‘Am I not a man of taste? Who should it be?’
He sat down in the great armchair, and a heavy frown gathered on his brow. I cannot quite explain why, but I was radiant. The spirit of the game had entered into me; I forgot the reality that was so full of pain; I was as merry as though what I told him had been the happy truth, instead of a tantalising impossible vision.
‘Oh, don’t misunderstand me,’ I laughed, standing opposite to him, swaying on my feet, and burying my hands in my pockets. ‘Don’t wrong me, my dear Pasha. It’s all just as it should be. There’s nothing going on that should not go on under your Excellency’s roof. It is all on the most honourable footing.’
‘I don’t understand your riddles or your mirth,’ said Mouraki.
‘Ah! Now once I didn’t quite appreciate yours. The wheel goes round, my dear Pasha. Every dog has his day. Forgive me, I am naturally elated. I meant to tell you at breakfast to-morrow, but since you surprised our tender meeting, why, I’ll tell you now. Congratulate me. That charming girl has owned that her avowal of love for me was nothing but bare truth, and has consented to make me happy.’
‘To marry you?’
‘My dear Pasha! What else could I mean?’ I took my hands out of my pockets, lit a cigarette and puffed the smoke luxuriously. Mouraki sat motionless in his chair, his eyes cold and sharp on me, his brow puckered. At last he spoke.
‘And Miss Hipgrave?’ he asked sneeringly.
‘Is there a breach of promise of marriage law in Neopalia?’ said I. ‘In truth, my dear Pasha, I am a little to blame there; but you mustn’t be hard on me. I had a moment of conscientious qualms. I confess it. But she’s too lovely, she really is. And she’s so fond of me—oh, I couldn’t resist it!’ I was simpering like any affected young lady-killer.
Mouraki was a clever fellow, but the blow had been a sudden one. It strains the control even of clever fellows when a formidable obstacle springs up, at a moment’s notice, on a path that they have carefully prepared and levelled for their steps. The Pasha’s rage mastered him.