“And in what other light is it possible for me to regard you, dear Princess?” I returned. “Only this friendship must not be all on one side. You, too, must consent to think of me as something more than a stranger whose life you have saved.”
“Can you doubt that I have done so for a long time?”
It needed the pressure of the locket against my neck to keep me from replying to this tenderly-spoken sentiment in a way which might have led to consequences, for the Russian Empire as well as for the Princess and myself, very different to those which have actually flowed from our conjunction.
Conquering my impulses as I best could, I sought for a reply which would not wear the appearance of a repulse.
“You misunderstand me,” I said, putting on an expression of pride. “You little know the character of Andreas V—— if you think he can accept the humiliating position of the man who is under obligation to a woman—an obligation which he has done nothing to discharge. Not until I can tell myself that I have done something to place me on a higher level in your eyes, can my thoughts concerning you be happy ones.”
A shade of disappointment passed over Sophia’s face. She made a pettish gesture.
“Does not—friendship do away with all sense of obligation?” she complained.
“Not with me,” I answered firmly. “No, Sophia, if you really care for me—for my friendship—you must let me do what I have sworn to do ever since I first saw you and heard some rumors of your tragic story.”
“You mean?”
“You must let me break your odious bondage. I can deliver you, if you will only trust me, from the power of the Russian police, or any other power, and set you free to live the life of fascination and happiness which ought to be yours.”