'But you could not when you were as small as he?'
'Could I not?' said Gela, doubtfully, to whom that time seemed many centuries back.
'And Lili, can she read?' said Madame Olga, suppressing a yawn.
'Oh yes,' said Gela; 'at least, two-letter words she can; and me, I read to her.'
'What model children!' cried Madame Brancka, with a little laugh. 'And the naughty boy who was in a rage because he was not permitted to go to Chantilly? That was Bela, was it not? Bela, do you remember how cruel your mother was, and how you cried?'
Bela looked at her, with his blue eyes growing as stern and cold as his father's.
'My mother is always right,' he said gallantly. 'She knows what I ought to do. I do not think I cried, meine gnädige Frau; I never cry.'
'Even the naughty boy has become an angel! What a wonderful disciplinarian you are, Wanda! If your children were not so handsome they would be insufferable with their goodness. They are very handsome; they are just like Sabran, and yet they are not at all a Russian type.'
'Why should they be Russian? We have no Russian blood,' said their mother, in surprise.
Madame Brancka laughed a little confusedly, and fluttered her feather screen.