tool. You know he will not; all Europe knows it, and knows too that the only chance for Bulgaria's real independence is that he shall remain on the throne here. And remain he shall, I swear, by the great God they all profess to worship, in spite of all their crafty intrigue and bloodthirsty plotting. And yet, mark you, the worst danger lies not with them, but with the fools and traitors in Bulgaria itself whom they delude or suborn. There is not a self-interest to which they do not appeal, from the ambition of the fool to the corruptness of the knave. And God knows, both knaves and fools are plentiful enough here."
"And their scheme?" I asked, moved by her intense earnestness.
She looked at me sharply.
"Then you do wish to hear it?" she asked, referring to my former protest. "You shall. There is a woman—a seemingly innocent, soft-natured thing, all sweetness and grace, but a devil; with the beauty of an angel and the heart of a vampire—a devil."
Her fury was instant, overwhelming, absorbing.
"Did they propose marrying her to your Prince?" I asked, making a shot.
She darted at me a swift glance that might have been winged with hate at the mere suggestion. Then her eyes changed, and she laughed and said softly:
"You are the man for us. Calm as a sword and as sharp as the point. Yes, they dared even that—but I was in the way. In another woman's hands they thought he might have been won round. But rather than see him the husband of that fiend, Christina, I myself would have plunged a dagger into his heart—and they guessed this, I suppose, and changed the plan. She is the Princess of Orli, as probably you
