“Nor did I. I am as loyal to the Throne as any woman in Russia. If I were a Nihilist, would you be alive now?”
“I am not accusing you. I am thinking of your present danger.”
“Danger!” she cried contemptuously. “I should despise myself if I sat down to count every shadow of danger that crossed my path. Live a life such as mine and you will come to laugh at dangers as I do. Nothing, no not even the instant prospect of death itself, should stand, or ever has stood, between me and my purpose. Could I have done what I have had I been one of your timid mouse-scared women?”
She looked glorious in her proud repudiation.
“Still, we may as well sound the depths of it,” I said practically. “Does Vastic know who you are?”
“No.”
“Has this Drexel any suspicion?”
“He may have;” the reply was given with a contemptuous shrug.
“To repeat my former question, if Vastic believes you had the Emperor in your house and allowed him to leave, would he be likely to regard that as an offence against the brotherhood?”
“Probably.”