Part 50 (1/1)

”We roiftly up the river,--the tide was near flood,--and I waited in the boat while they went to Selinski's; Yossof had given them the key They found his paper, with all the evidences of his treachery to the League and to her Selinski came in at the moment when their task was finished, and Stepan stabbed him to the heart It was not her wish; she would have spared hih he was! Well, it is all one now

They are all gone; she and Stepan,--and my master--”

”He is dead, then?”

”Should I be here if he were living? No, they did not kill him I think he really died when she did,--that his soul passed, as it were, with hers; though he n, as you know I found hi, sitting at the table where she used to write, his head on his arms,--so He was dead and cold,--and I thanked God for it There was a smile on his face--”

His deep voice broke for the first time, and he sat silent for a space,--and I did

”And so,--I came away,” he resumed presently ”I have come to you, because he loved you It was not his wish, but hers, that you should be deceived, made use of I think she felt it as a kind of justice that she should press you into the service of the Cause,--as she meant to do from the moment she heard of you And it was quite easy, since you never suspected that she was not the Fraulein you knew, and loved--_hein_? She herself, too, had borne the burden so long, had toiled, and schemed, and suffered for the Cause; while this sister had always been shi+elded; knew nothing, cared nothing for the Cause,--though, indirectly, she had suffered soh that mistake on the part of Selinski's accoive her lover to the Cause; that was the thought in her e her too harshly, my friend!”

”God forbid!” I said huskily

All that was over a year ago, and now, -table by a westernand watch the sun, a clear red ball, sink into the Atlantic We are at Pencarrow, for Anthony Pendennis has at last returned to his own house He is my father-in-la, for Anne and I werehoneymoon to Pencarrow We found Mishka settled on a farland all his life He speaks English quite creditably,--with a Cornish accent,--and I hear that it won't be long before the far to change her present name of Stiddyford for that of Pavloff

We are quite a family party just now, for Jim and Mary Cayley and the baby,--a smart little chap; I'm his Godfather,--have come down to spend Easter; and Mr and Mrs Treherne will drive over fro in that direction panned out exactly as she wished

All is ith us,--pleasant and peaceful, and homelike,--and yet--

I look at a miniature that lies on the table before ettable past I am far away from Pencarrohen--some one comes behind my chair; a pair of soft hands are laid over hs Anne

I take the hands in mine, and draw her down till she has her chin on ainst h it she sees the glint of the diamonds on the table,--and pulls her hands away

”You have been thinking of those dreadful days in Russia again!” she says reproachfully, with a queer little catch in her voice ”Why don't you forget theether, Maurice? Let me put this in the drawer I hate to look at it,--to see you looking at it!”

She picks up the h, slips it into a drawer, and turns the key

”I--I know it's horrid ofbeside me, her fair face upturned,--a face crowned once ht hair, which she dresses in a different way now, and I'lad of that It makes her look less like her dead sister

[Illustration: _Soe 354]

”I kno--she--suffered, and--and I'ainst her, really,” she continues rapidly ”But when I think of all we had to suffer because of her, I--I can't quite forgive her, or--or forget that you loved her once; though you thought you were loving me all the time!”

”I did love you all the time, sweetheart,” I assure her, and that is true; but it is true also that I still love that dead woman as I loved her in life; not as I love Anne, e loved the queen

I shall never tell that to Anne, though She would not understand

THE END