CHAPTER XV.
SERGEANT QUICK HAS A PRESENTIMENT From this time forward all of us, and especially Oliver, were guarded night and day by picked men who it was believed could not be corrupted.
As a consequence, the Tsar of Russia scarcely leads a life more irksome than ours became at Mur.

Of privacy there was none left to us, since sentries and detectives lurked at every corner, while tasters were obliged to eat of each dish and drink from each cup before it touched our lips, lest our fate should be that of Pharaoh, whose loss we mourned as much as though the poor dog had been some beloved human being.
Most of all was it irksome, I think, to Oliver and Maqueda, whose opportunities of meeting were much curtailed by the exigencies of this rigid espionage.

Who can murmur sweet nothings to his adored when two soldiers armed to the teeth have been instructed never to let him out of their sight?
Particularly is this so if the adored happens to be the ruler of those soldiers to whom the person guarded has no right to be making himself agreeable.

For when off duty even the most faithful guardians are apt to talk.

Of course, the result was that the pair took risks which did not escape observation.