fields till you strike the road. I must go in the cart with Mademoiselle Broumoff, if she is brave enough to risk this for the Princess;" and I looked at her eagerly.
"I will do anything," she assented readily.
"It will make them think that only we six were in the house here; that Mademoiselle Broumoff is the Princess, and that we are making the rush to escape after the fight just now."
"I cannot consent to that," said Christina earnestly. "You will be going to certain capture."
I drew her aside from the rest to urge her, and Zoiloff, understanding things with the quick instinct of a friend, led them out of the room on the plea of hastening the preparations.
As soon as we were alone she threw off all reserve, putting her hands on my shoulders and gazing at me with glowing eyes.
"Do you press me to do this?" she pleaded.
"I must; it is your only hope of safety, and a desperate one at the best."
"You love me—Gerald?"
At the sound of my name, spoken prettily in tremulous hesitation, I felt the blood rush to my face.
"With my whole heart," I cried hoarsely.
"Do not send me from you, then; I urge you, by our love. Let us face what has to come together. I could meet death with you, but without you I am a coward. I cannot go."
"You must go, Christina," I said in a low voice, and scarcely steadier than her own.
"It is sending you to death, Gerald. I cannot do it. I could not live if harm came to you through me."
"No such harm as that can come. But, for God's sake, think. If we remain together now it can be but
