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She was compelled to dress in their presence, underneath the blazing glare of every light in the room, and before the eyes of those inhuman wretches whose gloating, bloodshot gaze befouled her sweet purity, as a drop of filth will befoul a limpid spring." "If you had entered the room at that moment, and the czar had been there, would you have killed him, Dubravnik? Have you a sister? Answer!
"Dubravnik was on the point of leaving us," the prince called after her. "You arrived just in time, princess. Perhaps you can persuade him to change his mind." "Were you contemplating suicide, Mr. Dubravnik?" she asked laughing; but there was an undercurrent of gravity in her question which was deeply significant.
"I had forgotten that you were in the service of his majesty." I thought that she drew away from me at that, but the motion was so slight as to be almost imperceptible. "I had forgotten all that about you, Dubravnik." Again there was a shudder, now more visible than before. "You are under oath to the czar; to the man, who, because he permits so many wrongs to happen I have learned to hate."
She paused, confronting me. "Oh, my God!" she cried. "To think, if you had only told your friends of the errand, and of the plans you had made for reaching the presence of the czar, that it would have succeeded and you would have killed him killed him." She rushed again to my side, and seized me by the shoulders, so that she turned my face until it exactly confronted hers. "Dubravnik," she cried.
"Ah," she said smiling, "as if that were not a greater reason for your taking it, instead of denying it." "No, Zara," I said again. "I cannot take the oath of nihilism. I have already taken an oath which thoroughly obviates such a possibility." "Another oath, Dubravnik?" "Yes." "To whom?" "To the czar." "Oh," she exclaimed, and she shuddered.
I am seeking to find what it could have been that I saw in your eyes, or your face, or your manner, that has so 'stultified' ME. It is an apt word, Dubravnik." "Seek further, and perhaps you will find." "No," she said.
Its purpose, primarily, is not to send conspirators to Siberia to suffer exile there, with all the other horrors that go with it, but to " "Enough!" she interrupted me. "I have heard quite enough, Dubravnik! What you say to me now, is meaningless twaddle. You are like all the others who pit themselves against the silent body of men and women who are engaged in seeking the freedom of their country.
"But there may be circumstances where it offers the only means of escape from an alternative that is infinitely worse, Mr. Dubravnik." We were in the act of passing one of the little side paths, and I drew her into it, noticing that there was just a suggestion of resistance from my companion when I did so; but it was only for an instant.
"Your name is Dubravnik?" said one of the men, addressing me. "Yes," I replied. "And may I ask if this is the Princess d'Echeveria?" "That is my name," replied Zara. "I am very sorry to disturb you, but I must request you both to go with me, in the name of the Czar." Zara started violently, and turned one distrustful glance upon me; but I remained calm and unmoved.
On our way to greet her, Prince Michael encountered many acquaintances who claimed a word with him, so at last he drew me aside and we waited until there was a lull in the efforts of the crush around her; then he led me forward. "So glad to know you, Mr. Dubravnik," she said, in my own language. "The prince has told me that you have spent a long time abroad, and prefer to speak English.
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