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 said quickly, "for nothing would please me better than to have you enrolled on our side!"

He paused to let this, his first argument—an appeal to my fears—have due weight, and watched me keenly to note results. Apparently he was not too well satisfied with them.

"You have probably asked yourself why I am anxious, as I confess I am, that you should be with us, and yet if you reflect you will readily understand the reason. I have told you that there are but two courses open to a man who mixes in politics here. He must take a side. There is no possible alternative—no possible alternative. Well, I know much about you—more than you think, and I do not wish that a man who has shown such courage as you, on other occasions than to-day," he put in meaningly, "who has those parts of head and heart that carry a man far in troubled times like these; a man wealthy, daring, shrewd, honorable, ambitious, resourceful, and bound to wield influence, should enter the lists against me. Such a man must make a leader, and these Bulgars readily follow when the right man leads. It is all against our cause that such qualities should be devoted to the service of a craven Prince."

"You speak with great frankness."

He smiled and raised his eyebrows, giving a slight toss of the head.

"I can be frank with perfect safety. You are in my power, Count."

"I have the word of Princess Christina"

"I do not mean in this house, I mean in this country," he interposed. "If you do not know the reach of my hands, it is time you learnt it. No man crosses this frontier without my knowledge, and no one re