Chapter I: Front Matter

BY NEVA’S WATERS

“_By Neva’s Waters._”

_(Page 146) Frontispiece._]

BY
NEVA’S WATERS

Being an Episode in the Secret History of
Alexander the First, Czar of All the Russias

BY
JOHN R. CARLING
AUTHOR OF
“THE SHADOW OF THE CZAR,” “THE VIKING’S SKULL”
“THE WEIRD PICTURE,” ETC.

BOSTON
LITTLE, BROWN, AND COMPANY
1907

_Copyright, 1907_,
BY LITTLE, BROWN, AND COMPANY.

_All rights reserved_

Published October, 1907

ALFRED MUDGE & SON, INC., PRINTERS,
BOSTON. MASS., U. S. A.

TO MY DAUGHTER, WINIFRED

CONTENTS

CHAPTER PAGE

I. A MODERN FREE-LANCE 1

II. BARANOFF’S PROPOSAL 10

III. THE INN OF THE SILVER BIRCH 22

IV. IN THE PRINCESS’S BED-CHAMBER 33

V. DISCOVERED, OR NOT DISCOVERED? 45

VI. HEIRESS TO THE THRONE! 54

VII. WILFRID DEFIES THE CZAR 63

VIII. A CHARMING TÊTE-À-TÊTE 76

IX. A DOCUMENT MISSING 88

X. THE DOCUMENT FOUND 98

XI. “THOU SHALT BRUISE HIS HEEL” 108

XII. A GRIM BEGINNING OF A REIGN 117

XIII. THE TRIUMPH OF BARANOFF 129

XIV. IN THE DEAD OF NIGHT 137

XV. HOW PAUL DIED 149

XVI. THE FALL OF THE REGICIDES 160

XVII. A VOW TO SLAY! 172

XVIII. THE MASQUERADE 180

XIX. THE PRINCESS’S KISS 190

XX. WILFRID RECEIVES A CHALLENGE 201

XXI. “YOUR OPPONENT IS AN EMPEROR!” 210

XXII. “THIS DUEL MUST NOT BE” 221

XXIII. WILFRID’S ABDUCTION 230

XXIV. THE FIGURE IN THE GREY DOMINO 241

XXV. THE DOCTOR’S PLOT 246

XXVI. WITHOUT A MEMORY! 254

XXVII. THE CZAR’S PORTRAIT 263

XXVIII. PAULINE REPENTS 271

XXIX. WOOING A CZARINA 280

XXX. BEHIND THE CURTAIN 287

XXXI. “I BELONG TO WILFRID, NOT TO YOU!” 295

XXXII. FLIGHT 300

XXXIII. RECONCILIATION 309

ILLUSTRATIONS

PAGE

“REMAIN HERE,” SAID THE DUCHESS, ADDRESSING HER TWO
ATTENDANTS _Frontispiece_

RISING TO HIS FEET AND HOLDING THE LAMP ON HIGH, WILFRID LOOKED
ABOUT HIM 34

WILFRID DREW HIS OWN BLADE AND ASSUMED AN ATTITUDE OF DEFENCE 299

BY NEVA’S WATERS