ing
the count?' 'There is one,' said you. 'Persuade the count to return
immediately to St. Petersburg, leaving his ward behind him here, and
I swear to you, in the name of the empress, that no harm shall come to
him.'"

"Well," impatiently cried the count, "what is the use of repeating all
that, as I know it already?"

"Only because your excellency seems to forget that what I did was not
done for your miserable gold, but for a totally different reward--the
safety of a man whom I love as my own son."

"You have my word--no harm shall come to him."

"I doubt not your excellency's word," firmly and decidedly responded
Cecil, "your word is all-powerful, and when you let your commanding
voice be heard, all Russia trembles and bows before you. But here your
voice resounds only between these walls, and nobody hears it but I
alone. Give me an evidence of your word--a safety-pass, signed by your
own hand, for my master, and then destroy the order for his arrest which
you now hold!"

"Ah, it seems you would prescribe conditions?" said the count, proudly.

"Certainly I will," said Cecil. "I have complied with your conditions,
and now it is your turn, Sir Count, to comply with mine, for you knew
them before!"

A dark glow of anger showed itself in the count's face, and,
passionately starting up, he approached Cecil, raising his arm
threateningly against him.

"Sir Count," said Cecil, stepping back, "you mistake! I am no Russian
serf, I am a free man, and no one has a right so to threaten me!"

The count had already let his arm fall, seeming suddenly to have changed
his mind, and in a more friendly manner he said:

"You are right, Cecil, and what you desire shall be done."

Taking a large sealed paper from a drawer in his writing-desk, he handed
it to Cecil.

"That is the order for the arrest; destroy it yourself!" said he.

Taking the paper, Cecil read it with attention. "It is, as you say, the
order for the arrest. It is destroyed!"

With a satisfied smile, he tore the paper into a thousand pieces, and
placed these in his bosom.

The count had stepped to the table and hastily written a few lines upon
another piece of paper. This he handed to Cecil. "I hope you are now
satisfied," said he.

Cecil took the paper and read it.

"This is a safety-pass in due form," said he--"a valid instruction to
all boundary guards and officials to let us pass without molestation.
Your excellency, we are quits. I complied with