at palace of your father's, and
were waited upon by an army of servants, many of whom had been in the
employ of your family before either of you were born.

"Among your acquaintances there is another officer, one who is as great
a favorite at court; and within the palace of the emperor, as you are.
He is of good family, handsome, accomplished, and rich. Nevertheless,
you dislike him, principally because he is in love with your sister and
you know that he is, in every way, unworthy of her. She shares the
aversion which you feel for this man, declining all his advances, and
at last refuses to receive him. Beginning with that time, he persecutes
her with his attentions, to the point where you are led to interfere;
but this man has already been to the czar, and has secured his royal
approval of the marriage. He laughs at you when you remonstrate. You
also go to the czar, who listens attentively to all that you have to
say, finally consenting that Yvonne shall not be forced into the
marriage against her will. This officer, when he hears of it, is
furious, and one night, at the club, he publicly insults you, so that
you have no other course than to challenge him. He is a practiced
duelist, and believes that he can kill you easily; thus he would leave
the coast clear for his further machinations. In the affair which
follows, you surprise everybody by wounding your adversary quite
seriously; and during a few months that succeed the duel, you are
relieved of further anxiety concerning the matter. But he recovers; he
returns to his former position at the palace; and misjudging his power
and influence, insults you again, almost in the presence of the
emperor. For that, he is banished from the palace, and degraded in the
army; and quite naturally he attributes his misfortunes to you, upon
whom he vows vengeance. You hear of his threats, but laugh at them--and
forget them. He does not.

"This man becomes a nihilist and a dangerous one. He plots and plans
for your overthrow, and for the possession of your sister whom he
continues to persecute in many ways. She does not tell you these
things, fearing the consequences if you were to fight another duel. At
last, however, more or less of it comes to your attention, and the
consequence is that you publicly horsewhip him, for which act you are
suspended from attendance at the palace for thirty days. During that
interval a horrible thing occurs. It is at the time when the extremists
among