--had told her
the rest, and taught her how to act.

Vaguely she recalled later, that she had thrown herself forward and
struck up the knife. An impression of that knife as the light gleamed
on it, alone was clear. Sickening, she had thought of the dull sound
it would make in falling, of the blood that would spout from a rent in
the white coat, among the jeweled orders. She had thought, as one
thinks in dying, of existence in a world empty of Leopold, and she
had known that unless he could be saved, her one wish was to go out of
the world with him.

More than this she had not thought or known. What she did was done
scarcely by her own volition, and she seemed to wake with a start at
last, to hear herself sobbing, and to feel the throb, throb, of a hot
pain in her arm.

A hundred hands--not quick enough to save, yet quick enough to follow
the lead given by her--had fought to seize the man in gray, and stop a
second blow. They had borne him away; while as for Virginia, her work
done, she forgot everything and every one but Leopold.

Reviving, she had heard him speak to the crowd, and told herself
dreamily that, were she dying, his voice could bring her back if he
called. She even listened to each word that rang out like a cathedral
bell, above the babel. Still he held her, and when the cheers came,
she scarcely understood that they were for her as well as for Leopold
the Emperor. Afterwards, the necessity for public action over, he bent
his head close enough to whisper, "Thank you"; and then for Virginia
every syllable was clear.

"You are the bravest woman alive," he said. "I had to keep them from
killing that ruffian, but now I can speak to you alone. I thank you
for what you did, with my whole heart, and I pray Heaven you're not
seriously hurt."

"No, not hurt, and very happy," the Princess answered, hardly knowing
what she said. She felt like a soul released from its body, floating
in blue ether. What could it matter if that body ached or bled?
Leopold was safe, and she had saved him.

He pointed to her sleeve. "The knife struck you. Your arm's bleeding,
and the wound must be seen immediately by my own surgeon. Would that I
could go with you myself, but duty keeps me here; you understand that.
Baron von Lyndal and his wife will at once take you home, wherever you
may be staying. They--"

"But I would rather stop and see the rest," said Virginia. "I'm quite
well now, not even weak, and I can go down to my fr