Hedvig answered nothing. She only turned white in the face. Even her perfect bare shoulders grew whiter and seemed to radiate a chill through the dark velvet of her dress. But her black eyes stared with a shy irresolute hatred into her sister’s restless eyes.
Stellan was afraid lest Hedvig should suddenly tell Laura some awful truth; he was so afraid that his glass jingled against the plate as he raised it. But Laura had already noticed a haughty expression of disgust on Elvira’s face and turned at once to her sister-in-law. She began innocently far far away in Africa, on the Nile, during Stellan’s and Elvira’s famous wedding trip. From there she went over to the little panther cubs that they had brought home and which she had seen during her call at Trefvinge. Yes, they were too sweet, those little panther cubs, though she for her own part would never have dared to take them in her arms and play with them now that they had grown so big. But Elvira had been like a mother to them from the beginning. It was really delightful to see her with her little twins, so one could imagine worse results from a wedding trip....
That was one for Elvira. If Laura had torn off her clothes and pointed at the scars after the operation knife it could not have been more obvious. But the lady of Trefvinge Castle did not move a muscle. She only muttered quite low—so low that only those nearest to her could hear:
“My dear Laura, now you have stayed long enough in Africa. It would perhaps be good for you to think of a cooler place—say Siberia for instance.”
Laura did not trouble to catch the whisper. After her last bravado she settled down and seemed determined to be bored too.
Count Alexis seemed absent-minded during the last part of the conversation. Now his soft and musical voice was heard:
“I wonder if I might have some water.... No thank you, not soda,—ordinary water....”
“Ordinary water?” grunted Peter, suddenly quite amazed.
“Yes, thank you, if you have spring water.”
“Yes, certainly, ha, ha. There is certainly spring water!”