who
have done so much for her. You must go, Mr. Lorry, without her bidding."

"I must?"

"Yes, for your presence outside that wall may make the imprisonment
all the more unendurable for the one your love cannot reach. Do you
understand me?"

"Has the one behind the wall instructed you to say this to me?" he asked
miserably.

"She has not. I do not know her heart, but I am a woman and have a
woman's foresight. If you wish to be kind and good to her, go!"

"I cannot!" he exclaimed, his pent feelings bursting forth. "I cannot
go!"

"You will not be so selfish and so cruel as to increase the horror of
the wreck that is sure to come," she said, drawing back.

"You know, Countess, of the life-saving crews who draw from the wrecks
of ships lives that were hopelessly lost? There is to be a wreck here;
is there to be a life-saver? When the night is darkest, the sea wildest,
when hope is gone, is not that the time when rescue is most precious?
Tell me, you who know all there is of this approaching disaster?"

"I cannot command you to leave Edelweiss; I can only tell you that you
will have something to answer for if you stay," said the Countess.

"Will you help me if I show to you that I can reach the wreck and save
the one who clings to it despairingly?" he asked, smiling, suddenly calm
and confident.

"Willingly, for I love the one who is going down in the sea. I have
spoken to you seriously, though, and I trust you will not misunderstand
me. I like you and I like Mr. Anguish. You could stay here forever so
far as I am concerned."

He thought long and intently over what she had said as he smoked his
cigar on the great balcony that night. In his heart he knew he was
adding horror, but that persistent hope of the life-saver came up fresh
and strong to combat the argument. He saw, in one moment, the vast chasm
between the man and the princess; in the next, he laughed at the puny
space.

Down on the promenade he could see the figures of men and women
strolling in the moonlight. To his ears came the occasional laugh of a
man, the silvery gurgle of a woman. The royal military band was playing
in the stand near the edge of the great circle. There was gaiety,
comfort, charm and security about everything that came to his eyes and
ears. Was it possible that this peace, unruffled, was so near its end?

He smiled as he heard Harry Anguish laugh gaily in his good old way,
his ringing tones mingling with a woman's. There was