ss soon showed me that the meeting did not take her by
surprise.

"So you have a message for my dear mistress?" she cried in an accent
of gay reproach. "And you never breathed a word of it to me. Mr.
Sterling, I shall begin to think you are a conspirator. _How_ long
did you say you had known that good Mr. Place? But I am talking while
her majesty is waiting. Have you any password by which the Czaritza
will know whom you come from?"

"I can tell that only to her majesty, I am afraid," I answered
guardedly.

"I am in her majesty's confidence."

And bringing her exquisite face so near to mine that I was oppressed
by the scent of the tuberoses in her bosom, she whispered three
syllables in my ear.

Dismayed by this proof of the fatal progress the dangerous police
agent had already made, I could only admit by a silent bow that the
password was correct.

"Then come with me, Mr. Sterling," the Princess said with what
sounded like a malicious accent on the name.

The reception which I met from the Dowager Empress was gracious in
the extreme. I need not recount all that passed. Her imperial majesty
repeated with evident sincerity the assurances which had already
been given me in a different spirit by the two arch-intriguers.

"There will be no war. The Czar has personally intervened. He has
taken the negotiations out of the hands of Count Lamsdorff, and
written an autograph letter to the Mikado which will put an end to
the crisis."

I listened with a distrust which I could not wholly conceal.

"I trust his majesty has not intervened too late," I said
respectfully, my mind bent on framing some excuse to get rid of the
listener. "According to the newspapers the patience of the Japanese
is nearly exhausted."

"No more time will be lost," the Czaritza responded. "The messenger
leaves Petersburg to-night with the Czar's letter."

I stole a cautious glance in the direction of the Princess Y----. She
was breathing deeply, her eyes fixed on the Czaritza's lips, and her
hands tightly clenched.

I put on an air of great relief.

"In that case, your majesty, I have no more to do in Petersburg. I
will wire the good news to Lord Bedale, and return to England
to-morrow or the next day. I beg your pardon, Princess!" I pretended
to exclaim by a sudden afterthought, "_after_ the next day." And
turning once more to the mother of the Czar, I explained:

"The Princess has honored me with an invitation to dinner."

The Dowager