“In her boudoir,” answered the fellow, staring at me as if I had been a wild man, as indeed I almost was. I ran by him and mounted the stairs with leaps and bounds. On the landing above stood a footman, peering down curiously at the disturbance.
“The Princess’s room! Show me instantly!” and my mien and voice were so threatening that he fell back pale and frightened, and pointed to a door.
I knocked, but did not wait for an answer.
“Are you there, Christina?” I cried, excitedly, not heeding that I used her Christian name only. “Christina!” I cried again, when I did not see her.
And then, to my inexpressible relief, she came out from an inner room. She was holding a small package, from which the outer wrapper had already been removed. I rushed forward and tore it from her hand, saying not a word, and heeding nothing of the look of surprise and alarm which my wild presence and strange act had called to her face.
Then with a fervent “Thank God,” as I held the accursed thing safe in my grip, crushing the fragile box in my straining fingers, I fell upon a chair, and, clasping one hand to my eyes, tried to fight my way back to calmness.
The rush of relief was an intoxicating delight, and in my rapture at her safety I could have shed tears. For the moment I was utterly unmanned. The agony of suspense during the minutes since I had learnt of her danger had well-nigh bereft me of my senses; and the relaxation of the strain, with the knowledge of her bare escape from death, made me as weak as a child.
“You are ill, my friend. What has happened?” she asked in her sweet, sympathetic voice, laying a hand on my shoulder.
The touch was like the balm of Gilead to my ruffled senses, and then a sudden shame fell on me, and in a moment I realised how strange my wild conduct must have appeared in her eyes. I remembered, too, that in my delirium I had called to her by her Christian name. And at the thought my confused and dizzied wits were more jumbled than before, and, strive as I would, I could force no words from my tongue.
My silence alarmed her.