“I believed in the honour of a lady,” I said in mild reproach, “and especially as the lady was a Romanoff.”
“The Romanoff women are as prone to flirtation as any commoner of the same sex,” he declared hastily. “Markoff knows of more than one scandal which has had to be faced and crushed out during the last five years. But this fellow Drury,” he added impatiently, “who is he?”
In a few brief sentences I told him what I knew concerning him.
“You think they have fallen in love?”
“I am fully convinced of it, Sire.”
“Therefore they may have eloped! Tattie’s disappearance may have no connection with any revolutionary plot—eh?”
“It may not. But upon that point I am quite undecided,” was my reply.
“Let me hear your views, Markoff,” said the Emperor sharply.
“I believe that Her Highness has fallen the victim of a plot,” was his quick reply. “The man Drury may have shared the same fate.”
“Fate!” he echoed. “Do you anticipate, then, that the girl is dead?”