“I shall stay with the Princess.”
“Then I stay too, with you,” he said sturdily.
“No, you can do better. You can save us both. You and the others. You can pretend to carry a message from me to the lieutenant—that I want to speak to him; and then lose yourselves among the soldiers or in the crowd. Get away as fast as you can, and search high and low to find Colonel Petrosch. Don’t forget the name, and find him at any hazard. Tell him that my life is in danger and that he must come here if it is not to be lost. If he questions you, tell him plainly all I have done. Now go.”
“I don’t like leaving you,” he insisted.
“For God’s sake, man, don’t be a fool. It’s the only way out of the tightest fix I was ever in. You must reach him before he hears the news these others are bringing. Go;” and I half pushed him out of the house.
The rest were only too eager to be off, and I watched breathlessly as Karasch crossed the cleared space, spoke to the lieutenant, who looked over at me and after hesitating, walked toward me.
As he came, I saw Karasch and his men move back to the soldiers, push through the ranks, and disappear in the crowd behind them.
“What have you done?” asked Gatrina.
“I have sent for someone who may get us out of the mess I have been clever enough to get us into. I don’t know what’s going to happen first.”
The lieutenant entered the house then.