"
"You have my word--no harm shall come to him."
"I doubt not your excellency's word," firmly and decidedly responded
Cecil, "your word is all-powerful, and when you let your commanding
voice be heard, all Russia trembles and bows before you. But here your
voice resounds only between these walls, and nobody hears it but I
alone. Give me an evidence of your word--a safety-pass, signed by your
own hand, for my master, and then destroy the order for his arrest which
you now hold!"
"Ah, it seems you would prescribe conditions?" said the count, proudly.
"Certainly I will," said Cecil. "I have complied with your conditions,
and now it is your turn, Sir Count, to comply with mine, for you knew
them before!"
A dark glow of anger showed itself in the count's face, and,
passionately starting up, he approached Cecil, raising his arm
threateningly against him.
"Sir Count," said Cecil, stepping back, "you mistake! I am no Russian
serf, I am a free man, and no one has a right so to threaten me!"
The count had already let his arm fall, seeming suddenly to have changed
his mind, and in a more friendly manner he said:
"You are right, Cecil, and what you desire shall be done.
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