“Fight you, you mean, Prince?”
“As a member of that Government, yes: in a way it is fighting me.”
“You forget the Emperor is my friend.”
“But not the friend of desperate young women Nihilists, monsieur,” he answered with calculated deliberateness. “You must give her up.”
“That I will never do.”
“Then the consequences will be disastrous. But now,” and he waved his hand as if putting that matter aside, “there is another matter. Your killing of this man, Vastic, has made you many enemies. Your name is known to them as well as your appearance, and your life may be in danger at their hands. You were mentioned by name in the charge which reached us. We shall of course protect you.”
“I can protect myself, thank you,” I interposed.
“We can run no risks of any trouble with the American Embassy on your account, and we must therefore charge ourselves with the task of protecting you. What I propose to you, therefore, is, as I said at first, that you either return to the frontier, or that you start on your journey to Khiva under strong escort, and that you adopt one of those courses forthwith.”
“I thank your Highness, but I shall not go. I shall not leave Petersburg, at any rate until I have seen the Emperor.”
He rose then and tossed away his cigar.