The Czarina, apprised of strange happenings by Wilfrid’s stare, turned to ascertain the cause and beheld—her husband!
Startled, she shrank back, hesitating, shivering, terrified, as she recalled the kiss and the embrace in the garden; then, re-assured by his tender and forgiving look, she gasped—
“Sasha!”
“Marie,” he whispered bending over her, “I have come to take you back to my heart!”
Trembling with wild joy she rose to her feet and fell within the arms that opened eagerly to receive her.
“Plainly I’m not wanted here,” thought Wilfrid, and he vanished from the apartment.
He had not gone far before he met Prince and Princess Sumaroff, to whom he gave an account of his interview and its dramatic termination.
They received his tidings with smiles of satisfaction.
“So my innocent little artifice has succeeded,” said the Prince. “Early this morning I went to Runö and saw Alexander. The lapse of a few hours had made him more amenable to reason. The Baroness had already half-persuaded him of the Czarina’s innocence. I brought him here and he listened to Nadia’s story and read Baranoff’s confession. That convinced him. ‘If you require further proof,’ said I, ‘why not secrete yourself and watch Lord Courtenay as he takes his farewell of the Empress? You will be able to judge by their language whether their relations have been guilty or not.’ For I knew, Lord Courtenay, that you would say nothing to the Czarina but what would become an honourable man. You have vindicated my opinion of you, with the happiest results.
“All’s well that ends well,” remarked Wilfrid philosophically.