She pointed to all the magazines and newspapers which the servants had forgotten to clear away. They lay over the long wicker chair, on the table and on the ground.
"Shall I ring to have them cleared away?" asked Wanda.
"Oh, never mind!" said Valérie.
She herself picked up one or two papers, folded them, put them together; Wanda again waved to the boats with her handkerchief.
"My God!" she suddenly heard Valérie murmur, faintly.
She looked round: the young archduchess had turned pale and sunk into a chair. She had dropped the papers again; one of them she held tight, crushing it convulsively; she looked down at it with eyes vacant with terror:
"It's not true," she stammered. "They always lie.... They lie!"
"What is it, Valérie?" cried Wanda, frightened.
At this moment the Duchess of Wendeholm came out through the hall:
"Valérie!" she called.