"Somewhere about the sitting-rooms," replied that worthy man, as quietly as though he were directing a casual visitor to his guest. "At least I left him there. He fell in a dead faint when I explained to him that I had no intention, nor indeed the power, to save him from your hands. I daresay he has recovered by this time, and is hiding in some corner."
Taras traversed the ante-hall, where Frau von Antoniewicz and the Countess Wanda awaited him kneeling. They were in floods of tears, trembling with emotion as they caught hold of his feet to stop his progress. "Mercy!" they moaned. "For pity's sake forgive him!" Taras endeavoured to free himself from their grasp, but they clung to him, and he was too much of a man to use force with women.
"Let me go," he said; "it is quite useless to waste a word about him."
But they clung all the faster, "What, shall I have to see it with my own eyes?" cried the amiable Wanda with dishevelled locks and rolling her eyes--a very picture of despair.
"You need not--you are free to leave the house. I have nothing to do with women."
"Alas!" whined the mother, "how should we, helpless women, venture to face all your men?"
"They won't harm you. Moreover, your husband is welcome to go with you. Of course you will keep in the grounds for the present."
He sent an order to this effect to the men keeping the front door, and thereupon, with Jemilian, Sefko, Wassilj, and one or two others of his most trustworthy followers, he set himself to search the rooms. Their torches flared brightly, but the spacious apartments appeared untenanted. They looked into every chimney, beneath every couch, and behind the hangings with rising impatience, making such careful examination that not a kitten could have escaped, far less a man. But not a creature did they find. They had reached the last room on this floor--the dining room.
It was locked. "Ah!" said Taras, with a sigh of relief. The door soon yielded. The table showed the remains of dessert, empty champagne bottles and glasses half filled. There appeared to have been five covers.
"Who may have been the fifth at this feast?" said Jemilian, wondering.