Sudden darkness fell upon the room. Sonia Danidoff hesitated for a moment and then half rose in the bath. All her pride as a great lady was in revolt. If she must defend her honour and her life, she was ready to do so, and despair would give her strength; but in any event she would be better out of the water, and on her feet, prepared. The darkness was complete, both in the bathroom and in the adjacent bedroom, and the silence was absolute. Standing up in the bath, Sonia Danidoff swept her arms round in a circle to feel for any obstacle. Her touch met nothing. She drew out one foot, and then the other, sprang towards the chair on which she had left her dressing-gown, slipped into it with feverish haste, slid her feet into her slippers, stood motionless for just a second and then, with sudden decision, moved to the switch by the door and turned on the light.
The man had gone from the bathroom, but taking two steps towards her bedroom Sonia Danidoff saw him smiling at her from the far end of that room.
“Sir,” she said, “this—pleasantry—has lasted long enough. You must go. You shall, you shall!”
“Shall?” the stranger echoed. “That is a word that is not often used to me. But you are forgiven for not knowing that, Princess. I forgot for the moment that I have not been presented to you. But what is in your mind now?”
Between them was a little escritoire, on the top of which was lying the tiny inlaid revolver that Sonia Danidoff always carried when she went out at night. Could she but get that into her hands it would be a potent argument to induce this stranger to obey her. The Princess also knew that in the drawer of that escritoire which she could actually see half open, she had placed, only a few minutes before going in to her bath, a pocketbook filled with banknotes for a hundred and twenty thousand francs, money she had withdrawn from the strongroom of the hotel that very morning in order to meet some bills next day. She looked at the drawer and wondered if the pocketbook was still there, or if this mysterious admirer of hers was only a vulgar hotel thief after all. The man had followed her eyes to the revolver.
“That is an unusual knickknack to find in a lady’s room, Princess,” and he sprang in front of her as she was taking a step towards the escritoire, and took possession of the revolver. “Do not be alarmed,” he added, noticing her little gesture of terror. “I would not do you an injury for anything in the world. I shall be delighted to give this back to you in a minute, but first let me render it harmless.” He deftly slipped the six cartridges out of the barrel and then handed the now useless weapon to the Princess with a gallant little bow. “Do not laugh at my excess of caution: but accidents happen so easily!”
It was in vain that the Princess tried to get near her escritoire to ascertain if the drawer had been tampered with: the man kept between her and it all the time, still smiling, still polite, but watching every movement that she made. Suddenly he took his watch from his pocket.
“Two o’clock! Already! Princess, you will be vexed with me for having abused your hospitality to such an extent. I must go!” He appeared not to notice the sigh of relief that broke from her, but went on in a melodramatic tone. “I shall take my departure, not through the window like a lover, nor up the chimney like a thief, nor yet through a secret door behind the arras like a brigand of romance, but like a gentleman who has come to pay his tribute of homage and respect to the most enchanting woman in the world—through the door!” He made a movement as if to go, and came back. “And what do you think of doing now, Princess? Perhaps you will be angry with me? Possibly some unpleasant discovery, made after my departure, will raise some animosity in your breast against me? You might even ring, directly my back is turned, and alarm the staff, merely to embarrass me in my exit, and without paying any attention to the subsequent possible scandal. That is a complicated arrangement of bells and telephones beside your bed! It would be a pity to spoil such a pretty thing, and besides, I hate doing unnecessary damage!” The Princess’s eyes turned once more to the drawer: it was practically certain that her money was not there now! But the man broke in again upon her thoughts. “What can I be thinking of? Just fancy my not having presented myself to you even yet! But as a matter of fact I do not want to tell you my name out loud: it is
