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.

"No, Zara, not with the police. I have nothing to do with them, nor
with any department of that service. The men I shall send for are not
even Russians; and they serve me, not this government. They will serve
you, as well."

"I believe you, dear one; forgive me. You shall have the messenger."

"You have forgotten one thing, princess."

"What?"

"Your own danger."

She shrugged her shoulders and laughed at that. It was a return to the
Zara I had first known. "I have forgotten much since you came," she
said. "In what way am I in danger?"

"If those men are arrested, they will know that you have betrayed them
to me. Their friends will know it, also."

"You mistake. I had not forgotten that. But I have remembered that you
are here to protect me, Dubravnik. What have I to fear when you are
near me?" It was sweet indeed to hear her say such words, sweeter still
to realize the full import of them. But there was a phase of our
present dilemma which had not yet claimed her attention, but regarding
which it was necessary to remind her. Her brother Ivan was doubtless
one of the assassins, waiting outside.

"What of Ivan, your brother?" I asked her.

She raised her eyes and looked at me, startled, and they were suddenly
moist with unshed tears. There was that same indescribable pain in
them, that I had noticed several times since our interview began; that
same expression which I could not fathom. But the explanation was
ready.

"I have found that there comes a time in a woman's life," she said
slowly, "when all her pet theories fall flat and useless, and when
every idol that she has worshipped is demolished. Let us not talk of
the danger to me. Let us not even speak of my brother, until the
message is prepared for my servant to carry."

"No, Zara," I told her, with decision. "I do not understand what you
meant, just now, when you referred to the demolition of your pet
theories. But it is imperative that we should speak of your brother."

"What of him?"

"Is it not more than possible that he is one of the men out there who
are waiting for me?"

"Yes, it is. I had forgotten