By Neva's Waters.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXIX, Issue 80, 2 April 1908, Page 8

By Neva's Waters.

Being- an Episode of the' Secret "History of -the T?irsfc, Czar, of All the Kossias.

BY JOHN R. CARLING. AT7THOE OF •«2H& «__-_!».*"-_■ THE _______ **__''THB VI-O-fG- SB-C__ " "THE WEIBD PICTUItB.'

CHAPTER XXX. [ BEHIND THE CURTAIN. The door by which Wilfrid and Marie lad entered was not the only one giving > access to the room; at the opposite end | was a second, partly open, and along the corridor leading to this came the sound of voices, two in number —a woman's and a man's. Pauline and the Czar were approaching. A moment more and they would he within the room. Marie's terror-stricken face alarmed IWilfrid. Men, not to speak ot women, have sometimes fallen dead from emotion. She must be kept from the trying ordeaL As it was too late, however, to escape from the room, he hastily drew ler behind a curtain that hung across the entrance of an alcove and, seating her in a fauteuil that happened by good fortune to be there, placed his finger upon her lips as a warning for her to be. silent, a warning that was scarcely needed. A moment afterwards the Czar and iPauline were in the room. The drapery ,of the alcove consisted of two curtains, hung so as to leave from top to bottom an opening of about an inch in width, that enabled Wilfrid to ccc the Czar. Tall and handsome,. Alexander was endowed with apresence that, majestic in itself, was rendered more so by a grand and brilliant uniform. Wilfrid, despite his prejudice, was compelled to admit Unix here was a man as well as an emjperor. His stately aspect seemed to •fcreathe a sort of challenge to "Wilfrid, upon whom ther stole that elemental feeling that made the old heathen war-. lior raise his clenched fist to the skies •with the cry of, "I defy thee, 0 Odin! Come down from heaven and let us try which is the better man!" -But 'Wilfrid's desire -to try conclusions \rith the-Czar was immediately lost in a new interest as he viewed that monarch's Tmanner towards Pauline. As her hand resting lightly upon tin arm, he was bending over ■her with eyes that plainly iipolce of love, though her reserved air showed that she flid not return the feeling. rWilfrid's gorge rose. .Not content with making love to Marie, this Imperial libertine sought to lure Pauline also to •ids armsi Was this the business of an emperor?'-Fortunately he seemed as little likely to succeed in the one case as in ,the other. '■On seeing the two entering, Wilfrid thought that the Czar's visit was over, and that Pauline was conducting him •through this apartment as being the shortest way out of the castle. He was wrong. The two had come to this apartment for a private talk, for the Czar, having led Pauline to an ottoman, took his place beside her. This was a development which Wilfrid had not anticipated. To continue longer in concealment would be to play the spy, yet remain there he must, on Marie's account, since there was no way of quitting the alcove except by revealing himself. At first, with an odd sense of preserving his honour, Wilfrid tried not to listen, endeavouring to fix his attention on other matters. But the attempt was a failure; against his wish he was atitracted by the words of the speakers, , and, as the dialogue grew, so, too, did his interest. '"You were praying in the oratory," said Alexander to Pauline. "Did mv name mingle with your prayers?".. 1 "Yes, Sire," answered Pauline gravely. **I prayed for you more earnestly than ever I prayed before." The melancholy, seldom absent from the Czar's face since his father's death, brightened into a smile. "And what was the petition on my .Dehalf?" "That your Majesty might have a Tight judgment," replied Pauline with a meaning plain enough to Wilfrid, though not to the Czar. n 'Sire!' 'Majesty!'" repeated Alexander, with what in a woman would be called a pout. "Leave this formal style to ministers and courtiers.. With you I am Sasha. Ah! shall I ever forget the night when first you called mc by that 3iame? Never did it-sound so pretty as when coming from your lips! And you said that; your name to mc must be no more Baroness, but Do you xemember.?" "I remember," .she answered with a sigh. Becoming conscious of the restraint in her mariner, Alexander eyed her wistfully, failing, however, lo divine the reason for -her altered demeanour. He was-not rriuoli more than a, youth a somewhat simple-minded one to boot; but he conscientiously believed in Ms own importance, and it never occurred to him tliat the gallantries of an "emperor could be other than acceptable to the object of them. "Pauline, how beautiful you are!" he murmured after a moment's silence. Tune was when she woul3 have thrilled at such words and her eyes have sparkled. But to-night his words had Host their old. charm. _ . . "Your Majesty must not speak thus." '"Majesty" again? But I let it pass. [Why must I refrain from speaking the "truth?" '■You must reserve such language for lElizavetta only.'- ,- "Elizavetta!" said Alexander, his face darkening with a noble but mistaking ecom.- TSlizavetta! A wife who from her very wedding-day never loved her husband." "I think your Majesty is wrong." "Nay, I will prove myself to be right. Do princesses ever marry for love? Is it -not their duty to take the suitor whom political .interest prescribes? Princess Marie of Baden was' only 14 when her parents bade her prepare for her wedding. The Empress Catharine desired that she should be the wife of her grandeon Alexander, then.a youth of 15." Princess Marie! The title dropped lightly from thai lips of the speaker, but upon the pair behind the curtain it felt like a bolt from the blue; and;had not the Czar been absorbed in his wooing he-must have heard the wail of anguish that arose in the alcove. "How could a girl of 14," Alexander continued, "be expected to love a man ■whom she had never seen? She married mc because she was told to do so. Without a murmur she accepted a new rete' In e tß GreeK; " DeW Hizl vetta. In the same wav she wonifl >..,•■,„ adopted tne Sultan oflslamS,» In blaming her you blame yourself

'•"We married and at first were happy— at least I /was. Her beauty, her sweetness, charmed mc. Yes, I truly loved her till —till I discovered that I held only the second place in her heart." I r "I think your Majesty errs. How 'did you discover it?" * In the early days of our betrothal she spoke to mc of a certain Englishman, Wilfrid Courtenay, and earnestly begged that she migßt be permitted to continue wearing a locket containing his portrait on the plea that he Bud saved her life. " As heaven is ray witness, I bore this man no jealousy —nay, I told her I would love him for her sake, that when 1 was CzaT I would invite him to my Court and pay him high Honour as one who had preserved for mc a sweet and fair bride. " But mark the sequel. " One night—it is now about two years ago —I entered her bed-chamber at a late hour, and found her fast asleep. As 1 bent over her, admiring her beauty, a sweet smile curved her lips, and from them came a word softly spoken. That word was—' Wilfrid'! " I started back as from the-hiss of a serpent. The Englishman was in her thoughts, his name was on her lips, his image within a locket lay upon Jier breast. " That night was the .beginning of my suspicions." " Suspicions which Baranoff did his best to~fan," interjected Pauline. " Baranoff has been the zealous guardian of my honour. 'Twas he who bade mc observe. And I observed. I watched and waited, and found my suspicions verified. Her guilt at the Inn of the Silver Birch rests on the testimony of others,' but at the Sumaroff Masquerade 1 had the evidence of my own eyes. In a Tβtired part of the gardens I surprised her, wrapped in Lord Courtenay's arms, submitting to his caresses. Detected in the very act of guilt she durst not face mc —she durst not return to the palace. She fled that very night. Lord Courtenay disappeared at the same I.irae. Is it not plain that they went together? " " Is that'the talk of St. Petersburg?" ; " St. Petersburg! The Court itseK knows .nothing of her flight. Would you have mc make my humiliation, the theme of every gossip's tongue? JMo! the matter must be hushed up. The public journals have received notification that the 'Czarina is spending a few weeks in religious seclusion, at the Convent of the Ascension. Meantime the police agents have received their orders —to make diligent search for Lord Courtenay. Where he is, there will Marie be found." " And when they are found? " " For her, the nun's cell; ior (him, the headsman's axe." " Your Majesty is somewhat severe upon them. Seeing you have resolved that Plato shall pronounce your divorce, why should she not be left free to go with Lord Courtenay if she will?" "An ex-Czarina to re-marry! That were to put a premium upon adultery and set a dangerous precedent. Let her have her lover? Give her the prize she has been guiltily striving for? Let him parade Europe with an ex-empress for.his bride, boasting how he had won her from Alexander? That were a humiliation too much to be borne. No! Death for him; for her, life-long penitence in a convent. She has chosen to forfeit my affection and my throne; Jet mc think no more of her." He took Pauline's hand, she did not resist, but let her fingers rest passively within his. "Pauline, you know what our compact was." She knew, and the memory of it troubled her. "I have not forgotten," said he, "your sudden start when first I confessed my love to you, your grave look, your pleading for Marie, your little homily on virtue. 'I may be the wife, I will never be the mistress of a Czar.' I loved you all the more fer that saying. It was then I told you of Marie's secret longing, and you agreed that if guilt should be found in her, and I should put her away, you would be my wife. Was it not so? To prove how much I was in earnest did I not commit my promise "You did, Sire. It is here," she replied, withdrawing her hand from his and taking the document from her bosom. "Let mc return it to you. Or, better still—" She rose from the ottoman and, placing one end of the scroll to a lighted tapper in the chandelier, let tne parchment burn till the flame all but touched her fingers. The charred fragment floated from her hanci to the floor. "It was a dishonourable compact. It shames mc to recall it." The writer of the document had watched her action with a I troubled look. "Pauline," he said gently, "in what have I offended? What 'hag caused this difference in you? Why are you so cold to-day? Speak, as you spoke at our last meeting, or I —l " His voice trembling with emotion, he rose to his feet and, taking both her hands within his own, strove to look into her averted face. "Nay, do not turn from mc," said he. "It is a Czar that offers you his love. Among the royal princesses of Europe is there one but would thrill with pleasure to be as you are to mc? All that I have is gold, jewels You will be above queens. At my coming coronation you shall sit beside mc on the throne amid a blaze of glory, admired are worshipped by all. Ten thousand swords will flash from their scabbards, ten thousand of the noblest in the Empire will swear to shed their last drop of blood in your defence. My ministers shall be nothing to mc; it is your sweet counsel I shall follow; your policy shall be my policy. Do I not know that the dearest wish of your heart is to see the exiled Bourbons restored to the throne of France ? That wish shall become a reality; at your word armies shall march to overturn this Corsican adventurer." Pauline caught her breath at this last —of all his arguments the only one.that had power to move her. But her hesitation lasted for a moment only. Strengthened by prayer, purified in mind, she had come forth from the oratory a new creature, armed with a power that enabled her to set aside the ambitious hopes that had dazzled her during so many months. "It is useless to tempt mc. Sire," she said firmly, seeking to withdraw her hands. "It must not be." "Why not?" "I will not wrong Marie. I will not deprive an innocent woman of a husband's lore, of an Imperial diadem, to gratify my own ambition! Once—with shame I confess it—l desired her to walk in the way of guilt, nay. I have plotted for the* Tory-cndj.her fall should be my

stepping-stone to glory and power; but now my eyes have become opened. Equi- " vocal as the Empress's conduct may have seemed,. I do not believe that her love has ever seriously wandered from you. If your Majesty will sit calmly down and listen to mc, I will so prove her • innocence that " The sentence was never finished. Marie, overwhelmed by emotion, at this moment clutched at tne portiere, and the curtain fell. The fabric, though light, made a swish that caused the Czar to turn his head towards the alcove. And there, clearly revealed in the brilliant light, stood Wilfrid and Marie! (To be continued daily.)