He stayed on at Révonde, though the tsa continued to blow relentlessly. Affairs were yet in a chaotic condition and he lingered grumblingly at the club, declaring it was too cold to travel, and apparently finding his chief relaxation in privately deriding Rallywood for the favours which Révonde society was thrusting so lavishly upon him.
In the untiring whirl and tangle of court life and gaiety Rallywood lived and moved with a growing enjoyment that half surprised himself, and for which he accounted on the score of change from the dull drudgery of the frontier. His acceptance by the Guard had been thorough; even the colonel-in-chief, Count Sagan, whose strongest point was not courtesy, had given him a pronounced recognition. The pretty Countess demanded a good deal of his attention and attendance, and this fact brought down upon him some of Counsellor's most scathing jeers.
'Gallantries are in vogue, my boy, and you are qualifying for a high place amongst the Maäsauns,' he said. 'She is a deuced pretty woman. I offer you my compliments.'
'She is pretty,' replied Rallywood, 'but there are a good many people in Maäsau who think her handsomer than I do.'
'Yet you tell me that you are again on your way to her house this evening. Can't you get through the day without a glimpse of her?'
'Does it seem so bad as all that?' asked Rallywood reflectively. 'Yes, I suppose I like going there; yet as I have said before, there are a good many people who appreciate her more than I do.'
'Then what in the world takes you there?'
An odd expression grew slowly into the young man's face.
'Because of the other people, I suppose,' he repeated dreamily.
'As for instance?'