The Queen's Advocate

I was lying on the flat of my back, my hands clasped under my head, thinking lazily, as I watched the glorious sunset amid the Gravenje hills--where the play of sunset colour is...

I had had to deal with worse trouble than this before, however, and to tackle far more dangerous men than the fellow who, having sounded the first note of rebellion, stood eyein...

The night hours sped away with only one incident to disturb us. I heard a strange noise which I could not locate nor understand, and as I stood listening intently Chris, within...

After that incident there was something of a change in the curious relations between us. She was just as imperious at times; but less patronising. She seemed to expect my servic...

That contest of wills, followed by my avowal that I was an American, marked another very distinct advance toward a better understanding between us. My companion’s interest was s...

I scrambled up leisurely, dropping my hand into the pocket where I had my revolver, and my fingers closed on it as I held it ready to shoot without drawing it out.

My first conscious sensation after the blow felled me was as singular as it was unpleasant. I seemed to be nothing but one huge head on which a hundred invisible smiths were ham...

We did not slacken speed until we had put some miles between us and the camp; and although at first I suffered abominable torture from the jolting, I had to keep on, and after a...

The crushing disappointment and the anxiety it caused, following on the fatigue of the long ride, aggravated the injury to my head so that I could scarcely keep in the saddle. I...

For an hour and more I was left to gnash my teeth in rage as I tore and struggled fruitlessly to loosen the cords that bound me. In that hour I endured the torments such as even...

Many of the village folk were still lounging in the street and the clatter of the horses’ heels brought out more to gape and stare in wonderment as we clattered past. We were ne...

I was forcing myself upon her in face of her remonstrance and pleading. “Her own will and wish and doing.” What was I but a coward to try and force her. The very air took up the...

As I stepped forward two persons who had been sitting apart from her rose and came quickly toward me. In my abstraction I had not noticed them; but I saw now that one was a prie...

I don’t know any place where money talks with such effect as in the southeast of Europe; and I made it talk for all it was worth during the week that I was getting ready to go t...

A large, long room on the first floor of a house in Prague; the furniture, once rich, now sadly worn; the lights dim except over one table where cards were scattered on the gree...

I should have reckoned it bad luck to run up against Elma once more under any circumstances; but it was much worse to find her installed here in Belgrade, a woman of rank, wealt...

“I could scarcely believe it was really you, Bergwyn,” he said, when we were through with the hand-shaking and had lighted our cigars. “That was why I wrote on my card that I ca...

The reception was outwardly a very brilliant affair indeed, with multitudes of flashing lights, clever colour effects, lavish decoration, and a prodigal wealth of flowers, as th...

The position was so full of ludicrous absurdity owing to the monstrous distortion of my motives, and yet so embarrassing in my inability to explain things without going into the...

When I came to think over that promise to Gatrina, to furnish proofs of the army’s intentions, I felt I had sawn off a log which I might find too big to haul. And the thought ma...

Gatrina’s visit resulted in little more than a fiasco, owing to the interruption of Prince Albrevics. I re-entered the house in a quite fit mood to quarrel with Elma for having...

I must have hit the Prince hard, judging by the effects. His friends picked him up and after a minute or so led him away into the hotel. Then Nikolitch came across to me, his lo...

“I got a scent of the trouble yesterday,” said Nikolitch after a pause, long enough to try my patience severely; “and should have come to you at once, but I was sent out of the...

“I would not come away without. She had been at the Palace, I think. She received me graciously at first--she does all things prettily--and listened while I warned her that grav...

The fear which my prisoner displayed led me to prolong the interval before I questioned him. It was essential for my purpose that he should be thoroughly frightened; and the sus...

In the moment of crisis Karasch took his cue from me and neither resisted nor protested against the soldiers’ conduct. I knew, however, that he would watch me closely and be pre...

It was the delay which had been fatal to the plan. The minutes during which we had had to wait before Gatrina could be made to understand who we were and what our object was had...

The grip of a hand on my shoulder roused me from my reverie. A couple of soldiers stood one on either side of me; and as I turned I saw the red brute of a captain being supporte...

The black tragedy of the night had scored its mark deep on Colonel Petrosch, and I shall not readily forget the look of high-wrought strain which his face wore. All the lines ha...

A single glance at Colonel Petrosch convinced me that some change had taken place in the situation during his absence which he considered favourable. His step was less heavy; th...

Buller’s patience and respectful stolidity were sorely strained that day. In the first place I told him nothing about our destination; and when we made several changes during th...