e? Then you loose another torrent of
words. You curse your emperor. You revile the sacred person of the
czar. You go mad; you even try to strike him. Ah! It is awful, your
agony. The guard seizes you. The straps are torn from your shoulders.
The buttons are cut from your coat. The czar himself uses his great
strength to break your sword across his knee, and so far forgets his
dignity that he strikes you in the face with his open hand; and then
you are hustled to the palace gate, and thrust into the street,
disgraced, helpless, insane." Zara paused an instant, then continued,
monotonously:

"Then begins months of hopeless waiting. Every day you beg admittance
to the palace. Every day you are refused. You write letters, begging
that you may be told where your sister is detained, that you may go to
her; that you may share her exile. They are unheeded. You know that she
is in Siberia, but Siberia is a vast place--greater than all Europe.
You petition men and officers who used to fawn upon you when you were
in favor, for information concerning her. They will not even speak to
you. They have been ordered not to do so. At last, when nearly five
months have passed in this way, friendless and alone, for your property
has been taken from you, you join the nihilists."

Zara crossed to the divan and seated herself beside me, clasping one of
my hands in hers, and clinging to it as if she were herself in danger
of being torn from my side, or of losing me. For a time she pressed my
hand between hers, or stroked it gently, and when she resumed speech,
it was in a softly-spoken voice.

"Then you find friends," she said, gently. "Through their agents, the
nihilists ascertain where your sister has been taken. You learn that
she is a prisoner on the unspeakably horrible island of Saghalien. Yes,
and they tell you more, these new friends and helpers whom you have
found among the nihilists. They know about the plot that sent her
there. They know that the very man who pretended that he loved Yvonne,
bribed one of your servants to place those awful papers among her
things, that they might be found there by the police. You search for
him, but he is abroad, so you seek out, and find, the servant who was
bribed; and him, you strangle. After that, you disappear. The nihilists
report that you are dead. St. Petersburg believes it. But you are not
dead. You are on your way to Saghalien. Your new friends assist you
with disguises; they aid you on y