Chapter XII: The Princess Seeks My Advice

The exhausted commander sleeps soundly. Only the sentinels and I are on watch. I shall begin now to relate the saddest experience of all my life. This experience is the principal excuse for my writing this confession. May she who caused me to wander, an exile in a foreign land, remember that she was the involuntary participator in that action which will remain a source of regret and reproach to the end of my life.

It was at Bologna, to which place the count had removed.

The Princess had desired to see me. She kindly invited me to be seated, and took a chair herself. I noticed again those two hectic spots on her cheeks, that her eyes were literally glowing, and that she seemed quite beside herself.

“Lieutenant, I sent for you to confide in you a secret,” she said, throwing an anxious glance around.

“I am all attention, your Highness, and you may trust me,” I answered.

“The count starts to-morrow for Livorno. Did you know it?”

“Yes,” I answered.

“You see, there has been a quarrel there, and a fight between some English and Russian sailors, and the count wishes to invite his friend, the English consul, a Mr. Dickson, to settle the matter.”

“Well! what about that?” I said. “That’s nothing important; it will soon be arranged, and the count will return.”

“He has asked me to go with him.… What if I refuse? If I don’t accompany him? What do you think? He’ll not desert me, as all the others have done, and disappear for ever?”

“Oh! but why not go?” answered I, following the idea of the count. “It’s a simple promenade. Why not accompany the count? The weather is splendid. It could only be a pleasure trip for you both.”

“Yes,” she answered thoughtfully, “I should very much like to see the town and your fleet; the count praises his sailors so highly.”

“Well, and what is there to prevent your going?” I said thoughtfully. “Yes,” I said to myself, “it would seem that the count is very persistent. He won’t leave her alone for a single instant.”

“Ah! yes! I was forgetting,” said the Princess, as though collecting her thoughts.

Looking at her, I could see that her eyes were full of tears, her lips trembling, and that, though looking at me, she seemed not to see me.

“Listen!” she said reluctantly. “You’re an honest man.… The count has made me an offer of marriage--has proposed to me. What do you think of it?”

I rose respectfully.

“Allow me to congratulate you from the bottom of my heart,” I said earnestly, bowing. “Your merit has triumphed over everything. But there is nothing wonderful in that.”

“But will he not deceive me? Will he not betray me?” whispered the Princess, again glancing around.

Her very lips were blanched; she was quite beside herself.

“Tell me the whole truth, I implore you! You see, following his advice, I carry no arms upon me; it offends him.…”

It flashed through my mind that just during this very journey the count might persuade her to marry him.

“But, your Highness,” said I, and those fatal words burn now in my brain like letters of fire, “what do you fear? The count is madly in love with you, that I know surely. He sleeps but to see you in his dreams; even, he wanted to fly away with you.”

“Then it is the truth? Swear by the memory of your mother, of your father,” said she, squeezing my hand with all her might.

“In the name of God, it is true! I heard it from his own lips. He honoured me with his confidence. Besides, what am I in his eyes? Nothing; the meanest servant, the merest cipher, … and yet he told even me openly.…”

The Princess fixed her eyes on the image of the Saviour crowned with thorns hung up in the corner of the room, and she remained motionless for several minutes, as though breathing a silent and fervent prayer.

“The brave alone live!” said she, rising and drawing herself up to her full height. “Once his wife, he cannot betray me.… I shall go.… But, remember, I’ll not give up either liberty or heart without a struggle.… What is to happen will happen soon.…”

I again heartily congratulated the Princess.

“Ah! another thing, Konsov,” she said, stopping me. “Tell me truly, in all conscience, as before God, is it this same Orloff who helped your empress to obtain the throne?”

“The very same.”

“How brave! how gallant! what a hero!” said the Princess, with animation. “Fearless Cid! Bayard! A spark of God’s Spirit gives such men their bravery and their fearlessness.”

I went away full of joy at the successful issue of our plan. Still I had certain misgivings. “Does the Princess know of his other feat? Why did I not tell her of that other dark, unpardonable sin?” I was only faithful to my duty, obeyed the orders of my superior, but could not help pitying the woman.

Heavy doubts overwhelmed me, and all night I could not shut my eyes. “Duty is duty, but, if--? Should I go to-morrow morning,” whispered my conscience, “and warn her? There’s time; let her think well, weigh everything, and then decide.”

When dawn broke, I got up, dressed, and hastened to the house of the count. Before the house quite a crowd of people had collected. Carriages were driving to and fro. I made my way through the throng. The count and Princess had already taken their seats in a carriage. Christianok was seated in another. Some of the servants occupied a third.

“Make haste, Konsov! Take your place. We were only waiting for you!” Unconsciously almost I took my place by Christianok.

The train started. After the heavy rain, the morning had emerged into a beautiful calm.

“What do you see in all this?” Christianok asked me, when we had fairly started.

“In what?”

“Well, in this little _voyage_?”

“I really do not know, and dare not guess,” I answered.

“Well, to-morrow there will be a bridal couple,” he said, and smiled. “They’ll be married.”

“But where’s the church?”

“What is the Fleet church for? They’ll get on the Admiralty ship, and there be spliced in a trice. But of course it was only for that she consented to go.…”

“Then it _is_ true?”

“Well! don’t you see it yourself? The count seems to be on wings; it seemed too good to be true. So, you see, the fairy tale will soon become a true event.”

At Livorno, the Count Orloff was met by the commander of our squadron, Admiral Samuel Carlovitch Greig. Afterwards the count and Princess paid him a visit, and then called on the English consul, drove out with him, his wife, and a whole circle of visitors into the country, and then went for a sail in boats with music; everywhere they were followed by a curious mob. In the evening of the second day of their arrival at Livorna, the count and the Princess went to the opera. On their return, I noticed in the vestibule of the splendid marble palace assigned to the count another intriguing Greek also serving in our fleet, Joseph Michaelevitch Ribas, or, as he called himself, De Ribas. He also somewhat resembled Christianok, being as black as a beetle; but being taller and not so nimble, we used to call the pair of them the Beetle and Cockchafer. De Ribas, as I afterwards learnt, had been engaged even sooner than I or Christianok, having been sent to Venice to collect information about the Princess.

“Good-bye, priest,” said the count to Ribas, laughing and not noticing me. “Mind, don’t forget the vestments.”

“Vestments, … and why priest?” I stood under the marble colonnade bewildered, lost in thought, hardly seeing the lovely blue boundless sea and our squadron.