he doorway was offering.

"I think you are very brave," said the girl, "or else very foolish. You
do not know our Kieff people."

"I know them very well," he said grimly.

"It was equally foolish of me to interfere," she said quickly, "and I
ought not to blame you. They killed my horse."

She pointed to the dead horse lying before the doorway.

"Where was your servant?" he asked, but she made no reply. He repeated
the question, thinking she had not heard and being at some loss for any
other topic of conversation.

"Let us go out," she said, ignoring the query, "we are safe now."

He was following her when he remembered the packet in his pocket and
turned to the old man.

"Here is your----"

"No, no, no, keep it," whispered Israel Kensky. "They may come again
to-night! My daughter told them that I was carrying it. May she roast!"

"What is it?" asked Malcolm curiously.

The old man's lips parted in a toothless smile.

"It is the 'Book of All-Power!'"

He blinked up at Malcolm, peering into his face expectantly. "They all
desire it, _gospodar_, from the Grand Duke in his beautiful palace to
the _moujik_ in his cellar--they all desire my lovely book! I trust you
with it for one night, _gospodar_, because you are English. Ah, well,
you are not Russian. Guard it closely, for it holds the secret of tears
and of happiness. You shall learn how to make men and women your slaves
and how to turn people into Jews, and how to make men and women adore
you, ai, ai! There are recipes for beauty in my book which make plain
women lovely and old men young!"

Malcolm could only stare.

CHAPTER VIII

THE GRAND DUKE IS AFFABLE

The girl's voice called, and Malcolm left old Kensky without a word and
went to her side. "Will you walk with me to my father's palace?" she
said. "I do not think it is safe for you to be alone."

A semi-circle of mounted Cossacks surrounded them now, and the
unfaithful Boolba (such was the servant's name, he learnt) was standing
with an impassive face holding his horse's head.

"One of the soldiers will take your horse," she said. "Boolba, you will
follow us."

Her voice was stern and she looked the man straight in the eyes, but he
did not flinch.

"_Prikazeno_, Highness, it is ordered," he said simply.

She turned and walked the way she had come, turning into the big square
followed by a small escort of Cossacks.

They walked in silence for some time, and it was the girl who fir