regarding with a haggard glance the man whose eyes implored her pardon,
and who, after raising his pale face from the pillow, let his head fall
back again with one long, weary sigh.




CHAPTER VII

THE STORY OF MARSA

Prince Tchereteff left his whole fortune to Marsa Laszlo, leaving her in
the hands of his uncle Vogotzine, an old, ruined General, whose property
had been confiscated by the Czar, and who lived in Paris half imbecile
with fear, having become timid as a child since his release from Siberia,
where he had been sent on some pretext or other, no one knew exactly the
reason why.

It had been necessary to obtain the sovereign intervention of the Czar--
that Czar whose will is the sole law, a law above laws--to permit Prince
Tchereteff to give his property to a foreigner, a girl without a name.
The state would gladly have seized upon the fortune, as the Prince had no
other relative save an outlaw; but the Czar graciously gave his
permission, and Marsa inherited.

Old General Vogotzine was, in fact, the only living relative of Prince
Tchereteff. In consideration of a yearly income, the Prince charged him
to watch over Marsa, and see to her establishment in life. Rich as she
was, Marsa would have no lack of suitors; but Tisza, the half-civilized
Tzigana, was. not the one to guide and protect a young girl in Paris.