So the girl seated herself in the Emperor's chair, and after one or two attempts composed a telegram containing the good news, which she addressed to Richard Drury at his flat in Albemarle Street.

Presently the courier, a big, bearded man of gigantic stature, in drab uniform, was ushered into the Imperial presence, and saluted. To him, His Majesty gave the message, and ordered him to take it by the next train to Eydtkuhnen. Whereupon the man again saluted, backed out of the door, and started upon his errand. What, I wondered, would d.i.c.k Drury think when he received her rea.s.suring message?

Natalia's face beamed with supreme happiness, while the Emperor himself for the moment forgot his enemies in the pleasure which his niece's delight gave to him.

Again His Majesty, with darkening brow, referred to the brutal murder of his favourite brother, the Grand Duke Peter, saying:

"You will recollect, Trewinnard, the curious conviction which one day so suddenly came upon me. I revealed it to you in strictest secrecy--the ghastly truth which seemed to have been forced upon me by some invisible agency. It was my secret, and the idea has haunted me ever since. And yet here to-day my suspicion that poor Peter was killed by some person who feared what secret he might reveal stands confirmed; and yet," he cried, "how many times have I, in my ignorance, taken the hand of my brother's murderer!"

Colonel Polivanoff, the Imperial Marshal; my old friend, Captain Stoyanovitch, equerry-in-waiting, both craved audience, one after the other, for they bore messages for His Majesty. Therefore they were received without ceremony and impatiently dismissed. The subject the Sovereign was discussing with us was of far more importance than reports from the great military camps at Yilna and at Smolensk, where manoeuvres were taking place.

The Emperor turned to his private telephone and was speaking with Trepoff, the Minister for Foreign Affairs in Petersburg, when the Marshal Polivanoff again entered, saying:

"His Excellency General Markoff pet.i.tions audience of Your Majesty."

Natalia and I exchanged quick glances, and both of us rose.

For a second the Emperor hesitated. Then, turning to us, he commanded us to remain.

"I will see him at once," he said very calmly, his face a trifle paler.

Next moment the man whose dismissal in disgrace was already lying upon the Emperor's desk stood upon the threshold and bowed himself into the Imperial presence.

CHAPTER THIRTY FIVE.

"FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT."

That moment was indeed a breathless one.

The Emperor's countenance was grey with anger. Yet he remained quite calm and firm. He was about to deal with an enemy more bitter and more dangerous than the most relentless firebrand of the whole Revolutionary Party.

"I was not aware that Your Majesty was engaged with Her Imperial Highness," the sinister-faced official began. "I have a confidential report to make--a matter of great urgency."

"Well, I hope it is not another plot," remarked the Sovereign with bitter, weary sarcasm. "But whatever report you wish to make, Markoff, may be made here--before my niece and Mr Trewinnard."

He glanced at us suspiciously and then said:

"This afternoon the Moscow police have unearthed a most desperate plot to wreck Your Majesty's train early to-morrow morning at Chimki. I furnished them with information, and twenty-eight arrests have been made."

"Indeed," remarked his Imperial Master, raising his eyebrows, quite unmoved. "Have you the list of names?"

In answer, the General produced a yellow official paper, which he placed upon His Majesty's table. Then, with but a casual glance, the Emperor took up his quill and scribbled some words across the sheet and handed it back.

Markoff glanced at the words written, then, much puzzled, looked at His Majesty.

"Yes," the latter said. "I order their immediate release. And, let me tell you, Serge Markoff, that this afternoon I have given audience to a very intimate friend of yours; your _agent-provocateur_, Danilo Danilovitch!"

The General's countenance went white as paper. Such a reception was entirely unexpected.

"Ah!" exclaimed His Majesty, with a bitter smile, "I see what surprise and apprehension my talk with Danilovitch causes you. Well, I will not give utterance to the loathing I feel towards you--the man in whose hands I have placed such supreme power, and whom I have so implicitly trusted. Suffice it to say that he has revealed to me the ingenious manner in which plots have been formed in order to terrorise me, and your inhuman method of sending hundreds of innocent ones into exile, merely in order to obtain my favour."

"I have never done such a thing!" cried the man in uniform, standing at attention as his master spoke. "The fellow lies."

"Enough," said the Emperor, in a loud, commanding voice. "Hear me! You are an a.s.sa.s.sin. You killed my brother the Grand Duke Peter with your own dastardly hand in order to hide your disgraceful tactics. You sent your own wife to her grave, and you paid your catspaw to kill the Grand Duke Nicholas. To-day there is a plot afoot to close the lips of my niece and my good friend Trewinnard! These are only a few of your disgraceful crimes. No; do not attempt to deny them, brute and liar that you are. Rather reflect upon the terrible fate of the thousands of poor wretches who have been sent to the Arctic settlements by your relentless, inhuman hand. The souls of all those who have been worn out by the journey and died like dogs upon the Great Post Road, or in other ways have fallen innocent victims of your plots, call loudly for vengeance. And I tell you, Serge Markoff," he said, his dark, heavy brows narrowing in fierce anger, "I tell you that I shall find means by which adequate punishment will be awarded to you. Here is your dismissal!" he added, taking the doc.u.ment from his table. "It will be gazetted to-morrow. Go back to Petersburg at once and there remain. Do not attempt to leave Russia, or even to leave Petersburg, or you will at once be placed under arrest and sent to the fortress. Go home, place your affairs in order, and await until I send for you again."

The Emperor had not yet decided what form his punishment should take.

"But--but surely Your Imperial Majesty will allow me to--" he gasped with difficulty.

"I will allow you nothing--nothing! You are my enemy, Serge Markoff--a crafty, cunning enemy, who now stands revealed as a brutal a.s.sa.s.sin!

Ah! I shall avenge my brother Peter's death--depend upon it! Go! Get from my presence!" he commanded, and raising his hand, he pointed with his finger imperiously to the door. I had never before seen such a look upon His Majesty's strong face.

And the man whose evil actions had spread terror into every corner and every home throughout the Russian Empire, thus receiving his sudden _conge_, slowly crossed the room, his head bowed, his face ashen.

He was unable to speak or to protest.

For a second he stood still, then, opening the door, he pa.s.sed out in silence.

Extract from the second edition of _The Times_ issued on the following day:

"From Our Own Correspondent.

"St Petersburg, May 16th.

"A startling tragedy occurred just after seven o'clock last evening in front of the barracks in the Zagarodny Prospect in St Petersburg, just outside the Tzarskoie-Selo Station. According to the journal _Novosti_, His Excellency General Serge Markoff, Chief of Secret Police, and one of the Emperor's most trusted officials, who had been to Tzarskoie-Selo for audience with His Majesty, had arrived at the station unexpectedly on his return to Petersburg, and his carriage not being there, he resolved to walk down into the city. He had turned out of the station, when he was followed by an unknown man, who had, it seems, arrived by the same train. In front of the barracks the pair apparently recognised each other, and, according to a bystander, His Excellency drew a revolver and fired point-blank at the stranger, who next instant drew his own weapon and shot the General dead.

"All took place in the s.p.a.ce of a few seconds, so suddenly, indeed, that the stranger, who certainly fired in self-protection, was able to get clear away before any of the pa.s.sers-by could stop him. The General's body was removed by the military ambulance to his residence facing the Summer Gardens, and the strange affair created the greatest sensation throughout the city.

"It is believed that the man so suddenly recognised by His Excellency must have been a prominent Terrorist from whom the General feared a.s.sa.s.sination; but it is proved by an onlooker--a butcher who was walking only a few feet from them--that His Excellency, who appeared seized by sudden anger, fired the first shot.

"The police are making every inquiry, and it is believed that the a.s.sa.s.sin of the well-known official will be arrested.

"Another curious feature in connection with the strange affair is that the same journal in another column publishes in the `Official Gazette'

the announcement that His Majesty the Emperor only two hours before the tragic occurrence dismissed his favourite official in disgrace. No reason is given, but it is rumoured in the diplomatic circle that certain grave administrative scandals have been discovered, and this dismissal is the first of several which are to follow. In fact, in certain usually well-informed quarters it is persistently declared that the whole Cabinet will be dismissed.

"The Emperor left with the Tzarina for Moscow last evening. The Grand d.u.c.h.ess Natalia accompanied them, and Mr Colin Trewinnard, of the British Emba.s.sy, travelled by the same train."

CHAPTER THIRTY SIX.

DESCRIBES TO-DAY.

Three months later.

It was hot August in Russia--the month of drought and dust.

Luba de Rosen had returned to her mother's house in Petersburg, where her property and her dead mother's handsome income, which had been confiscated by the State, had been returned to her. Several times both Her Highness and myself had visited her, while one afternoon she had been received in private audience at Gatchina by the Emperor, who had sympathised with her and promised to make amends in every way for the injustice she had suffered.