Zénaïde shrugged her shoulders. “You do not understand Peter,” she said with decision; “he is in love, and he will allow his impulses and his jealousies to rule him exactly as if he had been born a peasant. The czar is very genuine, and I believe I admire him for it. If he is a king, he is also a man, and when the depths of that soul are stirred, there is a mighty tempest.”
“By Saint Denis, madame!” I exclaimed, “I shall begin to be jealous of his imperial Majesty. I never knew before how much you admired him.”
She smiled. “Yes,” she said thoughtfully, “I believe I do admire him; I believe that I am even sorry for him. He was married to an ignorant, bigoted woman who belongs to a past for which the czar has no sympathy. There could have been no affection between them, and he can have little hope in the czarevitch. In a manner, I have been converted to your opinions. Peter has deep feelings and a certain simplicity; I believe that he sincerely desires to be loved by Mademoiselle Zotof. I can see just how her beauty, her wit, her spirit appeal to him. While I sympathize with her, and while her love for M. de Lambert is natural and sweet, yet I am not without regret—I confess it—that she cannot be Czarina of Russia.”
“Upon my word, Zénaïde,” I said dryly, “you should plead the czar’s cause. To me he seemed without so fine a perception.”
“A violent man, Philippe,” she replied gently, “but with some magnificent qualities, and, after all, the son of Alexis the most Debonair and Natalia Kirilovna, a beautiful and ambitious woman and a generous and benignant man; had he not the birthright to a noble soul? And how much more lovable than—”
I held up my finger in warning. “Have a care, madame,” I said.
“Nay, Philippe,” she replied, “I will say it—than the king our master.”
“Treason,” I said lightly, “high treason. It will become my duty, madame, to report you at Versailles.”
As I spoke, Touchet came to the door to announce that a stranger desired to see me at once on urgent business.
“Bid him come here,” I said, and then added, “Nay, I will go down—” But Zénaïde interrupted me.