ne_," he soothed her, "you and I, and none here
shall know till we have crossed the frontier. Not even then will they
guess what has become of us, unless you find it in your heart to leave
some little word for Alec. You will do that? You will save him from
despair, from the torture of doubt----"

"Oh, Felix, spare me!" she sobbed convulsively.

"But one must look squarely at the facts, _mignonne_. If you run away
and give no sign, it can only be supposed that you have met with some
evil fate. There are others than Alec who will think that disaster has
befallen you, and they will have uneasy souls, and Alec will look into
their guilty faces with the eyes of a wrathful lover, which at such
times can be superhuman, terrible, heart piercing. There is no knowing
whose blood will stain his hands then; for he will accept from no one
but yourself the assurance that you have left him of your own free
will."

"That, at least, is true," she said wearily. "I shall write a letter
which must be given to him when I am gone."

"_Grand Dieu!_ what a resolute will is yours, Joan! Have you counted the
cost? Leave Alec out of it; but do you think his hog of a father, his
easily swayed mother, Stampoff, the short sighted and patriotic, or that
scheming Greek and his puppet Marulitch, will gain the ends for which,
between them, they have contrived your flight? Do you know Alec so
little as to believe that he will leave the field clear to that crew?
Why, dear heart, he will sweep them aside like an angry god! They have
bewitched your brain with some tale of the evil that will accrue to the
King if he weds the woman he loves. If that is all, it is a fiction fit
only to frighten a child. Hear me, Joan! You are not helping Alec by
tearing yourself away from Delgratz; but condemning to the deepest hell
not him alone but some millions of people who have done no wrong. They
gave their honest affections to this boy, because he strikes their
imagination as a King sent straight from Heaven. It is a vile plot, dear
heart, to drive Alec from Kosnovia. How can you, of all women, lend
yourself to it?"

Felix could not guess how his words lacerated the unhappy girl's soul;
but she did not falter in her purpose, and again endeavored to rush from
the church. Poluski uttered a queer click with his tongue. It testified
that he had done his uttermost and failed.

"Be it so, then!" he muttered. "Help me to pack up these masterpieces. I
can plan and scheme