United States or Western Sahara ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
Then, as I sprang to the attack, I saw and recognized the man who confronted me, and my heart bounded with thanksgiving that I had taken that route to the palace. I recognized Alexis Durnief.
"Dubravnik?" she said, in a low tone, as if she were not convinced; but I did not speak again; and the captain also remained silent. Minutes, which seemed like hours, passed in another deathlike silence, broken only by the panting of Durnief. I wondered if Zara had fainted, or had gone for help, or what! There seemed to be no good reason for the silence, and the waiting.
All these years he has been absent, and had Stanislaus waited for his coming your story, and mine also, would have had a different ending. But Stanislaus did not wait. The man you mean is Captain Alexis Durnief." She started bolt upright. "You knew it? You knew it?" she cried. "Tell me how you knew it?" "I guessed it only just now.
I found that without going out of my way, I could pass the residence of the prince, where I believed Zara to be peacefully sleeping, for I knew that Durnief must have suffered arrest before there was opportunity for him to carry out the czar's order.
It was the prince who spoke; but before I could reply to the accusation, the czar waved his hand and commanded silence. "Was it the princess who informed you that Durnief was a nihilist?" he asked calmly, the smile returning to his face. "No," I replied, understanding the motive behind the question.
"She most certainly would not have the bad taste to refuse, and if she did so, the captain would doubtless bring her by force; but Captain Durnief has the misfortune to be, by now, a prisoner." "Durnief a prisoner! The captain of my personal staff arrested! By your order, sir?" "By my order, your majesty." "You have dared to do this?"
It said that my brother had been wounded, and was at my house; that it was safe for me to go there now. I hastened. I ran to the droshka, and sprang inside before I knew that it was occupied. Durnief was there. He seized me. Something was wrapped around my head, and I lost consciousness, I think.
"With whom are you struggling, Captain Durnief?" I heard a voice say. "Zara!" I exclaimed, before Durnief could reply. "With an assassin who has shot our horses, murdered the yemschik, and who would assassinate you, princess," panted Durnief. "Zara!" I called to her again. "It is I Dubravnik."
"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 have been looking everywhere for you. Didn't know but you had gone. This is my friend Alexis Durnief. You've each heard me talk about the other, so you should be good friends." "Captain Alexis Durnief?" I asked, shaking hands with him. "The same," he replied. "Just returned from one of the far posts in Siberia, and I am very glad to be back here again.
Word Of The Day