"Slightly. We meet pretty often in hall," I answered, dryly.

"Oh, Mr. Aslehurst, what must you think of me? But I do love Edward, and I-I shall be so happy to see him at Pontresina. We are a model couple, and ever so contented. I-I thought that you admired Kitty Morison, she is such a dear, good girl; she has always been very independent and high-spirited-always said that she would never marrybut." Again she stopped, and I read in Mrs. Field's beautiful face the gist of a little romance that had, no doubt, been simmering in her brain ever since our meeting in the rain-swept pass of Stelvio.

Alas, how easily things go wrong! I had fallen in love with the wife instead of with the maid, thanks to Miss Kitty Morison's little freak. Betty-I must call her by the name I have called her always in my thoughts-Betty had allowed the freak to be indulged, and I was a broken-hearted man-for fully thirty-six hours.

But I could not in mere civility leave the two forlorn women to trudge together to Pontresina, especially now that I knew one of them was the wife of a brother barrister. By the time we reached our Alpine Mecca we were the best of friends again. Field turned up a day or two later, and I stayed on, for we all found four a pleasanter number than three in our mountain expeditions-and really, Kitty Morison-she has another name now-was and is a very pretty girl, and she is certainly much less independent than when I first made her acquaintance.

WAS eighteen years old, and was already for two years an ensign in the regiment of Paulovsky. The regiment was quartered in the great building that still exists on the other side of the Champ de Mars, fronting the Sum mer Garden. The Emperor, Paul I, was then reigning, and had been for three years. He resided in the Red Palace, which had just at that time been completed.

One night, after I don't remember what escapade, the leave of absence which I had asked for, in order to join a few comrades, was refused, and I remained in the barracks almost alone. I was aroused from my sleep by a voice that whispered in my ear: "Dimitri-Alexandrovitch, wake up and follow me!" I opened my eyes. A man was before

me, who repeated to me the invitation which he gave me while I was half asleep.

"Follow you!" said I; "where?"

"I cannot tell you. But take notice that the order comes from the Emperor!"

I trembled. From the Emperor! What in the world could he want with me, a poor ensign, of a good family, no doubt, but far too distant from the throne to allow the name to reach the Imperial ears. I recalled the sombre Russian proverb that came into existence in the days of Ivan The Terrible: "Close to the Czar, close to death!"

*Dumas states that the following thrilling story was told him on the ramparts of the Fortress of St. Petersburg by an old Russian officer. Translated by T. F. Williams, from the French, for Short Stories.Copyrighted.

But there was no help for it. I jumped out of bed and dressed myself. Then I looked with some attention at the man who had come to arouse me. All wrapped up, as he was, in his overcoat, I thought I recognized in him an old Turkish slave, at first the barber, and finally the favorite, of the Emperor. This examination, moreover, was brief. It might, perhaps, have been dangerous to prolong it.

"I am ready," said I, at the end of five minutes; and I buckled on my sword carelessly. My nervousness increased when I found that my guide, instead of taking the usual door of the barrack, descended through a little winding staircase into the lower portion of the immense building. He lighted the way with a sort of dark lantern. After several turns and detours, I found myself fronting a little door, the existence of which I had not known before. During all the route we met nobody. One would imagine that the building was deserted. Certainly I fancied that I saw one or two shadows pass, but they disappeared, or rather vanished in the obscurity.

The door in front of which we stood was closed. My guide knocked in a certain fashion, and it opened, evidently put in motion by a man who was waiting on the other side. As a matter of fact, when we passed through I saw distinctly, notwithstanding the darkness, a man, who closed the door again and followed us.

The passage in which we entered was a sort of subterrane, about eight feet wide, running through the soil whose humidity oozed through the brick walls.

At the end of about five hundred paces this passage was closed by an iron gate. My guide took a key from his pocket, opened the gate, and closed it behind us. We continued our route. Just then I commenced to recall the tradition according to which a subterraneous gallery existed between the Red Palace and the barracks of the Grenadiers of Paulovsky. I knew that we were in this gallery, and that, inasmuch as we had left the barracks, we were on our way to the Palace. We arrived in front of another door similar to the one through which we had passed in the first instance. My guide knocked at this door in the same manner that he had knocked at the other one, and it opened like the other, set in motion by a man on the inside. Here we found ourselves at the foot of a staircase, which we mounted.

It led to the lower apartment of a building; but, from the atmosphere, it was easy to discover that we were entering a well-warmed establishment. This building soon revealed the proportions of a palace. Then all my doubts ceased. They were bringing me into the presence of the Emperor, the Emperor who sent for me, an obscure ensign, almost hidden in the lower ranks of the Guard. I remembered the story of the young ensign whom he had noticed in the street and placed behind him in his carriage, appointing him successively in less than a quarter of an hour, lieutenant, captain, major, colonel and general; but I had no hope that he sent for me with the same intention. However, we arrived at last before another door, in front of which a sentinel was pacing up and down. My guide put his hand upon my shoulder and said to me, "Keep up your courage; you are going into the presence of the Emperor." Then he whispered something in the ear of the sentinel, and the latter moved to one side. My guide opened the door, not by putting the key in the lock, so far as I could see, but by some secret

means.

A man of small stature stood before me. He was dressed in a Prussian uniform, with boots that reached above his knees, and an overcoat that touched his spurs, and wore a gigantic three-cornered hat. I recognized him as the Emperor. It was not difficult; he reviewed us every day, and I remembered that at the review of the day before he fixed his eyes upon me, called my captain from the ranks, asked him some questions in almost a whisper, while looking at me, and then spoke to an officer of his staff in a tone in which one gives an absolute order. All that only increased my nervousness.

"Sire," said my guide, bowing, "this is the young ensign whom you desire to speak to."

The Emperor approached, and, as he was of small stature, he raised himself on the point of his toes to look at me. No doubt he recognized me as the man that he wanted, for he made a sign of approval with his head, and then whirled around, and said, "Go!" My guide bowed, went out, and left me alone with the Emperor. I assure you I would almost have preferred to be left alone in an iron cage with a lion.

His Majesty at first appeared to pay no attention to me.

He walked up and down, taking long steps, stopping now and then before a window with a single pane of glass, and opening it to breathe the fresh air. Then he returned to his table, upon which his snuff-box was placed, and took a pinch of snuff.

This was the window of his bed-chamber, the room in which he was afterward killed, and which, they say, has remained closed ever since. I had time to examine each portion of it, and each piece of furniture. Near one of the windows there was a desk, and on the desk a sheet of letter paper. At last the Emperor appeared to notice me. As he advanced toward me his face had a perfectly fiendish expression, although, in reality, that was only the result of his nervousness. He paused in front of me:

“Dust," said he, "you know that you are only dust, and that I am everything. I don't know how I had strength enough to reply: "You are the elected one of the Lord, the arbiter of the destiny of men."

He grunted, and, turning his back upon me, began once more to pace the room, and, after opening the window as before and taking another pinch of snuff, he returned to me for the second time.

"And you know, too," said he, "that when I command, I must be obeyed implicitly without observation and without comment."

"Just as one would obey God; yes, Sire; I know that."

He gazed at me. In his eyes there was such a strange expression that I could not stand his glance. He seemed pleased with the influence that he exercised over me. Then he went over to his desk, took up the letter, read it carefully, folded it, put it in an envelope, and sealed this envelope, not with the Imperial seal, but with a ring which he wore on his finger. Then he returned to me.

"Remember," said he, "that I have chosen you out of a thousand to execute my orders, because I have thought that by you they would be well executed."

"I will always have in my mind the obedience that I owe to my Emperor," said I.

"Very well. Remember that you are only dust, and that I am everything!"

"I await the orders of your Majesty."