"You know who she is?"

"The daughter of one of the Russian Consuls over here, I understood."

"She is more than that," Maggie declared nervously. "She is the
inspiration of the President himself. She is the most vital force in
Russian politics. She is the woman whom I wanted you to know, to whom I
told you that I wished you to pay attentions. And now that you know her,
I am afraid."

"Where did you meet her?" he asked curiously.

"We were at school together in Paris. She was two years older than I,
but she stayed there until she was twenty. Afterwards we met in
Florence."

Nigel was greatly interested.

"Somehow or other, nothing that you can tell me about her surprises me,"
he admitted. "She has the air of counting for great things in the world.
She is very beautiful, too."

"She is beautiful enough," Maggie replied, "to have turned the head of
the great Paul Matinsky himself. They say that he would give his soul to
be free to marry her. As it is, she is the uncrowned Tsarina of Russia."

Nigel frowned slightly.

"Isn't that going rather a long way?" he objected.