THE POWER OF THE FRATERNITY
The princess did not start--she did not even look surprised when I
uttered the strange sentence, but her great round eyes welled up in
tears, and she caught her breath in a half-sob once. Then, without
uttering a word, she extended her hand and placed it in mine, and we
remained thus, for a moment silent. Presently, in a low whisper, I
heard her repeat after me, the words, "Love, honor, and obey;" and she
added: "As long as we both shall live."
With a quick gesture that was purely feminine, she withdrew her hand
from mine and thrust the clustering hair away from her temples. Then
she went to the window and gazed upon the snow clad city, and thus she
remained for several minutes.
Presently she returned and came back to where I was standing.
"It is strange, is it not, Mr. Derrington?" she asked in a low voice.
"I do not think that I am myself to-day. It is hard to realize that
this is Zara de Echeveria who speaks to you now. I am like another
person; it is as though another spirit had entered my body, and I seem
to act without a will of my own. It began last night when you first
entered my presence. It was evident to me when I saw you apparently
asleep in the garden, knowing that you had overheard the conversation
between my brother and myself; it asserted itself when we stood
together under the green light later in the evening, when you told me
that I must keep the engagement made with you to-day, and when you
entered this room a few hours ago, it seemed as though you belonged to
me--as though you had stolen away my will--as though I had no right to
act without your sanction. Can you explain it?"
"No," I replied, "nobody can explain it. It is a secret that is known
only to God, and His ways are immutable. But we have each recognized it
from the first."
We said nothing of love then. The subject seemed out of place at that
moment. We both knew all that the other would have said, or could with
truth say, and there was no need to do what would seem like repeating
it.
"When will you hear from the note that you have sent?" she asked
presently.
"Very soon, now," I replied. "If your servant has delivered the
message, there should be a reply within a few minutes. Let us go to the
window and watch."
So we stood there by the window, silently communing with each other
without speaking. Her left hand was clasped within my right one, and
the minutes came and went until I raised my other hand and pointed
silently toward a large, double _britzska_ that was approaching. I
had recognized the huge proportions of Tom Coyle, holding the reins,
and I knew that underneath the covering were trusty followers of mine
who would make short work of the waiting assassins.
"There comes the answer to my note," I said, "Watch that _britzska_."
"I see it," she replied.
It dashed up on a run straight for the point where the other one was
still waiting, and came to a stop with a suddenness that threw the
horses back upon their haunches. At the same instant there dashed from
beneath the covering a half dozen men, and while some seized the horses
of the waiting _britzska_, and others pulled the man from the driver's
seat, still others jerked open the curtains and sprang inside. From our
post of observation we could see that a severe struggle was taking
place, and twice we heard the reports of pistols; and then the smaller
carriage drove away, while the larger one, that which Tom Coyle had
been driving, dashed straight for the door of the princess' house.
"The other contained the prisoners," I said to my companion.
"This one is coming here. Remember now, Zara, that you promised to
trust me implicitly. No matter what happens, remember that."
"I will remember," she replied.
Then there came the summons at the door, and the voice of Tom Coyle
requesting an audience with the Princess Zara de Echeveria. She looked
at me inquiringly, and I nodded. In a moment more, Tom, followed by two
men, entered the room where we were awaiting them.
"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.
"Do you mean that we are arrested?" she inquired indignantly, returning
her gaze to the officer.
"Temporarily, princess. We were forced to make an arrest in the street
near this house just now, and from one of the men taken we learned that
we had to come here. I can say no more. You will come with us without
resistance?"
"Arrested in the name of the czar," murmured Zara blankly. "I did not
anticipate this. Yes, I will go with you. Is my house to be searched?"
"I have no such orders, madame."
Then he turned to me.
"And you, sir?" he inquired.
"I am at your service," I said.
"One moment----" began Zara, who evidently doubted the regularity of it
all, but I interposed.
"Princess," I said. "I do not think that these men mean to treat us
unkindly. It is evidently some official inquiry brought about by the
arrest that he had mentioned. I think it decidedly best to go without
question."
Her face flushed and she said nothing more, but having had her wraps
brought to her, followed me into the street, and we were soon driving
rapidly away. The men were thoughtful enough to give us the interior of
the vehicle to ourselves, and as soon as we were seated Zara turned her
wistful eyes towards me.
"What does it mean?" she asked.
"It means that you are to be protected from the hands of your friends,"
I replied. "It means that I know that the nihilists would take your
life as soon as they know that betrayal of those who were waiting for
me came from your home. I do not propose that they shall have such an
opportunity. It means that I am going to place you for a time where no
harm can come to you, and that not one of them will know where you
are."
"But how, how have you the authority to do all this?"
"Did I not tell you that I am in the service of the czar?"
"Of my worst enemy, yes."
"Is it not wise to compel your enemies to do your service?"
"Can I accept a service from one whom I hate as I do him?"
"I think so, if your life and mine are both dependent upon that
service."
"But where are we going?"
"To the Vladek prison."
"I? Zara de Echeveria, to _prison_?"
"Yes."
"And you?"
"To the same place."
"How long are we to be detained there?"
"Only a sufficient time for us to pass through it and take our
departure by another door, to enter another carriage, and to be driven
to the house of a friend."
"Ah! I begin to understand. To whose house, then?"
"To the house of Prince Michael."
"I cannot go there! Oh, indeed, I cannot go there!"
"You must disappear for a time, Zara. The prince is my friend and
yours; more than that, he loves you, and better than all, he is a
prince among men as well as a Prince in rank. Will you not still trust
me?"
She sighed and said no more, but as the _britzska_ dashed onward she
nestled closer to me, as though she found comfort in the thought that
the authority was taken out of her hands, and when at last we came to a
stop before the prison doors, she whispered:
"I trust you. Do with me as you will. I will obey."
Within the prison, I found Canfield awaiting me, and I gave him and
Coyle a few hurried instructions; but we were soon on the road again,
and in due time arrived at the house of the prince, we passing in by a
side entrance. Presently, courtly and grave, but as white as mental
suffering can render the face of a man, he came to us.
"You are welcome," he said, extending his hand, first to her and then
to me. "The house is at your disposal, princess, and I need not say
that there are no servants here to spy on you. I know them all, and
your presence will be as secret as the grave."
She thanked him, and was proceeding to explain some of the
circumstances which had brought us there when he stopped her with a
gesture.
"It is true that I do not understand," he said, "but Dubravnik is my
best friend and he will tell me all that is necessary to tell. In the
meantime, I am commanded by his majesty, the czar, to remain at the
palace for a few days. Let me entreat you to regard everything here as
your own."
"Twenty-four hours will suffice, prince," I said. "After that time the
princess can return in safety to her own home."
"Then, if you will excuse me," he murmured, bowing low over Zara's
hand, "I will proceed at once to the palace, where I am even now
expected. I will await you there, Dubravnik," he added, and the glance
that he cast upon me made me wonder if I had not, perhaps, trusted--or,
rather, tried--this chivalrous man too far, in taking the princess to
his house.
Zara saw and correctly interpreted the glance, for as he left the room
upon my assurance that I would follow him at once she put her hands in
mine and said:
"Are you indeed assured of your own safety, Dubravnik? Ah, yes, I shall
always call you by that name. Are you assured of your own safety? Tell
me truly."
"Perfectly; and of yours, also. Have no fears."
Then I raised her hands to my lips, and kissed them both, first one and
then the other, again and again; and she, standing on tiptoe, pressed
her lips to my forehead.
"Love, honor, and obey," I murmured; and she repeated after me:
"Love, honor, and obey."
Then I left her.
It was still early in the day, but at that time of the year darkness
settles over the earth while yet the day is young, and night was
already abroad in the streets. I had much to do ere the dawn of another
day, for the time had come when the power of the Fraternity of Silence
must be asserted; when I felt that the work that I had agreed to do for
the czar was nearly completed. My drag net was ready, and the time had
come to cast it.