CHAPTER XII.
UNDER A CLOUD.
I was awakened early the following morning by Zénaïde, who brought me a summons from Mentchikof,—a few lines in French, asking me to come to his house at my earliest convenience. I read the note with a smile.
“This also is the outcome of Mademoiselle Catherine’s letter,” I remarked. “May the saints teach women to keep their pens from paper.”
“Such a woman cannot live without intrigue,” my wife replied; “she may be remarkable, but she is not pure of soul.”
“My love, we have nothing to do with her soul,” I remarked indifferently; “she is a splendid creature, but she is also the daughter of a peasant. A few more letters, however, will send her where neither beauty nor ambition nor intrigue will save her.”
“In which case it will be difficult to rescue Mademoiselle Zotof for M. de Lambert,” my wife said astutely.
“Upon my soul,” I retorted, “I am half inclined to sympathize with the czar. If this young Frenchman had not crossed mademoiselle’s path, she would, no doubt, have rejoiced at the thought of becoming Czarina of Russia; and, after all, is she not making a mistake? Peter is a goodly man.”
Madame de Brousson uttered an exclamation of disgust. “You have no sentiment, M. le Vicomte,” she said. “I often marvel that you were so romantic twenty-one years ago.”
“The provocation was great, madame,” I replied, smiling; “you forget that.”
Half an hour later, I was entering the courtyard of Mentchikof’s palace. It was unusually quiet; not even a groom loitered by the gates, and I was surprised that the master of the establishment was within when there were so few signs of attendance. The steward who answered my inquiry, however, corrected my mistake; Mentchikof was absent, but Madame Golovin desired to speak to me. Supposing that Mentchikof had been called away and had left his message with his sister, I followed the steward up the broad stairs, and through three of the long salons, into a small apartment, evidently dedicated to Madame Golovin, for it was furnished with all a woman’s fanciful belongings, and hung with gay tapestries. Madame kept me waiting but a few minutes, and came in with a pale face. She greeted me cordially, but her manner was abrupt and anxious.