I looked thoughtfully at M. de Lambert. “I believe that would be her wisest course,” I said gravely; “it would be a temporary security and a cause of desirable delay, which would enable us to find some way out of this labyrinth.”
He was reluctant to assent to this arrangement, for he was manifestly determined to carry Najine off in the teeth of all opposition. While we sat looking at one another, each thinking of a different scheme, there was a sudden noise below and the sound of loud talking. Mademoiselle sprang up in quick alarm.
“They have come to seek me!” she exclaimed in excitement; “is there not some other way by which I can escape? They must not find me here.”
“No harm shall come to you, Najine,” M. de Lambert exclaimed.
I had been listening, and heard heavy steps upon the stair. An instinct warned me that there was danger.
“Take her away,” I said quickly to Zénaïde; and she, reading my face, caught mademoiselle’s hand, and drew her through the door that opened into the next apartment. Neonila followed, but had not time to close the door when the other, by the stairs, was thrown open and a stranger entered unannounced. I looked about, and saw, with relief, the door close on the Russian woman; then I rose, and confronted my visitor. He was a large man, and muffled in a long scarlet cloak, edged with sables, the collar turned up about his face and his plumed hat set low over his eyes. I raised the taper, and held it to throw the light upon his figure, but he neither moved nor spoke.
“Your pleasure, monsieur?” I said sharply; “you intrude strangely upon my privacy. It is not usual for a visitor to enter a house with such noise, and then break in upon his host unannounced and bonneted.”
Without a word, he dropped his cloak and stood regarding me. It was the czar!
CHAPTER XV.
AN IMPERIAL INQUISITOR.
When I saw that my visitor was the czar, I suppressed my surprise, and put the taper calmly upon the table, making my obeisance with all the grace that I could command.