In truth, just as men of conscious greatness who, in the period of their struggles, have a certain brusque and impatient unease, suddenly in the day of their success acquire a dignity and a radiating charm that astonishes, so in her a similar transformation had operated. The old feline restlessness, the swift and nervous changes from Slavic somnolence to sparkling energy, has been subdued in a clear serenity, and as she received the flattering tribute of the young man who had been associated with her period of uncertainty, there was in her smile a new graciousness that was not without its authority.
"You too are happy!—it shows!" she said after the moment which she allowed Beecher to study her.
"Very!"
"You have children?"
"Two." Then recalling with a little pardonable malice the intention of his visit, he said: "You were a bad prophet, Rita! ... You remember?"
"I do."
"Well?..."
"Well, I underestimated your intelligence, my dear Teddy," she said, with a fugitive smile. "You are settling in America?"
"Yes, the Missus has planned to make me a captain of finance," he said with a laugh. "However, I am ready for something active."
"Tell your wife," she said irrelevantly, "that I will come to see her after the next act. My husband returns tomorrow ... save the night after for us ... I want to be as good a friend to her as you have been to me! ... Give my message exactly!"