“Yes, it’s true,” he shouted. “And if you weren’t so cowardly that you keep yourself so well guarded, I would have reached you. I have not given up hope yet.”
“Then you may as well, Count,” was the reply. “After this morning at daybreak, I promise you you will worry about me no more. As Siberia is too small to hold you, I must take other means to insure my own safety. No, Count, after this night you will trouble no one.”
The count growled under his breath, but he made no audible response to the Czar’s words, although he must have realized what the Russian monarch meant.
“Now,” said the Czar, “I wouldn’t be surprised if the count would tell us just how he managed to escape from Siberia—the bourne from which a traveler seldom returneth. I am curious.”
“I shall tell you nothing,” declared the count decidedly.
“Come, come, Count!” exclaimed His Majesty. “Surely you will not be so selfish. On my word, I am curious to know. Pray enlighten my curiosity.”
Count Blowinski looked at the Czar long and earnestly; and at last he replied with a shrug of his shoulders:
“Oh, well, I cannot see that it will make much difference. It will get one of your most trusted officers into trouble, but he is loyal to you, so I should be glad to implicate him. In the first place, then, I never went to Siberia.”
“As I expected,” Lord Hastings interrupted.
“Continue,” said the Czar.