One Eventful Night

"Michael," said his majesty at last, "give me the order to which Mr.
Derrington refers." I knew then that I had won, and while the prince
tremblingly produced it, I waited. The czar passed it to me with the
words, "You may destroy it, Mr. Derrington," and then added: "Prince
Michael, you will retire to your apartments and remain there until I
send for you. I will spare you the indignity of an arrest until I know
more. Go!"

I did not look at the prince as he left the room, and I have always
regretted it, for if I had done so and had I seen the agony that must
have been written on his face I might have saved him. I did not believe
the charge against him when I made it, and there was no such thing as a
direction to any of my men to arrest him. I charged him with complicity
with the nihilists solely to get rid of him, and by that means to save
myself and Zara, knowing that later I could save him, also; that he
would ultimately forgive me, and that I could bring the emperor to
regard it as a most excellent joke, for the czar dearly loved a joke if
it were at the expense of some other person. Indeed I intended before I
left the emperor's presence, partially to allay his fears concerning
the prince by assuring him that my information amounted to nothing more
than a mere suspicion which had been strengthened by his effort to
detain me in the palace. But events demonstrated the fact that in
making the charge I had builded better than I knew. I loved the prince,
and that episode is one of the greatest regrets of my life. If ever a
man was guilty without crime, he was. But I anticipate.