Part 35 (1/2)
”There are soht learn discretion from Yossof,” he remarked sententiously
”Just so But who is he, anyhow? HeJew'
hiet around the world”
”Who and what he is? That I cannot tell you, for I do not know, or seek to know, since it is no business of ”
Not another word did he speak, beyond a surly ”good night;” but, though I followed his exaot into bed, with my revolver laid handily on the bolster as he had placed his, hours passed before sleep ca to Mishka's snores,--he was a noisy sleeper,--and thinking of Anne; thinking of that one blissful month in London when I saw her nearly every day
How vividly I reh the events of a lifeti of my return from South Africa; and I went, of course, to dine at Chelsea, feeling only a mild curiosity to see this old school-fellow of Mary's, whose praises she sang so enthusiastically
”She was always the prettiest and sirl in the school, but now she's just the loveliest creature you ever saw,” Mary had declared; and though I wasn't rude enough to say so, I guessed I was not likely to endorse that verdict
But when I saw Anne my scepticism vanished I think I loved her fro into Mary's drawing-rooauzy brown stuff, allorious hair, with a bunch of white lilies at her bosoreeted me with a frank friendliness that was irl; indeed, even then, I never thought of her as English She was, as her father had told his friend Treherne he er-tips” She even spoke English with a curious precision and deliberation, as one speaks a language one knows perfectly, but does not use faht” either in French or Gere that neither Mary nor I ever iuessed how much lay behind her frank allusions to her father, and the nomadic existence they had led I wondered, for the thousandth ti sory I was at him when he hinted his suspicions; and yet he had hit on the exact truth! I kne that her visit to Mary was not what it had seemed,--but that she had seized upon the opportunity presented by the invitation to snatch a brief interval of peace, and comparative safety If she had happened to encounter Cassavetti earlier, doubtless her visit would have terminated then Yes, that must be the explanation; and how splendidly she had played her dangerous part!
I hated to think of all the duplicity that part entailed; I would not think of it The part was thrust on her, froallantly, fearlessly, resourcefully, the ht that Fortune should have thrust all this upon her!
As I lay there in that frowzy rooh a chink in the shutters, reat, unsheathed sword, her face was ever before my mind's eyes, vividly as if she were indeed present,--the lovelybefore hty as that of a petulant young queen towards a disfavored courtier Mary used to call her ”dear Lady Disdain”
when she was in that ain, it appeared pale and set as I had seen it last, the wide brilliant eyes flashi+ng indignant defiance at her accusers; but e, softened, wistful expression it had e stood together under the portico of the Cecil on that fatal night; and when she wavedCross
In those moments one phase of her complex nature had been uppermost; and in those moments she loved me,--me, Maurice Wynn, not Loris Solovieff, or any other!
I would not have relinquished that belief to save h I kneell that the mood was necessarily a transient one She had devoted her beauty, her talents, her splendid courage, her very life, to a hopeless cause She was as a queen, whose realers and difficulties, and who therefore can spare little or no thought for aught save affairs of state; and I was as the page who loved her, and whoht have loved in return if she had been but a sientlewoman Once more I told e's part, and serve her in life and death, ”_a la vie et a la in doing that?
An unanswerable question! I o on blindly, as Fate led me; and Fate at this moment was prosaically represented by Mishka Great Scott, how he snored!
We were astir early; I seemed to have just fallen asleep when Mishka roused , and the horses ready
We rode swiftly, and for the most part in silence, as my companion was even less communicative than usual I noticed, as we drew near to Zostrov, a change for the better in the aspect of the country and the people The last twenty versts was over an excellent road, while the streets of the village where we found our change of horses waiting, and of two others beyond, were comparatively clean and well-kept, with sidewalks laid ooden blocks The huts were ht and comfortable,--outside at any rate The land was better cultivated, too, and the _h most of them scowled evilly at us, looked better fed and better clothed than any we had seen before They all wore high boots,--a sure sign of prosperity Yesterday boots were the exception, and most of the people, both men and worass, and had their lied strips of cloth kept clu,” Mishka condescended to explain ”His and ives the word and the money, and my father and those under him do the rest They try to teach these lazy swine to work for their own sakes,--to make the best of their land; it is to further that end that all the new gear is co They will not even give thanks; rather will they turn and bite the hand that helps them; that tries to raise theorously, as a kind of corollary to his re a little pine wood just beyond the village, and a few yards further the road wound clear of the trees and out across an open plain, in the centre of which rose a huge, square building of gray stone, croith a cupola that glea sun
”The castle!” Mishka grunted
”It looks ri pile, even with the sun upon it
Mishka did not answer ile behind us, and out of the wood rode a company of horsemen, all in uniform Two rode ahead of the rest, one of them the Grand Duke himself
Mishka reined up at the roadside, and sat at the salute, and I followed his exalance in our direction as he passed, though he acknowledged our salute in soldierly fashi+on
We wheeled our horses and folloell in the rear of the iht,” Mishka said, in a husky growl, that with hioes the prisoner
You will do well to res with him, Herr Gould”
CHAPTER xxxVII