token of silence, and Renwick followed
her gaze down the graveled path which led toward the arbor. As
under-secretary of the British Embassy in Vienna, he had been trained to
guard his emotions against surprises, but the sight of the three figures
which were approaching them down the path left him bereft for the moment
of all initiative. In the center walked the Archduke, pulling
deliberately at his heavy dark mustaches while he listened to the figure
upon his right, a man of medium stature, who wore a hunting suit and a
jaeger hat with a feather in it. He carried his left hand, concealing a
defect of his arm, in the pocket of his shooting jacket, while with his
free right hand he swung an ebony cane. His mustaches were turned
straight upward from the corners of his mouth and the aggressive chin
shot outward as he glanced right and left, talking meanwhile with his
companions. The third figure was very tall, topping even the Archduke,
who was by no means small of stature, by at least six inches; his hair,
or as much of it as could be seen beneath the soft hat, was gray, and a
long beard, almost white in the patches at either side of the chin,
descended in two long points half of the way to his waist.

Renwick recognized the visitors at once, and turned toward his startled
companion, his own mind as to the propriety of his situation at once
made up.

"Marishka," he whispered, "we must go."

"It is too late," she murmured. "They would see us."

[Illustration: "It is too late," she murmured. "They would see us."]

"And what does that matter?"

"I forgot," she breathed helplessly. "I was told I was not to come today
into the rose garden. I wondered why. Sh----! Sit still. Crouch lower.
Perhaps they will pass on and then----"

Renwick obeyed somewhat dubiously and sank, scarcely daring to breathe,
beneath the thick foliage beside the arbor which concealed his
companion. She seized his hand and he felt her fingers trembling in his
own, but he pressed them gently--aware that the tremors of the girl's
fingers as the footsteps approached the arbor were being unpleasantly
communicated to his own. The breach of hospitality to the household of
the Archduke, upon whose land he was, was as nothing beside the breach
of etiquette to the Empire by his Chief. Renwick's nerves were good but
he trembled with Marishka. The friendship of nations depended upon the
security of his concealment--more than that--and less than that--his own