She left my arm and bending over him patted him and made much of him in her old way; and the dog whimpered and frolicked about her, fawning on and licking her as if he had been a young pup. In the midst of it Elma and Prince Albrevics came out and watched them.
“What’s the meaning of that?” growled the Prince, with a scowl.
“One might almost think they were old friends,” answered Elma, in her sweetest tone.
Gatrina paid no heed to either remark, although she must have heard them both; and when she raised her head I saw in her brightly shining eyes an expression I had not seen since I came to Belgrade.
“Down, Chris, down,” I cried, for the dog was loath to let her go.
“He remembers me, Mr. Bergwyn; I should not like him to have forgotten,” said Gatrina, very gently, but meaningly. It was her way of answering Elma’s sneer.
I accompanied them to the carriage, Chris coming with us, and his great wistful eyes followed her all the time until she drove away.
As I returned into the house, the Prince passed me on the threshold. I stopped, meaning to have some plain-pointed talk with him.
But he prevented that. “I don’t quarrel with a man in his own house, sir, but we shall meet again,” he said, and hurried away without giving me a chance to reply.