"Zara, had you already abandoned the insane idea of becoming Durnief's wife, before we referred to it, now?"
"Yes, I never really entertained it. It only occurred to me as a means of accomplishing an end. I hate the man so, for all he did to Yvonne; and when he dared to raise his hopes to me, knowing that I had been her nearest and dearest friend, knowing also that I was once pledged to Stanislaus, I was filled with a bitter hatred more terrible than words can describe. Oh, if you knew the bitterness of one who is used only for a tool, because she happens to possess beauty. But you cannot know; you cannot guess."
"True, I do not know; but I can guess. Remember, I heard what you said to your brother, on this same subject, in the garden."
Like a flash of light through the darkness, my own peril returned to her.
"You! What are you going to do?" she exclaimed.
"I am going about my daily duty just as though nothing had happened," I replied.
"Those men out there are waiting to kill you. Come! Let us see if they are there still."
We went to the window together and peered out. The _karetta_ was still waiting.
"Tell me your true name again," she demanded, rather irrelevantly I thought, as we drew back. "You told me, but I have forgotten. To me you are Dubravnik; but I suppose I must learn the other one."
"You must learn how to answer to it, also, for it is to be yours as well as mine." Then I mentioned it, and she repeated it after me several times, under her breath.
"Do you know of any way, no matter how, to escape those men who are waiting outside?" she asked.
"I can have them arrested where they are--every one of them; that is, if one of your servants can be induced to carry a message a short distance, for me."
"He would be stopped. The message would be taken from him, and read."
"He would be permitted to go on again, for the message would mean nothing to those who stopped him. It would be in cipher, and assistance would not be long in coming, once it were delivered. Men in whom I can implicitly trust would soon clear the streets for us. We would have nothing to fear after that."
"Then you _are_ connected with the police, Dubravnik." But when she made the statement I noticed with joy that there was no suggestion of her former displeasure. There was no indication now that she would love me the less because I was associated with the powers she had been taught all her life to abhor.