d all this. He was her fellow prisoner, and he made his
escape two--no, three years or more, since. He made his way here, and
Anna was good to him; as she is good to every creature in adversity.
Until then she had always believed that her mother died at her birth;
but when she learned the truth, she would have moved Heaven and earth to
deliver her. It was accomplished at last; the Tzar was induced to sign
an order for the release of this mad and maimed woman. Just when all
hope seemed lost the deliverance came; and the wreck that remains of the
Countess Anna Pendennis was brought here,--less than three months ago;
and--"

He broke off as the woman servant Yossof had spoken of as Natalya
hurried into the room and unceremoniously beckoned him out. He rose at
once and followed her, but turned at the door.

"Get some sleep while you can," he said, nodding towards a great couch
covered with a bear-skin rug. "None will disturb you here for a few
hours; and we shall have either to fight or to travel again ere long."

I sat for a minute or two, trying to think over the long tragedy that he
had summed up in so few words, and wondering where Anthony Pendennis
was. Surely he should have been here with his wife and daughter; and yet
no one had mentioned him, and I had had no opportunity of asking about
him,--had, in fact, forgotten his very existence till these last few
minutes.

But consecutive thought was impossible, and I gave up the attempt, as I
stumbled to the couch and fell fast asleep.

CHAPTER XLIV

AT VASSILITZI'S

Into my dreams came voices that I knew, speaking in French, in low tones
which yet reached my ears distinctly.

"I think we should tell him; it is not right, or just, to keep him in
ignorance."

"No,--no,--we must not tell him; we must not!" Anne said softly, but
vehemently. "We shall need him so sorely,--there are so very few whom we
can really trust. Besides, why should we tell him? It would break his
heart! For remember, we do not know."

They were not dream voices, but real ones, and as I found that out, I
felt I'd better let the speakers,--Anne and Loris,--know I was awake;
for I'd no wish to overhear what they were saying, especially as I had a
queer intuition that they were talking of me. So I sat up under the fur
rug some one had thrown over me, and began to stammer out an apology in
English.

The room was almost dark, and through the window, with its heavy stone
frame, I saw the