"If you utter a sound, madam, I shall kill you. Be calm, and allow me to
explain my presence here!"

He expected her to shriek, forgetting that she might not understand his
words. Instead there was a deathly silence. Had she swooned? His heart
was leaping with hope. But she spoke softly again, tremulously, and in
English:

"You will find my jewels on the dressing table. Take them and go You
will not hurt me?"

"I am not here to do you injury, but to serve your Princess," whispered
the man. "For God's sake, do not make an outcry. You will ruin
everything. Will you let me explain?"

"Go! Go! Take anything! I can be calm no longer. Oh, how can I expect
mercy at your hands!" Her tones were rising to a wail of terror.

"Sh! Do you want to die?" he hissed, striding to the canopy bed,
discernible as his eyes grew accustomed to the darkness. "I will kill
you if you utter a sound, so help me God!"

"Oh!" she moaned.

"Listen! You must aid me! Do you hear?"

Another heart-breaking moan. "I am here to save the Princess. There is
a plot to abduct her to-night. Already there are men in the castle,
perhaps in her room. You must tell me where she sleeps. There is no time
to be lost. I am no thief, before God! I am telling you the truth. Do
not be alarmed, I implore you. Trust me, madam, and you will not regret
it. Where does the Princess sleep?" He jerked out these eager, pleading
words quickly, breathlessly.

"How am I to trust you?" came back a whisper from the bed.

"Here is a revolver! Take it and kill me if I attempt the slightest
injury. Where are you?" He felt along the bed with his hand.

"Keep away! Please! Please!" she sobbed.

"Take the pistol! Be calm, and in heaven's name help me to save her.
Those wretches may have killed her already!"

The revolver dropped upon the clothes. He was bending eagerly over,
holding the curtains back.

"My friend is in the hall. We have traced the men to the Princess's
door, I think. My God, be quick! Do you wish to see her stolen from
under your eyes?"

"You are now in the Princess's room," answered the voice from the bed,
calmer and with some alacrity. "Is this true that you tell me?"

"As God is my witness! And you--you--are you the Princess?" gasped the
man, drawing back.

"I am. Where is Dannox?" She was sitting bolt upright in the bed, the
pistol in her trembling fingers.

"He is one of the conspirators. One of the cooks and two other guards
are in the plot.