Oh, if she were not that Princess Helena,--the Princess Helena stabbed with a knife, threatening death with her own hand; but dear, dear, and the more cruel and proud, the dearer is she!
Then a horse neighed near the window. The chief mustered courage.
“Princess,” said he, “it is already my hour for the road.”
She was silent.
“And you will not say to me, ‘With God’?”
“Go, with God!” said she, with dignity.
The Cossack’s heart was pressed. She said the words he wanted, but not in the way he wanted.
“Well I know,” said he, “that you are angry with me, that you hate me; but I tell you that another would have been worse to you than I. I brought you here, for I could not do otherwise; but what harm have I done you? Have not I treated you well, like a queen? Tell me yourself. Am I such an
