Olga Romanoff

she unpacked from her valise a series of articles which seemed strange possessio

e obtained. Then a delicate pair of scales, a glass pestle and mortar, and a couple of glass liquid-measures, and lastly, half a dozen

er dress a gold chain, at the end of which was fastened, together with the key of the secret recess in the wall of the turret chamber of the house at Hampstead, a small bag of silk, out of wh

of her, keeping it unrolled by means of a couple of little[54] weights, and studied it intently for several minutes. Then

st performing a delicate and important experiment, she proceeded to weigh out tiny quantities of the powders, and to mix them very carefully in the little

ctitude, mixing them two and two, and adding this mixture to a third, and so on, in a certain order which was eviden

ess, of a specific gravity apparently considerably in excess of that of water, although, at the same time, it was extremely mobile and

that couple of ounces of harmless looking fluid! If anyone could see me just now, I fancy they would

this, too, will take a man out of the world so easily that not even he himself will know that he is g

5

not just yet; and as for you, my Alan, you are far too splendid, too glorious a man to be killed, to say

d a faint, pleasant perfume began to diffuse itself. She stopped her soliloquy, measured off exactly half of the

y stirring the mixture with a glass rod. It gradually assumed the consistency of thick syrup, and after stirring i

anxious features, she caught sight of herself in a mirror let into the wall on the opposite side of the table. She st

ged with blood across the dark lustre of her dusky eyes. It seemed as though the light that she had called forth from the darkness had melted the b

, and, with a quick half-turn, screwed it hermetically down. Then she turned the heat of the furnace on to the full, rose from her chair, and s

ect picture presented by the reflection, and then her tightly-c

that one? I don't think I should have taken my trip in the air-ship to-morrow if he had done. Well, I

ucrezia Borghia. Ah, well, if mine is lost, it shall be lost for something worth the exchang

ng is so near. I must get some sleep to-night, or my ey

y decanted into a tiny flask, over the stopper of which she screwed a silver cap that had a little ring on the top, and this she hung on the c

n, waited five minutes longer, and then extinguished the furnace, undressed, and got into bed, and in half an hour was sleeping as

reamless, and her dreams were well fitted to be thos

5

avens, and a host of brilliant stars glittering out of the deep-blue depths beyond it. Far below them lay an unbroken cloud-sea of dazzling

ral curve, and plunged through the noiseless billows of the shadowy sea

reflected itself on the under surface of the clouds; now the air-ship swept hither and thither with bewildering rapidity, like the incarnation of some fearful spirit of destruction. A

raised her hand, the motion was followed within a few seconds by a shaking of the atmosphere, a dull roar from

to sound like echoes in the distance, and when the landscape of her dreamland took definite shape again, the air-ship was hovering over a vast, oval valley, walle

it, the Fires di

lm of[58] imagination than to the world of reality. A great lake lay in the centre, its emerald shores lined

ns, and divided from each other by broad, straight streets, smooth as ivory and spotless as snow,

ed by a great golden dome, which in turn was crowned by the silver shape of a woman with great spreading wings, which blaze

den corn fields stretched away over hill and vale, until the most remote were met by the cool, dark forests which clothed the middle slopes of the all-encircling mountains, and themselves gave place hi

be controlled, and it faded from her sight just as the picture of death and desolation had done. As it faded away, Alan,

last glimpse of heaven.

silence through the gloom, which was so dense that it seemed to cast the rays of the ship's electric lights back upon her as she floated amidst i

before it; and Olga saw the air-ship floating near enough to the earth for her to see that all its vegetation was withe

ed fields of the open country, ever and anon stretching their hands as though in appeal up to the dark, mo

fire, from the rim of which shot forth great flames of every colour, some of which seemed to descend to the surface of the earth like long

ny of mankind were past. The light of the blazing globe grew more and more dazzling, and the heat more and more intense. The speed of the air-ship slackened

ight seemed to sweep through her brain, and she woke with a choking gasp of terror, with the chimes of her watc

tly warmed all night by the electric conduction-stoves, which were then in almost universal use, she only

light of the lamp was reflected as though from a mirror. With hands that trembled slightly, in spite of the great effort she ma

one as though with an inherent, light-giving power of its own. She held it up admiringly to the light, and s

, it is an elixir capable of dissolving the souls of men. Ah, my proud Masters of the World, we

and that proud, strong soul of yours shall melt away like a snowflake under warm rain, and yo

nd found the Elixir of Death,-death of the body or of the soul, as the possessor of i

6

y poured the contents of the measure, screwed the cap on as before, and hung it with the other on the chain round her neck. Then, woman-like, she tur

ce woman first delighted in gems,-a necklace that all the

she had been engaged in, then she threw off her cloak and turned the lamp out and got int

he world-wide empire which she believed to be now almost within her grasp. In all these visions, two figures stood out prominently-those o

In the past, Natasha had won the love of the man whose genius had made possible, nay, irresistible, the triumph of that revolution which h

he man descended not only from Natasha and[62] Richard Arnold, but also from that Alan Tremayne whose name he bore, an

vert, at her bidding, into an empire such as she longed to rule over,-an empire in which men should be her slaves and wome

aders of the Terror had overthrown the despotisms of the Old World; why should not she employ the self-same force to seat herself, with the man she loved in spite of all her hereditary

glories to come, she lay in a kind of ecstasy, until a knock at the door warne

robe of royal purple, and self-composed as though she had passed the night in the most innocent and dreamless of slumbers. She submitted to his greeting kiss

ght shone in her eyes, as the thought possessed her, that not many hours would pass before a far nobler lover would[63] take her

over, took the blush to himself, and

aid that what happened yesterday, and your conversation with that golden-winged braggart from Aeria, would have sufficiently disturbed you

into her eyes, and again Serge mistook the sign, as indeed he might well have done; and so he entirely mistook the mea

a delightful journey and the making of such pleasant acquaintances? Do you not think the Fates have favoured us beyond our wild

n at me like that, because you know as well as I do, that in that

o hands upon his shoulder, and went on looking u

ber that in diplomacy, and diplomacy alone, lies our only chance of advantage in the

6

anoff that you are; but for the present-well, you know these Aerians are men, and where diplomacy alone is in the

een his hands, put her head back, and

, but for ever. You are wiser than I am in t

lver salver. He placed it on the table, told them that breakfast would be ready for them in t

Our own feelings concern ourselves alone, but in our outward conduct we owe something to the sacred cause which we both have at h

I can bring myself to appear complaisant, surely it is not too much to ask you to look upon it with indifference,

pear agreeable to them, even as I shall; and above all things, promise me that you will fall in with any

veins, that[65] if I can only carry through, without any let or hindrance, the plans that I have already form

which made suspicion impossible. All his life he had grown up to look upon her as sharing with him the one hope that was left of res

brain of an ambitious woman had ever conceived? Intoxicated by her beauty and the memory of his lifelong l

our lips I will swear to trust you alway

ted that his resolve was thrice strengthened by it, and

our sacred cause to the end, cost what it may! Come, it