A sudden ring was heard at the bell, and almost immediately the footman brought a letter to his mistress which a commissionaire had brought from the Great Northern Railway Station.
The letter was from the prince.
After reading the first few lines, Lise cried out and fell back on the sofa.
"Madame," wrote Pierre Olsdorf to the woman who was once his wife, "the decree of divorce having left me guardian of my children—I am taking away Tekla. When you receive this letter we shall be on our way to Russia, which is closed against you by my order."
The outraged husband avenged himself on the mother. At least, in her despair, so Lise Barineff interpreted his action.
"Remember your undertaking to marry again as soon as possible, if you wish that I should not return to Paris and keep the oath I have sworn. In due time, when the law permits, you must become Madame Meyrin."
The painter picked up the letter which had fallen from the hand of the ex-Princess Olsdorf. He stood before her with head lowered, without daring to address a word of consolation to her.
This day, for the first time, they parted without a word, without the exchange of a kiss.