Her eyes dilated as I spoke, and then, without a trace of mock modesty, without a blush, she laid her hand upon my head and said simply:
"If you had done less, I should have loved you less. What am I in the presence of such a catastrophe? But if you are to die we can at least perish together. In that we have the mastery of our enemies. Our liberty is beyond their power."
"But you shall not die," I said, wildly, springing to my feet. "The assassin comes! Give me the poisoned knife. When he opens the door I shall slay him. I shall bear you with me. Who will dare to arrest our departure with that dreadful weapon--that instantaneous death--shining in my hand. Besides, I carry a hundred lives at my girdle. Once in the streets, we can escape."
She took from the pocket of her coat the sheathed dagger and handed it to me.
"We must, however, be guided by the counsels of Rudolph," she quietly said; "he is a faithful friend."
"True," I replied.
We sat near each other. I presumed nothing upon the great admission she had so gravely made. This was a woman to be worshiped rather than wooed. I told her all the story of my life. I described my home in that strange, wild, ancient, lofty land; my mother, my brothers; the wide, old, roomy house; the trees, the flowers, the clustering, bleating sheep.
A half hour passed. The door opened. A burst of laughter and the clinking of glasses resounded through it. Rudolph entered.
"The Prince and his friends," he said, "make merry over their assured victory. If you will tell Maximilian all you have heard to-night, the result may be different from what they anticipate. Come with me."
He led the way through a suite of two or three rooms which communicated with his apartment.