“Whether you believe me or no, I have always wished you well, and to-day still——”
He stopped short, alarmed by the fixed gaze of the eyes of the Tsarevitch who was slowly endeavouring to rise:—
“Judas the Traitor! This for your good wishes!” He spat in his face, and then with a dull moan fell back upon the bed.
Blumentrost rushed up to him, crying to Tolstoi:—
“Go away at once; if not, I cannot be responsible for anything.”
The Tsarevitch had again fallen into delirium.
“There see how she lies in wait for me—— Her eyes are just like two blazing coals, her whiskers bristle like those of my father! Get away!——Fédor Franzovitch, for heaven’s sake drive her away I implore you!”
Blumentrost gave him some spirit to smell and laid some ice on his head.
At last he recovered consciousness and glanced at Tolstoi without the least anger, evidently oblivious of what had just happened.