Princess Zara

by Ross Beeckman

  CHAPTER II

  A WARNING

  Alexis Saberevski leaned forward in his chair to secure another of thecigarettes, and having lighted it with studied deliberation, resumedhis former position gazing between half closed eyelids toward PrincessZara. It was quite evident that he had gone to her with a distinctpurpose in view which he meant to fulfill before his departure; and itwas plain to be seen that Zara appreciated the fact. While he wassilent, she waited, but with a half smile upon her beautiful face, thatwas quizzical and somewhat whimsical, as if in her secret heart she wasaware of the purpose of his errand but for reasons of her own did notwish to anticipate it. And he read her correctly, too. He believed thatshe understood him even better than he knew her; but viewed from hisown standpoint he had a duty to perform in regard to her, and he hadgone there to fulfill it.

  "Zara," he said, "when I saw the announcement of your intended visit tothis country----"

  "Pardon me, Saberevski," she interrupted him; "but did the knowledge ofmy expected visit come to you through a printed announcement, or wereyou informed of it even before the printers had set the type?"

  "I see that I must be quite frank with you," he laughed.

  "Between friends frankness is always best," she retorted.

  "In that case I will begin again, princess."

  "It would be better--and wiser."

  "When I was informed of your anticipated visit to this country Idecided that I would be the first to welcome you here, and in makingthat decision I had a double purpose."

  "Yes."

  "One of them only, need interest us at this moment, and that is purelya personal one. You know, Zara, how I have always regarded you, and howI do so now. Your father was my best friend; your mother--it is perhapsunnecessary that I should be more explicit regarding her."

  "Yes, Saberevski," said Zara in a low tone. "I know that you loved mymother, and that all your life you have remained true to your adorationof her, even though she never returned it; but go on."

  "I love you, Zara, more perhaps than I admit to myself; more profoundlythan it would be wise for me to tell you, or agreeable for you to hear;but in the admiration and esteem I feel for you, there is included nosentiment which could offend you."

  "I know that, my friend."

  "I would like to talk with you quite openly for once, Zara, in orderthat you may comprehend perfectly where I stand, and because I do notwish you to misconstrue any assertion I shall make, or to attribute toany one of them, another motive than I intend."

  "I think you may be assured of that."

  "You guessed correctly a moment ago, about my receiving intelligenceconcerning your visit here, before the compositors set the type of theannouncement; but the intelligence was incorporated among other thingsthat were conveyed to me in the same manner, and by the same message.It had no direct significance, and beyond the mere statement of thefact, there was no comment. I was not directed to call upon you, and infact there was no suggestion made that bore directly upon your presencehere. But, Zara, the mere statement of your intention conveyed to mevery many suggestions which I have come here to-day to make known toyou. I believe it to be my clear duty to do so."

  "Well, my friend?"

  "You know who and what I have been, and am. Always close to the personof the czar; for very many years deeply in his confidence, andpossessing I believe his friendship to an extraordinary degree, it hasbeen my pleasure as well as my duty to serve my emperor in many secretways which our little world at St. Petersburg does not know orappreciate. The fact that I am at present an expatriate, as you have soaptly stated, is due to reasons which I need not explain, and which donot concern us just now. The fact that I am one, has stationed me inNew York by choice, and not by direction; but I thank God that I amhere to greet you upon your arrival because I hope by very plainspeaking to change a course you have determined upon, and to induceyou----"

  "Wait one moment, Saberevski. Don't you think that you are gettingrather beyond your depth? I appreciate all that you are trying sovainly to tell me. I know of your personal interest in me, and I honoryou and thank you for it. But it is not like Alexis Saberevski tohesitate over a statement he has decided to make, and if I am notmistaken you began this discourse with a determination to be frank.Might I suggest that you make yourself more plain?"

  "I have been called a diplomat of the first order, Zara," he replied,with a smile, "but your straight-forward methods, and my resolutepurpose, make my course of procedure somewhat difficult. I will,however, be entirely frank."

  "That is better."

  "Zara de Echeveria, Alexis Saberevski informs you now that he knows youto be high in the councils of the nihilists."

  Was there a suggestion of pallor for an instant upon the countenance ofthe princess? Was there a quick but imperceptible intaking of herbreath? Was there a deepening in the expression of her matchless eyes,and an imperceptible widening of them, as they dwelt upon hercompanion? Was there a stiffening of her figure in its attitude ofquiet repose, and did her muscles attain a sudden rigidity, induced bythat startling announcement? Saberevski could not have answered any oneof these questions. So perfectly were the features and the facialexpression of Princess Zara under her control that she outwardlybetrayed no sign of the effect of the announcement. And yet it mightwell have affected her most deeply; might have startled her even into acry of terror; should have filled her with instant fear, because thisman who made it was one, who in his former official capacity could havecondemned almost any person in Russia to exile by a gesture, or a word.And Zara did not doubt that his official capacity still obtained. Sheknew him to be an expatriate as she had announced. She understood thatfor some reason, not apparent, he had become a voluntary exile from hisnative country and city, and might never again return to the scenes heloved best. But she also knew that he was no less closely in theconfidence of the Russian emperor, and could never be any the lessinimical to the enemies of the czar. A statement such as he had made,coming from him, charging her with complicity in revolutionary actswhich had for their object the assassination of the Russian ruler andhis possible successors, contained an implied threat more terrible inits consequences than any other one which could have been made; moreterrible to her, personally, than to any other person against whom itmight have been made, because she knew by the experiences of one of hergirl friends, to what extremities of mental and moral torture aSiberian exile may be condemned.

  She made no reply. She remained perfectly motionless and silent,waiting for him to continue.

  "You need not deny me, Zara, for I know," he went on presently. "Howthe knowledge came to me does not matter, and has no connection withthis interview. But I know. That knowledge has created the duty which Ihave come to you to-day to perform. I want you to abandon your presentpursuits. Whatever the purpose of your visit to America may be, I begthat you will forego it. I do not seek any confession, or even astatement from you, upon this subject. Indeed I should prefer that youmake none. You cannot please me better than by listening to me insilence, so that when I leave you presently, you will know and I willknow, that I will have no more knowledge concerning you and yourentanglements with those people, than I possessed before I came. Iwould have it that way. I would have it no other way."

  She nodded her head, gazing at him intently, but with that samechangeless expression of impersonal interest, as if she were listeningto the discussion of a third party who was not known to her save byname._"Zara," he continued, "you will receive other cards than mine to-day,and you should know that every man or woman who will call upon you inbehalf of the nihilists, is marked and known. You cannot engage in thebusiness that brought you here, and afterward return to Russia insafety. The secret police of our empire extends all over the world, andis as efficient in the city of New York, as it is in Moscow or St.Petersburg, so far as its requirements demand. I warn you, not inbehalf of your party, the principals of which I despise and abhor; notin behalf of any individual member of that revolutionist sect,
butwholly in behalf of Zara de Echeveria, the daughter of my best friend,the offspring of the only woman I ever loved. To-day while I talk toyou, I am not Alexis Saberevski the friend of the czar, but I am AlexisSaberevski _your_ friend. I have stepped outside my duty; I have takenit upon myself to come here to perform what may be a disloyal act to myemperor, in order to warn you against a course which can have but oneend, and which can bring you to but one fate--Siberia."

  He left his chair and stood beside her. He reached down and took one ofher hands, pressing it between the palms of both his own.

  "Zara," he said, with deep-toned feeling, "in some ways you are like adaughter to me; in others you are the reincarnation of the woman Iloved so dearly. I love you for yourself, and for the sake of those twowho gave you life. I shall never plead with you again. My duty willprobably nevermore call me into your presence. When we part this day,it is likely to be for the last time. If danger befalls you because ofthe conditions you create through this entanglement, I cannot go toyour rescue, or even to your assistance. I speak to you as with a voicefrom the grave, beseeching you in the names of your father and mother,to heed what I have said."

  "You have forgotten----" She began impetuously to answer, but heunclasped one hand from hers, long enough to make a warning gesture,and enunciated the one word: "Hush! Remember, Zara, you are not tospeak until I have finished, and then upon a different subject. But Iwill answer your unspoken thought, for I read it in your manner. I havenot forgotten your little friend Yvonne; nor Stanislaus, her brother.Indeed, my child, this very scene reminds me of it, and renders all themore imperative the duty I am seeking to perform. Let the terrible fateof that poor girl appeal to you. Let the awful end of Stanislaus be awarning. Vengeance should have no part or place in your heart, eventhough you believe that they cry out to you from their graves toundertake it. But they do not do that, Zara, and if either or both ofthem could speak now, they would voice the sentiments I have expressed,and emphasize the warnings I have given. Go back to your home in St.Petersburg, my child, and leave politics alone. Alexander, the czar,admires you and esteems you, but I who am his friend, warn you that theadmiration and esteem of monarchs can be no more relied upon than theshifting fogs of the Gulf of Finland."

  Again Princess Zara would have spoken, for her dark eyes lighted with asudden fire and she half started from her chair with an eagerness thatwas impetuously expressive. But Saberevski retained his clasp upon herhands, and without seeming to do so, restrained her where she was;after a moment he added:

  "Now, if you please we will change the subject. My duty as I saw it,has been performed, and nothing remains to be said. In a few moments Iwill leave you, and when I do so, we will probably part for the lasttime. Now, Zara, tell me something about yourself."

  There was a suspicion of tears in her upturned eyes as she looked athim from out of their glowing depths, but she took him at his word, andwith a visible effort brought back the smile to her countenance as hereturned to his chair at the opposite side of the table.

  "There is little to tell you of myself, Saberevski," she replied, whilehe helped himself to another cigarette. "You know what my life is, eventhough you have been absent from home almost a year."

  "Yes," he said, smiling, "one round of pleasures, and of conquest.Adorers waiting for you on every hand; lovers perhaps----"

  "No; not lovers," she interrupted him. "There is no place for them,Saberevski," and a shade of sadness which he attributed to the memoryof Stanislaus, clouded her eyes for a moment. Had he but known however,it was no recollection of that young officer of the czar's household,to whom reference has already been made and to whom Zara was oncebetrothed, that affected her. It was a deeper and more far-reachingconsideration that brought the expression of pain for an instant intoher eyes, and she longed to cry out the truth to her companion, thenand there.

  Had she done so, her statement would have been something like this:

  "There is no room in my heart for a lover, for the reason that thecause I have espoused fills it completely. The people whose wrongs Iseek to redress, the victims whose wandering souls cry out forvengeance, and the women exiles in frozen Siberia whose fates are tooterrible to relate, fill my whole heart and being so completely as toleave no room for personal love."

  She would have said that, and much more, but she restrained herself;and he rose to take his departure.

  She gave him both her hands, and in a low tone that was full ofsuppressed feeling, she said to him, at parting:

  "Do not think, my friend, that I have failed to appreciate all thegoodness of your motives in coming to me to-day. From my heart I thankyou, and if it should be as you say, that we may never meet again,although I see no reason for such a thing, I wish you to know that inparting, Zara de Echeveria admired and esteemed you above all other menof her acquaintance. Good-bye."