It was exceedingly difficult for a person of Nada's frank and open
temperament to resort to the arts of the dissembler, to feign a
cordiality she did not feel. Still, she managed to pull herself
together and, to a creditable extent, conceal her dislike of her
unwelcome visitor. With a grave courtesy she invited the Spanish woman
to seat herself.
"Your note has distressed me, Madame, for more than one reason. In the
first place I am very sorry to hear that Signor Corsini is menaced by
a great danger. I met him in London; ours was the first private house
he played at after his great success at the Covent Garden concert. I
have a great esteem for him as an artist, and I am shocked to think
that, after so short a stay in my own country, he should be the victim
of some sinister designs. Secondly, I am the more disturbed because
your letter tells me very plainly in what quarter these designs are
being entertained."
Madame Quero spoke very quietly. The Princess disliked her, of that
she was assured, and she returned the dislike with compound interest.
Still Nada was doing her best to be civil and polite. It should not be
her fault if the interview was not conducted with perfect discretion
on both sides.
"If the danger had not been very great and also very imminent,
Princess, I should not have taken the liberty of intruding myself upon
you. We move in different worlds, it is true, but I am some sort of a
personage in my own sphere and not fond of exposing myself to rebuffs
at the hand of a waiting-maid."
Nada blushed at the shrewd, quick thrust, although the words were
spoken without the least heat.
"I am very sorry you should have felt offended," she faltered. "But
of course, I could not deliver the message myself."
Madame Quero dismissed the subject with a graceful wave of the
hand. If Nada had the composure of the aristocrat, she had the
self-possession of the woman of the world. She could skate over thin
ice as delicately as anybody.
"I have every reason to know that your brother, Prince Boris, has
taken a violent enmity to this young musician."
"My brother, I regret to say, takes violent dislikes to many people,
for reasons that I have never been able to fathom. But I cannot guess
any motive for enmity against Signor Corsini. In what possible way can
their paths cross?"
"You will, of course, understand, Princess, that I cannot, in every
instance, speak as plainly as I could wish. You may have heard, it is
hardly possible you should not, that for some few years past Prince
Zouroff has been one of my most intimate friends."
Nada bowed her graceful head, while a faint flush rose to the fair
cheek. Of course it was common rumour in St. Petersburg that he was
greatly attracted by the handsome singer and was prepared to marry
her, if her husband could be got out of the way. Such an alliance
would not, naturally, recommend itself to the other members of the
proud and ancient house of Zouroff.
"It would certainly seem a strange thing that their paths should cross
in any way," was Madame Quero's answer. "And here, I am afraid, I dare
not be as explicit as I wish. You must forgive me, Princess, if I
content myself with hints instead of full explanations. I can only
just tell you this: Signor Corsini has discovered a jealously guarded
secret of your brother's. Your brother, therefore, regards him as a
dangerous man, to be got out of his way."
Nada's face went pale as she listened to these rather vague
utterances. Although so young, with a disposition naturally frank and
trusting, she had a very quick intelligence. She thought she could
read between the lines. It was some time before she spoke.
"My brother has a jealously guarded secret which Signor Corsini has
discovered," she repeated slowly. "If he revealed that secret, it
would mean danger to Boris?"
Madame Quero bowed. "At present his knowledge is not very great, but
if he learnt more, it would mean the greatest possible danger to your
brother."
There was no mistaking the sinister meaning behind these words. The
young girl reflected a few moments. Not once, but many times, some
unguarded phrase of the Prince, dropped in one of his frequent rages,
had set her thinking.
"Boris is not, then, exactly what he seems, Madame?"
"Far from it, Princess," replied the singer, speaking with a frankness
that a second later she regretted.
"And perhaps, too, Signor Corsini is not exactly what he seems?"
queried Nada. Intuition was leading her very near the truth.
"Of that I cannot speak with any certainty. Your brother has certain
suspicions of him, but I have no means of knowing whether they are
well- or ill-founded. One thing is certain, Prince Boris goes in fear
of him and meditates harm to him."
"You are sure of his intentions?" asked Nada.
Madame Quero shrugged her shapely shoulders. "Should I be here, if I
were not?"
The Princess questioned her a little more closely. "You will not tell
me more than you wish, I know, but I think I am entitled to put this
question. How did you learn his intentions, from himself or a third
party?"
And the singer answered truthfully. "From his own lips."
Nada was silent for some seconds. She was working it out in her own
mind, on the somewhat scanty data that had been furnished her.
"You mean that the Prince intends to get Signor Corsini out of the way
by some treacherous means?"
"That is the idea that is forming in his mind, Princess."
"When will he put that idea into action, do you think?" was Nada's
next question.
"Corsini plays here at the Prince's request to-morrow evening--is that
not so?"
Yes, it was true. She had written the invitation herself at Zouroff's
request.
"Well, the Prince is a man who acts very rapidly when he has once made
up his mind. It is my belief that whatever project he has formed will
be put into execution to-morrow night."
Nada put her hand to her brow. "It is horrible, Madame, unthinkable,
that a brother of mine should stoop so low. Why should he have a
secret so guilty, that he cannot afford to have it dragged forth into
the light?"
Madame Quero did not answer the question directly. "I fear, Princess,
your brother is not a man easily to be read even by those who have
lived in the same house with him."
"What is it you suggest that I should do?" asked the Princess after a
long pause. "Shall I meet him at the entrance and entreat him to go
away at once, on some pretext or another? And what might follow if I
took such a strange step? I cannot bring myself to confess to him that
I suspect my own brother of base designs against him."
It was a puzzling question, which Madame Quero could not answer at
once. For some moments the two women, their mutual hostility suspended
for the time being, put their wits together. Suddenly an idea
occurred to the singer.
"That maid of yours, who interviewed me on your behalf. Can you trust
her?"
"She is devoted to me," was the Princess's answer.
"Your brother, I happen to know, has one or two confidential servants
in his employ."
"Yes," said Nada, looking at her visitor steadily. It was evident that
if the Prince concealed some things from Madame Quero, there were many
things that he told her. The girl had a very shrewd suspicion that the
guilty secret which Corsini had discovered was also known to the
beautiful singer herself.
"It is just possible that if your maid instituted a few discreet
inquiries in certain quarters, she might learn something."
"Can you suggest any particular quarter in which she could put them?"
asked the Princess. It was evident that the Spanish woman knew a great
deal about the Zouroff household--a great deal more than she did
herself.
"Peter, his valet, is, I know, absolutely in his master's confidence."
"That is fortunate," remarked Nada; "because I happen to know that
Katerina and he are very great friends; in fact, I believe lovers."
She rose, touched the bell and commanded the attendance of her maid.
For a long time the two women, mistress and servant, talked together
in Russian. Madame Quero, who only knew two languages, her own and
French, could not, of course, follow them.
The Princess explained the result of the interview. "I have enlisted
Katerina's sympathies, she is going to find out if Peter knows
anything."
Madame Quero rose. "Whatever it is, I am sure he will have a hand in
it, although I don't expect he will take an active part. Well,
Princess, I must leave it to you to take what steps may occur to you."
Nada put to her the shrewd question. "Is it impossible for you to take
any steps yourself, Madame?"
A shamed expression came into the singer's beautiful eyes. "Alas,
Princess, I fear I must admit it is. If the Prince could trace
anything to me directly, his vengeance would follow me very swiftly."
Nada shuddered. She had long ago ceased to entertain any illusions as
to her brother. She knew he was hard, tyrannical, brutal, and
pitiless. But this conversation with the foreign woman had thrown a
new and sinister light upon his character. There was in him, in
addition to these disagreeable qualities, a strong criminal taint.
He did not intend to spare Corsini, and from what she had just heard,
he would not, if necessity arose, spare the woman to whom he professed
attachment, but would punish her ruthlessly for daring to thwart his
plans. And the poor young Princess shuddered again as the thought
crossed her that he would not be likely to spare his own sister, if
she offended him in the same way.
It was not till the middle of the next day that Katerina had charmed
out of Peter certain information which confirmed her worst fears.
Briefly, the information amounted to this. The Prince had sent one of
his trusted servants into the country to order relays of horses. A
travelling carriage was to be waiting at midnight close to the Zouroff
Palace. But Peter either did not know, or would not tell, who was to
be the occupant or the persons in attendance on the carriage.
One little important detail he had dropped. The carriage was to make
its first halt at Pavlovsk, the first stage of the journey, on the
Moscow road.
There was no longer any doubt in Nada's mind as to the Prince's
intentions. Corsini was to be entrapped on leaving the Palace and
thrust into the carriage; in all probability, drugged and bound. Of
his ultimate fate she shuddered to think.
She knew the Chief of Police, General Beilski, well. He was an old
friend of the family, also one of the Emperor's most trusted
adherents. While devoted to her mother and herself, he had never shown
himself much attached to the Prince.
Nothing easier than for her to pay a private visit to the General at
his office, or invite him to the Palace, and request his assistance in
thwarting her brother's foul designs. It was the course which Madame
Quero could have taken had she so wished, in the first instance.
The same reason held back both women. Such a step must have brought
about the immediate ruin of Zouroff, with its consequent degradation
for his relatives. The General was a man who would put duty and
patriotism before every other consideration. He would not consent to
any paltering with justice, he would drive no bargain. He would not
save Corsini at the cost of letting the Prince go free and unpunished.
It was a terrible situation for so young a girl, thrown upon her own
resources. True, she could have taken counsel with her mother, but she
shrank from exposing her brother's villainy to such a close relation.
She would keep the shameful secret locked in her own breast so long as
it was possible.
And then came a ray of light. She wrote a letter in a feigned hand to
the General, which ran thus:
"A travelling carriage will set out to-night from St.
Petersburg at any time after midnight, and will halt at
Pavlovsk, on the road to Moscow. Let the carriage be
examined, as the writer of this letter has reason to believe
there is a plot afoot to deport a certain person well-known
in artistic circles."
This she handed to Katerina, whom the General had never seen, with
instructions to take it to his office and hand it for delivery to some
responsible person. She was to disguise herself as well as she could,
and not linger a moment after she had delivered the letter. It was
next to impossible that Beilski should ever discover where that letter
came from, but she was certain he would act upon it at once.
What would follow from her action she could not foresee; but she had
done the best, according to her lights, to save the young man who had
had the misfortune to cross her brother's path.
Zouroff, just returned from his journey into the country, entered her
charming little boudoir half an hour after she had despatched Katerina
with the warning note.
He seemed in a good mood to-day. With bitterness at her heart, she
guessed the reason. He had laid his plans so well for this evening
that he did not anticipate any likelihood of their being disturbed.
He greeted her with a sort of rough geniality. "Well, little Nada, you
seem very thoughtful. Wondering what particularly charming costume you
will wear to-night?"
With difficulty she forced herself to meet his gaze, to banish from
her own the loathing that was in her heart. She tried to speak
lightly, so that he should suspect nothing from her voice or manner.
"Not quite accurate, Boris. No, I have decided on the costume. I was
really wondering what jewels I should select."
The Prince seemed to accept her explanation readily. "Well, I am
certain you will enjoy yourself. Your great favourite, Corsini, is
sure to play that little romance which has so captivated you. I really
asked him here to give you pleasure."
Was it fancy, or did she really catch the ghost of a sneering smile on
the hard, handsome face, as he turned to leave the room?
"Base, treacherous hypocrite!" she murmured when she was alone. "Why
have I been cursed with such a brother, my poor mother with such a
son?"