By Neva's Waters.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXIX, Issue 78, 31 March 1908, Page 6

By Neva's Waters.

Being w. Episode of the, Secret -JEstcry-of __r__ J Czar of All the Russia-.

BY JOHN R. CARLING.

AUTHOR OF I *THB~_H___OW OF 188 C__B,°."lH_ V___.fi SKUIL " "THE WEIRD -MCTTTBE.'

CHAPTER XXVIII. PAULINE PEPENTS. A month passed, during which Rune remained untroubled by visits from police or soldiery, nor did anything occur tc create a suspicion that the isle was under espionage. This month had been a time of the purest happiness both to Marie and Wilfrid. Their intercourse was not confined to the walls of.the castle; they went out daily, keeping, for safety's sake, to the woods and never venturing within sight of the shore. Their walks were necessarily circumscribed, but, as Pauline remarked, they suffered far less hardship in that respect than the voyagers on the deck of an East Indiaman. The loss of her memory had ceased to trouble the Princess—nay, she was now apprehensive lest the revelation consequent upon its recovery should cause a return to her former life. With very little knowledge of that former life she had. nevertheless, a profound belief that it fell far short of the happiness of her present state. At any rate it had been a. life apart from Wilfrid, and Wilfrid was now the chief, if not the sole, object of her thoughts. It was no secret to her that, she w-as loved by him, for though he had not said it, his homage showed his feelings as plainly as if he had spoken. It was sweet to have such power over him: a source of pride to her that she should be preferred to all others. It was wonderful, for example, that he had not fallen in love with the beautiful Pauline, but it was certain that he had not. In his eyes Pauline was a friend — the dearest, staunchest friend it might be—but still no more than that. At least, that is what Marie usually thought, but, once or twice, when she was sitting close to Wilfrid. Pauline had drawn near, in her eyes a wistful look, as if yearning for the affection that was being bestowed upon another. That look haunted Marie. Therefore, one day when Wilfrid was in the armoury teaching Beauvais some secrets in swordmanship, Marie ventured to question the Baroness on this matter. And she came to the point withnnt _t,tt -l--^T_-_K;-r,rr

"Pauline, do you love -Lord Courtenay?" The Baroness gave a start. "Have I ever shown that I do?" "No," answered Marie, not altogether truthfully. "Then why do you ask?" "Because," said Marie evasively, "Lord Courtenay is so brave, so handsome, so— _o winning—that's the word—that—that "It is difficult for a woman to avoid falling in love with him—is that what you would say?" smiled Pauline. "Well, you see, it would be foolish to love one that does not love mc." "Ah, but you are not answering my question!" "Would it please you if my answer were 1 do love him'?" Marie coloured and was silent. "Ah, you are not answering my question," smiled Pauline. And then after a pause she continued — "Lord Courtenay is never likely to ask mc to be his wife, but if he were to ask, my answer would be 'No.' " She spoke in a tone that carried instant conviction to Marie's heart. ___ _'rrnr.lir

ces, the Empress Elizavetta should be divorced in favour of Pauline de V_ucluse! The document was signed "Alexander Paulovitch, Czar and Autocrat." That her friend Pauline might one day wear the diadem did not appear to afford much gratification to Marie. "You aspire to a crown," she said. "Remember the fate of the Hungarian King Bela; his throne one day broke beneath him and its pieces crushed him in their fall—an apt illustration of the dangers attenddng'a throne. It will bring you more sorrow than joy, especially if gained -by the means j-ou contemplate. Pauline, will you let mc destroy this?" she continued, as if about to tear the document in two. The Baroness hastily recovered the scroll. "Why," asked Marie, ""did you not destroy it on first receiving it?" "Why should I have done so?" "To show* your trust in Alexander What sort of love is it that needs a written guarantee? Pauline, you dare nit burn it, and that shows that you have no faith in Alexander." It was true, poignantly true. Though it had not appeared to her in this light before, Pauline began now to realise, that the satisfaction arising from the possession of this document and the care w*ith which she guarded it, were but so many proofs of distrust in Alexander. Nor could she help reflecting, at the moment, that she could have implicitly trusted Wilfrid's spoken word. As Pauline contrasted the English peer and the Muscovite Czar, a pang of jealousy seized her that Marie should be the chosen of Wilfrid, while she herself, though the chosen of. the emperor could find little joy in the fact. The diadem that had looked so splendid, when viewed from afar, seemed a bauble now that it was well-nigh within her grasp. "What have you been saving to Marie V" said Wilfrid later in'the day. on finding hiniself alone with Pauline. "She is quite grave and pensive." "She is wondering, perhaps, whether Lord Corf-nay's attentions to her are to be interpreted merely in the light of friendship. Are all Englishmen so cold and tardy in their wooing? You love and yet you hesitate to make the avowal to her, who would be but too willing to listen." b "It is precisely that I do love her that I hesitate at the avowal. Her present state of mind is not normal. Supposing that with the recovery of hei memory there should come a reversal of her sentiments towards mc?" "_ou are over-scrupulons," answered Pauline. "A return to her former state should not be so very unfavourable, if she voluntarily kissed you in the Sumaroff Gardens. The fairest woman in Russia is waiting for your love, and by your hesitancy you are adding to her suspense. See, yonder is your Princess taking her way to the woods. Go with her, and on your return let mc hear that you have said the words that will gladden her heart." " Wilfrid went off bent on following this advice, and Pauline, knowing this watched him, at her heart a pain such as she had never before known. Turning, she saw Dr. Beauvais by hei side. « '_ ?her T c T as a time '" said sb -° to him, when I hated her, or thought" I- didyou know for what reason. And now-''' ' And now?" repeated Beauvais as she paused m her utterance. "And now, during the past month, she has won her way to my heart and this makes my task difficult. I have been telling her of my ambition, and she has been pleading prettily with mc to save the Empress Elizavetta from dishonour httle thinfang that she was pleading for herself! What a shock when she learns how I have deceived her—when she realises the guilt from which a word of mine could have saved her!" "Her own fault. If blame is to be apportioned, she must take the initial for to her encouragement of Lord is due our present imbroplio We axe but g ,*. o^-^* 0 . path. . S b_. enters <_f }_„,. a ßcqrd „,

"Because I have promised myself to another." This was indeed a surprise to Matie— a welcome one, as her looks testified. Pauline was not her rival, then; on the contrary, she had a suitor of her own. ' _ am willing" said Pauline, "to tell you his name on one condition." "And that is— " "That you will keep it secret, especially from Lord Cortenay." Marie thought it hard that Wilfrid must not be permitted to share this new knowledge with her. "I should not tell his name, even to you," continued Pauline, "but that it will prove beyond a doubt £hat I am. not aiming at the affections of Lord Courtenay.'' This remark decided Marie; she consented to observe secrecy as to the name. "Learn, then, that I am pledged to marry the Czar Alexander!" If Pauline had said that she w.ia pledged to marry the Archangel Gabriel, Marie could not have been more startled. Her bewilderment was at first too great for words. The fact that Pauline was not of royal blood did not make her statement _oubtful,for had not the great Peter mated with a peasant girl. But but "How can that be when the Czar is already married?" "An emperor can always find an archbishop to pronounce sentence of divorce,"' Marie, unconsciously perhaps, drew away from the speaker. 'You are trying to steal s husband from his wife! You would put an iunocent woman away in order to gratify your ambition! Oh. Pauline."' There was a look on Marie's face that -went directly to Pauline's hear-. "Ijsten, Marie, and see whether there be not some justification for mc. It is some months ago since I first guessed Alexander's feelings towards mc. Knowing the love of a wedded Czar to be dishonour, I avoided all places where I was likely to meet him. But one night, quite by accident, we met at a masquerade. No, not the Sumaroff fete; this wa_ one that took place a few days before Paul's death—before I hkd 3een Lord Courtenay, she murmur.d tc. herself—He came upon mc when I wa.-i ilone; he held my hands in Ms, and asked why I had of late avoided him. rhen all in a moment he uttered a flow ot wild, passionate words that—thatwell, I will not deny it, they were sweet to mc. But, remembering from whom they came, I strove to put them'"aside, lour love must be given to EUzavetta,' murmured, 'and to her only.' Ah' the ._?•" °i sorrow these -words caused. Ehzavetta.' he angered, *has already a lover -' If tllis b e gWNJI! the Czarina be faithless to her -S^his^iV 11^5 in -Gaining "D° r you a ___±^ n ! S '**' re P Ued Marie '"tt?ev£T the Czarina is false?" equivocal. £? £?»* * V<?ry Proof of her Sh~* haa *"«* clear are wr_i__g fo _ _»/+* * nd vocable s te|.» - *° ***»■ «* lire- , _^^.°f^ J _ o rt»r' _'-•' " van _j_&2>_ ' f Xj_Bnit.spj%. '

1 "And you will be pleased when it is taken?"' ! Pauline was silent. "She is gliding on towards wrong, and you are letting her! You can stop her Iby a word of warning, and yet will not! j Pa aline!" Marie could not have spoken with more touching earnestness had she been pleading her own cause. Involuntarily Pauline turned from the look of disapproval in those grave, innocent eyes. "Ii the Czarina," said Pauline —and none knew better than she the sophistical character of the self-justification she was now attempting, "if the Czarina knew that a hundred eyes were secretly on the watch for her fall, she would of necessity be virtuous. But why should she, more than other women exposed to similar temptation, be put on her guard? I Respect for her fair name, the memory of her altar-vows, the Imperial diadem itself, should each be a sermon to her. To warn her would be to put her in a state of enforced virtue. Why should Alexander retain a wife willing to go wrong hut kept in the right only by fear of discovery? No! let her be tried by the fire of temptation. She must fulfil her i destiny, as I must fulfil mine." | The Princess was silent, not knowing very well how to refute what she knew to be sophistry. No wonder Pauline was anxious to keep the matter a secret from Wilfrid! The knowledge of it might lead him to decline any longer the hospitality of a hostess so questionable in her -ways. "You may gain a crown, but you will not gain a hero," said Marie with a touch of scorn. "A man who sets spies to watch his wife, and, before his suspicions are verified, promises to wed another woman, cannot be very honourable character." In her haste Marie forgot that the same charge was equally applicable to her hostess. Pauline felt the point of tho rebuke. 'T cannot imagine Lord Courtenay acting so," said Marie proudly. Nor could Pauline. Wilfrid was a man of very different stamp from Alexander. "How can you trust one that acts so lishonourably?" continued Marie. "What guarantee have you that Alexander will fulfil his promise?" "I have here the Czar's written pledge," said Pauline, 'taking from her .osom that same scroll of parchment Those contents had evoked such emotion _n the part of her father. This secret document would certainly lave sent a thrill of amazement throughnit the various • European chanceleries, or it was nothing Igss than a statement o the effect that, iff certain rirramstnn-

"True," assented Pauline, glad to snatch at any argument in justification of her wrong-doing. "And to-day the goal is in sight, for to-day she entrusts ehrself and her future to- his keeping." "That's good," murmured the doctor. "I have all but completed the arrangements for their departure, and her flight will prevent the Empress Elizavetta from ever returning to her husband."

"The sooner they go the better," observed Pauline, "or I shall be repenting my share in the plot." She returned from him ar.-*. entering the castle, proceeded to a little oratory which, originally Byzantine in eharactei, had been altered by Pauline to a style more in harmony with Latin art.

The sunlight, coloured as it passed through stained glass, slanted upon an alter surmounted by an ivory crucifix, a symbol forbidden by the Greek Church.

To this place came Pauline in a devotional spirit. For, as Italian bandits put up prayers to tho saints for a successful

haul, and Cornish wreckers of old went straight from church to kindle beacons on the cliffs, so Pauline attended to pray to the Virgin for the furtherance of a scheme that rdequired for its success a continuous course of deception. She was about to ight a candle in honour of the Madonna, when a voice seemed to whisper, "Hypocrite!" The taper dropped from her hand and she fell trembling upon a seat, her gaze wandering slowly around as if expecting to encounter some speaker. For the first time she became conscious of the incongruity of her devotions. There broke in upon her mind a light that revealed her past doings in their true character. She was at the parting of the ways. If she must pray let her cease deceiving; if she must deceive, let her cease praying. Her eyes, moving slowly round as if in, the hope of receiving guidance from some object in the oratory, resting finally upon the western oriel, whose stained glass showed a divine Face, lit up by the setting sun. She had seen this Face many a time, but never before had it exercised so potent an attraction. The eyes seemed to be looking at her with infinite pity. Pauline thrilled.

Her intrigue for the diadem of empire was receiving a silent rebuke from a crown of thorns.

Vera, her face white and her eyes hor-ror-stricken, came flying along the corridor that led to the oratory. She tapped at the door once—twice— thrice.

Receiving no answer she entered arid found her mistress in a swoon on the marble floor. Vera stopped short, hcj hands partly raised.

"She must have seen! But no! She could not from through these windows." She flew to Pauline, dropped at her side, and, happening by good fortune to have her vinaigrette with her, employed it with such effect that before long Pauline opened her eyes and smiled faintly. "Dear Baroness, what has happened? You are looking like the dead." "It is nothing,!' replied Pauline as she rose with the help of her maid. '-Only a swoon."

Vera could see that for herself, she wanted to know what caused it.

"Your coining has been so timely," observed Pauline, "that I must not scold you for disobedience. Tell mc why you are here when I have said that I am not to be disturbed at my devotions?"

This question reminded Vera of her mission.

"My lady, if I tell my news you will swoon again."

Pauline's face became transfigured with a smile, such as Vera had never' before seen—a smile that perplexed and awed her.

"Speak on, Vera," she said gently. "Nothing that you may say can alarm mc :iow.''

Vera hesitated, and then, taking courage from her mistress's manner, said— "My lady, the Czar is in the. castle!"

To Vera's surprise the Baroness did not faint. True, she gave a great start, but grew calm again m a moment.

"Is this an answer to my prayer?" she murmured to herself. "An invitation from heaven to speak the truth and fear not?" Aloud she said. "What brings him here? Does he suspect that ?"

"I think not, my lady. He. is taking a quiet sail on the Neva in his gondola with his equerries, Princes Ouvaroff and Volkonski, and. has pulled up off Runo for the purpose of paying his devoirs to the Baroness. He is in the entrance halji awaiting my lady."

'Where is Lord Courtenay—and—and

It was with a ghastly smile that Vera replied—

"Lord Courtenay is by the lake making love to the Czarina!"

(To be continued daily.)