There was no longer any fear of refusal. Corsini threatened with danger, and by a member of her own family, who could be none other than Boris!

"Bring the lady to me at once, Katerina," she commanded the wondering maid.

A moment later the two faced each other, the Princess standing in the middle of the room, courteous but distantly polite, to receive her unwelcome guest.

They looked at each other steadily, with dislike in their hearts, the aristocrat of pure and ancient lineage, the woman who had played barefoot in the gutter as a child, and won her way with her exquisite talent to fame and fortune.

There was between them, at the start, the antagonism of cla.s.s. But there was also between them a still more subtle antagonism, recognised by each: they had a mutual tenderness for the same man.

CHAPTER XIV

It was exceedingly difficult for a person of Nada's frank and open temperament to resort to the arts of the dissembler, to feign a cordiality she did not feel. Still, she managed to pull herself together and, to a creditable extent, conceal her dislike of her unwelcome visitor. With a grave courtesy she invited the Spanish woman to seat herself.

"Your note has distressed me, Madame, for more than one reason. In the first place I am very sorry to hear that Signor Corsini is menaced by a great danger. I met him in London; ours was the first private house he played at after his great success at the Covent Garden concert. I have a great esteem for him as an artist, and I am shocked to think that, after so short a stay in my own country, he should be the victim of some sinister designs. Secondly, I am the more disturbed because your letter tells me very plainly in what quarter these designs are being entertained."

Madame Quero spoke very quietly. The Princess disliked her, of that she was a.s.sured, and she returned the dislike with compound interest.

Still Nada was doing her best to be civil and polite. It should not be her fault if the interview was not conducted with perfect discretion on both sides.

"If the danger had not been very great and also very imminent, Princess, I should not have taken the liberty of intruding myself upon you. We move in different worlds, it is true, but I am some sort of a personage in my own sphere and not fond of exposing myself to rebuffs at the hand of a waiting-maid."

Nada blushed at the shrewd, quick thrust, although the words were spoken without the least heat.

"I am very sorry you should have felt offended," she faltered. "But of course, I could not deliver the message myself."

Madame Quero dismissed the subject with a graceful wave of the hand. If Nada had the composure of the aristocrat, she had the self-possession of the woman of the world. She could skate over thin ice as delicately as anybody.

"I have every reason to know that your brother, Prince Boris, has taken a violent enmity to this young musician."

"My brother, I regret to say, takes violent dislikes to many people, for reasons that I have never been able to fathom. But I cannot guess any motive for enmity against Signor Corsini. In what possible way can their paths cross?"

"You will, of course, understand, Princess, that I cannot, in every instance, speak as plainly as I could wish. You may have heard, it is hardly possible you should not, that for some few years past Prince Zouroff has been one of my most intimate friends."

Nada bowed her graceful head, while a faint flush rose to the fair cheek. Of course it was common rumour in St. Petersburg that he was greatly attracted by the handsome singer and was prepared to marry her, if her husband could be got out of the way. Such an alliance would not, naturally, recommend itself to the other members of the proud and ancient house of Zouroff.

"It would certainly seem a strange thing that their paths should cross in any way," was Madame Quero's answer. "And here, I am afraid, I dare not be as explicit as I wish. You must forgive me, Princess, if I content myself with hints instead of full explanations. I can only just tell you this: Signor Corsini has discovered a jealously guarded secret of your brother's. Your brother, therefore, regards him as a dangerous man, to be got out of his way."

Nada's face went pale as she listened to these rather vague utterances. Although so young, with a disposition naturally frank and trusting, she had a very quick intelligence. She thought she could read between the lines. It was some time before she spoke.

"My brother has a jealously guarded secret which Signor Corsini has discovered," she repeated slowly. "If he revealed that secret, it would mean danger to Boris?"

Madame Quero bowed. "At present his knowledge is not very great, but if he learnt more, it would mean the greatest possible danger to your brother."

There was no mistaking the sinister meaning behind these words. The young girl reflected a few moments. Not once, but many times, some unguarded phrase of the Prince, dropped in one of his frequent rages, had set her thinking.

"Boris is not, then, exactly what he seems, Madame?"

"Far from it, Princess," replied the singer, speaking with a frankness that a second later she regretted.

"And perhaps, too, Signor Corsini is not exactly what he seems?"

queried Nada. Intuition was leading her very near the truth.

"Of that I cannot speak with any certainty. Your brother has certain suspicions of him, but I have no means of knowing whether they are well- or ill-founded. One thing is certain, Prince Boris goes in fear of him and meditates harm to him."

"You are sure of his intentions?" asked Nada.

Madame Quero shrugged her shapely shoulders. "Should I be here, if I were not?"

The Princess questioned her a little more closely. "You will not tell me more than you wish, I know, but I think I am ent.i.tled to put this question. How did you learn his intentions, from himself or a third party?"

And the singer answered truthfully. "From his own lips."

Nada was silent for some seconds. She was working it out in her own mind, on the somewhat scanty data that had been furnished her.

"You mean that the Prince intends to get Signor Corsini out of the way by some treacherous means?"

"That is the idea that is forming in his mind, Princess."

"When will he put that idea into action, do you think?" was Nada's next question.

"Corsini plays here at the Prince's request to-morrow evening--is that not so?"

Yes, it was true. She had written the invitation herself at Zouroff's request.

"Well, the Prince is a man who acts very rapidly when he has once made up his mind. It is my belief that whatever project he has formed will be put into execution to-morrow night."

Nada put her hand to her brow. "It is horrible, Madame, unthinkable, that a brother of mine should stoop so low. Why should he have a secret so guilty, that he cannot afford to have it dragged forth into the light?"

Madame Quero did not answer the question directly. "I fear, Princess, your brother is not a man easily to be read even by those who have lived in the same house with him."

"What is it you suggest that I should do?" asked the Princess after a long pause. "Shall I meet him at the entrance and entreat him to go away at once, on some pretext or another? And what might follow if I took such a strange step? I cannot bring myself to confess to him that I suspect my own brother of base designs against him."

It was a puzzling question, which Madame Quero could not answer at once. For some moments the two women, their mutual hostility suspended for the time being, put their wits together. Suddenly an idea occurred to the singer.

"That maid of yours, who interviewed me on your behalf. Can you trust her?"

"She is devoted to me," was the Princess's answer.

"Your brother, I happen to know, has one or two confidential servants in his employ."

"Yes," said Nada, looking at her visitor steadily. It was evident that if the Prince concealed some things from Madame Quero, there were many things that he told her. The girl had a very shrewd suspicion that the guilty secret which Corsini had discovered was also known to the beautiful singer herself.

"It is just possible that if your maid inst.i.tuted a few discreet inquiries in certain quarters, she might learn something."

"Can you suggest any particular quarter in which she could put them?"