I hadn't run five feet before I felt my shoulders jerk backward, pulled by unseen hands. I tried to cry out but found my mouth covered as I was drug back into the room thrashing violently. It did me little good for he was much stronger than I.

"I'll uncover your mouth if you promise not to scream." Nicholas whispered into my ear. I nodded in assent. "Now don't scream." he repeated sliding his palm from my mouth.

"You couldn't just leave well enough alone, could you Philomena?" my Uncle blustered furiously in front of the door, blocking it. "She knows far too much, we need to be rid of her now."

"Hold for a moment Mr. Hurst - Princess, what did you hear?"

"Don't you ever call me that again!" I spat. "I have heard enough to know of your treachery!"

"Nicholas!" Uncle Richard implored.

"No, Richard." Nicholas answered firmly. "It was inevitable that she would come to know of it someday."

"How could you? How could you betray your own country? Your own countrymen? 10,000 men - many of them our peers! You would knowingly murder them! How could you even begin to do such a thing?" I cried. Nicholas sighed,

"If it could be avoided I would certainly rather no one perish, but this is war and there are greater things at stake than the lives of a few soldiers."

"A few! You would call 10,000 men and more a few?"

"Relatively speaking they are almost a negligible number in the larger scheme. An unfortunate but acceptable loss to achieve a far superior gain."

"How can you call it an acceptable loss? These are people's sons, brothers, fathers - I have know Gen. Roberts from my youth!" my voice was reaching a fever pitch.

"Calm down, darling." How dare he still address me so familiarly!

"What gain could be so superior as to make you believe the deaths of so many is an acceptable loss?" My volume may have gone but the intensity of my words still had their affect.

"In short, it is for the good of the world."

"Then you should put it in long form for that answer is nonsensical."

"It is really quite simple. England has little desire to change from its ways of exploiting the worker and crushing the poverty stricken, it poisons its children until they are twice as fit for hell as they - look at the Americas, the Indians, the people of Hong Kong. What horrors we have wrought on the world merely so that we may consume more of those things we find pleasurable! Britannia has done its damage to the world, it is time for men to heal it."

"Oh? And how do you propose that be done?" I interjected caustically.

"It is quite simple, truly. If England were to lose the war with Afghanistan, Russia would be in a position to take not only it but India as well. The loss of India would cripple the British economic and military interests in the region. The rising power of Russia would entice other countries into alliance creating an ever greater world power."

"And how would Russian rule be any better? Would not the countries be trading one devil for another by your logic? What makes you believe the Czar should be any kinder than Parliament?"

"Ah, but you see, it will not be the Czar who leads this new world."

"Then who?"

"The people. Even now there is a group of like-minded men in Russia who are planning the overthrow of the Czar. We shall take the country and establish rule by the people instead of by the pound." It was madness! I rounded to my Uncle,

"And I assume you are also of this mind, Uncle Richard?"

"Oh no!" Uncle Richard laughed heartily at the prospect. "Like I have told you before, I am a businessman. By the time they have sorted out their politics I shall have made quite a fine fortune for myself in St. Petersburg."

"And how does Aunt Mabel feel about all of this."

"She is unaware of it, but she will be glad so long as she gets to spend the remainder of her days in luxury."

"So this is the plot for which Lord Bond lost his life?"

"Oh yes, I suppose that was his name." my Uncle replied thoughtfully.

"You did not even know the name of the man you killed?" I fumed.

"As I told you before, I did not kill anyone. I am a businessman, not a murderer."

"Than who? You cannot expect me to believe it was an accident."

"I did." the voice from beside me intoned. I stood astonished, the world seemed to be falling in around me and I with it. I fell backward onto the arm of a chair, sliding into the seat from above.

"You." I whispered.

"I had no choice in the matter. Your Uncle came upon him in the Parlor by chance as he had excused himself from one of our meetings. Mr. Hurst confronted the man and he threatened to expose the plan and have Mr. Hurst hung for treason. I suppose he thought I had left with my family after supper for he did not even seem to consider another might be present until the moment I ran my knife across his throat." a perversity I had never seen before glowed in his eyes as he spoke the last few words.

"A damnably bloody mess it was too." Uncle Richard added. "Blood everywhere. The ceiling, the walls, the furniture - even the floor - took forever for Dale to get it clean enough for the workmen to come in and renovate."

"Dale is in on this plot as well?"

"Only so far as he is able to keep a secret. Unlike some people he values his living situation." Uncle Richard snorted pointedly. "It wouldn't do to have an employer charged for murder - at his age with no letter of recommendation he would be fortunate to dig ditches for the remainder of his days. It is unfortunate the incident has had such a negative effect on his habits. Used to be more temperate. Incurable lush now, he is." Poor Dale! I could not even begin to fathom the horror of having to clean another man's blood from the furnishings, day in and day out for who knows how long.

"Why did you keep his skull? Why go through the effort to disguise it? Do you take pleasure in seeing his face every day when you enter the Library?" I saw the corner of Nicholas's mouth twitch ever so slightly upwards at my accusation.

"To be honest, I am indifferent to it. It does pair nicely with the Etruscan, though."

"How can you even claim humanity and talk in such a manner?"

"Have you ever attempted to dispose of a skull? Anything else might be passed off as the bones of a deer or sheep in the refuse pile but no matter what you do a skull cannot be disguised as anything other than what it is. Even in pieces." Uncle Richard offered his defense.

"You're a monster!" I exclaimed.

"Darling," I felt Nicholas place a warm hand on my shoulder and shuddered. "It was only one man, think of all those who will be saved - the poor farmers in India who will never again know what it is to be enslaved to poverty. Their children will fill their bellies from their parents' labors. If you had seen the world as I have you would understand why I have done the dark deeds I have. It is for the good of the people. For them and their children and their children's children. We have this one chance to change the course of the world! I know you cannot fully comprehend it now but I ask that you would please trust me." his other hand fell upon my opposite shoulder. He leaned down so that his mouth was almost against my ear, I felt his breath as he whispered into my ear, "I love you, I want you to help change the world with me as my wife." he pressed his lips to my cheek.

"No!" I cried, throwing him off from me. I now stood before him, livid. "He was a man, even were he only one! How dare you even suggest I should put aside even one life, let alone thousands, and trample upon a path of bones to your new world! No world built on such a foundation should ever stand! I shall never help you. Nor shall you ever call me your wife!" I declared, taking the ring from my finger and hurling it to the ground. Nicholas walked over to the window, staring out he fingered the heavy velvet draping.

"I am sorry you feel that way - perhaps, had you been older and more experienced in the ways of the world..."

"Then I should still refuse you!" I answered.

"That is a pity, I did truly love you, Philomena."

"Let me put an end to the business once and for all, Nicholas." my Uncle growled from the doorway.

"No, Richard, this is my responsibility." he replied, still staring out the window, his fingers skimming along the golden cord that held the drapes fast. "There is already blood on my hands, I should hate for you to have to carry the same burden. I am sorry Philomena." he said, carefully unlooping the cord from its hooks he wrapped it once around his hand. "Hold her Richard." My Uncle grabbed my hands and pulled them roughly behind my back before I realized what was happening. "I suppose she hung herself from grief after I cancelled our engagement. It was dishonest of you to conceal her madness from me." he wrapped the loose end of cordage around his other hand and pulled it tight.

"No- you can't" I cried struggling against my Uncle's grip.

"I do apologize for the deception." Uncle Richard supplied.

"Please!" I begged. "Don't do this!" Nicholas was next to me now, the cord mere inches from my face. I strained away from it.

"It really is a tragedy."

"Perhaps you may need to travel abroad to forget this unpleasantness." my Uncle suggested.

"Please!"

"Perhaps so." Nicholas responded nonchalantly.

"I thought you loved me!" it was my final desperate plea. Nicholas's eyes narrowed, he drew his face near mine,

"I do," he whispered. "But I love them more." He snapped the cord tight and made to loop it over my head, my Uncle's grip slackened almost imperceptibly - I saw my moment. Thrusting all my weight to the right I broke free of my Uncle, my elbow slamming into Nicholas's ribcage knocking him to the floor. Uncle Richard made to regain control of me but he was too late - I slammed the heel of my boot into his shin causing him to cry out in pain. Before either man could recover I was at the windowsill. Without a moments thought my boot contacted the ledge, propelling me out into the open air. I landed on the slope below on all fours like a cat, but momentum forced me forward in a series of tumbles. When I had finally stopped I sprung to my feet, nothing seemed amiss. I was thankful for the looseness of the dress, for such a landing could not have been accomplished otherwise. Looking back I saw the stunned faces of Nicholas and Uncle Richard peering from the window.

"Let that be a lesson," I said to myself as I ran for the woods. "Espionage is best accomplished in the summer."