Page:The Tsar's Window.djvu/173

 to confide to you; but you must consider that George has knocked about the world a great deal, and perhaps has not that fine sense of honor which he would have had under different circumstances. I should not mention the matter, were it not for your cousin's interest to know the truth about him."

"Never mind apologizing," I cried impatiently.

"George has made a heavy bet at the club that he will marry an heiress within six months. He made that bet the day after he met your cousin, and directly after some men had been asking him about her; so it was understood by all that she was the heiress indicated."

The music and the noise around me seemed to be compressed into one loud "Bang!" which knocked my heart and my brain together. I turned on my companion, with an angry cry: "Is this true?" I exclaimed.

"True!" he repeated. "How could I tell it to you otherwise?"

The sharp pain in my heart dulled my other senses. I knew that Sacha's voice was going on and on, but had not an idea of what he was saying. I knew, too, that some acquaintances came and spoke to me; that Sacha left me, that the ambassador escorted me into the next room and gave me an ice, and that I ate it mechanically; but all the time I was saying mentally, "Infamous! Oh, poor Judith!"

Then a relief, sudden as the blow had been, came over me. Perhaps it was all a lie. George was not capable of such a thing. In any case, why should I care? I had never liked him. But the dull pain settled down at