"Yes, mon ami," she was saying. "You must come--we go in a week--the day after my ball, to show Tamara Moscow, and from there to spend a night at Milasláv. Olga and Sonia and her husband and the Englishman, and Serge Grekoff and Valonne are coming, and it will be quite amusing."
"Think of the travelling and my old bones!" And Stephen Strong smiled. "But since it is your wish, dear Princess, of course I must come."
They were old and very intimate friends these two, and with him the Princess was accustomed to talk over most of her plans.
He got up and lit a cigarette, then he walked across the room and came back again, while his hostess surveyed him with surprise. At last he sat down.
"Vera, tell me the truth," he said. "How are things going? I confess last night gave me qualms."
"You see, Gritzko is quite an exceptional person, he is no type of a Russian or any other nation that one can reckon with, he is himself, and he has the most attractive magnetic personality a man could have."
"And if you knew the simple unsophisticated atmosphere in which your godchild has been brought up----."
"Stephen, really,"--and the Princess tapped her foot impatiently. "Please speak out. Say what you mean."
"She is no more fitted to cope with him than a baby, that is what I mean."
"But why should she cope with him? Are not men tiresome!" and the Princess sighed. "Can't you see I want them to love one another. It is just that--if she would not snub and resist him--all would be well."
"It did not look much like resistance last night," said Stephen Strong. "And if Gritzko is only playing the fool, and means nothing serious, then I think it is a shame."
"You don't suggest, surely, that I should interfere with fate?"
"Only to the extent of not giving him unlimited opportunities. You remember that season in London--and your brother Alexis--and her mother, and what came of that!"
The Princess put her hands up with a sudden gesture and covered her eyes.
"Oh! Stephen! how cruel of you to bring it back to me," she said; "but this is quite different--they are free--and it is my dearest wish that Tamara and Gritzko should be united." Then she continued in another tone. "I think you are quite wrong in any case. My plan is to throw them together as much as possible--he will see her real worth and delicate sweetness--and they will get over their quarrelling. It is her reserve and resistance which drives him mad. Sometimes I do not know how he will act."
