She clenched her teeth over her lower lip. As she played, a new light was dawning in her eyes. The music was a marvel, but no one in the room heard it.
“I would be pitiless to all such men,” said De Chauxville. “They deserve no pity, for they have shown none. The man who deceives a woman is worthy of—”
He never finished the sentence. Her deep, passionate eyes met his. Her hands came down with one final crash on the chords. She rose and crossed the room.
“Mother,” she said, “shall I ring for tea?”
When the countess awoke, De Chauxville was turning over some sheets of music at the piano.
CHAPTER XXIII — A WINTER SCENE
Between Petersburg and the sea there are several favorite islands more or less assigned to the foreigners residing in the Russian capital. Here the English live, and in summer the familiar cries of the tennis-lawn may be heard, while in winter snow-shoeing, skating, and tobogganing hold merry sway.
It was here, namely, on the island of Christeffsky, that a great ice fjte was held on the day preceding the departure of the Howard Alexis household for Tver. The fjte was given by one of the foreign ambassadors—a gentleman whose wife was accredited to the first place in Petersburg society. It was absolutely necessary, Steinmetz averred, for the whole Howard Alexis party to put in an appearance.