Princess Zara

"You heard?"

"Yes, princess, I heard."

She was silent, and minutes passed before she spoke again, so that I

began to wonder if she had decided to say no more.

"Mr. Dubravnik," she said, and in English, "will you do me one favor in

regard to this conversation you have overheard? Will you keep my

confidence till to-morrow?"

I wondered again at the princess' coolness. Realizing the peril she was

in, as she must unquestionably have done, it was strange that she could

command herself so well as to remain perfectly in possession of all her

faculties, in the face of such dire peril.

For a moment I hesitated. It was a very great favor that she asked of

me so calmly; just how great a favor it was, she could not know; and

yet there was no reason why I should not grant her request, being what

I was and who I was. In that interval I wondered what this beautiful

creature before me would think, or say, if she could have guessed that

it was the chief of the most remarkable secret service bureau in the

world whom she was addressing; if she could have guessed that the very

man among all other men, whom she would least have thought of taking

into her confidence, was the one before her who had listened to the

conversation.

"Yes. I will do that," I replied, as deliberately as she had asked the

question; and I watched her closely as I did so, holding myself well in

hand, the while, in order that I might not instantly fall again under

the spell of her fascinations.

"And come to me then? I will expect you at noon."

"Yes, princess."

"I thank you, sir. And now, if you will give me your arm, we will

return to the drawing room."

I could not help marveling at the wonderful self possession of the

woman whose life, liberty, honor, happiness, and whose all, had been by

means of the conversation I had overheard, placed utterly at my mercy.

Even though I were really what she supposed me to be, an ordinary

citizen, the danger was no less, for I had but to repeat what I had

heard, to bring about an investigation which could result in only one

way. Her composure was absolute as we walked side by side towards the

house, nor did she once refer to the subject upon which we were both

thinking so deeply. She was a shade paler than usual, but beyond that

there was no sign that anything out of the ordinary had occurred; nor

did she manifest any evidence of the nervous fear which would have

prostrated most women in such a predicament.

Neither of us recurred to the subject that was uppermost in our minds.

Indeed we were silent during the moment that was required to traverse

the length of the garden, and to pass from it into the house where the

company was assembled.