"But, Nita, what are you thinking of?"
"I really cannot; I have no time. Go with the Countess d'Olbreuse, who hurried here from Madrid and missed a bull-fight in order to be present at Lensky's concert, and who appeals by turns to the Russian ambassador and her music-teacher to coax a ticket."
But Sophie shook her head. "I would rather burn the ticket than give it to any one but you. I do not understand you, Nita--you who are so musical that you attend every concert that is worth the while. You do not wish to hear Boris Lensky? What is the reason?"
Nita tapped her little foot vexedly on the floor, and said: "When not long ago a sceptical old Frenchman, who had nothing to do with death, learned from his physician that his last hour had come, he said: 'Well, it is not agreeable to me, but still I have one consolation: I shall, at least, when I am dead, hear nothing more of Sarah Bernhardt and the great French nation'--he could have added, and of Boris Lensky!"
III.
"You will certainly not run into the foyer after him?" asks Nita, dryly.
"I am not thinking of it," Sophie assures her.
"Well, I only thought that you are one of his relatives," says Nita.
"Since his wife's death I have had no intercourse with him," Sophie confides to her friend. "He cannot bear me, thinks me narrow and prudish. As a man, I have never been in sympathy with him; he treated my dear cousin, his wife, much too badly for me to ever pardon him. But as an artist--as artist--he stands alone. I have heard other wonderful violinists, but it is only he that sends such hot and cold shudders over one's back at each stroke of his bow."
"Yes, he is a great artist," says Nita. Her voice sounds weary and hoarse, and the words fall slowly, syllable for syllable, from her lips, as if they were forced from her in a magnetic sleep. She looks pale, and her eyes again have their mysterious look. After much coaxing and pleading from Sophie, she has at length resolved to go with her friend to Lensky's concert, announced for that afternoon, and now seems to regret her decision.