The cosmopolite Dane profited by an opportunity to place himself beside the lady. This was too significant, and she gave him a haughty look which he did not perceive. This look seemed to say: "No use. No hope for you!"
Lucie occupied herself more with Ivas than the rest of the company. In a sweet voice she asked: "You go to Poland?"
"Yes, madame," replied he smiling.
"I am very superstitious," said she; "and as I also go to Poland, I consider it a good omen to have made the acquaintance of a Pole on my way."
"Poland, madame, is to-day an abstraction. There is no Poland, and yet there are several: Russian Poland, the Kingdom of Poland raised up by the Congress of Vienna, Prussian Poland, and Austrian Poland."
"I really do not know to which Poland I am going. Tell me, where is Warsaw?"
"It is, in a way, my native city. One of the ancient capitals of Poland, and the last; to-day the capital of that ideal Poland which is yet to be established."
"I lose myself in all this geography! Do you also go to Warsaw?"
"Yes, madame. But I do not know whether I shall arrive there, and whether, on arriving, I shall not be sent much farther toward the Asiatic steppes."
"You are very unfortunate, you Poles."