FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   99   100   101   102   103   104   105   106   107   108   109   110   111   112   113   114   115   116   117   118   119   120   121   122   123  
124   125   126   127   128   129   130   131   132   133   134   135   136   137   138   139   140   141   142   143   144   145   146   147   148   >>   >|  
the emergency. I heard her give a slight laugh. "I am punished for my assurance," she confessed. "I am not quite hardened, as you know; and when I realized that M. V---- was actually dead, I was obliged to pray for him. I have left the key in the door." "Go and fetch it, then." The tone in which these words were spoken was harsh. I heard Sophia going out of the room, and in an instant, with a single bound, as it seemed, the man was leaning over me, feeling my pulse, listening for my heart, and testing whether I breathed. "If I had brought so much as a knife with me, I would have made sure," I heard him mutter to himself. Fortunately Sophia's absence did not last ten seconds. She must have snatched up the first key that came to hand, that of a jewel-box most likely, and hurried back with it. Petrovitch seemed to turn away from me with reluctance. "You doubt me, it appears," came in angry tones from the Princess. "I doubt everybody," was the cool rejoinder. "You were in love with this fellow." "You think so? Then look at this." I felt the locket being picked up, and heard the click of the tiny spring. A coarse laugh burst from the financier. "So that is it! Woman's jealousy is safer than her sworn word, after all. Now I believe he _is_ dead." The Princess made no reply. Presently the man spoke again. "This must be kept a secret among ourselves, you understand. The truth is, I have exceeded my instructions a little. A certain personage only authorized detention. It appears he is like you in having a certain tenderness for this fellow--why, I can't think. At any rate his manner was rather alarming when we hinted that a coffin made the safest straight-jacket." It was impossible for me to doubt that it was the Kaiser whom this villain had insulted by offering to have me assassinated. I thanked Wilhelm II. silently for his chivalrous behavior. M. Petrovitch could have known little of the proud Hohenzollern whom he tempted. At the same time, it was a source of serious concern for me to know that, just as I had learned that my real opponent was my friend the Kaiser, so he in turn had acquired the knowledge that he had me against him. It had become a struggle, no longer in the dark, between the most resourceful of Continental sovereigns and myself, and that being so, I realized that I could not afford to rest long on my oars. From the deep breathing of the Princess, I surmised that s
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   99   100   101   102   103   104   105   106   107   108   109   110   111   112   113   114   115   116   117   118   119   120   121   122   123  
124   125   126   127   128   129   130   131   132   133   134   135   136   137   138   139   140   141   142   143   144   145   146   147   148   >>   >|  



Top keywords:

Princess

 

Sophia

 

fellow

 
Petrovitch
 
appears
 

Kaiser

 
realized
 

Presently

 

alarming

 

manner


secret
 

exceeded

 

instructions

 

detention

 

authorized

 
personage
 

understand

 

tenderness

 

silently

 
struggle

longer

 
knowledge
 

learned

 

opponent

 

friend

 

acquired

 

resourceful

 
Continental
 

breathing

 

surmised


sovereigns

 

afford

 

concern

 

insulted

 

offering

 

assassinated

 

thanked

 

villain

 

impossible

 

coffin


safest

 

straight

 

jacket

 

Wilhelm

 

tempted

 

source

 
Hohenzollern
 

chivalrous

 

behavior

 

hinted