By Neva's Waters.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXIX, Issue 76, 28 March 1908, Page 17

By Neva's Waters.

•Being an Episode of the Secret History of Alexander-cce First, Czar of All the Russias.

Bγ JOHN R. CARLING. AUTHOR OF «tHE SHADOW Or THE CZAE." " THB VBOIHS's SKXTIi " "THE WEIKD PICTI7BE.

CHAPTER XXVL WITHOUT A MEMORY. yrnile Pauline repaired to the Print's chamber, the doctor went off to Wiliri<i-s room to acquaint him with the 6triD£ c news. BehV new to mental phenomena of fas CO it. Wilfrid received the announcement" with every token of unbelief. •'Do you mean to say" he a.-ked in amazement, "that she cannot teii how sic came to be in the Neva?" '"Has no recollection whatever of tho event. Bcr mind is a complete blank as to her past —cannot recall the name of a friend or the name of any place where ghe has dwelt." ' : In what mood is she —sad?" "Xofc at all. Smiles at her own perplexity—in fact, her loss of memory seems" rather to amuse her." " "And how long is this state likely to last?" Beauvais shrugged his -boulders. "One cannot say. A week—a month— E year. Perhaps for the rest of her life." "''And you have no idea who she is?" "Xot in the least, nor has the Baroness. Am I justified in supposing from your agitation last night that she is the Jady that set you and the Czar at feud?" -Wilfrid replied that such was the case. "Ah! Then of course you give up all Sionghis of this duel?" "Honour calls mc to it." "Bnt the lady's safety calls you from it .Now that, thanks to your uncle, the name of the Czar's opponent is known to Count Panine, your appearance in St. Petersburg will be instantly followed by vtrar arrest and deportation to the frontier. In such case what help can you give the lady, should her enemies discover that she is still alive ? Her state' calls for a protector, and your past relations with her fully justify you in as-1 puning that role." This way of putting the case modified Wilfrids views, and —"Postponed indefinitely"' became his decision on the question of the dueL The Princess's loss of memory filled WEirid with extreme disquietude. When ie last saw her she had been in a vein

bordering upon love; this new state of

mmd on her part would now cause her *o be ignorant of his very existence. Ho

Tfonld have to begin his love-making all

orer again, and might—fail! Ec breakfasted with the doctor, who, ilia meal ended, paid another visit to his patient, returning almost immediately "rfth the good news that she was strong enougn to be up and dressed. So as soon as word came that the Princess's toilet was completed Wilfrid Eocgnt her presence. Sic was attired in a dainty sarafan of soft muslin, supplied from' Pauline's ■wardrobe. She was reclining in a deep fantenil with the Baroness by her side. Although the Princess had occupied so large a space in his mind he had seen her bnt four times, and. by a singular coinddence, at night only. * Her beauty underwent no diminution by day; on the tontizry, it seemed to be enhanced hv fis soft morning ligiit. Her delicate jailor ras the only evidence of her recent grapple with death. It was the same Marie, and yet differfflt 'The pensive melancholy hitherto narking her aspect had vanished, a new ■id happier light glanced from her eves; the passing of her memory seemed to iare brought with it the passing- of sor-

As Wilfrid recalled the bitter language siieh the Princess had applied to PaulMi it was with a somewhat odd feeling Hoi he now beheld the two conversing sffil all the freedom of old friends. It "sis almost impossible to believe thas *ac sudden return of the Princess's memoir would be accompanied by hosiilitv to Pattline again. A slight movement on his part caused tne Princess to lift her head and look at him.

It was with a shock that Wilfrid met isr calm quiet gaze. Re had been hoplag, conceitedly, that whomsoever else she might have forgotten, she could not 7 him, but alas! her dark jtae eyes betrayed no sign of recognition; their expression was simply one of curiosity to know who he was. Her manner differed in nothing from that of a -woman meeting with a stranger—a S-aiuier that Wilfrid felt to be genuine •attar part, and not assumed. "This is Lord Courtenav. of whom I Have been speaking," said' Pauline. Wilfrid bowed gravely. That he Jirold need an introduction to her! T am sorry," smiled the Princess, "at Wing to meet you in the present cirranstanees. You must think mc a very srap'.d person not to be able to recall Hy Dame and history: yet so it is. Try as I will I cannot carry mv memory ?*&er hack than this morning. That' pwoke a few hours ago in a certain wnroom of this castle is all I know of Sgat Unless I have dropped readyirom the skies I must have lived iv i nty years and more - and Tet of g™ long time I can remember nothing! g it not absurd?" ■l, S °*, absUrd that she broke out into a and one more sweet and silvery Ege rippled from woman's lips, at - m Wilfrid's opinion. "xjj 18 Ear °ness has been telling mc m - T °n can perhaps help to revive my aS you have seen mc amid other ' Bnrcrandings." have been known to mc as the "jncess Marie." Beriirf 8 "" " Ut °° lookin S '"to the Court bonl-!'\. She answered - pointing to a iWtrt ■ feet ' ' Iwe cannot discover watthere is a Princess Marie." -kJ-T - su -" estion vras the Court S?\Uf S -^ ed Beau^i s. who accompt? ,ed to the presence of the

"Mine!" answered Marie. Mil "H? ta PP ed his signifiSgfr ■* VV.If rid to intimate that, how- £ m^ C u Te her P°' rer of remember£6 fflJght be, that of reasoning remained gg™. Indeed, but for her own conSgoai no one would ever have supSs* My Uculty of her mind lay

ftincess Marie was now all eagerness 6id ha ° n What cc casions she and WU- , att mct > a request that put him in somewhat embarrassing situation. ffi-1 ? 6 be told ' for example, that roomC-t-? Cc Spent an hour in " hor bed " Lu+ £ .- she had him at their |*; meeting? and that she had always enmity towards Pauline? * e .-°°-ed at Pauline for guidance, o m turn looked at the doctor, while the ST** 8 Self looked f 1 " 0 " 1 one t0 le Zhl' l! onderin g why there should hesitation, fr telling her a plain

aSnffcf,* 6 - 1 -'' sa -d Beauvais, ad|p?»g Wflmd, "to tell all you know,

while the Princess follows you in mind, striving to recall the situations in which your story places her. Such effort will perhaps stimulate her memory,"

So spoke the hypocrite, hoping that her efforts would do nothing of the sort.

After a moment's reflection Wilfrid proceeded to relate not all, but as much as he thought needful, for the Princess to know; and it was with a strango sensation of pleasure that he found her eyes

fastened on him with a wistful attention, that never once wavered during his recital. Leaving out Baranoff and his infamous proposal, Wilfrid began with the bedroom incident; then went on to tell of how he had bee-^.requested by her to paint his now historic picture, saying nothing, however, as to the re-

ward he had demanded; and coming finally to the Sumaroff Gardens, he led Marie to suppose that the meeting was merely a formal one on her part to thank him for his services. As for the Czar and his presumed aim towards her, "Wilfrid suppressed this part of the story altogether.

•'How long ago is it since this fete in the Sumaroff Gardens?'' she asked. '"Only two nights ago." "Only two nights ago!" she repeated with breathless incredulity. ''And I have no recollection whatever of it!"

She closed her eyes, knitted her brows thoughtfully,-pressed her forefinger hard upon her forehead, evidently making a strong effort to recall the past, but could not succeed.

She was silent for a few minutes, pondering- her mental state, which was not only inexplicable to her, but also to Beauvais. the student of psychology. For. observe the contradictory nature of the phenomena: her struggle in the water had formed a dividing-line in her history; over this dividing-line she was able to bring into her new life all, or most of the knowledge acquired in the old, and yet she was unable to bring with it the knowledge of her own personality. Why her mind, able to retain so much of the past, should become an absolute blank upon one point—there was the mystery that humbled and frightened her. Better for her to lose, say. her knowledge of languages or of music, than to lose the knowledge of herself. A gulf seemed to separate her from her three companions; They could carry their minds back to childhood's days: for her, life began with that morning only. Her previous history lay hidden behind a black curtain. A native from the planet Mars new-dropped upon the earth could not have felt less at home than did Princess Marie at thai moment.

"What is this that has come upon me?"' she murmured with fear in her voice. "If I lose my memory, what is to prevent mc from losing- my reason?''

'"Now you are distressnixT yourself unnecessarily," said the doctor eheerilv.

"Why did I ply you this morning with so many questions upon this and the other topic, but to ascertain whether there is any ground for what you fear. And the result; My dear lady,'if all the heads in the Czar's cabinet were half as sound as yours Russia would be well governed. Your mind is perfectly sane —have no fear upon that point. 'As to your loss of memory—hump! I'll call it a misfortune, to please you. But there are many persons—Prince Ouvaroff for example—who would be glad to obtain an oblivion as complete as yours. Patience, my good lady, patience. " Time will restore your memory.'' These optimistic remarks, and many more of the same sort from Beauvais combined with Pauline's caresses <»radually brought the distressed Princeas to a calmer frame.

"I am justly punished," she said with a sad smile, addressing- Wilfrid. "X havo so long kept my name a secret from you that it is now a secret from myself And you say I was found last night lying insensible upon the shores oi this island? How did I come there'" Pauline and the doctor could both have answered this question more fully than Wilfrid, but fo.- reasons of their own they chose to be silent, leaving him to tell as much as he knew of the ma,ter. To his story .Marie listened with a troubled air.

"Have I enemies so malignant that they seek to murder mc?"

•It would seem so," replied Will-id adding for her consolation, "but since they must now look upon you as dead they will molest you no more."

"It is not for mc," said Pauline., "to dictate your course of action; but in view of the recent attempt upon your life, you will do well to remain in hiding here, for a few days at least, until we learn what is best to be done. In Jthe meantime you must look upon the castle and the isle as your own."

A proposal that found a warm seconder in TVilfrid, who foresaw the facilities it would afford him for pushing his j suit with the Princess. So it was settled that she should stay at Runo. Xow, although Marie's companions were thrpe in number, it was to Wilfrid principally that Tier remarks were ad- j dressed, and Pauline and the doctor, j well pleased to have it so, presently withdrew to another part of the room and had a little tete-a-tete on their own account. | "Our plan promises to work smoothly," said Beauvais. "She favours him as 1 much in the new state as in the oia." "Yes. but how long can we keep her here in concealment? She has now been absent from the palace for more than a day. By this time the czar's agents must be swarming everwherp on the look-out for her. Not a spot, not a house, in and around St. Petersburg will remain uu> visited." / "We must keep them from visiting j Runo,'' said Beauvais. "How can it be done?" "Very easily. Will not Count Baranoff and his brother Loris. Chief of the Secret Police, have the direction of this , affair? And have we pot in our posses- | sion a letter containing matter enough to hang them ten times over? We must go at once to St. Petersburg and make this compact with them, that unless they are prepared to do our bidding we shall reveal their guilt to the Czar. And our bidding is that they instruct their subordinates to let this island alone. We need not shrink from stating our reason. Has it not ever been Baranoff's aim to make yonder pair fall in love with each other? What are we dointr but pursuing j the same plan, though for a different reason? Freed from the intrusion of j police agents, Buno thus becomes a I sacred asylum, an enchanted garden, in j which our two wards may make love to

their heart's content without the knowledge of the Court." "And the end of it all?" "When her love is sufficiently strong she will be willing to fly with him from Russia. Cronstadt harbour is distant by water but IS miles. A swift boat and a dark night and they are on board a vessel bound for England." "But should we in the meantime be detected in our plot by Alexander " "What then? Will he be very much vexed when we are supplying him with the pretext he wants?" Pauline sighed. "Ah mc! If only I had told Lord Courtenay yesterday who bis inamorata i=, it would have prevented mc from beginning this course of deception. Not till nightfall did it suddenly occur to mc that the knowledge of this fact would have been the best way of making him cease from the duel; and even then from very pity I refrained from the toiling, knowing what pain the revelation would bring him. and now—now it is too late! What will he think when he learns —as learn he must —how basely lam deceiving him?"

"Pooh!" what matters irhat he thinks?

""Much —to mc," she answ-ered moodily. At this point the pair found themselves appealed to by Wilfrid.

-Was there no letter in the Princess' drcss-porkot ?" ho asked, giving bis reason for the question.

"I can of myself testify that there was not," said the unabashed doctor, "for I examined her clothing in the hope of finding some clue to her identity. If it were the object of these four ruffians to get hold of a compromisinp letter we can scarcely expect them to leave it upon her per-son."

A specious argument that answered the purpose intended.

The princess here put to Wilfrid a very sensible suggestion. "This Prince Ouvaroff, who as you say acted as my escort from some unknown place to St. Petersburg, must surely know who I am. Is it not possible to communicate with him?" "You echo my thoughts." said Pauline. "Dr. Beauvais and I will go to St. Petersburg this very day for the purpose of seeing the Prince upon this matter." This proposal on the part of Pauline was more acceptable to the Princess than it was to Wilfrid. .

"Supposing," he whispered to Pauline. " that Ouvarofi" suspects the motive of your questioning, and springs to the conclusion that Princess Marie must be at Rtmo ?"

"Why, in that case." whispered Pauline in turn, "she would be restored to her old surroundings. Bnt have no fear. I'll approach the matter so cautiously that he shall suspect nothing. I must not delay, however, lest I be too late, for he told mc at the masquerade tha; the Czar was about to send him on a diplomatic mission to Berlin."

Accompanied by Beauvais, Pauline went the same day to St. Petersburg, but made no attempt to see Prince OuvarcfT.

While the doctor was transacting some private business. Pauline visited first the British Ambassador, and had an interview with "him, which terminated with these words on her part—'"Never mind how he was persuaded to give up the duel; you have my word for it that St. Petersburg and the Czar will see him no more. That surely ought to content you,"

And it did. the Ambassador breathing a sigh of relief that the awkward business was over.

The bureau of Loris BaranotT, Chief of the Secret Police, was the next place to receive a call from her, and to by her smile as she quitted his office the result of her mission was a complete success. (To be continued daily.)