“I am ready now.”
As they moved off I heard him ask who I was, but could not catch the reply.
I hated the look of the man, and tried to persuade myself that the feeling was not in any way prompted by what I knew about his design upon the Princess Christina. If I had before needed any inducement to drive me into opposition to him, my hasty prejudice would have supplied it; and I sat now absorbed in thought, chewing the cud of all that had passed between the Princess’s staunch little emissary and myself, and wishing for the hour and the means to thwart him. They would come, I felt, and I nursed my anger and fed my animosity as I sat there piecing together the threads of the net that was closing round me, and drawing me forward upon a path that would lead I could not say whither.
Spernow’s voice roused me.
“You are not dancing, Count. Won’t you let me find you some partners? There are plenty here who wish to know you. Well, have you and Nathalie had an interesting conversation?” he asked in a lower voice, dropping into the seat at my side. “I know how anxious she was for it.”
“I hope great things from it,” I answered.
“Are you to be presented to the Princess?”
I looked at him in surprise, not understanding the question.
“Oh, the presentation was to hinge upon the result of your talk with her.”
“Then probably I shall be presented,” I returned, smiling.