"Ah!" exclaimed His Majesty, well pleased. "I knew that you would be
already informed, Markoff. You know everything. Nothing which affects
my family ever escapes you."
"I hope not, Sire. I trust I may ever be permitted to display my
loyalty and gratitude for the confidence which Your Majesty sees fit to
repose in me."
"To your astuteness, Markoff, I have owed my life a score of times," the
Emperor declared. "I have already acknowledged your devoted services.
Now make haste and discover the whereabouts of my harebrained little
niece, Tattie, for the little witch is utterly incorrigible."
Markoff, pale and hard-faced, was silent for a moment. Then with a
strange expression upon his grey, deceitful countenance he said:
"Perhaps I should inform Your Majesty of one point which to-day was
reported to us from England--namely, that it is believed that Her
Highness has fled with--well, with a lover--a certain young Englishman."
"A lover!" roared the Emperor, his face instantly white with anger.
"Another lover! Who is he, pray?"
"His name is Richard Drury," His Excellency replied.
"Then the girl has created an open scandal! The English and French
newspapers will get hold of it, and we shall have detailed accounts of
the elopement--eh?" he cried excitedly. "This, Markoff, is really too
much!" Then turning to me he asked: "What do you know of this young
Drury? Tell me, Trewinnard."
"Very little, Sire, except that he is her friend, and that he is in
ignorance of her true station."
"But are they in love with each other?" he demanded in a hard voice.
"Have you neglected my instructions and allowed clandestine meetings--
eh?"
"Unfortunately my journey across Siberia prevented my exercising due
vigilance," I faltered. "Yet she gave me her word of honour that she
would form no male attachment."
"Bosh!" he cried angrily, as he crossed the room. "No girl can resist
falling in love with a man if he is good-looking and a gentleman--at
least, no girl of Tattie's high spirits and disregard for the
_convenances_. You were a fool, Trewinnard, to accept the girl's word."
"I believed in the honour of a lady," I said in mild reproach, "and
especially as the lady was a Romanoff."
"The Romanoff women are as prone to flirtation as any commoner of the
same sex," he declared hastily. "Markoff knows of more than one scandal
which has had to be faced and crushed out during the last five years.
But this fellow Drury," he added impatiently, "who is he?"
In a few brief sentences I told him what I knew concerning him.
"You think they have fallen in love?"
"I am fully convinced of it, Sire."
"Therefore they may have eloped! Tattie's disappearance may have no
connection with any revolutionary plot--eh?"
"It may not. But upon that point I am quite undecided," was my reply.
"Let me hear your views, Markoff," said the Emperor sharply.
"I believe that Her Highness has fallen the victim of a plot," was his
quick reply. "The man Drury may have shared the same fate."
"Fate!" he echoed. "Do you anticipate, then, that the girl is dead?"
"Alas, Sire! If she has fallen into the hands of the revolutionists,
then without doubt she is dead," was the cunning official's reply.
Was he revealing to his Imperial Master a fact that he knew? Was he
preparing the Emperor for the receipt of bad news?
I glanced at his grey, coarse, sphinx-like countenance, and felt
convinced that such was the case. Had she, after all, fallen a victim
of his craft and cunning, and were her lips sealed for ever?
I stood there staring at the pair, the Emperor and his all-powerful
favourite, like a man in a dream. Suddenly I roused myself with the
determination that I would leave no stone unturned to unmask this man
and reveal him in his true light to the Sovereign who had trusted him so
complacently, and had been so ingeniously blinded and misled by this
arch-adventurer, to whose evil machinations the death of so many
innocent persons were due.
"Then you are not certain whether, after all, it is an elopement?" asked
the Emperor, glancing at him a few moments later. And turning
impatiently to me he said in reproach: "I gave her into your hands,
Trewinnard. You promised me solemnly to exercise all necessary
vigilance in order to prevent a repetition of that affair in Moscow,
when the madcap was about to run away to London. Yet you relaxed your
vigilance and she has escaped while you have been on your wild-goose
chase through Siberia."
"With greatest respect to your Majesty, I humbly submit that my mission
was no wild-goose chase. It concerned a woman's honour and her
liberty," and I glanced at Markoff's grey, imperturbable countenance.
"But the unfortunate lady was sent to her death--purposely killed by
exhaustion and exposure, ere I could reach Yakutsk."
"She was a dangerous person," the General snapped, with a smile of
sarcasm.
"Yes," I said in a hard, bitter voice. "She was marked as such upon the
list of exiles--and treated as such--treated in a manner that no woman
is treated in any other country which calls itself Christian!"
I saw displeasure written upon the Emperor's face, therefore I
apologised for my outburst.
"It ill becomes you, an Englishman, to criticise our penal system,
Trewinnard," the Emperor remarked in quiet rebuke. "And, moreover, we
are not discussing it. Madame de Rosen conspired against my life and
she is dead. Therefore the question is closed."
"I believe when Your Majesty comes to ascertain the truth--the actual
truth," I said, glancing meaningly at Markoff, who was then standing
before the Sovereign, his hands clasped behind his back, "that you will
discover some curious connection between the death of Marya de Rosen in
the Yakutsk prison and the disappearance and probable death of Her
Imperial Highness the Grand Duchess Natalia."
"What do you mean?" he asked, staring at me in surprise.
"For answer," I said, "I must, with great respect, direct Your Majesty
to His Excellency General Markoff, who is aware of all that concerns the
Imperial family. He probably knows the truth regarding the strange
disappearance of the young lady, and what connection it has with Madame
de Rosen's untimely end."
"I really do not understand you," cried the renowned chief of Secret
Police, drawing himself up suddenly. "What do you infer?"
"His Majesty is anxious to learn the truth," I said, looking straight
into those cunning blue eyes of his. "Your Excellency, a loyal and
dutiful subject, will, I trust, now make full revelation of what has
really happened during the past twelve months, and what secret tie
existed between Her Highness and Marya de Rosen." His face went white
as paper. But only for a single second. He always preserved the most
marvellous self-control.
"I do not follow your meaning," he declared. "Madame de Rosen's death
was surely no concern of mine. Many other politicals have died on their
way to the Arctic settlements."
"You speak in enigmas, Trewinnard. Pray be more explicit," the Emperor
urged.
I could see that my words had suddenly aroused his intense curiosity,
although well aware of the antagonism in which I held the dreaded
oppressor of Holy Russia.
"I regret, Your Majesty, that I cannot be more explicit," I said. "His
Excellency will reveal the truth--a strange truth. If not, I myself
will do so. But not, however, to-day. His Excellency must be afforded
an opportunity of explaining circumstances of which he is aware.
Therefore I humbly beg to withdraw."
And I crossed to the door and bowed low.
"As you wish, Trewinnard," answered the Emperor impatiently, as with a
wave of the hand he indicated that my audience was at an end.
So as I backed out, bowing a second time, and while Markoff stood there
in statuesque silence, his face livid, I added in a clear voice:
"Ask His Excellency for the truth--the disgraceful truth! He alone
knows. Let him find Her Imperial Highness--if he can--if he dare!"
Then I opened the door and made my exit, full of wonder at what might
occur when the pair were alone.