Uncle's dream; And The Permanent Husband Part 10

"In a lunatic asylum? Ah, the scoundrels! oh, the inhuman wretches! Ah, the low cunning of them! Yes, Prince; I had heard of it. But the lunacy was in these people, not in _you_. Why, _why_ was it-what for?"

"I don't know myself, what it was for," replied the poor old man, feebly sinking into his chair; "I was at a ball, don't you know, and told some an-ecdote or other and they didn't like it; and so they got up a scandal and a ro-ow."

"Surely that was not all, Prince?"

"No;-the-I was playing cards with Prince Paul De-mentieff, and I was cleared out: you see, I had two kings and three quee-ns, three kings and two qu-eens; or I should say-one king-and some queens-I know I had--."

"And it was for this? Oh, the h.e.l.lish inhumanity of some people! You are weeping, Prince; but be of good cheer-it is all over now! Now I shall be at hand, dearest Prince,-I shall not leave Zina; and we shall see which of them will dare to say a word to you, _then_! And do you know, my Prince, your marriage will expose them! it will shame them! They will see that you are a man-that a lovely girl like our Zina would never have married a madman! You shall raise your head proudly now, and look them straight in the face!"

"Ye-yes; I shall look them straight in the f-ace!" murmured the prince, slowly shutting his eyes.

Maria Alexandrovna saw that her work was done: the prince was tired out with love and emotion. She was only wasting her eloquence!

"Prince, you are disturbed and tired, I see you are!" she said; "you must rest, you must take a good rest after so much agitation," she added, bending over him maternally.

"Ye-yes, ye-yes; I should like to lie down a little," said the old man.

"Of course, of course! you must lie down! those agitating scenes--stop, I will escort you myself, and arrange your couch with my own hands! Why are you looking so hard at that portrait, Prince? That is my mother's picture; she was an angel-not a woman! Oh, why is she not among us at this joyful moment!"

"Ye-yes; charming-charming! Do you know, I had a mother too,-a princess, and imagine! a re-markably, a re-markably fat woman she was; but that is not what I was going to say,--I-I feel a little weak, and--Au revoir, my charming child-to-morrow-to-day-I will-I-I-Au revoir, au revoir!" Here the poor old fellow tried to kiss his hand, but slipped, and nearly fell over the threshold of the door.

"Take care, dear Prince-take care! lean on my arm!" cried Maria Alexandrovna.

"Charming, ch-arming!" he muttered, as he left the room. "I am only now le-learning to live!"

Zina was left alone.

A terrible oppression weighed down her heart. She felt a sensation of loathing which nearly suffocated her. She despised herself-her cheeks burned. With folded hands, and teeth biting hard into her lips, she stood in one spot, motionless. The tears of shame streamed from her eyes,--and at this moment the door opened, and Paul Mosgliakoff entered the room!

CHAPTER IX.

He had heard all-_all_.

He did not actually enter the room, but stood at the door, pale with excitement and fury. Zina looked at him in amazement.

"So that's the sort of person you are!" he cried panting. "At last I have found you out, have I?"

"Found me out?" repeated Zina, looking at him as though he were a madman.

Suddenly her eyes flashed with rage. "How dare you address me like that?"

she cried, advancing towards him.

"I have heard all!" said Mosgliakoff solemnly, but involuntarily taking a step backwards.

"You heard? I see-you have been eavesdropping!" cried Zina, looking at him with disdain.

"Yes, I have been eavesdropping! Yes-I consented to do a mean action, and my reward is that I have found out that you, too, are--I don't know how to express to you what I think you!" he replied, looking more and more timid under Zina's eyes.

"And supposing that you _have_ heard all: what right have you to blame me?

What right have you to speak to me so insolently, in any case?"

"_I!_-_I?_ what right have _I_? and _you_ can ask me this? You are going to marry this prince, and I have no right to say a word! Why, you gave me your promise-is that nothing?"

"When?"

"How, when?"

"Did not I tell you that morning, when you came to me with your sentimental nonsense-did I not tell you that I could give you no decided answer?"

"But you did not reject me; you did not send me away. I see-you kept me hanging in reserve, in case of need! You lured me into your net! I see, I see it all!"

An expression of pain flitted over Zina's careworn face, as though someone had suddenly stabbed her to the heart; but she mastered her feelings.

"If I didn't turn you out of the house," she began deliberately and very clearly, though her voice had a scarcely perceptible tremor in it, "I refrained from such a course purely out of pity. You begged me yourself to postpone, to give you time, not to say you 'No,' to study you better, and 'then,' you said, 'then, when you know what a fine fellow I am, perhaps you will not refuse me!' These were your own words, or very like them, at the very beginning of your courts.h.i.+p!-you cannot deny them! And now you dare to tell me that I 'lured you into my net,' just as though you did not notice my expression of loathing when you made your appearance this morning! You came a fortnight sooner than I expected you, and I did not hide my disgust; on the contrary, I made it evident-you must have noticed it-I know you did; because you asked me whether I was angry because you had come sooner than you promised! Let me tell you that people who do not, and do not _care_ to, hide their loathing for a man can hardly be accused of luring that man into their net! You dare to tell me that I was keeping you in reserve! Very well; my answer to that is, that I judged of you like this: 'Though he may not be endowed with much intellect, still he may turn out to be a good enough fellow; and if so, it might be possible to marry him.' However, being persuaded, now, that you are a fool, and a _mischievous_ fool into the bargain,-having found out this fact, to my great joy,-it only remains for me now to wish you every happiness and a pleasant journey. Good-bye!"

With these words Zina turned her back on him, and deliberately made for the door.

Mosgliakoff, seeing that all was lost, boiled over with fury.

"Oh! so I'm a fool!" he yelled; "I'm a fool, am I? Very well, good-bye!

But before I go, the whole town shall know of this! They shall all hear how you and your mother made the old man drunk, and then swindled him! I shall let the whole world know it! You shall see what Mosgliakoff can do!"

Zina trembled and stopped, as though to answer; but on reflection, she contented herself by shrugging her shoulders; glanced contemptuously at Mosgliakoff, and left the room, banging the door after her.

At this moment Maria Alexandrovna made her appearance. She heard Mosgliakoff's exclamation, and, divining at once what had happened, trembled with terror. Mosgliakoff still in the house, and near the prince!

Mosgliakoff about to spread the news all over the town! At this moment, when secrecy, if only for a short time, was essential! But Maria Alexandrovna was quick at calculations: she thought, with an eagle flight of the mind, over all the circ.u.mstances of the case, and her plan for the pacification of Mosgliakoff was ready in an instant!

"What is it, _mon ami_?" she said, entering the room, and holding out her hand to him with friendly warmth.

"How-'_mon ami_?' " cried the enraged Mosgliakoff. "_Mon ami_, indeed! the moment after you have abused and reviled me like a pickpocket! No, no! Not quite so green, my good lady! I'm not to be so easily imposed upon again!"

"I am sorry, extremely sorry, to see you in such a _strange_ condition of mind, Paul Alexandrovitch! What expressions you use! You do not take the trouble to choose your words before ladies-oh, fie!"

"Before ladies? Ho ho! You-you are-you are anything you like-but not a lady!" yelled Mosgliakoff.

I don't quite know what he meant, but it was something very terrible, you may be sure!

Maria Alexandrovna looked benignly in his face:

"Sit down!" she said, sorrowfully, showing him a chair, the same that the old prince had reclined in a quarter of an hour before.

"But listen, _will_ you listen, Maria Alexandrovna? You look at me just as though you were not the least to blame; in fact, as though _I_ were the guilty party! Really, Maria Alexandrovna, this is a little _too_ much of a good thing! No human being can stand that sort of thing, Maria Alexandrovna! You must be aware of that fact!"

"My dear friend," replied Maria Alexandrovna-"you will allow me to continue to call you by that name, for you have no better friend than I am!-my friend, you are suffering-you are amazed and bewildered; your heart is sore, and therefore the tone of your remarks to me is perhaps not surprising. But I have made up my mind to open my heart to you, especially as I am, perhaps, in some degree to blame before you. Sit down; let us talk it over!"