The carriage stopped; Ivan opened the door and assisted the ladies to alight.
"Carry the little one into the house and take him to the kitchen to dry," commanded the Countess. "What a surprise he will be to Loris and how he will enjoy having a playmate!"
Another servant appeared at the door to assist the Countess.
"Your excellency," he whispered, "the Count arrived the day before yesterday. He was furious at finding you absent."
Louise bit her lip and her face became pale. Then she shrugged her pretty shoulders and broke into a careless laugh.
"Oh, well, Dimitri will forgive me when I tell him how sorry I am," she thought to herself, as she tripped up the stone steps into the house.
In the brilliantly lighted hall she was met by her husband, Count Dimitri Drentell, and she clasped her arms around his neck in a transport of conjugal affection.
"So you have come back, my dear, from those horrid barracks!" she cried. "I am so glad! But why didn't you send word you were coming, that I might have been at home to meet you? But it is just like you to keep the matter a perfect secret and give me no chance to prepare for your reception."
The Count's brow contracted. Before he had an opportunity to reply, his wife continued:
"Indeed, I'm glad you've come. If I had known that I was marrying a son of Mars who would be away in the army for eight months of the year, I doubt whether I should have left my happy Tiflis."