Page:The Tsar's Window.djvu/246

 present yourself before me! You must know what my opinion of you is, after the falsehood you deliberately told me about Count Piloff."

Sacha's melancholy face looked a shade more sombre, and his upper lip curled in an ugly way. He kept his eyes fastened on the floor.

"Why do you tell me it was a falsehood?" he answered courteously.

I was taken by surprise. I did not expect such self-possession.

"Because I believe Count Piloff," I answered firmly.

"Oh, then you told him of the statement I made? No doubt he gave you overwhelming proofs of his veracity!" (with a slight sneer, but still a courteous manner). "George is famous," he went on, "for making the ladies believe him, and no doubt—" Here he was interrupted by Tom's reappearance. I went out of the room in a white heat, and did not return until he had taken his departure.

"I wonder," said I, as I took my seat at the dinner-table, "why that young man follows us about in this way!"

"You are unkind, Dorris," remonstrated Judith. "He came to Moscow to see an old comrade who is dying, and he has taken George off with him to the bedside of their friend."

"I thought you would freeze him stiff when he made his appearance," cried Tom.

"I intended to do so."

"But why? What harm has he done you?"