“It would seem so,” replied Wilfrid, adding for her consolation, “but since they must now look upon you as dead they will molest you no more.”
“It is not for me,” said Pauline, “to dictate your course of action, but in view of the recent attempt upon your life, you will do well to remain in hiding here, for a few days at least, until we learn what is best to be done. In the meantime you must look upon the castle and the isle as your own.”
A proposal that found a warm seconder in Wilfrid, who foresaw the facilities it would afford him for pushing his suit with the Princess.
So it was settled that she should stay at Runö.
Now, although Marie’s companions were three in number, it was to Wilfrid principally that her remarks were addressed, and Pauline and the doctor, well pleased to have it so, presently withdrew to another part of the room, and had a little tête-à-tête on their own account.
“Our plan promises to work smoothly,” said Beauvais. “She favours him as much in the new state as in the old.”
“Yes, but how long can we keep her here in concealment? She has now been absent from the palace for more than a day. By this time the Czar’s agents must be swarming everywhere on the look-out for her. Not a spot, not a house, in and around St. Petersburg will remain unvisited.”
“We must keep them from visiting Runö,” said Beauvais.
“How can it be done?”