"Yes to that also. Something is going to happen there. The republic is down and out, and the last of the Mazaroffs is going to receive back the ducal crown." There was a tinge of mockery in Miss Lermontof's curt tones. Diana gave a cry of dismay. "Not--not Max?" she stammered. All at once, he seemed to have receded very far away from her, to have been snatched into a world whither she would never be able to follow him. "Max?" Olga's face darkened. "No--not Max, but Nadine Mazaroff." "Nadine Mazaroff?" repeated Diana uncomprehendingly. "Who is Nadine Mazaroff?" "She is the woman you knew as Adrienne de Gervais." "Adrienne? Is that her name--Nadine Mazaroff? Then--then"--Diana's breath came unevenly--"she's not Max's sister?" "No"--shortly. "She is--or will be within a week--the Grand Duchess of Ruvania." "Go on," urged Diana, as the other paused. "Go on. Tell me everything. I know so much already that it can't be breaking faith with any one for you to tell me the whole truth now." Olga looked at her consideringly. "No. I suppose, since the journalists have ferreted it out, it won't be a secret much longer," she conceded grimly. "And, in any case, it doesn't matter now. It's all settled." She sighed. "Besides"--with a faint smile--"if I tell you, it will save Max a long story when you meet." "Yes," replied Diana, an odd expression flitting across her face. "It will save Max a long story--when we meet. Tell me," she continued, with an effort, "tell me about--Nadine Mazaroff." "Nadine?" cried Olga, with sudden violence. "Nadine Mazaroff is the woman I hate more than any other on this earth!" Her eyes gleamed malevolently. "She stands where Max should stand. If it were not for her the Ruvanian people would have accepted him as their ruler--and overlooked his English mother. But Nadine is the legitimate heir, the child of the late Grand Duke--and Max is thrust out of the succession, because our father's marriage was a morganatic one." "_Your_ father?" "Yes"--with a brief smile--"I am the sister whose existence you discovered." For a moment Diana was silent. It had never occurred to her to connect Max and Olga in any way; the latter had always seemed to her to be more or less at open enmity with him. Immediately her heart contracted with the old haunting fear. What, then, was Adrienne to Max? "Go on," she whispered at last, under her breath. "Go on." "I've never forgiven my father"--Olga spoke with increasing passion. "For his happiness with his English wife, Max and I have paid every day of our lives! . . . As soon as I was of age, I refused the State allowance granted me as a daughter of Boris Mazaroff, and left the Ruvanian Court. Since then I've lived in England as plain Miss Lermontof, and earned my own living. Not one penny of their tainted money will I touch!"--fiercely.