lisp, as though she were trying to tell me
something very quickly. At intervals, too, she would break off into the
smile which I was beginning to dread. "No, no!" she kept repeating.
"YOU are my dear one; YOU are the man I trust." Again she laid her
hands upon my shoulders, and again she gazed at me as she reiterated:
"You love me, you love me? Will you ALWAYS love me?" I could not take
my eyes off her. Never before had I seen her in this mood of humility
and affection. True, the mood was the outcome of hysteria; but--! All
of a sudden she noticed my ardent gaze, and smiled slightly. The next
moment, for no apparent reason, she began to talk of Astley.

She continued talking and talking about him, but I could not make out
all she said--more particularly when she was endeavouring to tell me of
something or other which had happened recently. On the whole, she
appeared to be laughing at Astley, for she kept repeating that he was
waiting for her, and did I know whether, even at that moment, he was
not standing beneath the window? "Yes, yes, he is there," she said.
"Open the window, and see if he is not." She pushed me in that
direction; yet, no sooner did I make a movement to obey her behest than
she burst into laughter, and I remained beside her, and she embraced me.

"Shall we go away tomorrow?" presently she asked, as though some
disturbing thought had recurred to her recollection. "How would it be
if we were to try and overtake Grandmamma? I think we should do so at
Berlin. And what think you she would have to say to us when we caught
her up, and her eyes first lit upon us? What, too, about Mr. Astley? HE
would not leap from the Shlangenberg for my sake! No! Of that I am very
sure!"--and she laughed. "Do you know where he is going next year? He
says he intends to go to the North Pole for scientific investigations,
and has invited me to go with him! Ha, ha, ha! He also says that we
Russians know nothing, can do nothing, without European help. But he is
a good fellow all the same. For instance, he does not blame the General
in the matter, but declares that Mlle. Blanche--that love--But no; I do
not know, I do not know." She stopped suddenly, as though she had said
her say, and was feeling bewildered. "What poor creatures these people
are. How sorry I am for them, and for Grandmamma! But when are you
going to kill De Griers? Surely you do not intend actually to murder
him? You fool! Do you suppose that I should ALLOW you t