Princess Maritza

e face of the moon at intervals, and making her light fitful and uncertain. The air struck cold after the warmth within, but beyon

d obviously been carefully planned, and the insult deliberately given at a moment when Ellerey was least desirous of placing his life in jeopardy. He could only assume that her Majesty's schemes were, to some extent at

me the moonlight grew pale, or died out altogether for a moment, he looked a

k," he said, presently. "We should have

for the morning,"

lful swordsman

eputation in my regiment, but doubtless I shall be a

an obscure tavern in this part of the town. Did I not know the Baron to be an honorable man, I shoul

ide street into a narrow thoroughfare with tall, dark houses o

d that by accepting the service he had so readily offered he might be quietly stepping i

of a lower part of the town and on the outsk

n's honesty, monsieur, to agree so s

where we are to wait. The Bar

ot minded to step blindly into a nest of cut-throats." He strode on as alert now as he had been indiffe

ight yonder we are to wait. You d

not sa

, but had I been in any conspiracy against you, I should hardly have called your attention to the strangeness of the rendezvous. I have, however, a better guarantee of my honesty: I am a countryman of yours, a

hich they were spoken that convinced Elle

cion," he said. "We meet by

ing her health and sight by it. It must, at any rate, have been very constantly there, or it would not so readily have been mentioned to mark a place of meeting. As the

le under the circumstances and in view of your friend's decision t

to those within. Some considerable time elapsed before the summons was answered, but the Baron showed no impatience, and this manifest knowledge of the ways of the establishment did not inspire Ellerey with confidence

r was opened wide, and they were admitted into a small, ill-lighted lobby. The entrance was a private one, not a usual cafe entrance, but the smell of stale liquor and smoke and the reek of highly spiced dishes pr

"We do not join the assembly to-night. Rea

magical. Immediately there arose a loud hum of voices, the clinking and clatter of innumerable glasses and plates, and the rattle of dice and d

panion now beca

er, and of which they must know nothing. The grass alley in the garden will serve our purpose. Let us o

urn, and Ellerey keenly watched the man's eyes to note if an

is a good spot for such ma

is earth enough in t

rugged his

l none to help yo

said that the ma

re is no

the answer. "Come, Theodor, time press

in the

at the bottom of the whole affair, that the Baron had designedly insulted him that evening because of it, and that his speedy removal was considered necessary to the well-being o

ll an hour

than e

empty. I shall know that anyone with an aching head is free to cool it the

y down a narrow passage, at the end

let them pass. He watched them until their figures were lost in the

rew their dice there instead of within. The lights in the house-the cafe seemed to occupy only the back of it-shone through the shrubberies, and the murmur and clatter

curing the moonlight, they made it extremely difficult to fight a duel by. Baron Petrescu walked to one end of the lawn, and Ellerey to the other, leaving the two seconds together to make final arrangements. Once convinced that his adversary contemplated no treachery, Ellerey sank again into his indi

ady, Capta

and coat, and taking his sword, weighed it

nion; "anything to take charge of, any message to send? The affair has bee

cumstances I am fortunate in not possessing a friend in the wor

a w

sitated fo

might be interested t

should happen,

in En

one," Eller

ell-known brilliancy of his attacks was wanting, and he could only suppose that the Englishman was a more worthy swordsman than he had imagined. Whatever deliberation the Baron used, he at first pressed the fight far more than Ellerey, whose whole attention seemed occupied in defending himself. He was less attractive to watch than the Baron, slower, it seemed, in his movements, and with less invention and resource, yet Petrescu appeared to gain no advantage. Every thrust he made was parried, if rather late sometimes, still parried, and he found that his adversary's wrist, if less flexible than his own, was of iron. He changed his tactics, he pressed the fight less and less, hoping to make the Englishman careless, and tempt him to attack more vigorously. In a measure the device succeeded. Ellerey's point began to flash toward him with a persistency he had not expected, but there was no less caution. Twice, thrice, the Baron used a feint and thrust which had seldom missed their intention, and had proved the undoing of many an adversary; but now they were met

ed him, had forced this quarrel upon him, and he meant to punish him if he could. Whether

and continuous. The breeze rustled the leaves then and again, but something else was stirring in the night, now behind him, now to his right, just where the high hedges enclosed the lawn. O

a connection between them, as though they were parts of some whole. Ellerey almost expected to read a solution of the mystery in his opponent's eyes, which glittered in his pale, moonlit face. But the solution was not in the Baron's eyes-it

and as he spoke he used the Baron's own particular feint and thr

Men rushed with angry cries and gesticulations from every alley of the garden, some to this side, some to

ut the eager crowd did not heed, even if they heard, hi

of mine," said the Baron, attempting to stagge

incoming tide. The mad crowd rushed upon the three men from all sides, and although the flashing swords kept them back for a few moments

ed back with a yell of

e Baron's second wh

n. There is a door in the high wall of the garden. You are safe if you can reach it. It is you

denly rushed forward, using his sword and his clenched fist to force himself a passage. The crowd was taken by surprise, and

t!" he shouted to his companion, wh

behind him, and the whole ga

id so. Had he been an instant later that exultant cry would have been his last, for at that moment a dagger flashed down u

sword and sent him reeling back into the arms of the foremost of his companions. The next instan