At the top of the hill the other soldiers met us, and the two officers spoke together for a minute, discussing the incidents of our capture. Then we went forward again at a very slow pace.
We reached Liublian an hour and a half after leaving the homestead; and there again fortune favoured us. No one was there to recognise my companion, and we had to push on to General Kolfort’s house, still at a slow pace, for I declared my horses were so beaten they could not travel beyond a walk. I managed to occupy another hour over the drive, and with this start, which meant nearly five hours to Christina, I felt hopeful she would reach the frontier safely. My ruse had succeeded far beyond my best hopes.
As we drew up at the General’s house, I smiled to myself as I pictured his fury at the discovery; but he was not there. He had returned hastily to Sofia, I overheard; but the place was packed with troops, and he had left some drastic orders for our disposal.
I helped the plucky little Broumoff from the cart with a very deferential air and led her into the house, Spernow in close attendance. They took us into a room on the ground floor, where three officers awaited us, one of them being Captain Wolasky, who, to my surprise, gave no response to my start of recognition.
A chair was placed for the “Princess,” and she was shrewd enough to seat herself so that the light of the lamp left her face in the shadow. I could have laughed at the comedy underlying the situation, but, assuming a tone of hot indignation, I exclaimed:
“I demand to know the reason why I am subjected to this infamous treatment! What is the meaning of this arrest?”
The man in the centre of the three looked up angrily:
“It is not in my instructions to give you any such needless information, sir. You must be fully aware of what you have done. You are the Count Benderoff?”
“I am the Hon. Gerald Winthrop, as well as the Count Benderoff, and a British subject.”
“Englishmen are much too prone to meddle in matters that don’t concern them, and must be prepared to take the consequences,” he answered drily.