Page:By order of the Czar.djvu/240



228 BY ORDER OF THE CZAR.

" But I am leaving London for a month or two."

" You remain in Paris ? "

" No, in Venice."

"In Venice!" she repeated; but he did not notice the expression of surprise that passed over her face.

li My address there will be the Hotel Beau Rivage."

"The Hotel Beau Rivage," she repeated slowly, as her maid presented herself at the coupe. The countess, giving her hand to Philip, said " Good-bye," to which he promptly responded :

" We shall meet on the boat."

" Perhaps not."

" In Paris then ? "

" Not until you hear from me," she said firmly.

" But it is au revoir ? " he asked appealingly.

"Yes, au revoir /" she answered.

CHAPTER XXX.

PHILIP TRIES TO FORGET.

As Philip made his way to the night boat for Calais, he found himself staggering down the gangway. The inten- sity of his sensations had shaken his nerves. He felt as if he had just come out of a fever, as indeed he had. Reaching the deck, he sat down to recover his mental and physical equilibrium. He was dazed. He remem- bered once awaking from a terrible dream, with something like a similar feeling of a bitter happiness, a sense of wicked joy, pierced with the sting of remorse. Philip sat on the deck, staring at the sky. There was a young ethereal looking moon. He saw the passengers arriving, and watched them and their luggage being thrust aboard. They seemed to roll down the gangway in a confused mass.