“I know this house! It belonged to my father’s brother. I was here as a child, with my mother and Alexis. My uncle was the Governor of Kazan, and very kind to me. They shot him dead in the street one day.”
Bertram looked at her, and saw how she was stirred with the remembrance of old days before the agony of Russia had touched her life. For a moment her dark eyes filled with tears, but when she stepped down from the sledge, taking his hand to help her, she spoke brave words.
“How lucky I am to be with those who have come to rescue Russia!”
There were log fires burning in all the rooms of the house, and little camp beds in most of them.
“A good billet,” said the Colonel. “You boys know how to grab at luxury.”
“Not much luxury, sir, and plenty of bugs,” said the young man named Sims, who was in command of the “outfit” at Kazan. “This place was used for refugees, until we came. It’s still a menagerie.”
“Work for me,” said Dr. Weekes. “I’m the world’s light-weight vermin-killer.”
The Russian ladies were invited to lunch, but a special billet had been arranged for them in a house near by.
“A good scheme,” said the Colonel. “We don’t want any scandals for the Hearst Press. And I can see you boys have already fallen in love with my Princess.”
“She’s a peach,” said one of them. “But we’re too busy for amorous dalliance, Colonel.”