anced across the table.

"I assure you, madame, it is so. I am always hearing good of you,
prince."

"From whom?" asked Paul.

Vassili shrugged his peculiarly square shoulders.

"Ah! From all and sundry."

"I did not know the prince had so many enemies," said Steinmetz bluntly,
whereat the marquise laughed suddenly, and apparently approached within
bowing distance of apoplexy.

In such wise the conversation went on during the dinner, which was a
long one. Continually, repeatedly, Vassili approached the subject of
Osterno and the daily life in that sequestered country. But those who
knew were silent, and it was obvious that Etta and Maggie were ignorant
of the life to which they were going.

From time to time Vassili raised his dull, yellow eyes to the servants,
who d'ailleurs were doing their work perfectly, and invariably the
master's glance fell to the glasses again. These the servants never left
in peace--constantly replenishing, constantly watching with that
assiduity which makes men thirsty against their will by reason of the
repeated reminder.

But tongues wagged no more freely for the choice vintages poured upon
them. Paul had a grave, strong head and that self-control against which
alcohol may ply itself in vain. Karl Steinmetz had taken his degree at
Heidelberg. He was a seasoned vessel, having passed that way before.

Etta was bright enough--amusing, light, and gay--so long as it was a
question of mere social gossip; but whenever Vassili spoke of the
country to which he expressed so deep a devotion, she, seeming to take
her cue from her husband and his agent, fell to pleasant, non-committing
silence.

It was only after dinner, in the drawing-room, while musicians
discoursed Offenbach and Rossini from behind a screen of fern and
flower, that Vassili found an opportunity of addressing himself directly
to Etta. In part she desired this opportunity, with a breathless
apprehension behind her bright society smile. Without her assistance he
never would have had it.

"It is most kind of you," he said in French, which language had been
spoken all the evening in courtesy to the marquise, who was now
asleep--"it is most kind of you to condescend to visit my poor house,
princess. Believe me, I feel the honor deeply. When you first came into
the room--you may have observed it--I was quite taken aback. I--I have
read in books of beauty capable of taking away a man's breath. You must
excuse me--I am a plain-sp