For two long weary days I languished in my cell without word from the King. Three times a day food was given me by an old turnkey who knew neither English nor French. Although I questioned him by signs, I could get nothing from him.
What were they doing with Solonika? Oh, the torture of those sleepless nights! I paced my cage like a restless lion in a circus. The Kingdom of Bharbazonia was burying the old King and greeting the new. There were a thousand duties demanding Nick's attention. I could scarcely blame him for having apparently forgotten me. And yet, I did blame him. Even now, as I lay helpless behind my bars, they might have tricked or forced him into giving his consent to her death. What was the life of one woman compared to the peace and prosperity of a state?
Perhaps already she had been given over to the Patriarch to suffer the last pangs in whatever manner the barbaric religion of the country demanded. If the Church's vengeance had fallen hers had been a terrible end. I was indeed a madman, locked in with my fears.
I cursed her inhuman father for trading on his child's love to bring her to her death. I railed against Nicholas for his faithlessness in yielding to the church. I railed against the General for keeping Nick away from me. The General, with his state business, must have done it, else Nick would have come. I railed against the day when first I set foot in this fearful country. But I softened my words when I remembered that I would not then have met Solonika. I was in a frightful state of rage and mental anguish when the jailor opened the door and ushered in the General.
I sprang at him like a wild animal and shook him with a torrent of wrath for greeting. He warded me off as best he could, and even the old turnkey had to come to his assistance.
"Where is she? What have you done with her?" I raved.
But he waited patiently until I stopped from exhaustion. I could see that he sympathized with me.
"Calm yourself, my boy," he said in the tone a mother uses to still a squalling infant. "There is no need of all this."
"Solonika! For God's sake, tell me, does she live?"
In my terrible frame of mind I know I should have leaped upon him and borne him to earth, had his news been bad.