“Did not your excellency give me life?” he said. “By the great saint over the gate, by——”
“Yes, I know, by the Saint Nikolas,” I said. “Where is she?”
“Follow me, O excellency,” he said eagerly; “she is in the gardens, she and another, her cousin Vassalissa Feodorovna.”
“By Saint Denis!” I exclaimed, under my breath, “what absolutely gigantic luck! The little varlet is an angel in disguise. Lead on, O prophet!” I added; “lead and I follow.”
He smiled and, turning sharply on his heel, led me toward the gardens. We walked so rapidly that in a few moments we were following a path amidst the trees and shrubbery of the Kremlin pleasure-grounds. The green of the spring was here and the sunshine; I heard a bird singing overhead, I saw the splash and glimmer of a fountain. There was the faint sweetness of early flowers, delicate, thin in essence, the first breath of the northern summer. The place was very quiet, the turf green and soft under foot; there was a grove of slender young trees before us, their branches feathered with spring, their stems tall and sparsely grouped, framing a pathway where the sunshine made a mellow light. In it I saw two tall young figures in long cloaks, and each wearing the fata—a veil like a nun’s—to hide their faces, but I could not mistake the taller figure; the bearing, the very gait had been graven on my mind. It was the Princess Daria.
X: IN THE GARDEN OF THE KREMLIN
AS the girls drew nearer I caught a glimpse of a third figure in the rear; my friend the duenna was following slowly, leaning on her staff. Meanwhile Vassalissa had stopped at the sight of me and plucked at her companion’s skirts, but the princess did not heed her, she came steadily toward me, stepping so lightly that I do not believe a blade of grass was crushed beneath her feet. She would have passed me, responding but slightly to my salutation, but I barred the way; with uncovered head.
“I must speak with you, Princess,” I said firmly, “of a matter that concerns your safety as much as that of Maître le Bastien.”
She halted at that, though the duenna began to chatter objections and shake her staff at me, but Daria silenced her by a gesture.
“Speak on, sir,” she said to me, and through her veil I could see her beautiful eyes regarding me gravely.