United States or Saudi Arabia ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
Paul nodded, and allowed himself to be embraced a second time. He had long known Stépan Lanovitch of Thors as one of the many who go about the world doing good with their eyes shut. For the moment he had absolutely no use for this well-meaning blunderer. "I am afraid," he said, "that it has got beyond control. We cannot stamp it out now except by force, and I would rather not do that.
In the meantime Claude de Chauxville had gently led the Countess Lanovitch to invite him to stay to dinner. He accepted the invitation with becoming reluctance, and returned to the Hotel de Berlin, where he was staying, in order to dress. He was fully alive to the expediency of striking while the iron is hot more especially where women are concerned.
They knew that Catrina and Stépan Lanovitch had sent back assistance. "Of course," said Paul, "I am very glad to see you, but I am equally glad to inform you that you are not wanted. Steinmetz will tell you all about it, and when you are ready for dinner it will be ready for you. I will give instructions that the men be cared for." "Thanks.
Catrina bowed jerkily and made no reply. Etta glanced at her sharply. Perhaps she saw more than Catrina knew. "I suppose," she said to the countess, with that inclusive manner which spreads the conversation out, "that Paul and Mlle. de Lanovitch were playmates?" The reply lay with either of the ladies, but Catrina turned away.
"You have fought your fight," said Paul. "A good fight, too. You have struck your blow for the country. You have sown your seed, but the harvest is not yet. Now it is time to think of your own safety, of the happiness of your own child." Stépan Lanovitch turned away and sat heavily down. He leaned his two arms on the table, and his chin upon his clenched hands.
Catrina Lanovitch, who had never been ruled by those about her, shaped her whole life unquestioningly upon an opinion. They did not speak for some time, and then it was the girl who broke the silence. "I have a confession to make and a favor to ask," she said bluntly. Paul's attitude denoted attention, but he said nothing. "It is about the Baron de Chauxville," she said. "Ah!"
She tore open the letter, read it, and stood holding it in her hand, looking out over the trackless pine-woods with absorbed, speculative eyes. The sun had just set. The farthest ridge of pine-trees stood out like the teeth of a saw in black relief on the rosy sky. Catrina Lanovitch watched the rosiness fade into pearly gray.
Claude de Chauxville had unscrupulously made use of feminine vanity with all the skill that was his. A little glance toward Etta, as he accepted the invitation, conveyed to her the fact that she was the object of his clever little plot; that it was in order to be near her that he had forced the Countess Lanovitch to invite him to Thors; and Etta, with all her shrewdness, was promptly hoodwinked.
The Countess Lanovitch and Catrina were sitting together in the too-luxurious drawing-room that overlooked the English Quay and the Neva. The double windows were rigorously closed, while the inner panes were covered with a thick rime.
Her lips moved, but no sound came from them, so she nodded a second time. A tiny carriage-clock on the mantel-piece struck seven, and she looked up in a startled way, as if the sound had frightened her. The castle was quite still. Silence seemed to brood over the old walls. "That fell through," he went on, "as I told you. It was betrayed. Stépan Lanovitch was banished.
Word Of The Day