Wauwatosa news. [volume] (Wauwatosa, Wis.) 1900-1948, 1906-06-30
CHAPTER VI.

Ivan drove straight from his interview
with Cassandra to the Bridge hotel, where
he occupied suite of rooms. His heavy
brows were drawn together in a frown;
his face wore gloomy expression
He dropped into chair, and lighted
cigar. For the first time in his life he
felt himself cornered. But he was a man
of infinite resource. What would have
daunted and unnerved an ordinary man,
left him unmoved. The son of a high
government official Demetrius Batschi-
koff, to give him his right name, had been
long accustomed to face danger. Ivan
Wolfsky" was only one of dozen names
he had been forced to assume from one
time to another. His was a spirit which
courted adventure, and he had early been
led into escapades which brought him
under the notice of the police. Not all his
fathers influence at court had been suf-
ficient to protect him, and at length he
came under the ban, and to escape the
horrors of Siberia had been forced to fly
from his native country.
An exile and wanderer on the face of
the earth, Prince Demetrius had lived
life crowded with adventures. He was
cosmopolitan of cosmopolitans, and in
ilit COuI st VI zen ears udu Uldue Il uOZeH
notorious regulations in as many differ
ent capitals. Originally he had sought
adventure merely for its own sake, but
by degrees he had developed into para
site creature, preying on society, and, as
such entirely without honor or scruples.
His family had long since disowned him,
though that action on their pc had af
fected him but little, for his tits sup
piled him with ample me living
He was undoubtedly Gle with
genius for leading others, but for
his irrepressible love of excitement, his
abilities might have carried him far.
Four years before, in Berlin, he had
made the acquaintance of the Count de
Foscari-also an exile-and his daughter,
Cassandra. Demetrius was always of an
impulsive nature, and in less than fort
night after their meeting he had pre-
vailed on Cassandra to 60 through the
form of marriage with him. Her weak
ness, however, was short lived. and with
in month they had separated, not meet
ing again until the chance encounter in
Roberts studio. Demetrius was not al
together taken by surprise, for he knew
of her presence in London, but the revela-
ton of her feelings towards the artist
caused him the gravest concern. For
Robert quite unconscious of the fate
which hung over his head, had come I'M
der the ban of the brotherhood.
In his student days in Paris, the artist
Had had friend, a young man named
Paul Steffoni,, whose life he had saved
one night on the Boulevard des Capu-
cines, when Steffoni was attacked by two
would-be assassins. Steffoni some time
before had been induced to join the
brotherhood, but afterwards, when he
discovered the real nature of the society,
ne endeavored to escape from the pen
aItles entailed by the VOW he had taken,
and thereafter ignored the calls which
they made on him. Fearing that he would
diVulge their secrets, the brotherhood de-
termined that he should die. and their
efforts to that end eliminated in the at
tack on the Boulevard des Capucines.
1hanks, however, to Roberts interposi-
tion, Stetfoni escaped for the time being,
ana the two conspirators who had been
TOLD of to execute the decree of the
brotherhood, were delivered up to the
ponce, and sentenced to long terms of i'm
prisonment. Thenceforward Robert him
sell was a marked man, and Demetrius
was only awaiting the arrival in London
OF The executive before fulfilling the doom
already pronounced against him
Demetrius' present trouble arose from
the fact of his discovery that Cassandra
was In love with Robert Knowing her
Us he did, he was fearful of the conse-
fuences which would follow when she
ie9rnt the truth concerning the man she
Ioved' Inscriptions as he was, Deme-
mus had tender regard for his own
personal safety, and to secure that there
was no length to which he was not pre-
pared to 60. But he still retained some
IeeA0g OF respect for Cassandra; and if
0iere vas a soft spot in his heart, it was
certain that she filed it.
For Winifred he had ar intense ad-
HIlfaatlon. and he was possessed by the
le9iFe Of having her for his own; to
MAKE her his wife was the paramount
"lsh IN his mind. He had arrived at
AAat stage when excitement and dissiPa-