Natalie did not take her scornful eyes from his face, and Boris at last looked shiftily away.
As he apparently did not intend to speak again, she put to him another question:
"Who is the woman," she asked, "you have here with you?"
"That is no business of yours," snarled Boris, "though you can, if you wish to speak to or allude to her, call her Madame Estelle, as I introduced her to you."
"I merely asked," said Natalie, "because I was curious to know how she came to be associated with a rascal like you."
"Ah! my dear cousin, that is something you will understand better a little later." He said this with an insinuating air which filled Natalie with loathing.
"Boris," she said coldly, "I decline altogether to allow you to insult me."
She turned her back on him, and Boris swore at her without disguise. But she paid no heed.
Presently he walked round the room so that he could come face to face with her.
"It is early," he said, "but early hours will do you good. If you will be so kind as to accompany me I will show you to your room."