Part 32 (2/2)
She paused, and then added, forcing out each word with a pa.s.sion of distilled hate----
”But you shall never have him! He shall be mine! Mine! Mine, in the grave!”
CHAPTER XXII
A PERILOUS MOMENT
I lay with every nerve strained to its utmost tension, listening for the least movement on the part of the maddened woman which might indicate she was about to stab me then and there.
In the silence that followed, if she did not hear the beating of my heart it was only because her own stormy emotions had rendered her deaf and blind to everything else.
For a time her rapid breathing continued to warm my uncovered neck.
Then she snapped-to the locket and let it fall, and rose from my side to pace the floor of the room with swift, irregular steps.
Fauchette, who must have been anxious to know how I was faring, now came back without waiting to be summoned.
”Well?” the Princess demanded, halting in her promenade.
”Gregory has gone for M. Petrovitch, Madame. Is there anything I can do?”
”I have tried every restorative,” came the answer. ”See if you can detect any signs of life.”
The last command seemed to come as an afterthought. No doubt, Sophia wished to test her work before Petrovitch arrived.
I was encouraged to think that she had no immediate intention of killing me; and as the maid bent over me I contrived to give her hand a rea.s.suring squeeze.
”He is quite dead, Madame,” the girl said, turning away. ”Would you like to have the body carried into another room?”
”No. Wait till M. Petrovitch comes,” her mistress replied. ”You can go.”
As my a.s.sistant withdrew I again became on the alert for any dangerous move on the part of the Princess.
It was not long before I was conscious that the room had grown darker.
I gathered that Sophia had switched off some of the lights in order to make it more difficult for Petrovitch to detect her fraud, and again I took courage.
Some muttered words helped me to understand the plan of the desperate woman.
”I will give him one chance. He shall choose. Men do not die for love in these days.”
There was little doubt that she intended to lock me up in her oratory and hold me a prisoner till I consented to sacrifice my faith to her j.a.panese rival.
Satisfied that there was little risk of any immediate violence, I waited calmly for the arrival of Sophia's colleague, or master.
The head of the Manchurian Syndicate lost no time on the way. Very soon I heard the door open and the familiar voice, with its slightly affected accent, saying,
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