Arthur W. Marchmont

“ Surely never was a man in a more desperate plight, and for the moment I knew not in my desperation what to do.
A glance at General Kolfort showed me he was still unconscious, and I rushed to him and shook him in the frenzy of my despair. But he gave no sign of returning consciousness, and the white face rolled from side to side as the head shook nervelessly on the limp, flaccid neck.
I clenched my hands and breathed hard in my concentrated efforts to think coherently and form some plan of action, and I cursed aloud in my wrath the fiend of a woman who had brought me to this pass of peril. ”

“ Once at the meeting-place we pricked our horses into a gallop and set out, a stern determined band dead set on revenge, and resolved every man of us to achieve the end we had at the cost of life itself.
I rode at the head, with Markov as guide; Zoiloff and Spernow behind me, and the rest, four abreast, keeping order like a small cavalry detachment. The night was bright with moonlight, and the country lay around us everywhere still and sunk in sleep. Scarce a soul was astir in the hamlets through which our road passed, but I took the utmost precaution to prevent any mischance. ”

“ Do you think I am so mad as to wish the country to believe I desire to rule by terror, the sword, and the secret dagger?”
“They do believe it!” cried the Countess in a tone of hate; “and they do not wish you to rule at all. Who has called you to take the place of the Prince, to plot against him, and to drive him from the throne? What are you doing but nurturing and fostering the villainous ingratitude of the people, that by this act of double treachery you may mount the throne?” ”

“ It shall never be said that you were beaten by a woman. Force her from the path, by fair means or foul—and forced she shall be—and all the flimsy superstructure of this clumsy plot falls like a shattered dream. Never shall Bulgaria be crushed beneath that woman’s heel while I have strength in my right arm, or there remains a knife or a bullet in all the land. ”

“ She gave a deep, heavy, sobbing sigh, and let her head fall on my shoulder.
“It is worse than death to go alone like this.”
“It is our only chance for a happier life. You must go, and even these moments of delay are imperilling everything. You must go—and at once. God knows how gladly I would have you stay with me if I dared.”
“Then go with me. Captain Zoiloff will——” The look on my face checked the sentence. “Oh, I cannot part with you, I cannot!” She moaned in such agony that my heart ached. “We may never meet again.” ”

“ Prince, Prince, why will you always damp the enthusiasm of those who would be your friends and adherents? Why this constant tone of depression? These everlasting fears and forebodings? There is no cause for them, Count. We are on the eve of a stroke that will change everything—everything—and foil these coward traitors and restore in all its former strength the Prince’s influence. There is no monopoly of craft and guile in these Russians! A clear head, a strong hand, a loyal heart, and a daring sword, can change all. ”

“ God has not inspired my heart with that meekness, and while I have breath to breathe, a voice to speak, and hands to do, I will be your enemy. Is that enough, your Highness?” She spoke with such furious vehemence that at the close she was breathless; and she clenched her hands, and glared with hate at the Princess.
“I have not done the things you say. I could not do them,” said the Princess, in a tone whose calmness did not hide from me the ache of disappointment in her heart.
“It is easy to deny. It costs but a breath,” was the sneering answer. “But you ask me will I cease to be your enemy?” ”

“ As we drove along he said something, however, which brought my intoxicated wits together.
“Duke Sergius will be here to-night, Count. We shall see what he means to do.” I laughed so loudly that he looked at me in surprise. What cared I for the Duke Sergius? I carried a charmed life, for Christina loved me. He might marry her: but it was I had her heart. If he killed me, he could not alter that. And whether I lived or died mattered nothing now. I hoped he would quarrel with me. “To be married in three days.” Marriages are not made with the dead, my lord Duke, I thought, and laughed again. ”

“ She clings to the shadow of power which she wields through the Prince with all the tenacity of ambition venomed by malice. I know it, but I do not fear her,” she said proudly. “She is the greatest enemy this country has, even in this hour when its enemies throng every street, and are found in every house. Daring, unscrupulous, reckless, and saturated with the lust of power, she would use the Prince for the pursuit of her own ends, and those only, however cleverly masked by a boasted love of the country.” ”

“ The web is wide, the meshes hard to break, Count; and I brought you here that you might see how wide and how hard. You were right just now in that shrewd guess of yours—I did bring you here. First, for that little dramatic test of your courage; next, that you should see for yourself the glorious woman in whose cause we fight; and lastly, that you should understand the obstacles that lie in the path of those who would oppose us. You say you seek a career. ”

“ Poor, brave, noble Zoiloff, lying in that far away lonely grave!
In the other picture Spernow and I are again among the chief figures, but not alone now. Nathalie is by his side, Christina by mine. Again there is the same priest and the same choir, but we stand in the lofty chancel of a stately church, and the words are not of death but of marriage. Around us a small group is gathered, well-wishers, relatives, and friends, with faces bright with gladness and tongues eager to burst out with noisy congratulations and fervent wishes for our happiness. ”

“ Think what it must mean in a country like ours to have, say, five hundred young men in this city, each influencing many more, drawn from all classes, high and low, all joined by the strongest ties for one common object, and all looking upon one man as their leader—‘In the Name of a Woman.’ You will wield a tremendous power, Count. God grant you use it wisely,” he said, earnestly. “But I have no doubt of that. I should not be here if I had.”
“I shall wield it only for the one object.”
“It will turn the scale in any crisis,” said Spernow.
“It will free the country,” said Zoiloff. ”

“ When Zoiloff came I explained my views, putting bluntly the alternative of fight or flight, and he was all for fighting. But he shook his head gloomily at the chances.
“We have left to the last the most hazardous work of all,” he said, “and yet in some respects the most important. I mean the winning over of some of those men, the politicians, the men of tongues not deeds, whose names are most before the public. They are the most dangerous of all to meddle with, and yet without them I fear for the result. And we cannot draw them to us until we can show that the army is on our side.” ”

“ At that moment an officer entered in response to the bell.
“Arrest the Count Benderoff,” cried the General, pointing at me a finger that trembled with rage. “Give up your sword, sir. You are a traitor, unworthy to bear it.”
“I shall do nothing of the kind,” I said desperately. “The man who lays a hand on me may look to himself.”
“Call in your men, Captain. If he resists, shoot him,” said the stern old man grimly, and in the moments of waiting we looked at each other in silent defiance. Then came the tramp of men and the clash of arms in the room without, and a file of soldiers marched in. ”

“ The triumphant gleam in his eyes when his sword found its way into my body had sent my temper up many degrees. A man of honour, having such skill of fence as he possessed, and seeing that I was making no effort to attack him, and was, indeed, actually letting pass the openings he gave, would have refused to continue a fight on such unequal terms. But he grew more murderous the longer we fought, and more than once made a deliberate use of my reluctance to wound him by exposing himself recklessly in order to try and kill me. ”

“ It is a strong point that the very craft of General Kolfort itself has helped us. We have, as it were, a free hand for making our preparations. He is as anxious as we are that those Bulgarians who are opposed to the Prince, and would help me, but fear Russia, should be secured to us; and this has given us just the cover for our work that we needed. We shall triumph, Count, for the cause of truth is ours, and Bulgaria shall be free;” and her voice rang with earnestness. ”

“ To go into a fight with so expert a swordsman as Duke Sergius was dangerous enough under any circumstances and at any time. But to fight him while bound to act only on the defensive, and to refrain, too, from taking advantage of such openings as he might give, magnified the danger many times, and must make the issue less than doubtful for me. The fight was to be to the death, or till one of us was so wounded as to be unable to continue it, and it was clear that, if I was not to attempt to wound him, it was I who must be struck down. ”

“ I sent him after Spernow, and stood back in the shadow to wait with such patience as I could command. My excitement and fear made me like a madman, till I felt I could almost have rushed single-handed against the troops and tried to hack my way into the house.
“This means devilish mischief, Count,” said Zoiloff in a hushed tone. “You will be the next.”
“I care nothing for myself, but I will save her,” I said between my teeth.
Spernow came back in a few minutes.
“I can learn nothing. The men have orders to hold their tongues. But the Princess is not in the house; at least I gather that.” ”

“ I meant him to carry me to the frontier on his back, and was glad to find, when I ran my hands over him, that he had no more serious hurts than a few surface cuts.
But I was in truth vastly puzzled how to act. To take the General with me any further was impossible; yet to leave him behind might be infinitely dangerous. The instant he recovered consciousness he would set all his wits and malice to work to have me followed; and my perplexity was vastly increased when I saw about a mile ahead of me a couple of horse-patrols appear on the crest of a hill, and come riding leisurely toward us. ”

“ I replied; and again the earnestness of my tone appeared to embarrass her. In the short silence that followed I sat with but the loosest rein upon the hopes and thoughts that were so much to me.
“No; the Duke Sergius does not come into the scheme as we plan it,” she said; “and I thought indeed that what Mademoiselle Broumoff told you would have made you understand this. I would do much for this country; and if it were necessary that I should marry him—which, thank God, it is not—I might force myself to go even to that extreme. But in my life there can be no thought of marriage. ”

“ The news will have the pleasanter savour coming direct from you.”
She knew how to fire me, and I would have given half my fortune to have known what lay behind the meaning glance of her eyes, which started thoughts I would not silence, and yet dared not indulge.
As I sat there, half bewildered, I saw a tall, fair, truculent-looking man forcing his way arrogantly among the people and coming in our direction, while he looked about him on all sides in search of someone.
“Who is that?” I asked.
“A man to fear, Count—the worst enemy we have, Duke Sergius. A man whose eyes we have always to blind.” ”

“ She paused again, but I gave no sign; and then the rage began to return to her face, and her tone grew vehement again. “It is a lie—and a lie against the man whose eyes I can open with a word. You are working and plotting for the Princess, In the Name of a Woman, are you not? And these Russian fools and dolts think you are working for them at the same time. But I know your real intent. To fool them up to the moment when you can throw off the disguise—to put this precious Princess on the throne, and then to snap your fingers in the face of the old dotard, Kolfort, and obey only the Princess. ”

“ I said, as a last word; “you will be out of sight in the mist before the men have a thought that we are not all together. Good-bye, and may God speed you!”
“Amen to that,” came in Zoiloff’s deep voice, and for the last time I met Christina’s eyes.
When I reached the front of the house I waited a moment, listening intently, and then hearing the sound of horsemen coming up the lane I started my horses, and as soon as we were through the gate I whipped them and dashed along the lane at a smart gallop, just as the foremost couple of troopers loomed into sight through the shroud of the white mist. ”

“ I asked.
[133] “There is but one punishment for such an act—death!” cried Zoiloff, in such a ringing, merciless tone that the rascal’s heart may well have sunk within him. “Death, if he will not speak.”
“Death, if he will not speak,” echoed the rest.
At this Zoiloff drew his sword, and at the clash of the steel in the dead silence the wretch moaned. ”

“ Every Russian agent in this country will know you; your every action will be watched, and every word you speak will be noted. One breath of treachery, one single suggestion of further deceit, and you are a dead man. Your life hangs on the thinnest of threads. ”

“ You can see the career that awaits such a man as yourself here—at the right hand of the Prince.”
“But if the Princess Christina is opposed to Russia, how does she threaten Bulgaria?”
“Aye, if?” and she laughed scornfully. “There is another complication. The woman has sold herself to the Russians. She is betrothed secretly to one of the worst of them all, a man of infinite vileness and treachery—the Duke Sergius. And the plot is that as soon as this Christina is on the throne, the precious pair are to be married, and Russia triumphs in despite of anything Europe may say to the contrary.” ”

“ I do not crave a throne, but I have longed with a passion I cannot perhaps make you feel, to spread the blessing of freedom among the people. For this end I have striven; and now it seems I have failed. Do not think of me. I will not think of myself. But to bring others to ruin is more than I can endure. Tell me—what do you advise? What can I do?”
“There seem but two courses open,” I said, and told her what Zoiloff and I had agreed together.
“You did not think that I would fly and leave those who have rallied to my cause to bear the brunt while I was seeking the coward’s refuge of safety?” ”

“ It was a thoughtful, gracious act, and I was as glad as Zoiloff himself, who stood aside with a flush on his stern face to let the carriage pass when I gave the word to Markov to start.
“The fairest and best of all women on earth,” he said, enthusiastically, as we three watched the carriage dash up the hill that led from the house. “I hope to heaven we shall get start enough to save her;” and he glanced back anxiously along the road that Kolfort had gone, as if he feared that pursuit might already be on foot. ”