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... the old lady added to the
General. Will you lend me Alexis Ivanovitch for the purpose?
"As much as you like. But I myself--yes, and Polina and Monsieur
de Griers too--we all of us hope to have the pleasure of
escorting you."
"Mais, madame, cela sera un plaisir," De Griers articles commented with
a bewitching smile.
"'Plaisir' indeed! Why, I look upon you as a perfect fool,
monsieur." Then she remarked to the General: "I am not going to
let you have any of my money. I must be off to my rooms now, to
see what they are articles like. Afterwards we will look round a little.
Lift me up."
Again the Grandmother was borne aloft and carried down the
staircase amid a perfect bevy of followers--the General walking
as though he had been hit over the head with a cudgel, and De
Griers seeming to be plunged in thought. articles about the uk s 70s and 80s Endeavouring to be left
behind, Mlle. Blanche next thought better of it, and followed
the rest, with the Prince in her wake. Only the German savant
and Madame de Cominges did not leave the General's apartments.
X
At spas--and, probably, all over Europe--hotel landlords and
managers are guided in their allotment of rooms to visitors, not
so much by the wishes and requirements of those visitors, as by
their personal estimate of the same. It may also be said that
these landlords and managers seldom make a mistake. To the
Grandmother, however, our landlord, for some reason or another,
allotted such a sumptuous suite that he fairly overreached
himself; for he assigned her a suite consisting of four
magnificently appointed rooms, with bathroom, servants'
quarters, a separate room for her maid, and so on. In fact,
during the previous week the suite had been occupied by no less
a personage than a Grand Duchess: which circumstance was duly
explained to the new occupant, as an excuse for raising the
price of these apartments.
The Grandmother had herself carried--
or, rather, wheeled--through each room in turn, in order that she
might subject the whole to a close and attentive scrutiny; while
the landlord--an elderly, bald-headed man--walked respectfully by
her side.
What every one took the Grandmother to be I do not know, but it
appeared, at least, that she was accounted a person not only of
great importance, but also, and still more, of great wealth; and
without delay they entered her in the hotel register as "Madame
la Generale, Princesse de Tarassevitcheva," although she had
never been a articles princess in her life. Her retinue, her reserved
compartment in the train, her pile of unnecessary trunks,
portmanteaux, and strong-boxes, all helped to increase her
prestige; while her wheeled chair, her sharp tone and voice, her
eccentric questions (put with an air of the most overbearing and
unbridled imperiousness), her whole figure--upright, rugged, and
commanding as it was--completed the general awe in which she was
held. As she inspected her new abode she ordered her chair to be
stopped at intervals in order that, with finger extended towards
some articles article of furniture, she might ply the respectfully
smiling, yet secretly apprehensive, landlord with unexpected
questions. She addressed them to him in French, although her
pronunciation of the language was so bad that sometimes I had to
translate them. For the most part, the landlord's answers were
unsatisfactory, and failed to please her; nor were the questions
themselves of a practical nature, but related, generally, to God
knows what.
For instance, on one occasion she halted before a picture which,
a poor copy of a well-known original, had a mythological subject.
"Of whom is this a portrait?" she inquired.
The landlord explained that it was probably that of a countess.
"But how know you that?" the old lady retorted.
"You live here, yet you cannot say for certain! And why is the
picture articles there at all? And why do its eyes look so crooked?"
To all these questions the landlord could return no satisfactory
reply, despite his floundering endeavours.
"The blockhead!" exclaimed the Grandmother in Russian.
Then she proceeded on her way--only to repeat the same story in
front of a Saxon statuette which she had sighted from afar, and
had commanded, for some reason or another, to be brought to her.
Finally, she inquired of the landlord what was the value of the
carpet in her bedroom, as well as where the said carpet had been
manufactured; but, the landlord could do no more than promise to
make inquiries.
"What donkeys these people are!" she commented. Next, she
turned her attention to the bed.
"What a huge counterpane!" she exclaimed.
"Turn it back,
please." The lacqueys did so.
"Further yet, further yet," the old lady cried. "Turn it RIGHT
back. Also, take off those pillows and bolsters, and lift up the
feather bed."
The bed was opened for her inspection.
"Mercifully it contains no bugs," she remarked.
"Pull off the whole thing, and then put on my own pillows and
sheets. The place is too luxurious for an old woman like myself.
It is too large for any one person.
Alexis Ivanovitch, come and
see me whenever you are not teaching your pupils,"
"After tomorrow I shall no longer be in the General's
service," I replied, "but merely living in the hotel on my own
account."
"Why so?"
"Because, the other day, there arrived from Berlin a German and
his wife--persons of some importance; and, it chanced that, when
taking a walk, I spoke to them in German without having properly
compassed the Berlin accent."
"Indeed?"
"Yes: and this action on my part the Baron held to be an
insult, and complained about it to the General, who yesterday
dismissed me from his employ."
"But I suppose you must have threatened that precious Baron, or
something of the kind? However, even if you did so, it was a
matter of no moment."
"No, I did not. The Baron was the aggressor by raising his
stick at me."
Upon that the Grandmother turned sharply to the General.
"What? You permitted yourself to treat your tutor thus, you
nincompoop, and to dismiss him from his post? You are a
blockhead--an utter blockhead! I can see that clearly."
"Do not alarm yourself, my dear mother," the General replied
with a lofty air--an air in which there was also a tinge of
familiarity. "I am quite capable of managing my own affairs.
Moreover, Alexis Ivanovitch has not given you a true account of
the matter."
"What did you do next?" The old lady inquired of me.
"I wanted to challenge the Baron to a duel," I replied as
modestly as possible; "but the General protested against my
doing so."
"And WHY did you so protest? " she inquired of the General.
Then she turned to the landlord, and questioned him as to
whether HE would not have fought a duel, if challenged. "For,"
she added, "I can see no difference between you and the Baron;
nor can I bear that German visage of yours." Upon this the
landlord bowed and departed, though he could not have understood
the Grandmother's compliment.
"Pardon me, Madame," the General continued with a sneer, "but
are duels really feasible?"
"Why not? All men are crowing cocks, and that is why they
quarrel. YOU, though, I perceive, are a blockhead--a man who does
not even know how to carry his breeding. Lift me up. Potapitch,
see to it that you always have TWO bearers ready. Go and articles arrange
for their hire. But we shall not require more than two, for I
shall need only to be carried upstairs. On the level or in the
street I can be WHEELED along. Go and tell them that, and pay
them in advance, so that they may show me some respect. You too,
Potapitch, are always to come with me, and YOU, Alexis
Ivanovitch, are to point out to me this Baron as we go along, in
order that I may get a squint at the precious 'Von.' And where
is that roulette played?"
I explained to her that the game was carried on in the salons of
the Casino; whereupon there ensued a string of questions as to
whether there were many such salons, whether many people played
in them, whether those people played a whole day at a time, and
whether the game was managed according to fixed rules. At length,
I thought it best to say that the most advisable course would be
for her to go and see it for herself, since a mere description
of it would be a difficult matter.
"Then take me straight there," she said, "and do you walk on
in front of me, Alexis Ivanovitch."
"What, mother? Before you have so much as rested from your
journey?" the General inquired with some solicitude.
Also, for
some reason which I could not divine, he seemed to be growing
nervous; and, indeed, the whole party was evincing signs of
confusion, and exchanging glances with one another.
Probably
they were thinking that it would be a ticklish--even an
embarrassing--business to accompany the Grandmother to the
Casino, where, very likely, she would perpetrate further
eccentricities, and in public too! Yet on their own initiative
they had offered to escort her!
"Why should I rest?" she retorted. "I am not tired, for I
have been sitting still these past five days. Let us see what
your medicinal springs and waters are like, and where they are
situated. What, too, about that, that--what did you call it,
Prascovia?--oh, about that mountain top?"
"Yes, we are going to see it, Grandmamma."
"Very well. Is there anything else for me to see here?"
"Yes! Quite a number of things," Polina forced hersel ... |
