Princess Zara

"Indeed!" haughtily.

"The easiest one will be for you to notify me of your intention to

depart from the country. The second, quite as effective, was suggested

by yourself last night when we talked of suicide. The third will

perhaps prove more congenial than either of the others; you can have me

murdered." I bowed, and started towards the door, but she barred the

way before I could reach it.

"You shall not go!" she cried, extending her arms as if to bar the way

against my exit, and again her speaking countenance betrayed the

impulse within her. This time it was terror.

"No? Is your brother Ivan here to complete the work so badly begun,

princess?" I purposely rendered my question insolently offensive.

For a moment she gazed at me in horror; then, with a sob in her throat,

she stepped aside and pointed towards the door.

"Go," she said. "I should not have detained you." But as I was about to

take her at her word she burst into a passion of tears. At the same

instant she leaped towards me, and seizing me with both hands, drew me

back again to the middle of the floor.

"No--no--no--no!" she cried. "You shall not go! Don't you know that you

would be shot down at the door of my house, or at best before you had

gone a hundred feet away from it? Have you forgotten that your

appointment with me to-day was known by those who have decided upon

your death? Will you force me to acquiesce in your murder, even though

you believe me capable of committing it?"

I knew that what she said was undoubtedly true, for I had neglected my

usual caution in not providing for an emergency of this kind; but I

pretended to be incredulous.

"Yet I cannot remain here indefinitely, princess," I said.

"It is the only way to save your life. If you leave here before I have

seen those who would kill you, you will not live fifteen minutes after

my door closes behind you. Oh, I beseech you, take the oath; promise me

that you will take the oath, and let me go and tell my friends that you

will do so."

She was pleading with me now, with her hands supplicatingly extended,

and with an expression of such utter terror in her face because of the

calamity which threatened me, that my soul was for a moment moved to

pity for this woman, who could pass through so many phases of emotion

in so short a period of time. But nevertheless it was not my purpose to

betray that pity, then. I had still to draw her out, more and more;

there was still much to learn of this complex woman, so beautiful and

so noble, who yet could find a sufficient excuse to engage in such

nefarious practices.