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Updated: June 28, 2025
The darkness will help us," said Ellerey. "I prefer dying in the sunlight," said Stefan, "but so long as I die in the open the stars will serve." "In the night if you will, but not to-night," pleaded Maritza, laying her hand on Ellerey's arm. "Let it be to-morrow night. "Hope dies hard with you, Princess." "I have a fancy to look upon another dawn," she returned.
Stefan was silent until the sound of Ellerey's quick steps in the garden had ceased. "Where does that lead to, Countess?" he said, pointing to a door at the other end of the room. "To my bedroom." "And from there?" "There is a door on to a landing seldom used," she answered. "That is our way, then," said Stefan. "I shall stay here. I am safe from them. It is only the King who would dare "
Number 12 looked as faded as its neighbors, showed even fewer lights in its windows, and, except that no small crowd hung about the closed door, was no whit more attractive than ever. Ellerey's summons was answered immediately, however, and he entered a large bare stone hall, the dim light which hung in the centre disclosing many fast-closed doors on either side.
It is not a question of loyalty, but one which concerns my fair fame." "Surely, Countess, you exaggerate." "Indeed, your Majesty, I do not, as Lord Cloverton can prove. Only yesterday, in the Bois, he made it evident that Court gossip linked my name with Captain Ellerey's, and even suggested that I might render service to my country and this Englishman at the same time by saying all I knew.
There was a half-whimsical smile upon Ellerey's face, at her enthusiasm, and in his eyes a look of admiration, which he could not conceal, at her beauty. Her loose hair streaming in the wind was the color of burnished copper, rich as a golden autumn tint in the glow of an evening sun.
His cap fell from his head, and curls, the hue of copper, slipped loosely down upon his forehead, while the open shirt just revealed the curve of a white bosom. "A woman!" exclaimed Stefan, letting go of Anton in his blank astonishment. Slowly Ellerey's sword was lowered, and for a moment he did not speak. Then almost in a whisper he said: "Maritza! Princess Maritza."
"Do you know a Desmond Ellerey, who lodges by the Western Gate, Ward?" "I know there is such a man, but I know nothing about him." "He is likely to be dangerous. I want you to keep an eye upon his movements. He is friendly with Monsieur De Froilette, and is in her Majesty's favor. I do not want you to make Ellerey's acquaintance. I don't want him to know who you are, for the present at any rate."
Ellerey's dress was travel-stained; there was a rent in his sleeve, and he looked as though he had come through some struggle. She noted all this, but it was the expression on his face which fixed her attention. It was stern, unyielding, desperate; and her frame stiffened, and a flash came into her eyes as though she were angry at his intrusion. "The Princess, Countess?" said Ellerey.
Stefan, too, started from his leaning position and stood upright in the entrance, looking straight at the boy. "By your leave, I would become the hostage for your safety," said Grigosie. "I asked you to take me with you; now I ask you to give me up." "Plague upon you, lad, you almost anger me. You are beyond my understanding," was Ellerey's answer, but he still looked fixedly at him.
Stefan shouted, wheeling Ellerey's horse round toward him. "No." Without a word Stefan cast loose the reins of the other horses, and the next instant the four riders were galloping for dear life up the pass, Ellerey and Grigosie in the centre, Anton and Stefan on either side. Knee to knee they galloped, their bodies low upon their horses' necks.
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