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Page 33
Here she sat down and trembled again. The wildest excitement
filled her veins. Would Sasha never come! She could not sit still,
she walked from bouquet to bouquet of roses and carnations,
sniffing the scent, and at last subsided into a big armchair, as
the waiters brought in some tea.
He thought of everything for her, then--her lover. But oh, why did
he not come!
She had finished her tea and had begun her restless pacing again,
when, with a gentle tap, the door opened, and Count Roumovski
appeared.
"Sasha!" she cried, and advanced toward him like a frightened
child.
His usually calm blue eyes were blazing with some emotion which
disturbed her greatly, she knew not why, and his voice seemed to
have taken a tone of extra deepness, as he said:
"Stella! My little star! And so you are really here--and my own!"
He put his strong hands down and held on to the back of a chair,
and simple as she was she knew very well that otherwise he would
have taken her into his arms, which was where she was longing to
be, if she had known.
"Yes, I have come," she whispered, "I have left them all--for you.
Oh! when will your sister be here?"
"Not until six o'clock, darling," he answered, while his eyes
melted upon her with passionate love. "There is an hour yet to
wait. I had hoped you would not have been forced to leave your
aunt's care until then."
"Oh! I am delighted to have come away," Stella answered, regaining
some of her composure. "I was shut into my room and watched by a
servant. It was awful! But do--you know what has happened now?
since I left? Are they tearing about after me, or what?"
Count Roumovski still held on to the back of the chair, and his
voice was still deep, as he said:
"I believe they have gone to your Embassy in a band--and much good
may they get there. You are of age, you see. Besides, I have taken
care that no one at the Grand Hotel knows where we have gone, and
it will take them quite an hour or two to telephone about and find
out--and by that time my sister will have arrived, and we can defy
them."
"Yes," said Stella, and then, nervously, "won't you have some
tea?"
He sat down, still constrainedly and clasped his hands, and
womanlike, when she saw his agitation, her own lessened, and she
assumed command, while she asked almost archly if he took cream
and sugar.
He liked neither, he said, and with the air of a little hostess
she handed him the cup. Then she smiled softly and stood quite
near him.
He drew himself together and his face looked almost stern as he
took the tea, and over Stella there crept a chill--and the gay
little speech that had been bubbling to her lips died there, and a
silence fell upon them for a few moments. Then he put down his cup
and crossed to the stiff sofa where she was, and sat down beside
her.
"Sweetheart," he said, looking deeply into her eyes, "it is a
colossal temptation, you know, to me to make love to you. But I am
not going to permit myself that happiness yet. I want to tell you
all about what we shall do presently, and see if it pleases you."
He did not even take her hand, and Stella felt rather aggrieved
and wounded. "I propose that as soon as the formalities can be got
through, and the wedding can take place, that we go straight to
Paris--because you will want to get all kinds of clothes. And it
will be such a delight to me to give you everything you wish for."
Stella smiled shyly. It seemed suddenly to bring realities of
things before her with keen force. He would have the right to give
her everything in the world--this man whom she did not really
know, but whom she felt she loved very much. She clasped her hands
and a thrill ran through her. What, what did it all mean? The idea
of her marriage with Eustace Medlicott had always appeared as an
ugly vision, an end to everything, a curtain which was yet drawn
over a view which could only be all dusk and gray shadows, and
which she would rather not contemplate. But now the thought of
going away and beginning a new existence with Sasha Roumovski was
something so glorious and delicious that she quivered with joy at
any reference to it.
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