“If I can see you often, I will try to be as patient as possible. But I cannot help being anxious for your safety while you are away from me.”
“My dear girl you need not worry at all on my account. You have seen for yourself how carefully I am guarded.”
“Yes, that is true. But I also know that your position must be a precarious one, or you would not be under the necessity of maintaining the disguise in which I saw you. You are, too, quite aware that you may be discovered and arrested at any moment.”
“How do you come to that conclusion?”
“Without much difficulty. Your manner, after leaving the hotel where I first saw you, showed that you feared to be tracked. Even the fact that your associates had mounted guard over you, and saved you from the government spy who was following you, is proof of the great danger you are in. How thankful I shall be when we are safe in England again!”
“So shall I, my darling. Meanwhile, we must make the best of the situation, which will perhaps not be quite so dreary for you as you imagine. You are to exchange this comfortless place for a room in another part of the building, where you will have every indulgence but that of perfect freedom until it is deemed safe to permit you to go abroad again. Ah! there is the signal. Your fresh quarters are ready. Come, Dora, but remember that you must not speak by the way.”
A few seconds later the door opened, and Sergius led me past two figures holding lighted candles, and in the wake of another, who pushed aside a heavy curtain, beyond which was a narrow, tortuous staircase, up which we climbed until my weary limbs found it almost impossible to go further. Fortunately, we had nearly reached the top, and Sergius half carried me into a room which was the picture of warmth and comfort.
A bright fire burned in the stove, and its enlivening rays made me suddenly conscious of the fact that I was shivering with cold. I sank quite exhausted upon a comfortable lounge, and it was like a transition to Paradise to find myself housed again in a haven of warmth and comfort, with the grateful odors of daintily prepared food assailing me. Yet I could neither eat nor drink of that which was set before me, and, so fatigued was I by my experiences, that I yielded to the languor which overpowered me, and was just conscious of being kissed affectionately by my husband, and covered over with multitudinous wraps, when I sank into a sound and refreshing slumber, from which I did not awake for several hours.