Prince Zilah -- Volume 3

vernment Menko's release. He had promised Varhely, the evening he received his old comrade at dinner, that he would put all the machinery at work to obtain the fulfilment

e was, in the Count's eagerness to obtain Menko's liberty, something of the excitement of a hunter tr

pose that we shall know where h

vernment of the Czar will trace his j

d, with such evident eagerness, this release. It was enough for hi

g. "Perhaps you blamed me when you learned that I had accepted a post from A

ris. He did not write to Prince Zilah, wishing, above everything, to keep his errand concealed from h

t Dr. Sims's institution, and retur

comes after a night of forgetfulness in sleep. This stupor, which might have destroyed her, and the fever whic

now that her reason had returned to her, to live to wrest from the Prince a word of pardon. It could not be possible that her existence was to end with the maledi

ated a lie! But she longed to make the Prince understand that the motive of her conduct was the love which she had for him. Yes, her love alone! There was no other reason, no other, for her unpardonable treachery. He did not think i

at, and then let him fly

endure to have him d

uch a thing as seeking him, she resolved to wait some opportunity, some chance, she knew not what. Suddenly, she thought of Yanski Varhely. Through Varhely, she might be able to say to Andras all that she wished her husband-her husband! the very word made her shudder w

sort of long confession, in which she asked his a

ely's rancor she cared for, but Zilah's contempt. She implored him again, in a letter in which she poured out her whole soul, to return,

by little, in spite of his rough exterior, the soldier, more accessible to emotio

ffers. Well, th

without explaining anything to the Tzigana, he added, at the end of his letter, these words, which,

isons-Lafitte, Varhely received from Ladany

onsented to the release of Count Menko, implicated in the Labanoff affair. Labanoff would probably be sent to Siberia the very day that Count Menko would receive a

" exclaimed Varhely, "th

my farewell. I am als

edia

edia

rive there b

," replied Varhe

s, in which he asked the Venetian to join him in Florence. Valla had assured him that he could rely on hi

hanged so much," he said

his aid, Menko would ce

mes as they are: Zilah

uld be. Whi

h! it was much better to be a dupe like himself and Zilah, and t

d

but, whatever might be the fate which awaited him at the end of

rain which carried hi

Florence he fo

know. Before going to London, Menko, on his return from Pau, after the death of his wife

ed at the hotel until one of Balla's friends, who lived at Pistoja, should inform him of the arrival

la," said Yanski, "you

nk

e," responded

nce from the station, at the

se did not wish to be disturbed. Varhely was obliged to pound heavily upon the wooden barrier. The serva

he answered when Yanski asked him, in

aly," said Varhely, this

e as the representat

d opened the gate. Varhely and Valla crossed the garden, ent

scarcely have

in and gray upon the temples, and, instead of the carefully trained moust

some vengeance which he had expected, and which did not astonish him. He stood erect, cold and still, as Yanski

ave looked forward impatiently to this mo

de myself," r

sk what was your obje

ss," said the young

e stern old Hungarian than a tear upon a coat of mail, produced a singular

e can not be forgo

n what I hav

ardly and infamous act a man could commit.

lip trembling; but he said nothing. At last, after a pause, he raised his eyes again

ntention of involving you in an act which I regarded as a cruel necessity. I wished to avenge myself. But I did

rstand exactly

to ask whether he could spe

as one of the witnesses

lah," sai

," said Michel,

oved. That man, without knowing it, wrested from me the woman who had been the folly, the dream, and the

to you by that woman, and that, too, aft

ng. At the same hour that I left Paris, the letters should have been in the hands of the man who had the right to see them, and when there was yet time for him to refuse his name to the woman who had written them. My servant did n

ot understand your commands: the deed which you committed was none the less that of a coward. You used as a weapon the l

moiselle Marsa Laszlo?" aske

ras. I am here, above all, to demand satisfaction for your atroci

incerely," replied Menko;

tted of no reply, and Yanski a

officers in garrison at Florence consented to serve as Menko's friends.

and uneasy, s

right and p

t w

right, I know; but leaden bullets are not

riend Yanski Varhely defended his honor-and also tell him of the place where Count Menko may be found. I am going to attempt to ave