When, resplendent in their uniforms, glittering with noble orders, the party reappeared before Her Grace, her face was still pale and her eyes shone from startled depths. Each man kissed her hand and, leaving, received her whispered—"Godspeed." Carter was last.
With his hand upon the knob, he felt that the closing of that door was like sealing the death warrant of his hopes. He was going to find a husband among strangers for the girl he loved. Obeying an irresistible impulse he looked back.
Trusia was standing by the table in the middle of the room. Her left hand leaned on its edge, supporting a weariness shown in the relaxed lines of her figure. Her lips were parted as if in pain, while her eyes seemed searching for Carter as he met her gaze. The others had already passed from the hall. With a bound he was before her, kneeling, his face, turned upward to hers, pleading the love he dared not speak.
Whether he imagined what he wished the most, or whether she, bending, actually touched her lips to his, he could not have said, but satisfied that she loved him, he arose and staggered blindly from the room.
XVI
YOU ARE THE KING OF KROVITCH
At about the same time the Krovitzers were leaving the house on the Boulevard S. Michel, one of those little comedies from real life was being enacted in the attic studio of Eugene Delmotte. Its finale was to be influenced considerably by their actions. The artist was to be transported by them from Hadean depths of despair to Olympian heights of rejoicing.
His disordered locks, beret upon the floor, red tie askew, if not his tragic, rolling eyes and clenched fists, would have apprised Mlle. Marie that all was not as it should be with M. Delmotte. With full appreciation of the effectiveness of the gesture, the artist threw himself into a large chair before an unfinished canvas of heroic dimensions. He buried his face in his hands. He groaned. This was too much for Marie. She approached. Laying a hesitating hand upon his shoulder, she looked down with real concern at the bowed, curly head.