With an effort Diana mastered herself again.
"I know Max's parentage," she began steadily.
"You know that?"—with quick surprise.
"Yes. And that he has a sister."
Olga nodded, smiling rather oddly.
"Yes. He has a sister," she admitted.
"And that he is involved in Ruvanian politics. Something is going to happen there, in Ruvania—"
"Yes to that also. Something is going to happen there. The republic is down and out, and the last of the Mazaroffs is going to receive back the ducal crown." There was a tinge of mockery in Miss Lermontof's curt tones.
Diana gave a cry of dismay.
"Not—not Max?" she stammered. All at once, he seemed to have receded very far away from her, to have been snatched into a world whither she would never be able to follow him.