Princess Zara

One last word. I will never go to Siberia for I have the means to

cheat you out of the pleasure of sending me there, and when you

read this, I shall have been an hour dead.

ALEXIS DURNIEF.

"Well," demanded his majesty, "what have you to say?"

"Nothing."

"Nothing!"

"No."

"Have you arrested her?"

"I have not."

"Where is she now?"

"In her own home. I took her there this morning. Listen for a moment,

and I will tell you how that occurred."

Then I related in detail the story of my struggle with Durnief, the

rescue of Zara, her heroism in assisting me, and I told of the final

capture and imprisonment of the captain. But his majesty shook his head

in a doubt.

"I believe Durnief's letter. She is a nihilist," he said. "She must be

arrested." I shook my head, but he did not see the motion and

continued: "I believe that the princess is the friend to whom poor

Michael referred. He was in love with her and nothing short of the love

of a woman could have made him disloyal to me. Yes, I believe that she

is what Durnief says she is. I order you to place her under arrest at

once."

"She shall not be arrested," I said, coldly.

"What!" he cried, "you dare to disobey me?"

"Yes," I replied, "I dare to disobey such an order as that. It shall

not be."

"Are you a traitor, also? Was Michael right?"

There was that sneering smile upon his face now, but I held my ground.

"I am not a traitor, but I will not carry out your request, and I will

not permit it to be carried out." He was aghast at my effrontery. He

could only gaze at me in amazement, too greatly confounded for speech;

and I continued: "Listen to me one moment, your majesty."

"I will not listen to you. The road to Siberia may be traveled by you

as well as by the friends whom you apprehended last night, and by

heaven, you shall follow it!"

"You forget one thing," I said. "You have forgotten----"

"What have I forgotten?"

"The Fraternity of Silence."

"Bah!"

"I foresaw this moment, your majesty, and my men have their orders to

meet it. If I am molested, every nihilist who was arrested last

night--every one who was in prison in the city before that time--will

be liberated in an hour, and you have not soldiers nor policemen enough

to stop the tide that will flow against you then. Your empire will

crumble like dust, and your life will go out like the snuffing of a

candle. For the present, I am the Czar of Russia, and you are only

Alexander Alexandrovitch." He sat still and looked at me with staring

eyes. "You are only a man, after all, monsieur," I continued more

softly. "In your fears for the safety of your family, for your empire,

and for yourself, you are led to do unjust things. Only an hour ago you

said that you owed me a debt that you could never repay. You do owe me

a debt, and you can repay it if you will forget for a moment that you

are a monarch, and remember that you are a man. You can repay all you

owe me, and more, if you will still be my friend, and forget that this

scene has occurred; and when you have done that, I will tell you that

Zara de Echeveria is to be the wife of Daniel Derrington; is to leave

Russia forever with her husband, and were she the worst nihilist in the

empire--and I know that she is not--she will be far away from any

temptation to do you harm, and under the guidance of one who has proven

his devotion to you. I will tell you more: I will leave the direction

of the affairs of the fraternity in the hands of one of my men who is

as expert as I am, and who is in every way as worthy of your

confidences as I have proven myself to be--Canfield."