The question brought us both to our senses, with a start, and my princess drew away from me a little, and said, with a whimsical smile:
"A little while ago, my love, you ordered me to leave Russia, alone; now you order me away again, but under guard. I think I will obey you in this last order you have given me. Whenever you will it, I will go."
"And leave behind you all that you have hitherto thought so much about, Zara?" I asked, brought back by her statement to a realization of the conditions by which we were surrounded. She replied without hesitation, and with a finality that was complete:
"Yes."
Ah, what maps of the world have been changed by that word yes. What histories have been written because of its utterance, even in a whispered tone, as hers was then.
"And your nihilists?" I asked her, still intent upon an even more complete capitulation on her part.
"Yes," she repeated.
"And your brother? The cause you have served so intently? The purpose of your life? Everything, Zara?"
"Yes," she said a third time, and still with that same emphasis of finality which could not be misunderstood, and for which there was no qualification.
I was silent and so was she; but after a little I heard her murmuring in a tone so low that it seemed as if I scarcely heard it, notwithstanding the fact that every word was quite distinct.