She wanted to see Paul look at his wife with the open admiration which
she had set down as something else than love--something immeasurably
beneath love as Catrina understood that passion. Her soul, brooding
under a weight of misery, was ready to welcome any change, should it
only mean a greater misery.
"I can manage that," she said, "if they will come. It was a prearranged
matter that there should be a bear-hunt in our forests."
"That will do," answered De Chauxville reflectively; "in a few days,
perhaps, if it suits the countess."
Catrina made no reply. After a pause she spoke again, in her strange,
jerky way.
"What will you gain by it?" she asked.
De Chauxville shrugged his shoulders.
"Who knows?" he answered. "There are many things I want to know; many
questions which can be answered only by one's own observation. I want to
see them together. Are they happy?"
Catrina's face hardened.
"If there is a God in heaven, and he hears our prayers, they ought not
to be," she replied curtly.
"She looked happy enough in Petersburg," said the Frenchman, who never
told the truth for its own sake. Whenever he thought that Catrina's
hatred needed stimulation he mentioned Etta's name.
"There are other questions in my mind," he went on, "some of which you
can answer, mademoiselle, if you care to.
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