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VERA and her husband left this morning for Kislovodsk. I met their carriage as I was walking to Princess Ligovski's. Vera nodded to me: reproach was in her glance. Who is to blame, then? Why will she not give me an opportunity of seeing her alone? Love is like fire if not fed it dies out. Perchance, jealousy will accomplish what my entreaties have failed to do.
The public assembled before the stroke of nine. The performance began. On the back rows of chairs I recognized Vera's and Princess Ligovski's menservants and maids. They were all there, every single one. Grushnitski, with his lorgnette, was sitting in the front row, and the conjurer had recourse to him every time he needed a handkerchief, a watch, a ring and so forth.
"From Princess Ligovski's," he said very importantly. "How well Mary does sing!"... "Do you know?" I said to him. "I wager that she does not know that you are a cadet. She thinks you are an officer reduced to the ranks"... "Maybe so. What is that to me!"... he said absently. "No, I am only saying so"... "But, do you know that you have made her terribly angry to-day?
"That is possibly the result of the waters," I replied. "You see the bad side of everything... materialist," he added contemptuously. "However, let us talk of other matters." And, satisfied with his bad pun, he cheered up. At nine o'clock we went to Princess Ligovski's together. Passing by Vera's windows, I saw her looking out. We threw a fleeting glance at each other.
"The most agreeable house to me now is my own," I said, with a yawn, and I got up to go. "Confess, though, you repent?"... "What nonsense! If I like I will be at Princess Ligovski's to-morrow evening!"... "We shall see"... "I will even begin to pay my addresses to Princess Mary, if you would like me to"... "Yes, if she is willing to speak to you"...
I stayed a whole hour at Princess Ligovski's. Mary has not been out, she is ill. In the evening she was not on the boulevard. The newly formed gang, armed with lorgnettes, has in very fact assumed a menacing aspect. I am glad that Princess Mary is ill; they might be guilty of some impertinence towards her.
"Doctor, I shall expect you to-morrow at four o'clock. The horses will be ready... Goodbye." I remained in the house until the evening, with my door locked. A manservant came to invite me to Princess Ligovski's I bade him say that I was ill. Two o'clock in the morning... I cannot sleep... Yet sleep is what I need, if I am to have a steady hand to-morrow.
"That is a secret... You will find it out yourself, at the ball." I finished up the evening at Princess Ligovski's; there were no other guests present except Vera and a certain very amusing, little old gentleman. I was in good spirits, and improvised various extraordinary stories.
However, the latter simply has a fit of nerves: she will spend a sleepless night, and will weep. This thought affords me measureless delight: there are moments when I understand the Vampire... And yet I am reputed to be a good fellow, and I strive to earn that designation! On dismounting, the ladies went into Princess Ligovski's house.
The doctor entered; his brows were knit; contrary to custom, he did not offer me his hand. "Where have you come from, doctor?" "From Princess Ligovski's; her daughter is ill nervous exhaustion... That is not the point, though.