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... toutest, threads which
united the various actors in the drama, I had, until now, been
ignorant of the methods and secrets of the game. For Polina had
never been completely open with me. Although, on occasions, it
had happened that involuntarily, 1 32 scale as it were, she had revealed
to me something of her heart, I had noticed that in most
cases--in fact, nearly always--she had either laughed away these
revelations, or grown confused, or purposely imparted to them
a false guise. Yes, she must have concealed a great deal from me.
But, I had a presentiment that now the end of this strained and
mysterious situation was approaching. Another stroke, and all
would be finished and exposed. Of my own fortunes, interested
though I was in the affair, I took no account. I was in the
strange position of possessing but two hundred gulden, of being
at a loose end, of lacking both a post, the means of subsistence,
a shred of hope, and any plans for the future, yet of caring
nothing for these things. Had not my 1 32 scale mind been so full of Polina,
I should have given myself up to the comical piquancy of the
impending denouement, and laughed my fill at it. But the thought
of Polina was torture to me. That her fate was settled I already
had an inkling; yet that was not the thought which was giving me
so much uneasiness. What I really wished for was to penetrate her
secrets. I wanted her to come to me and say, " I love you, " and,
if she would not so come, or if to hope that she would ever do so
was an unthinkable absurdity--why, then there was nothing else for
me to want. Even now I do not know what I am wanting. I feel like
a man who has lost his way. I yearn but to be in her presence, and
within the circle of her light and splendour--to be there now, and
forever, and for the whole of my life. More I do not know. How
can I ever bring myself to leave her?
On reaching the third storey of the hotel I experienced a shock.
I was just passing the General's suite when 1 32 scale something caused me
to look round. Out of a door about twenty paces away there was
coming Polina! She hesitated for a moment on seeing me, and
then beckoned me to her.
"Polina Alexandrovna!"
"Hush! Not so loud."
"Something startled me just now," I whispered, "and I looked
round, and saw you. Some electrical influence seems to emanate
from your form."
"Take this letter," she went on with a frown (probably she had
not even heard my words, she was so preoccupied), "and hand it
personally to Mr. Astley. Go as quickly as ever you can, please.
No answer will be required. He himself--" She did not finish her
sentence.
"To Mr. Astley?" I asked, in some astonishment.
But she had vanished again.
Aha! So the two were carrying on a correspondence! However, I
set off to search for Astley--first at his hotel, and then at
the Casino, where I went the round of the salons in vain. At
length, vexed, and almost in despair, I was on my way home
when I ran across him among a troop of English ladies and
gentlemen who had been out for a ride. Beckoning to him to
stop, I handed him the letter.
We had barely time even to look
at one another, but I suspected that it was of set purpose
that he restarted his horse so quickly.
Was jealousy, then, gnawing at me? At all events, I felt
exceedingly depressed, despite the fact that I had no desire
to ascertain what the correspondence was about. To think that
HE should be her confidant! "My 1 32 scale friend, mine own familiar
friend!" passed through my mind. Yet WAS there any love in
the matter? "Of course not," reason whispered to me. But
reason goes for little on such occasions. I felt that the
matter must be cleared up, for it was becoming unpleasantly
complex.
I had scarcely set foot in the hotel when the commissionaire
and the landlord (the latter issuing from his room for the
purpose) alike informed me that I was being searched for high
and low--that three separate messages to ascertain my
whereabouts had come down from the General. When I entered his
study I was feeling anything but kindly disposed. I found
there the General himself, De Griers, and Mlle. Blanche, but
not Mlle.'s mother, who was a person whom her reputed
daughter used only for show purposes, since in all matters of
business the daughter fended for herself, and it is unlikely
that the mother knew anything about them.
Some very heated discussion was in progress, and meanwhile the
door of the study was open--an unprecedented circumstance. As
I approached the portals I could hear loud voices raised, for
mingled with the pert, venomous accents of De Griers were
Mlle. Blanche's excited, impudently abusive tongue and the
General's plaintive wail as, apparently, he sought to justify
himself in something. But on my appearance every one stopped
speaking, and tried to put a better face upon matters. De
Griers smoothed his hair, and twisted his angry face into a
smile--into the mean, studiedly polite French smile which I so
detested; while the downcast, perplexed General assumed an air
of dignity--though only in a mechanical way. On the other hand,
Mlle. Blanche did not trouble to 1 32 scale conceal the wrath that was
sparkling in her countenance, but bent her gaze upon me with
an air of impatient expectancy. I may remark that hitherto
she had treated me with absolute superciliousness, and, so far
from answering my salutations, had always ignored them.
"Alexis Ivanovitch," began the General in a tone of
affectionate upbraiding, "may I say to you that I find it
strange, exceedingly strange, that--In short, your conduct
towards myself and my family--In a word, your-er-extremely"
" Eh! Ce n'est pas ca," interrupted De Griers in a 1 32 scale tone of
impatience and contempt (evidently he was the ruling spirit
of the conclave). "Mon cher monsieur, notre general se
trompe.
What he means to say is that he warns you--he begs of
you most eamestly--not to ruin him. I use the expression
because--"
"Why? Why?" I 1 32 scale interjected.
"Because you have taken upon yourself to act as guide to this,
to this--how shall I express it?--to this old lady, a cette
pauvre terrible vieille. But she will only gamble away all
that she has--gamble it away like thistledown. You yourself have
seen her play. Once she has acquired the taste for gambling,
she will never leave the roulette-table, but, of sheer
perversity and temper, will stake her all, and lose it. In
cases such as hers a gambler can never be torn away from the
game; and then--and then--"
"And then," asseverated the General, "you will have ruined
my whole family. I and my family are her heirs, for she has
no nearer relatives than ourselves. I tell you frankly that
my affairs are in great--very great disorder; how much they are
so you yourself are partially aware. If she should lose a
large sum, or, maybe, her whole fortune, what will become of
us--of my children" (here the General exchanged a glance
with De Griers)" or of me? "(here he looked at Mlle.
Blanche, who turned her head contemptuously away). "Alexis
Ivanovitch, I beg of you to save us."
"Tell me, General, how am I to do so? On what footing do I
stand here?"
"Refuse to take her about. Simply leave her alone."
"But she would soon find some one else to take my place?"
"Ce n'est pas ca, ce n'est pas ca," again interrupted De
Griers. "Que diable! Do not leave her alone so much as
advise her, persuade her, draw her away. In any case do not
let her gamble; find her some counter-attraction."
"And how am I to do that? If only you would undertake the
task, Monsieur de Griers! " I said this last as innocently as
possible, but at once saw a rapid glance of excited
interrogation pass from Mlle. Blanche to De Griers, while in
the face of the latter also there gleamed something which he
could not repress.
"Well, at the present moment she would refuse to accept my
services," said he with a gesture. "But if, later--"
Here he gave Mlle.
Blanche another glance which was full of
meaning; whereupon she advanced towards me with a bewitching
smile, and seized and pressed my hands. Devil take it, but how
that devilish visage of hers could change! At the present
moment it was a visage full of supplication, and as gentle in
its expression as that of a smiling, roguish infant.
Stealthily, she drew me apart from the rest as though the more
completely to separate me from them; and, though no harm came
of her doing so--for it was merely a stupid manoeuvre, and no
more--I found the situation very unpleasant.
The General hastened to lend her his support.
"Alexis Ivanovitch," he began, "pray pardon me for having
said what I did just now--for having said more than I meant to
do.
I beg and beseech you, I kiss the hem of your garment, as
our Russian saying has it, for you, and only you, can save us.
I and Mlle. de Cominges, we all of us beg of you-- But you
understand, do you not? Surely you understand?" and with his
eyes he indicated Mlle. Blanche. Truly he was cutting a
pitiful figure!
At this moment three low, respectful knocks sounded at the
door; which, on being opened, revealed a chambermaid, with
Potapitch behind her--come from the Grandmother to request
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