' says Rosalind. This was not,
perhaps, quite the case with M. Jerome and the Russian princess, who
took care to let it be known that she was a widow; but in a very few
days what is called 'a secret sympathy' evidently sprang into
existence. The former, of course, made the first advances. His
diplomatic and seductive arts were not, however, put to a great test,
for in three days the lady manifestly felt uneasy until he presented
himself at dinner; and in a week, I met them walking arm in arm on the
bridge. It was easy to see that he was on his good behaviour; and from
some fragments of conversations I overheard between them when they met
in the passage opposite my door, I learned that he was 'doing the
melancholy dodge,' as in the vernacular we would express it; and had
many harrowing revelations to make as to the manner in which his heart
had been trifled with by unfeeling beauties.

'There is a tide in the affairs of an hotel:' I am in a mood for
quoting from my favourite authors; and whereas we had at one time sat
down nearly twenty to table, we suddenly found ourselves to be only
three--M. Jerome, the princess, and myself. A kind of intimacy was the
natural result. We made ourselves mutually agreeable; and I was not at
all surprised, when one evening Madame de Mourairef invited us two
gentlemen to take tea with her in her little sitting-room. Both
accepted joyfully; and though I am persuaded that M. Jerome would have
preferred a tete-a-tete, he accepted my companionship with tolerable
grace. We strolled together, indeed, on the quay for half an hour. It
was raining slightly, and I had a cough; but I have too good an
opinion of human nature to imagine that my new acquaintance kept me
out by his fascinating conversation, in order to make me catch a
desperate cold, that would send me wheezing to bed.

The tea was served, as I suppose it is served in Russia, very weak,
with a plentiful admixture of milk and accompaniment of _biscuits
glaces_. Madame de Mourairef did the honours in an inexpressibly
graceful manner; and I observed that there was a delightful intimacy
between her and her maid Penelope, that quite upset my ideas of
northern serfdom. I think they even once exchanged a wink, but of this
I am not sure. There is nothing like experience to expand one's ideas,
and I made up my mind to re-examine the whole of my notions of
Muscovite vassalage. M. Jerome seemed less struck by these
circumstances than myself--bein