CHAPTER XII.
THE PRINCESS SEEKS MY ADVICE.
The exhausted commander sleeps soundly. Only the sentinels and I are on watch. I shall begin now to relate the saddest experience of all my life. This experience is the principal excuse for my writing this confession. May she who caused me to wander, an exile in a foreign land, remember that she was the involuntary participator in that action which will remain a source of regret and reproach to the end of my life.
It was at Bologna, to which place the count had removed.
The Princess had desired to see me. She kindly invited me to be seated, and took a chair herself. I noticed again those two hectic spots on her cheeks, that her eyes were literally glowing, and that she seemed quite beside herself.
“Lieutenant, I sent for you to confide in you a secret,” she said, throwing an anxious glance around.
“I am all attention, your Highness, and you may trust me,” I answered.
“The count starts to-morrow for Livorno. Did you know it?”
“Yes,” I answered.
“You see, there has been a quarrel there, and a fight between some English and Russian sailors, and the count wishes to invite his friend, the English consul, a Mr. Dickson, to settle the matter.”