"Yes."
"The Countess Wodin."
"The Countess Wodin!" Olga exclaims, amazed.
Lato laughs. "You cannot understand how any one could take any interest in such a flirt?"
"Oh, no," she says, thoughtfully, "it is not that. She is very pretty even yet, and gay and amusing, but--he is horrible, and I cannot understand her marrying him, when----"
"When she might have had me?" he concludes her sentence, laughing.
"Frankly, yes." As she speaks she looks full in his face with undisguised kindliness.
He smiles, flattered, and still more amused. "What would you have? Wodin was rich, and I--I was a poor devil."
"Oh, how odious!" she murmurs, frowning, her dark eyes glowing with indignation. "I cannot understand how any one can marry for money----" She stops short. As she spoke her eyes met his, and his were instantly averted. An embarrassing pause ensues.
Olga feels that she is upon dangerous ground. They both change colour,--he turns pale, she blushes,--but her embarrassment is far greater than his. When he looks at her again he sees that there are tears in her eyes, and he pities her.