Page:The Tsar's Window.djvu/78

 I finished my bird leisurely, and took a sip of champagne, before I answered. "I think it would be much better for you to ask her yourself. Judith is very reserved, and I doubt whether she would confide in me."

He shook his head mournfully, and took a large mouthful of salad. "Then I must venture all, and it must be done soon, mademoiselle," turning his rather flushed face toward me. "Do you know what I shall do if she refuses me?"

As I confessed my inability to guess this interesting conundrum, Sacha looked down at his empty plate, and said solemnly, in a half-whisper, "I shall leave Petersburg!"

This threat did not make my blood run cold, as Sacha evidently expected; but I felt sorry for him, and regretted that I could not assure him of success in his love-making. If Judith were going to marry a foreigner, I thought she could not do better than take Sacha. I wished at that moment that she was safely at home with her guardian, and I had no further responsibility in the matter.

My friend entertained me during the remainder of supper with accounts of the various adventures which had befallen him by land and by sea, from the day of his birth up to the present time.

I began to grow rather sleepy, and I supposed that we were to take our departure immediately after supper. Alice informed me, however, that there was still a cotillon to be danced, and we had a repetition of the mazurka, which lasted until a distant clock struck five.