never been witnessed in
history. But many of the most anarchistic and irrepressible leaders of
the nihilists were quietly arrested and sent where they would be
rendered harmless, and others who were less violent, I left undisturbed
and in seeming security, knowing that they would ultimately lead me to
the point I wished to attain, the very root of the evil which I had
determined to eradicate; but it was six months after my arrival in St.
Petersburg when I met with the adventure which I regarded as the most
remarkable of my experience, and which is really the reason for this
story.

"Well, Derrington," the prince said to me one night shortly after our
return from a function of more than ordinary prominence. He had stopped
at my rooms for a smoke and a chat before retiring. "Have you received
an invitation from the princess?"

"What princess?" I asked.

"Zara de Echeveria, the most beautiful woman in Europe." He was smiling
now, and seemed to take it for granted that I should know to whom he
referred.

"The name is Spanish," I said; and I vaguely recalled having heard it
somewhere before that day. But evidently it had made only slight
impression upon my memory.

"Yes; her father was a Spaniard, but she is a Russian of the Russians.
Her title is given her by courtesy, from her mother's family. Is it
possible that you do not know about her?"

"Quite."

"It is not remarkable, after all, for she left the city shortly after
your arrival and has only just returned. I paid my respects to her
yesterday, and took the liberty of suggesting that she add your name to
her list. Look among your cards, and see if she has not sent you one."

It was among the first that my hand lighted upon and naturally we fell
to discussing her. The rhapsodies concerning her in which the prince
indulged led me to interpose a remark, for which I was instantly sorry.

"One would think that you were in love with her," I said.

His face fell instantly, and for a moment he was visibly confused, but
at last, with a conscious smile, he said, boldly:

"Well, why not? I do not know that it is necessary to deny it since she
is aware of it herself; and so, I think, is the whole city. I am a
bachelor, and not turned fifty. Twenty-five years is not an impassable
gulf, is it?"

"Certainly not, my dear prince. My remark was an ill timed pleasantry
which you must pardon. Is she, then, so young?"

"Twenty-five."

"Let me see; her ball is for to-morro