated Christian Tueski, after having yourself volunteered for the work; that you proposed the plot which by the mercy of God failed yesterday; that you were privy to the whole matter and went out to assist in the deadly work."
"Who are my accusers, Sire?"
"It is the accusation, not the accuser you have to answer," replied the Emperor, sternly. "You are to answer, not question."
"I have a complete answer, which happily I can support with ample proof. Until less than two months ago, I had never exchanged a word with a Nihilist..."
"He is a liar," burst out the Grand Duke, vehemently.
A hot answer rose to my lips, but I checked it.
"Then, Sire, a band of them set upon me in the street and would have assassinated me, had I not beaten them off with my sword. One of them I took prisoner to my rooms, and from him I learnt that I was supposed to have...."
"Supposed!" exclaimed the Grand Duke.
"Supposed to have incurred their wrath. They had sentenced me to death, it appeared, and that was the first attempt at my execution. I then took a course which I am well aware will seem peculiar. I went to a meeting at which the death of Christian Tueski was resolved, and I was selected to kill him."
"You confess this?" cried the Emperor, harshly. "You, my officer?"
"Sire, I beg your patience. I did this because I did not think I should be in Russia many hours; and because I thought I could gain the time I needed by pretending to be at the head of the conspiracy. Not for a moment did I intend to lay a finger on him. I am no assassin."
"But he was assassinated by you Nihilists," cried the Emperor, with bitter indignation. "The whole land has rung with the news."
"The man is a madman, or takes us for fools," said the Grand Duke.
"I am as innocent of his death, Sire, as a child, except, I fear, indirectly. He died by the hand of his wife, whom on the very day of his death I had warned of the plot to kill him."
"Your proofs, man, your proofs," cried the Emperor impatiently.
"That most unfortunate woman had been under the impression that there had been an intrigue between myself and her and...."
"Half Moscow knew of it," interrupted the Duke.
"Until less than two months ago, I had never seen her in all my life," I returned. "She thought by this deed to coil such a web round me that I could not escape from marrying her. Had I wished to kill the man, I had ample opportunity on the very afternoon of the day he was murdered, for I was closeted alone with him for two hours. He, too, had set his bullies on to me and I went to settle things with him and to get permits to leave the country for myself and Olga Petrovitch. I got them, and that night his wife thrust into his heart a dagger she believed was mine, added the Nihilist motto, and then hid the sheath, with the name 'Alexis Petrovitch' on it, intending to use it as a means to force me to marry her under the threat of charging me with the crime."
"Your repute does not belie you," growled the Duke. "You're the most callous dare-devil I ever heard of to tell a tale of that kind. To choose a woman's petticoats!"
The Emperor turned to him and held up a hand in protest.
"In that way I got the credit for that crime; and I was then approached about the attempt of yesterday."
"Ah!" The Emperor drew in a sharp breath.
"I listened to what was said, believing still that I should be out of the country before the time, and intending in any event to make the success of the scheme impossible. A series of extraordinary events prevented my leaving, and when more details were told me, I saw there must be someone in the matter very near your Majesty's throne. I thought I could perhaps discover who that was and thus, by remaining, serve your Majesty most effectively. I think I know now who it is, or at least have the means of obtaining proof. Up to nine o'clock yesterday morning the pivot on which everything was to turn was yet unsettled. A part was assigned to me days ago, on the understanding that certain military duties would be confided to me; that a change in the whole plans would be made at the very last moment; that all the commands would be altered; and that I should find myself in charge of a certain section of the line. I was told this in general terms more than a week ago; and everything was confirmed to me in detail on Sunday morning—twenty-four hours before the change was announced by the Colonel of the regiment."
"'Fore God, Sir, what are you saying?" cried the Emperor in a loud voice. He had turned white and was pressing his hand to his forehead with every sign of great agitation. "Do you hear this?" he asked the man who had been so loud in accusing me, and who himself was now fighting hard for self-possession.
I had struck home indeed.
A dead silence followed, lasting more than a minute; and to give it full weight I affected to be unable to speak.
"I'm not surprised such a tale overcomes him in the telling. It is wild enough to listen to, let alone to invent," said the Grand Duke, recovering himself with a sneer.
"Proceed, when you can, Lieutenant," said the Emperor, shortly.
"I have nearly finished, Sire," I answered weakly. "But there is one point where I can give you the highest corroboration of the key to all this seeming mystery. Will your Majesty send for Prince Bilbassoff?"
The Duke started as I mentioned the name and glanced keenly at me as it seemed to me in much discomposure.
"I was told, Sire," I resumed, when the Emperor had complied with my request. "That there was one, or at most two persons beside your Majesty who knew the real order of matters for yesterday; and that it was from that one, or from one of those two persons, that the information was given to the Nihilists which formed the basis of this plot. I did not believe it possible, Sire, and I did not think therefore that any attempt could be made. But yesterday morning to my intense astonishment, I found myself appointed to command exactly the section of the line of which I had been told by the Nihilists, many hours, indeed days in advance."
The consternation of both my hearers as I dwelt on this was so great that I emphasized it; and I saw then that I could safely slur over the only point that I really feared in the whole story—the episode of the five men whom I had posted in accordance with the Nihilist orders.
I had struck such a blow at the Grand Duke that he said no more; and he was much more busy thinking of how to defend himself than of how to accuse me.
I next told of the secret mechanism; how I had seen it work; how it proved that the operator must have had exact knowledge of the train in which the Emperor would travel, and then how I had sprung on the line to stop the train. I left my actions after that to speak for themselves.
The impression created by my story was profound; due of course to the terrible and daring accusation I had levelled at the man who had accused me.
The Emperor remained wrapped in deep thought; and in the silence that followed, Prince Bilbassoff entered. I could tell by the quick glance he gave round the room and particularly at me, that he did not at all like the look of matters. He had heard something of the facts about me, and I believe he thought I had perhaps denounced him in the matter of the proposed duel with the Grand Duke.
"Lieutenant Petrovitch has asked for you to be present, Prince, to support some part of the explanation he has given of certain charges brought against him."
"As your Majesty pleases," replied the Prince bowing.
The Emperor resumed his attitude of intense thought, and then after some moments, he regarded me with a heavy frown and said very sternly and harshly:
"The story you tell is incredible, sir. It is a mass of contradictions. You say the Nihilists attempted to kill you, having decreed your death; and yet that you had never spoken to one until the night of the attempt. You say this woman whom you accuse of the murder of her husband did this horrible deed for your sake as the result of an intrigue—and yet that you had never seen her until almost the very hour when she sinned thus for your sake. You say that you listened to these Nihilist intrigues in the belief that you would be out of the country—yet you hold and have held for years a commission in my army. It is monstrous, incredible, impossible."
"There is another contradiction which your Majesty has forgotten," said I daringly. "That I, being as my enemies tell your Majesty, a Nihilist of the Nihilists and a leader among them, should yet have slain three of them with my own hand in defence of your Majesty's life and have turned the sword of the fourth into my own body. As your Majesty said yesterday, traitors of that kind should rather be welcome. But if your Majesty thinks that that is an additional proof of my guilt, my life is at your service still."
He looked at me as if in doubt whether to rebuke me for this daring presumption, or to admit his own doubt. But I did not give him time to speak.
"I have deceived your Majesty, however, though I wished to speak openly at the outset. I told you there was a key to all this of a most extraordinary fashion. There is; and I throw myself humbly on your mercy, Sire. The tales you have been told about me are all true to a point, and false afterwards. To a point all these horrible charges against Alexis Petrovitch are true; but what I have told you is true also. The key is—that I have only been Alexis Petrovitch for seven weeks. I am not a Russian, Sire, but an Englishman; and Prince Bilbassoff here has within the last few hours had proof of this."
"An Englishman!" exclaimed the Czar, in a tone that revealed his complete bewilderment. "I don't understand."
"I wish to tell your Majesty everything," and then I told him almost everything as I have set it down here.
As I told the story, ending with my wish to be allowed to leave the country at once, I saw his interest deepening and quickening, and perceived that he was coming round to my side. He listened with scarcely a break or interruption, and at the close remained thinking most earnestly.
"What confirmation have you, Prince?"
Prince Bilbassoff was so relieved to find that I had said nothing indiscreet about him that he spoke in the strongest way for me.
"I know much of this to be true, your Majesty. I have had telegrams from England confirming Mr. Tregethner's story; and there is now in Moscow a certain Hon. Rupert Balestier, who has been making the most energetic inquiries for him; and—the weirdest of all—the wretched woman, Paula Tueski, has killed herself and left a confession of her crime."
The Emperor's decision was taken at once.
"I owe you deep reparation, Mr. Tregethner. I ought to have trusted my instinct and my eyesight, and have known that no man would have done what you did yesterday to save my life, and be anything but my firm friend. May God never send Russia or me a greater enemy than you. May you never lack as firm a friend as I will be to you. God bless you!"
My heart was too full for speech, and I could only falter out the words:
"I would die for your Majesty."
"You will do better than that—you will live for me; and when you are well, we will speak of your future."
With that he turned to leave the room and said to the Grand Duke, who was quite broken and unstrung:—
"Now, we will find that strange leakage."
As soon as they had left, Prince Bilbassoff questioned me closely, and when he heard about the accusation I had by inference brought against the man who had tried to ruin me and had so nearly succeeded, words could not express his delight.
It was nearly a month before the doctors would consent to my being moved, and even then they grudged their permission. All the time I lay like a Royal Prince in the Palace with all the world ready to do my lightest wish. Had I been in a hospital, I believe the doctors would have sent me packing a full fortnight earlier; but wounds heal slowly when the State has to pay the doctors' fees.
The time was pleasant enough, however, save for one thing. I was full of anxiety on Olga's account. Prince Bilbassoff brought my friend Balestier to me and he stayed all the time, and used all his efforts to find some trace of her whereabouts. The Emperor, too, promised that all in his power should be done to find her; and whenever I saw Prince Bilbassoff I importuned him also on the same quest; and his promises were as ripe as the Czar's.
She was not found, however, and I fretted and worried until Balestier drove home the conviction that the best thing I could do was to hurry and get well, and then set out to search for her myself. This pacified me, and I did all that was possible to help the doctors.
But this failure to find her was a never-ending subject of thought, as well as of somewhat angry satire when the opportunity offered. One day when the Prince came I rallied him strongly on the matter, thinking to gibe him into greater activity.
"Your agents are poor hounds, Prince," I said. "They bay loudly enough on the trail, but they don't find."
"They have found the brother," he answered quietly. "And the girl can't be far off."
"The brother be hanged," cried I.
"Not by the Russian hangman. He doesn't mean to return here; but he has dropped your name and probably by this time has left Paris altogether. He knows the facts—or some of them; our agent told him them; and he means to put as great a distance between himself and Russia as the limitations of the globe will permit."
"He's a poor creature. How was he found?"
"As usual—a woman."
"Well, I owe him no grudge. He has given me a better part than I ever thought to play in life. And a good wife too—if we can only find her."
"We shall find her. The woman's not born that can hide herself from us, when we are in earnest."
"Well, I wish you'd be thoroughly in earnest now. If you were only as much in earnest as you were about that duel...."
"I am; for I owe you more than if you had fought the duel." I looked at him in some astonishment. "I have only to-day heard the definite decision," he continued. "You gave me the clue, and I did not fail to follow it up. You say my men are not sleuth hounds. Give them a blood scent like that and try."
"All of which is unintelligible to me," I replied, noting with surprise his excitement and exultation.
"Heavens, lad, I'm more sorry than ever you're not going to join us. And now that that hindrance is out of the path, the path is brighter than ever. What fools you young fellows are to go tumbling into what you call love, and playing the devil with a career for the sake of muslin and silks and pretty cheeks. I suppose..." he looked questioningly, and waited as if for me to speak.
"Suppose what?" I knew what he meant well enough, but liked to make him speak out.
"That you've really made up your mind or whatever you call it, not to stop in Russia?"
"Absolutely. I'm going to commit social suicide and marry for love—that is, if I can only find my sweetheart; or rather if you can find her for me."
"I wish I couldn't," he returned; and then fearing I should misunderstand him, added:—"I don't mean that. I mean, I'm sorry I'm not to have your help."
"At one time it looked as though you were going to have it whether I would or no, and I'm afraid I may have misled you and—and others somewhat. I'm sorry for this."
"Save your vanity, youngster," he said with a short laugh, understanding me. "My sister is no love-sick maiden with her head full of a silly fancy that any one man is necessary to her."
I flushed a little at the rebuke; and bit my lip.
"We wanted you for Russia, not for ourselves," he added, after a pause. "You have already done the Empire a splendid service; and that's why you're regretted. Though, mark me, I don't say, now that things have turned out as they have, I should not have been a bit proud of you as a member of my family."
"What service do you mean? Saving my own skin?"
"No. Overthrowing the Grand Duke. He is completely broken. No trap could have snared him half so well. It has now come out that the disposition of the troops was his sole work; he himself arranged the very order of the trains; and the minute details which he executed were known to him alone. He laid his plans splendidly for his infernal purpose, and had you been the man he anticipated—the dare-devil who had killed Tueski—nothing could have saved the Emperor's life. But God in His mercy willed the overthrow of as clever a villain as was ever shielded by high rank. That particular slip no man could have possibly foreseen; but he made another which surprised me. Only a little thing, but enough. When I came to look closely into the business I found that he had worked out in the greatest detail all the arrangements for the last journey and the disposition of the troops, and had committed them to paper in a number of sealed orders. These he dated back to the previous Saturday; but only gave them out the last thing on Sunday night. His object was of course that when inquiries came to be made the dates on the papers should tell their own story and prove, apparently, that, as they had been given out on the Saturday, there would have been plenty of time for it to have leaked out to the Nihilists through some one of the many officials who would be in possession of it, at the time you proved it was known to the Nihilists. On that supposition there were a hundred channels through which it would have got out, and the Duke would have been only one among many in a position to divulge the secret. Like a fool he thus drew the coil close round his own body; and as soon as the Emperor knew that, my men made a search. That did the rest effectually."
"And what has happened to him?"
"What should happen to such a man?" answered the Prince, sternly.
"Death."
"Right. But the Emperor would not. He's as soft as a pudding. The man is imprisoned, that's all. For life, of course. But rats have an ugly trick of slipping out as well as into a dungeon. And if he ever does get out, boy, you will have one enemy powerful enough to make even you cautious."
"Keep him safe, then," I laughed. "For when I leave Russia, I want to leave all this behind me."
"You may look for trouble of some kind from the Nihilists, however."
"They are not taken very seriously by us English, Prince," I replied.
"Maybe; but remember you have been a Russian for a couple of months, and have dealt them a stroke that they will never forget."
He left me soon after that, but I did not pay any serious heed to his warning. I pondered his news, however. I was glad that Alexis Petrovitch had ceased to masquerade in my name; but I could not understand how it was that if the Russian agents could so easily find the brother, they should be baffled in their search for Olga. But it spurred my anxiety to go a-hunting on my own account; and I was heartily glad therefore, when the doctors agreed to release me, and my marching orders for St. Petersburg came.
By the Emperor's commands I was taken straight to his Palace; and his Majesty's reception could not have been more gracious than it was.
He loaded me with signs of his favour; with his own hands pinned to my breast the highest Order he could confer on a foreigner; and did everything except press me to enter his service.
"Your sojourn in Russia is associated in my mind with so painful and terrible an event, and you are personally connected with it so closely, that in my service you would always serve to keep open a wound that bleeds at the mere reference. I am like a man who has given unrestrainedly the kisses of love and received in return the poison of the asp. Moreover, Prince Bilbassoff tells me that you have made up your mind to go to your own country; and while you will, I hope, always be my friend, and I, with God's help, will always be yours, I shall not seek to detain you."
"I am even now impatient to be away, your Majesty," I replied, "and crave your leave to go at once. I hope to leave St Petersburg immediately." I spoke with the eagerness of a lover; and his reply surprised, and indeed, dismayed me.
"No, Mr. Tregethner, that I cannot suffer. I should feel an ingrate if I permitted you to leave without accepting my hospitality. I do not like an unwilling guest; but for a fortnight more at least you must remain here."
I looked at him quickly in my amazement, and then with a bow said:—
"Your Majesty has promised me the gracious distinction of your friendship; and as a friend I appeal to you to permit me to be your guest at another time. The matter I have in hand is very urgent."
"I am not accustomed to have my wishes in these matters questioned," returned the Emperor; and at that moment I wished the Imperial friendship at the bottom of the Baltic.
It meant that just when I was well and strong, and in every way able to start on the task that was more to me than anything else on earth, I had to cool my heels dangling attendance on this well meaning Imperial Marplot in this prison-palace of his. But I smothered my feelings like a courtier and murmured an assent—that compliance with his wishes would be a pleasure.
He laughed, and then in a most un-Emperor-like manner clapped me on the shoulder and said:—
"You'd soon learn the humbug of the courtier, friend. But you must not put all this down to me. You stay by the special desire of the Prince Bilbassoff's beautiful but rather imperious sister, in whose favour you stand high—though you have not always treated her very well, it seems. She has now a great desire for some more of your company, and has set her heart on your remaining to be present at a Court marriage which she has planned."
"I shall know how to thank the Princess when I see her," I answered, drily enough to make my meaning clear; for the Emperor laughed and said that might be true and that the Princess was even now anxious to see me to thank me for past services.
My gratitude to the latter may be imagined; and when the Emperor dismissed me, I thought of the pleasure it would afford me to express it to her.
The opportunity came at once, for I was shewn straight to a saloon where she appeared to have been awaiting me.
"We meet, under changed circumstances, Mr. Tregethner—my inclination to call you Lieutenant is almost irresistible."
"His Majesty has told me, Princess, that it is to you I owe the pleasure of being compelled to stay here at the present time."
"I am glad to have been able to secure you so high a mark of the Imperial favour," she answered, her eyes laughing at me, but the rest of her features serious. "I am always glad to help those who are candid and frank with me."
"As glad as you are to be candid and frank with those you help, Princess? Is there another duel in prospect? Or more wrongs to be avenged? In connection with this marriage I hear of, for instance?"
"A fair question," she answered, smiling. She was certainly a very beautiful woman when she smiled. "There is—but only very indirectly. By the way, do you not wonder that I content myself with giving you no more than a fortnight's imprisonment?"
"If you knew the punishment it is likely to be to me you would not wish to inflict a heavier."
"You mean, you are so eager to be searching for this girl who masqueraded as your sister, that you cannot spare a fortnight for the Russian Court. Excuse me; I cannot think that even Englishmen can be so impolite and phlegmatic."
"My 'sister' is very dear to me, Princess," I said, emphasizing the word.
"Oh, yes, we know the value of a lover's sighs and a lover's vows and a lover's impatience and a lover's constancy and a lover's everything else. And you Englishmen are but like other men in these things."
I didn't understand her, so I held my tongue.
"I dare believe that though you are now so eager to be away on this romantic search of yours, and are fretting and fuming at the delay which I have caused, so that you may have the opportunity of witnessing the grandeur of the Court marriage I have arranged, you will cool in your ardour long before the fortnight is out. There are women about the Russian Court, Sir, to the full as fair and witching and sweet as Olga Petrovitch."
"I have the evidence of that before my eyes, Princess," I said, looking at her and bowing to hide my chagrin at her words.
"You are angry that I hold you fickle. You should not be," she said, with a swift glance reading my mood.
"I have confidence in my faith."
"And I confidence in your lack of it," she retorted, with a touch of irritation in her tone. "I dare wager heavily that we have here many a young girl in whose smiles the fire of your eagerness to leave Russia in this search would be quickly quenched. Nay, I will do more, for I love a challenge, and love especially to see a man who vaunts himself on his strength of purpose and strong will and fidelity overthrown and proved a braggart—but perhaps you dare not be put to a test?" She asked this in a tone that made every fibre of purpose in my body thrill with loyalty to Olga in reply to the taunt.
"Name your test," I answered, shortly.
"I wager you that I will find one among my maidens here who will turn you from your purpose of leaving us; lure you into more than content to abandon your search; and make you pour into her own pretty ears a confession that you are glad I caused you to dally here—and all this within three days."
"It is not possible, Princess. I take up your challenge readily, if only to while away the hanging time."
She looked at me as if triumphantly.
"You dare say that? Then you are half conquered already. Now I know you will——What is it?" she broke off to a servant who came in.
Then after hearing the servant's message, she made an excuse and left me.
I was more than angry with her. The jest which had for its foundation the possibility that I should change in half a week and, instead of fretting and fuming to begin my search, be reconciled to this mummery of a flirtation with some Court hack or other, annoyed and disturbed me; and I turned away and gazed out of one of the tall bayed windows into the wide courtyard below, and felt ready to consign the whole world to destruction, with the exception of that part where Olga might be and such a strip as might be necessary for me to get to her.
Against the Princess I was particularly enraged. To hold me for an empty whirligig fool to turn like a magnetised needle in any direction that any chance magnet might choose to draw me! Stop contentedly? Bosh! Give up the search? Rot! I was so angry when I heard her come back into the room, that I affected not to know that she was present. And I stared resolutely out of the window pretending to be vastly interested in the antics of a couple of big young hounds that were gambolling together. I laughed hugely, and uttered a few exclamations to myself but loud enough for the Princess to hear.
The Princess took it very coolly, however. She said nothing, and for a couple of minutes the farce went on.
I expected a tirade at my rudeness; but instead I heard the frou-frou of her dress as she crossed the room toward me.
I increased my affected gestures and muttered exclamations, and had a mind to let fly an oath, just a little one, to shock her, when she put her face so close to mine that I could feel its warmth, and she whispered right into my ear:—
"Bad acting. Too self-conscious, Alexis!"
The Princess had won easily. I surrendered without an effort; gave up all thought of the search and was suddenly filled with a glad content to stop. For the voice was Olga's, and the merry laugh was hers, and the blush was hers, and the love light was hers too; and the next moment I held her in my arms close pressed to my heart.
The Princess had indeed won anyhow, and in much less than three days; and I stopped for that wedding with all the delight in the world—in fact nothing could have induced me to miss it.
For the bride was Olga, and the bridegroom myself, once—"that devil Alexis!"
THE END.
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Moltke's Letters to His Wife
The only Complete Edition published in any language. With an Introduction by SIDNEY WHITMAN, author of "Imperial Germany." Portraits of Moltke and his wife never before published. An Account of Countess von Moltke's Family, supplied by the Family. And a genealogical tree, in fac-simile of the Field-Marshal's handwriting. Two volumes. Demy 8vo, cloth, $10.00; 3/4 calf, $20.00; 3/4 levant, $22.50.
Beginning in 1841, the year before his marriage, these letters extend to within a short time of his death. Travels on the Continent, three visits to England and one to Russia, military manoeuvres, and three campaigns are covered by this period, during which Captain Von Moltke, known only as the author of the "Letters from the East," grew into the greatest director of war since Napoleon. These most interesting volumes contain the record of a life singularly pure and noble, unspoiled by dazzling successes.—The Times (London).
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Lady Hamilton and Lord Nelson
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