“Everything?” There was no smile now, but just a steady look.
“You are making me speak rather bluntly. He told me, I mean, how deeply he cared for you and he asked me to remain in Warsaw and come here to try and be of some help to you—as your sister said—for his sake.”
A pause of considerable embarrassment for me followed. Then she said merely: “Well?”
I felt very awkward. “I think that’s all,” I stumbled.
“I suppose I ought to be very much obliged to Ladislas,” she said, and dropped her gaze upon the table.
“His idea was that I could have helped your mother and you to get away from the city.”
“On your way to England, of course?” she asked, without looking up.
I hesitated. “Yes, on my way to England. Father Ambrose urged me to go to England, you know, as soon as possible; and General Eckerstein also.”
“I hope you will have a pleasant journey. Warsaw is just now a very questionable pleasure resort.”
“Is that my dismissal?”