When I Was Czar

by Arthur W. Marchmont

The scene with the Duchess Stephanie had shown me one thing clearly. The failure of Helga’s plans was no longer to be set down solely to me. The Duchess had herself seen the Emperor and patched up peace with him, the chief condition of which had been the restoration of the secret papers.

It appeared, therefore, that the Emperor and old Kalkov had been working for the same end at the same time by different methods. And if this were so, it was equally clear that the wily old Prince had misled me as to the Emperor’s cognizance of my part in the affair. A course on his side which was quite in keeping with Helga’s opinion and description of his methods.

For my part I cared little; he might throw me over if he pleased, and he had doubtless calculated upon that as a probable contingency. But it affected Helga very seriously now, because it had led the Emperor to take a line with the Duchess which he would never have taken, had Kalkov told him what I was doing; and it had thus closed the gates against Helga’s chances of getting to the Emperor himself.

Up to the present Helga’s position had been veiled, and if I could have secured her an interview, her story might have been listened to with an impartial ear. But now the Duchess was going in hot haste to prejudice Helga in the Emperor’s eyes by pointing to her as the real source of danger in regard to the papers.

In other words Helga’s scheme for the benefit of Boreski by securing the Imperial consent to the marriage had succeeded, while it had failed so far as it concerned Helga herself. And the very success of it made the failure for her all the more disastrous.

It seemed indeed that the further one went in the whole affair the more hopeless and complicated and dangerous it became.

The moment Helga’s real part in the matter was told to the Emperor he would pass on the knowledge to Kalkov, and the whole machinery of the Government’s secret police and spies would be set in motion for her detection and arrest.

And as if that were not enough, the ominous tangle with the brotherhood had arisen at the same moment.

Between us we had made just a horrible mess of everything; and as the more I pondered the thing alone the more hopeless it looked, I went in at length to Helga to see if I could get any ray of light from her.

The way of a woman is ever a paradox surely, and Helga was very much of a woman in that respect.