ion of wrath could make them. "I
trusted you, and you have dared to take advantage of what seemed my
helplessness. It is well indeed for you that you committed this
outrage before it is too late. I should have killed you then. I might
have known. Could ever a woman trust a man?" She laughed
contemptuously. "You would have made me a thing of scorn; and I
trusted you!"

"As God is my judge," I cried, "my respect for you is as high as heaven
itself. I love you; is there nothing in that? I am but human. I am
not a stone image. And you have tempted me beyond all control. Pardon
what I have done; it was not the want of respect--."

"Spare me your protestations. I believe your minute is nearly gone,"
she interrupted.

And then--there was a crunch on the gravel behind us. The Princess and
I turned in dismay. We had forgotten all about the anonymous note.
Two officers were approaching us, and rapidly. The elder of the two
came straight to me. I knew him to be as inexorable as his former
master, the victor of Sedan. The Princess looked on mechanically.

"Come," said the Count, in broken English; "I believe your carriage is
at the gate."

I glanced at the Princess. She might have been of stone, for all the
life she exhibited.

"Come; the comedy is a poor one," said the Count.

I followed him out of the garden. My indifference to personal safety
was due to a numbness which had taken hold of me.

"Get in," he said, when we reached the carriage. I did so, and he got
in after me. The driver appeared confused. It was not his fare,
according to the agreement. "To the city," he was briefly told. "Your
hotel?" turning to me. I named it. "Do you understand German?"

"But indifferently," I answered listlessly.

"It appears that you understand neither the language nor the people.
Who are you?"

"That is my concern," I retorted. I was coming about, and not
unnaturally became vicious.

"It concerns me also," was the gruff reply.

"Have your own way about it."

"How came you by that medal?" pointing to my breast.

"Honestly," said I.

"Honestly or dishonestly, it is all the same." He made a move to detach
it, and I caught his hand.

"Please don't do that. I am extremely irritable; and I might throw you
out of the window. I can get back to my hotel without guidance."

"I am going to see you to your lodgings," asserted the Count, rubbing
his wrist, for I had put some power into my grasp.

"S