Read Ebook: In the Name of a Woman: A Romance by Marchmont Arthur W Murray Smith D Illustrator

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Ebook has 1789 lines and 72801 words, and 36 pages

"The death of that woman Christina will stop it; and in that you can help, aye, and you shall help me." Her face was ablaze with rage and hate as she uttered the Princess's name.

"The Prince himself is opposed to any more bloodshed," I said bluntly. "The sentiment does him infinite honour, and I share it."

"You dare to say that to me? To set me at defiance? To go back upon the pledge you gave? Are you a coward, Count Benderoff?"

"I will be no party to the assassination of the Princess," I answered sternly.

"You defy me?" And, laying her hand on my arm, she stared into my eyes for some moments in silence, and then, her lips curling and her face so hard and set that the nostrils dilated with the vehemence of her anger, she added: "I could kill you."

Clearly it was to be open war between us, and I prepared for it. I drew my arm away and answered coldly:

"I think, Madam, this interview has lasted long enough."

She started as if I had insulted her, and I looked for another passionate outbreak. But it did not come. Instead of that her expression underwent a complete change and she laughed.

"Poor fool!" she cried in a bantering tone. "Do you know where I shall go straight from here if you turn me away? Wait a moment and I will tell you." She paused, paying no heed to my gesture of anger. "In the Name of a Woman, eh? This excellent house, this sumptuous display of wealth, this clever, shrewd Englishman, with his hatred of plots, this attractive idea of a gymnasium club--what does it all mean?" And she leered at me with a look infinitely cunning.

I kept my face quite impassive as I met her eyes.

"Would you like to tell me the inner secret, or shall I tell you? I know--I know everything." She paused again, but I gave no sign; and then the rage began to return to her face, and her tone grew vehement again. "It is a lie--and a lie against the man whose eyes I can open with a word. You are working and plotting for the Princess, In the Name of a Woman, are you not? And these Russian fools and dolts think you are working for them at the same time. But I know your real intent. To fool them up to the moment when you can throw off the disguise--to put this precious Princess on the throne, and then to snap your fingers in the face of the old dotard, Kolfort, and obey only the Princess. This marriage, on which he counts so much, is never to take place; but when you have rallied and organised these members of your club, as you call it, you reckon you will be strong enough to throw over the Russians and declare for what you call Bulgarian independence. Independence, forsooth, with such a woman as Christina on the throne."

I knew now the extent of the sudden peril, but I thrust the fear that filled my soul for Christina's sake out of sight and laughed.

"You have a lively imagination, Madam!"

"Yes; turn it aside with a scoff or a sneer if you think you can. But do you believe General Kolfort will think it nothing more than the subject of a sneer when he learns it?" She was disappointed that I showed no sign of fear.

"You can take your own course, and if you think to help yourself or the Prince by filling the air with your fables, do so."

"You are a coward, Count Benderoff," she cried hotly, "to play thus on my helplessness. I know that I cannot help my Prince or strengthen his position by telling what I know, and what you dare not deny, to be true. But if I cannot help my cause, I can at least revenge myself, and I will. A word from me and where will be all your plots and plotters? Your club will exercise then in the yards of the gaols and behind the walls of Tirnova fortress. I tell you, you dare not play me false."

I knew the grip she had on me now could tighten in a moment into strangulation, with the ruin of every man and woman among us; but I maintained my impassive, stern expression.

"If you choose to spread these tales, I cannot stay you," I answered.

"Will you help me to my revenge upon the woman Christina?"

"What do you mean by revenge?"

"Death," she cried fiercely.

"I would slay you with my own hand first," I answered, the passion in me rushing to utterance.

She laughed again vindictively and hatefully.

"So it is true, then, she has bewitched you. I might have known it. I told you and warned you that she was a vampire using up men's lives with the unpitying remorselessness of a wild beast. And you are her latest lover, I suppose!"

The slander suggested by her words maddened me.

"I can hear no more, Madam," I said sternly.

She threw up her head with a gesture of pride.

"Do you order me to leave your house--knowing the consequences?"

I was in sore perplexity. She was a devil and she looked it as she stared at me, her lovely eyes glowing with rage and hate and menace.

"If you have more to say it must be at another time, when you are in a different mood," I returned.

She seemed about to burst forth again in her wild, vehement way, but as suddenly changed her mood and said:

"I understand. You wish to find a bridge over as dangerous a chasm as a man ever yet had to cross. I will see you again; but next time it will be to hear from you that you accept my terms. You are not a man to walk open-eyed to sheer ruin. I will go."

And as she left me, sweeping out of the room, with a challenging, defiant, triumphant smile, I could almost have found it in me to kill her.

THE SPY

As soon as the door closed behind the Countess Bokara, I threw myself into a chair in a condition of unspeakable dismay, rage, and chagrin at this most unexpected turn.

It spelt ruin to everything and everybody concerned in our scheme. I had seen and heard quite enough of General Kolfort to know full well that the merest hint of such a plot as ours would drive him instantly to desperate extremes. He would put in force every engine of the powerful machinery at his instant disposal to crush and punish us. And that he could crush us as easily as he would pinch a fly between his fingers there was not a doubt. His power was practically absolute, and he would use it mercilessly, like the man of iron that he was.

Nor was that the worst. There was a traitor somewhere in our midst; a recreant who had carried the secret in hot haste to this vengeful woman. I could not hazard even a guess as to whose was the treachery, but that it threatened the future of the scheme, should even she herself be silenced, was as patent as the fingers on one's hand.

Yet what to do I could not see, plague and rack my wits as I would, as I sat alternating between moods of consternation, rage, and searching reflection.

In the afternoon I had a horse saddled and rode out of the town for a gallop in the country, in the hope that some solution of the problem would suggest itself; and the ride cooled and sobered me.

Two things were imperative. We must find the leakage and blind the traitor as to our real intentions. Our future safety rested on that being done without delay; and for this purpose I must see Zoiloff and consult with him. As soon as we discovered the Judas among us we could take measures to deal with him. If possible, that should be done by cunning; but, failing that, averse as I was to bloodshed and violence, force must be used. But an idea occurred to me by which he could be effectively hoodwinked, and I stored it by for use should the occasion come.

As to the Countess Bokara, there were two courses. One was for me to appear to play into her hands and so gain time for our own plans to ripen--a line of action vastly repulsive to me, with all its necessary paraphernalia of deceit and lies; the other, to kidnap her and put her into safe keeping until the crisis should be passed. I knew that I could lure her to my house, and that then the necessary measures could be taken; but the cowardice of the plan made me entertain it only with disgust.

In the case of a man I would not have hesitated for a moment; indeed I would never have let him leave the house that day. But with a woman I could scarcely bear the thought of it, although this woman was vastly more dangerous than many men.

I sought keenly for some other scheme, and for a moment entertained the idea of going to the Prince himself, telling him all frankly, and begging his aid to deal with her. But I abandoned it. I remembered he had said he would stand by the throne if he could make sure of efficient help, and I calculated that his vacillation would cause him to turn now and claim the help of our party in his defence. A worse than useless effort, as I knew, owing to the impossibility of rallying to his cause the men who had been turned from him by his weakness. Not only could we do no good for him, but we should imperil the great patriotic rising for no purpose.

I was therefore driven back upon the distasteful course of duping the woman who had thus threatened us.

"Would to heaven she were a man!" And each time the thought broke from me in involuntary utterance, I pictured how easy it would then be to act.

As I was riding back, moody and thoughtful, I met the carriage of the Princess. She caught sight of me when I was still at a distance, and her lovely face was wreathed with a radiant smile as she checked her horses and greeted me. Mademoiselle Broumoff was by her side, and her keen, sharp eyes were quick to read trouble in my face.

"You look very thoughtful, Count," said the Princess, "as if heavy military affairs were weighing upon you."

"I have been thinking out the answer to a very ingenious problem set me this morning," I said, trying to speak lightly.

"It has been a trying problem for your horse, I should think," she said, glancing at his flanks, which were covered with foam, for I had ridden hard.

"Not more so than for his rider, I assure you."

"I hope it has not distressed you as much."

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