Prince Khris remained unmoved.
“That is matter of history,” he said serenely. “The man, as you call him (who is unquestionably a Christian), may have been touched by that heroic spectacle of a modern Aphrodite battling with the waves. No doubt it was intended that he should be touched. All that I wish to say, dear Duchess, is this, that if the report be true that you intend to marry him—and it may be, for millionaires are the only men worth marrying—I merely venture to say that I—well, in a word, I should prevent it. That is all.”
She stared at him in unaffected amazement, and her anger was as real as her surprise.
“How dare you say such things to me?” she said in great offence. “You would venture to imply that the boat was upset on purpose!”
He laughed a little softly.
“The unaided à propos is rarely of occurrence in this life. But perhaps M. Vanderlin was impressed by the accident; men of finance are sometimes children in matters outside their counting-houses. However, all I desired, Duchess, is to intimate to you that if you have any intention of marrying the man who, as you remarked, divorced my daughter, I shall not permit the marriage to take place.”
“How can you prevent it?”
“That is my affair. Rest assured only that I can and that I shall.”
She was silent, intensely irritated and uncertain how to treat him; she was aware that there was something ludicrous and undignified in her position; she could not allege that Vanderlin had any intention to marry her; she had been taken off her guard and placed in a position of absurd embarrassment.
What could this old man mean? He was too keen and experienced a person to menace what he had not the ability to carry out. Had he known anything of her relations with Massarene?