A PERILOUS MOMENT
I lay with every nerve strained to its utmost tension, listening for
the least movement on the part of the maddened woman which might
indicate she was about to stab me then and there.
In the silence that followed, if she did not hear the beating of my
heart it was only because her own stormy emotions had rendered her
deaf and blind to everything else.
For a time her rapid breathing continued to warm my uncovered neck.
Then she snapped-to the locket and let it fall, and rose from my side
to pace the floor of the room with swift, irregular steps.
Fauchette, who must have been anxious to know how I was faring, now
came back without waiting to be summoned.
"Well?" the Princess demanded, halting in her promenade.
"Gregory has gone for M. Petrovitch, Madame. Is there anything I can
do?"
"I have tried every restorative," came the answer. "See if you can
detect any signs of life."
The last command seemed to come as an afterthought. No doubt, Sophia
wished to test her work before Petrovitch arrived.
I was encouraged to think that she had no immediate intention of
killing me; and as the maid bent over me I contrived to give her hand
a reassuring squeeze.
"He is quite dead, Madame," the girl said, turning away. "Would you
like to have the body carried into another room?"
"No. Wait till M. Petrovitch comes," her mistress replied. "You can
go."
As my assistant withdrew I again became on the alert for any
dangerous move on the part of the Princess.
It was not long before I was conscious that the room had grown
darker.
I gathered that Sophia had switched off some of the lights in order
to make it more difficult for Petrovitch to detect her fraud, and
again I took courage.
Some muttered words helped me to understand the plan of the desperate
woman.
"I will give him one chance. He shall choose. Men do not die for love
in these days."
There was little doubt that she intended to lock me up in her oratory
and hold me a prisoner till I consented to sacrifice my faith to her
Japanese rival.
Satisfied that there was little risk of any immediate violence, I
waited calmly for the arrival of Sophia's colleague, or master.
The head of the Manchurian Syndicate lost no time on the way. Very
soon I heard the door open and the familiar voice, with its slightly
affected accent, saying,
"Permit me to offer you the expression of my sincere regrets, dear
Princess!--And my sincere congratulations," he added in a more
business-like tone, as the door closed again.
A sigh was the only audible response.
"It has cost you something, I can see," the man's voice resumed
soothingly. "That fact gives you a still stronger claim on our
gratitude. I confess I began to fear seriously that you were
deceiving us, and that would have been very dangerous."
Another obscure sound, between a sigh and a sob, from the woman.
"Now we can proceed with light hearts. Within three months from now
Russia and Great Britain will be at war. I do not mind answering for
it. There was only one man in Europe who could have prevented it, and
he lies there!"
"You would have it so! I still say it would have been enough to
imprison him somewhere."
"You talk foolishly, believe me, Princess. A man like that is not to
be imprisoned. There is no jailer in the world who would venture to
undertake to keep the famous A. V. under lock and key."
"I would have undertaken it," came the answer. "I would have locked
him in my oratory, the key of which never leaves my bosom."
"Nevertheless if it was important to that man to steal it from you,
it would not remain in your bosom very long."
A startled cry interrupted the speaker, and told me that Sophia had
made the fatal discovery of the loss of her key.
I held my breath in the most dreadful suspense. Everything now
depended on this woman. If she allowed the least hint, I knew that
Petrovitch would never leave the room without at least an attempt to
change my supposed trance into death.
Fortunately the Princess was equal to the emergency. I heard her give
a slight laugh.
"I am punished for my assurance," she confessed. "I am not quite
hardened, as you know; and when I realized that M. V---- was actually
dead, I was obliged to pray for him. I have left the key in the
door."
"Go and fetch it, then."
The tone in which these words were spoken was harsh. I heard Sophia
going out of the room, and in an instant, with a single bound, as it
seemed, the man was leaning over me, feeling my pulse, listening for
my heart, and testing whether I breathed.
"If I had brought so much as a knife with me, I would have made
sure," I heard him mutter to himself.
Fortunately Sophia's absence did not last ten seconds. She must have
snatched up the first key that came to hand, that of a jewel-box most
likely, and hurried back with it.
Petrovitch seemed to turn away from me with reluctance.
"You doubt me, it appears," came in angry tones from the Princess.
"I doubt everybody," was the cool rejoinder. "You were in love with
this fellow."
"You think so? Then look at this."
I felt the locket being picked up, and heard the click of the tiny
spring.
A coarse laugh burst from the financier.
"So that is it! Woman's jealousy is safer than her sworn word, after
all. Now I believe he _is_ dead."
The Princess made no reply.
Presently the man spoke again.
"This must be kept a secret among ourselves, you understand. The
truth is, I have exceeded my instructions a little. A certain
personage only authorized detention. It appears he is like you in
having a certain tenderness for this fellow--why, I can't think. At
any rate his manner was rather alarming when we hinted that a coffin
made the safest straight-jacket."
It was impossible for me to doubt that it was the Kaiser whom this
villain had insulted by offering to have me assassinated. I thanked
Wilhelm II. silently for his chivalrous behavior. M. Petrovitch could
have known little of the proud Hohenzollern whom he tempted.
At the same time, it was a source of serious concern for me to know
that, just as I had learned that my real opponent was my friend the
Kaiser, so he in turn had acquired the knowledge that he had me
against him.
It had become a struggle, no longer in the dark, between the most
resourceful of Continental sovereigns and myself, and that being so,
I realized that I could not afford to rest long on my oars.
From the deep breathing of the Princess, I surmised that she was
choking down the rage she must have felt at the other's cynical
depravity. For Sophia, though capable of committing a murder out of
jealousy perhaps, was yet incapable of killing for reward.
"Well," I heard Petrovitch say in the tone of one who is taking his
leave, "I must send some one 'round to remove our friend."
"Do not trouble, if you please. I will see to the funeral," came in
icy tones from the Princess.
"What, still sentimental! Be careful, my good Sophia Y----, you will
lose your value to us if you give way to such weaknesses."
I heard his steps move across the carpeted floor, and then with
startling suddenness, the words came out:
"Curse me if I can believe he _is_ dead!"
My blood ran cold. But it turned out to be only a passing
exclamation. At the end of what seemed to me minutes--they can only
have been seconds--the footsteps moved on, and the door opened and
closed.
"Thank God!" burst from Sophia.
Her next words were plainly an apostrophe to myself.
"So you did not trust me after all!"
I was within an ace of opening my eyes on the supposition that she
had found me out, when I was reassured by her adding, this time to
herself,
"He must have done it when I fainted!"
I saw that she was referring to my theft of the key.
There was a soft rustle of silk on the floor, and I felt her hands
searching in my pockets for the stolen key.
"Fool! To think that I could outwit him!" she murmured to herself at
last.
She had taken some time to learn the lesson, however.