‘Dost think I shall attack the Tsar’s palace single-handed, good mother?’ I asked, laughing. But she shook her head and answered nothing, except to make over me the sign of the Cross and to mumble a prayer as I left the chamber.
CHAPTER XXIII
Though I had laughed to ease the mind of the good woman, I felt indeed but little disposed for mirth. My mind was full of Vera, for I had a horrible dread that she would be forced against her will to submit to marriage with the Tsar. I hastened therefore to Mazeppa’s lodging, for well I knew that if there was anything to know, whether of Vera or of anything else, Mazeppa would be the one to know the first news and the last.
‘A ghost!’ he said, as I entered and greeted him; ‘one risen from the tomb indeed, and limping, by the saints—what, wounded? Whom now hast thou found to brawl with?’
‘It is true that I have fought: one day I will tell thee all there is to tell. To-day thou must be narrator, for I long to hear news. First, what has passed at the terem?’
‘Much, and many surprising things. Has Olga Panief found thee yet?’
‘Olga? surely not—why seeks she me—is she not in the terem?’
‘That is a part of what has happened, but there is much else. Vera Kurbatof——’
‘Oh, she is found?’ I asked, feigning indifference, but failing utterly.
‘At the Diévitchy monastery, and brought to the terem, where she was placed among those who had been reserved for the Tsar’s final choice—six of them. But stay, I remember now that all this must be news to thee. How long hast thou been absent wounded—a week? Then there is much to be told, and I will tell from the beginning.’