"You may have ten minutes' grace, but you will do your praying here." "That apartment is an oratory," pleaded Ravenna. "Let him have his wish, marshal," said Gabor. "And see him escape us?" ejaculated Nikita fiercely. "I cannot escape. There is no exit from the oratory, secret or open, save by that door. The window is fifty feet from the ground." Zabern, suspecting that Ravenna was trying to effect his escape, approached the chamber in question, and found it to be an oblong apartment, twenty feet by ten, fitted up as an oratory, and hung with sacred pictures. At the far end, through a casement of stained glass, arrowy beams of tender silvery moonlight slanted upon an altar, surmounted by an ivory crucifix with waxen tapers burning before it. There was an air of solemnity in the place which exercised an influence even upon the stern mind of Zabern. "Take your ten minutes," he exclaimed, pointing within, "but seek not to escape, for my eye shall be on you the while." Ravenna rose from his seat; in rising he purposely stumbled and fell, and while so doing he contrived to secure possession of the letter lying beneath the table, and to secrete it within the folds of his cassock. Then with slow and faltering step he moved into the oratory, and taking out his rosary, he knelt with bowed head before the altar. Zabern, standing without, kept the door slightly open in order that he might not lose sight of Ravenna's movements. Gabor the trooper here put a very pertinent question. "Marshal, since the Pope and his cardinals know the princess's secret, what do we gain by killing the archbishop?" "We stop his mouth from proclaiming the secret to-morrow," replied Zabern. "True. But afterwards--?" "Afterwards, my good Gabor, no one shall be able to say that our princess is not Natalie Lilieska. Was the real Natalie marked with a mole upon her right shoulder? A friendly physician can soon produce that disfigurement for us upon the fair skin of our princess." Nikita laughed aloud. "Is there any one living who can defeat the marshal?" he cried. "There is one here who will make the attempt," said a voice. At this the trio stared curiously at one another, for the words came from the oratory, and had plainly been uttered by none other than the cardinal. Recovering from his momentary surprise, Zabern, with sudden misgiving at his heart, flung wide the door. "Marshal Zabern," said the voice of Ravenna, "as you value the throne of the princess, come not one step farther. Mark well what is in my hand." The window of the oratory, which before had been shut, was now wide open, and the moonlight fell upon the lofty figure and pale face of the cardinal, who was standing erect on one side of the altar. In his right hand he held a dove, to the neck of which a letter was attached. The sight kept the three men dumb and motionless, for they instantly divined that the bird was a carrier-pigeon.