Princess Zara

She made no reply. She remained perfectly motionless and silent,

waiting for him to continue.

"You need not deny me, Zara, for I know," he went on presently. "How

the knowledge came to me does not matter, and has no connection with

this interview. But I know. That knowledge has created the duty which I

have come to you to-day to perform. I want you to abandon your present

pursuits. Whatever the purpose of your visit to America may be, I beg

that you will forego it. I do not seek any confession, or even a

statement from you, upon this subject. Indeed I should prefer that you

make none. You cannot please me better than by listening to me in

silence, so that when I leave you presently, you will know and I will

know, that I will have no more knowledge concerning you and your

entanglements with those people, than I possessed before I came. I

would have it that way. I would have it no other way."

She nodded her head, gazing at him intently, but with that same

changeless expression of impersonal interest, as if she were listening

to the discussion of a third party who was not known to her save by

name.

"Zara," he continued, "you will receive other cards than mine to-day,

and you should know that every man or woman who will call upon you in

behalf of the nihilists, is marked and known. You cannot engage in the

business that brought you here, and afterward return to Russia in

safety. The secret police of our empire extends all over the world, and

is as efficient in the city of New York, as it is in Moscow or St.

Petersburg, so far as its requirements demand. I warn you, not in

behalf of your party, the principals of which I despise and abhor; not

in behalf of any individual member of that revolutionist sect, but

wholly in behalf of Zara de Echeveria, the daughter of my best friend,

the offspring of the only woman I ever loved. To-day while I talk to

you, I am not Alexis Saberevski the friend of the czar, but I am Alexis

Saberevski your friend. I have stepped outside my duty; I have taken

it upon myself to come here to perform what may be a disloyal act to my

emperor, in order to warn you against a course which can have but one

end, and which can bring you to but one fate--Siberia."

He left his chair and stood beside her. He reached down and took one of

her hands, pressing it between the palms of both his own.

"Zara," he said, with deep-toned feeling, "in some ways you are like a

daughter to me; in others you are the reincarnation of the woman I

loved so dearly. I love you for yourself, and for the sake of those two

who gave you life. I shall never plead with you again. My duty will

probably nevermore call me into your presence. When we part this day,

it is likely to be for the last time. If danger befalls you because of

the conditions you create through this entanglement, I cannot go to

your rescue, or even to your assistance. I speak to you as with a voice

from the grave, beseeching you in the names of your father and mother,

to heed what I have said."