tering in their gala, their jewels, in smiling
conversation with the young foreign crown-prince who was their guest ...
Othomar still with his gaiety of the afternoon, jesting with Thera and
the ladies-in-waiting ... the whole house gazing, when the curtain had
fallen for the last time, at all of them, in their blaze of luxury and
light....

At this moment, in the topmost gallery a sudden tumult, a struggle of
soldiers and police with one man.... A sudden rough scrimmage up there
in the midst of the most mundane expansion of aristocratic pageantry.
And all eyes no longer directed to the imperial box, but upwards....
Then, the man, struggling, releasing himself with superhuman strength
from the grasp of his assailants, surging forwards, from out of their
throng, like a black lightning-flash of fate: dark, curly head, eyes
flashing hatred, fixed and fanatical, one arm suddenly outstretched
towards the imperial grandeur below, as though at a target, with
inexorable aim. The whole house one tumult, one shout, one shriek; wide
gestures of helpless arms: all this very quick, lasting barely a
second.... A shot ... and yet another shot....

* * * * *

The emperor is hit in the breast; he falls against the empress, whose
bare, jewelled bosom he suddenly soils with blood, which at once soaks
his gold uniform through and through ... not golden blood: rich red
blood.... But the empress throws up her arms in despair; her strident
scream rings through the house. She falls back into the embrace of the
Duchess of Xara. The emperor has sunk into the arms of Xardi and of
Othomar; a furious oath forces its way through his tight-clenched teeth,
while he tears open his gory uniform so fiercely that the buttons fly
around him....

4

Outside, the Opera Square, brightly lighted with many-armed, monumental
lamp-posts, had at once become dark and swarming, filled with a vast
mob; the whole town poured into it from every street; the alarm drew
everybody thither, as though with a magnet. Detachments of hussars were
already moving through the town, keeping order among the excited
populace; the Duke of Mena-Doni was everywhere at once, trampling down
the revolution with the military at his command in whatsoever corner it
seemed to lift its head. The sky above was dark and frowning. It began
to rain....

The rumour sped that the emperor had died. It was not true. Wrestling
for breath, the sovereign lay in t