Gott! what wonderful people you
English are--men and women alike! You remember how the ladies kept up
and brazened it out before the servants. You must do the same. I think I
hear the rustle of the princess's dress. Yes! And there is no news in
the papers, you say?"
"None," replied Maggie.
It may not have been entirely by chance that Claude de Chauxville drove
over to Osterno to pay his respects the next day, and expressed himself
desolated at hearing that the prince had gone out with Herr Steinmetz in
a sleigh to a distant corner of the estate.
"My horses must rest," said the Frenchman, calmly taking off his fur
gloves. "Perhaps the princess will see me."
A few minutes later he was shown into the morning-room.
"Did I see Mlle. Delafield on snow-shoes in the forest as I came along?"
De Chauxville asked the servant in perfect Russian before the man left
the room.
"Doubtless, Excellency. She went out on her snow-shoes half an hour
ago."
"That is all right," said the Frenchman to himself when the door was
closed.
He went to the fire and warmed his slim white fingers. There was an evil
smile lurking beneath his mustache.
When Etta opened the door a minute later he bowed low, without speaking.
There was a suggestion of triumph in his attitude.
"Well?" said the princess, without acknowledging his salutation.
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