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 friend here, or if you dared to thrust him into a prison, that I would ever make a marriage that at the best must be hateful to me?"

"This friendship of yours threatens to be exceedingly inconvenient; and if you mean to allow it to interfere with urgent matters of State, we may as well abandon all our plans, or look for some other means of carrying them out."

"If a policy of murder is your only alternative, I agree with you," she exclaimed, taking up his challenge instantly. "I will not have the steps of my throne running with blood shed by Russia."

He bit his lip in chagrin and manifest embarrassment.

He might well be embarrassed. He had fired his two big guns—a threat first to withdraw from her cause and then to throw her over—and had found them both burst at the breech. A long pause followed, in which I watched his face closely. He appeared to come suddenly to a fresh decision, and changed his manner accordingly.

"Well, I am sorry to have distressed you, Princess. What is it you wish?"

"I will not have Count Benderoff, or any of my friends, subjected to interference at the hands of your agents. Their personal freedom and safety are my special charge."

"The Count is at liberty to leave," he replied on the instant, in his more customary curt, decisive tone. "And I trust his future actions will not bring him again in conflict with me. He may take this as a warning."

"I have done nothing in this case, and need no warning," I said warmly. "If you allege anything