Page:The Tsar's Window.djvu/109

 told him that I had had so little of my own society lately that I felt like a stranger to myself.

"Ah!" he said, in a serious tone, "then I am intruding."

"Not at all. I am not fond of strangers, so pray do not go."

The characteristic wrinkle in my companion's nose showed that he was amused.

"I wonder if any one has ever told you that the tongue is a dangerous weapon?" he asked.

"I remember vaguely to have read it somewhere. But why? Do you wish me to be silent that you may talk?"

"Heaven forbid!" he cried. "I have been exerting myself in that way all the afternoon, and I came here to rest."

"To have a man confess that he comes to me for rest is a bit of flattery which I shall not soon forget."

"Really!" said my companion nonchalantly. "What does Mr. Novissilsky come to you for?"

"To talk about my cousin."

"Ah!" A moment's reflection, and then he added, "One would say, you know, that Count Piloff was a desperate admirer of your cousin's. George Piloff, I mean."

I looked at him with some surprise. Was Chilton Thurber degenerating into a gossip? However, I was glad to have some one to talk the matter over with, so I told him all I knew about Judith, beginning with her attachment to the young man in Vienna. I thought if