Another embarrassing pause followed, in which she let her eyes glance toward me and rest a moment on my face, with an effect I cannot describe. In an instant it seemed as if all my doubts of her sincerity dropped from me like a cloak. I felt absolutely assured, not only of her purity and truth, but of my own complete safety in trusting her, and with an impulse that was as irresistible as it was instantaneous, I cut the knot of the difficulty.
I picked up the fallen sword, left my place by the door, and handed it back to the owner.
He flashed a curse at me out of his eyes that I should have been the cause and witness of his humiliation, and muttered in a tone too low to reach other ears than mine, as he bent his head in sheathing the weapon:
"I will find you out, sir."
"Count Benderoff, Hôtel de l'Europe," I whispered, meeting his look with one as stern as his own, and then stood aside for him and his companion to pass out of the room.
The Princess waited in silence until the door had closed behind them, and then addressed me:
"Why have you come to bring your quarrels here, sir?"
"I think I can best explain" began Major Zankoff.
"I have asked this gentleman for his explanation, Major," she broke in, and I liked her calm assertion of authority.
"I have brought no quarrel here, Madame," and I explained very briefly the facts up to the moment of her entrance.
She bent her dark eyes on me during the recital, and
