, and the tones of his voice were almost boyish in
their confidence and gayety._

_"Well, what is it, Vasili?" he repeated. "You have the air of one with
much on your conscience. Out with it. Has Sacha been fighting with you
again?"_

_"No, Master, not Sacha," said the old man clearing his throat
nervously, "it is something worse--much worse than Sacha."_

_"Impossible!" said the other with a laugh as he took up a cigarette
from the table. "Nothing could be worse than a Russian cook when she
gets into a rage----"_

_"But it is, Master--something worse--much worse----"_

_"Really! You alarm me." The Grand Duke threw himself into an armchair
and inhaled luxuriously of his cigarette. And then with a shrug,
"Well?"_

_The old man came a pace or two nearer muttering hoarsely, "They've
broken out in the village again," he gasped._

_The Grand Duke's brow contracted suddenly._

_"H-m. When did this happen?"_

_"Last night. And this morning they burned the stables of Prince
Galitzin and looted the castle."_

_The young man sprang to his feet._

_"You are sure of this?"_

_"Yes, Master. The word was brought by Serge Andriev less than ten
minutes ago."_

_He took a few rapid paces up and down the room, stopping by the open
window and staring out._

_"Fools!" he muttered to himself. Then turning to the old servitor,
"But, Vasili--why is it that I have heard nothing of this? To-day
Conrad, the forester, said nothing to me. And the day before yesterday
in the village the people swept off their caps to me--as in the old
days. I could have sworn everything would be peaceful at Zukovo--at
least, for the present----" he added as though in an afterthought._

_"I pray God that may be true," muttered Vasili uncertainly. And then
with unction, "In their hearts, they still love you, Highness. They are
children--your children, their hearts still full of reverence for the
Grand Duke Peter Nicholaevitch in whom runs the same blood as that which
ran in the sacred being of the Little Father--but their brains! They are
drunk with the poison poured into their minds by the Committeemen from
Moscow."_

_"Ah," eagerly, "they returned?"_

_"Last night," replied the old man wagging his head. "And your people
forgot all that you had said to them--all that they owe to you. They are
mad," he finished despairingly, "mad!"_

_The Grand Duke had folded his arms and was staring out of the window
toward the white dome of the church now