Part 5 (2/2)
She is, in fact, worthy of every homage, and you will meet her in a short time. Like all perfect things she is late.”
He took out his watch and glanced at the door.
”You are an extraordinary person, Sarakoff,” I observed, after watching him a moment. ”Will you answer me a rather intimate question?”
”Certainly.”
”What precisely do you mean when you say you intend to make the charming lady marry you?”
”Precisely what I say. She loves fame. So far I have been unsuccessful, because she does not think I am famous enough.”
”How do you intend to remedy that?”
He stared at me in amazement.
”Do you think that any people have ever been so famous as you and I will be in a few days?”
I looked away and studied the bright throng of visitors in the hall.
”In a few days?” I asked. ”Are you not a trifle optimistic? Don't you think that it will take months before the possibilities and meaning of the germ are properly realized?”
”Rubbish,” exclaimed Sarakoff. ”You are a confirmed pessimist. You are impossible, Harden. You are a ma.s.s of doubts and apprehensions. Ah, here is Leonora at last. Is she not marvellous?”
I looked towards the entrance. I saw a woman of medium height, very fair, dressed in some soft clinging material of a pale primrose colour.
From a shoulder hung a red satin cloak. Round her neck was a string of large pearls, and in her hair was a jewelled osprey. She presented a striking appearance and I gained the impression of some northern spirit in her that shone out of her eyes with the brilliancy of ice.
Sarakoff strode forward, and the contrast that these two afforded was extraordinary. Tall, dark, warm and animated, he stood beside her, and stooped to kiss her hand. She gazed at him with a smile so slight that it seemed scarcely to disturb the perfect symmetry of her face. He began to talk, moving his whole body constantly and making gestures with his arms, with a play of different expressions in his face. She listened without moving, save that her eyes wandered slowly round the large hall.
At length Sarakoff beckoned to me.
I approached somewhat awkwardly and was introduced.
”Leonora,” said the Russian, ”this is a little English doctor with a very large brain. He was closely connected with the great discovery of which I am going to tell you something to-night at dinner. He is my friend and his name is Richard Harden.”
”I like your name,” said Leonora, in a clear soft voice.
I took her hand. We pa.s.sed into the restaurant. It was one of those vast pleasure-palaces of music, scent, colour and food that abounded in London. An orchestra was playing somewhere high aloft. The luxury of these establishments was always sounding a curious warning deep down in my mind. But then, as Sarakoff had said, I am a pessimist, and if I were to say that I have noticed that nature often becomes very prodigal and lavish just before she takes away and destroys, I would be uttering, perhaps, one of the many half-truths in which the pessimistic spirit delights.
Our table was in a corner at an agreeable distance from the orchestra.
Sarakoff placed Leonora between him and myself. Attentive waiters hurried to serve us; and the eyes of everyone in our immediate neighbourhood were turned in our direction. Leonora did not appear to be affected by the interest she aroused. She flung her cloak on the back of her chair, put her elbows on the table, and gazed at the Russian intently.
”Tell me of your discovery, Alexis.”
He smiled, enchanted.
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