HIS HOUR
 
 A miniature of Prince Milaslavski in the uniform of one of his 
 ancestors, in which he appeared at the famous fancy ball at 
 the Winter Palace some years ago. He was about twenty-three 
 at the time. I have selected this likeness of him in prefer- 
 ence to a iMer photograph, as the artist has happily caught 
 him in one OT his rarely soft moods, and also, the face being 
 clean shaven, the characteristic chiselling of the lips can be seen. 
 
 THE AUTHOR.
 
 HIS HOUR 
 
 BY 
 
 ELINOR GLYN 
 
 Author of THREE WEEKS, ETC. 
 
 N EW YORK 
 
 GROSSET & DUNLAP 
 
 PUBLISHERS
 
 COPYRIGHT, 1910, BY 
 D. APPLETON AND COMPANY 
 
 Published, October, 1910 
 
 'His Hour" is called in England and Russia "When the Hour Came.'
 
 WITH GRATEFUL HOMAGE AND DEVOTION 
 I DEDICATE THIS BOOK TO 
 
 HER IMPERIAL HIGHNESS 
 
 THE GRAND DUCHESS VLADIMIR 
 
 OF RUSSIA 
 
 In memory of the happy evenings spent in 
 her gracious presence when reading to her 
 these pages, which her sympathetic aid, in 
 facilitating my opportunities for studying the 
 Russian character, enabled me to write. Her 
 kind appreciation of the finished work is a 
 source of the deepest gratification to me. 
 
 ELINOB GLYN 
 St. Petersburg, May, 1910 
 
 2195774
 
 HIS HOUR 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 E Sphinx was smiling its eternal smile. 
 It was two o'clock in the morning. The 
 tourists had returned to Cairo, and only 
 an Arab or two lingered near the boy who held 
 Tamara's camel, and then gradually slunk away; 
 thus, but for Hafis, she was alone alone with 
 her thoughts and the Sphinx. 
 
 The strange, mystical face looked straight at 
 her from the elevation where she sat. Its sensual 
 mocking calm penetrated her brain. The creature 
 seemed to be laughing at all humanity and say- 
 ing " There is no beyond live and enjoy the 
 things of the present Eat, drink, and be merry, 
 for to-morrow you die, and I I who sit here and 
 know, tell you there is no beyond. The things 
 you can touch and hold to your bodies are the 
 only ones worth grasping." 
 1
 
 HIS HOUR 
 
 "No, no!" said Tamara, half aloud, "I will 
 not I will not believe it." 
 
 "Fool," said the Sphinx. "What is your soul? 
 And if you ,have one, what have you done with 
 it hitherto? Are you any light in the world? 
 No, you have lived upon the orders of others, you 
 have let your individuality be crushed these twenty- 
 four years since the day you could speak. Just 
 an echo it is that fine thing, your soul! Show 
 it then, if you have one! Do you possess an opin- 
 ion ? Not a bit of it. You simply announce plati- 
 tudes that you have been taught were the right 
 answers to all questions! Believe me, you have 
 no soul. So take what you can a body! You 
 certainly have that, one can see it well, snatch 
 what it can bring you, since you have not enough 
 will to try for higher things. Grasp what you 
 may, poor weakling. That is the wisdom sitting 
 here for eternity has taught me." 
 
 Tamara stirred her hands in protest but she 
 knew the indictment was true. Yes, her life had 
 been one long commonplace vista of following 
 leads like a sheep. 
 
 But was it too late to change? Had she the
 
 HIS HOUR 
 
 courage? Dared she think for herself? If not^ 
 the mystic message of the Sphinx's smile were 
 better followed: "Eat, drink, and be merry, for 
 to-morrow you die." 
 
 The blue of the sky seemed to soothe her, and 
 speak of hope. Could any other country pro- 
 duce a sky of so deep a sapphire as the night sky 
 of Egypt? All around was intense sensuous 
 warmth and stillness almost as light as day. 
 
 How wise she had been to break through the 
 conventionality which surrounded her and it 
 had required some nerve so as to be able to 
 come here alone, on this one of her last nights in 
 
 Egypt- 
 
 She half smiled when she thought of Millicent 
 Hardcastle's face when she had first suggested it. 
 "My dear Tamara, what what an extraor- 
 dinary thing for a woman to do! Go to the 
 Sphinx all alone at two o'clock in the morning. 
 Would not people think it very strange?" 
 
 Tamara felt a qualm for a second, but was 
 rebellious. 
 
 "Well, perhaps but do you know, Mflli- 
 cent, I believe I don't care. That carven block 
 3
 
 HIS HOUR 
 
 of stone has had a curious effect upon me. It 
 has made me think as I have never done before. 
 I want to take the clearest picture away with 
 me I must go." 
 
 And even Mrs. Hardcastle's mild assertion 
 that it could equally well be viewed and studied 
 at a more reasonable hour did not move Tamara, 
 and while her friend slumbered comfortably in 
 her bed at Mena House, she had set off, a self- 
 conscious feeling of a truant schoolboy exalting 
 and yet frightening her. 
 
 Tamara was a widow. James Loraine had 
 been everything that a thoroughly respectable 
 English husband ought to be. He had treated 
 her with kindness, he had given her a comfort- 
 able home he had only asked her to spend ten 
 months of the year in the country, and he had 
 never caused her a moment's jealousy. 
 
 She could not remember her heart having 
 beaten an atom faster or slower for his coming 
 or going. She had loved him, and her sisters 
 and brother, and father, all in the same devoted 
 way, and when pneumonia had carried him off 
 nearly two years before, she had grieved with the 
 4
 
 HIS HOUR 
 
 measure the loss of any one of them would have 
 caused her that was sincerely and tenderly. 
 
 They were such a nice family, Tamara's! 
 
 For hundreds of years they had lived on the 
 same land, doing their duty to their neighbors 
 and helping to form that backbone of England 
 of which we hear so much nowadays, in its 
 passing away. 
 
 They had been members of Parliament, of 
 solid Whig, and later of Unionist, views. They 
 had been staunch Generals, Chairmen of Quar- 
 ter-Sessions, riders to hounds, subscribers to 
 charities, rigid church-goers, disciplined, ortho- 
 dox, worthy members of society. 
 
 Underdown was their name, and Underwood 
 their home. 
 
 That Tamara should have been given that 
 Russian appellation, in a group of Gladys, Mabels 
 and Dorothys, must have surely indicated that 
 fate meant her to follow a line not quite so mapped 
 out as that of her sisters'. The very manner of 
 her entry into the world was not in accordance 
 with the Underdown plan. 
 
 Her mother, Lady Gertrude Underdown, had 
 5
 
 HIS HOUR 
 
 contracted a friendship with the wife of the First 
 Secretary of the Russian Embassy. 
 
 Foreigners were not looked upon with favor 
 in the home circle, and instead of staying only 
 the two months of May and June, as she was 
 fully entitled to, in London, she had insisted 
 upon remaining for July as well that year to be 
 near her friend Vera and enjoy the gay world. 
 
 The Squire had grumbled, but acquiesced, 
 though when afterward a fourth daughter was 
 presented to him with a request that she might 
 have Princess Vera for a godmother and a Russian 
 name to be called by, he felt himself justified in 
 carping at fate. 
 
 "Foreign fandangoes," he designated such ideas. 
 However, Lady Gertrude was very ill, and had to 
 be humored, so the affair took place, and Tamara 
 the baby was christened, with due state. 
 
 There were no more Russian suggestions in the 
 family; the son and heir who arrived a year later 
 became plain Tom, and then Lady Gertrude Under- 
 down made her bow to the world and retired to 
 the family vault in Underwood Church. 
 
 They were all estimably brought up by an aunt, 
 6
 
 HIS HOUR 
 
 and hardly ever left the country until each one 
 came up in turn to be presented at Court, and go 
 through a fairly dull season among country neigh- 
 bors on the same bent. 
 
 Two of them, including Tamara, had secured 
 suitable husbands, and at the age of twenty-three 
 years the latter had been left a well-dowered widow. 
 
 She had worn mourning for just the right period, 
 had looked after her affairs handed James' place 
 over with a good grace to James' brother and an 
 unliked sister-in-law, and finally, when she was 
 wearing grays and mauves, two years almost after 
 her loss, she had allowed herself to be persuaded 
 into taking a trip to Egypt with her friend, 
 Millicent Hardcastfe, who was recovering from 
 influenza. 
 
 It had caused the greatest flutter at Under- 
 wood, this journey abroad! None of them had v 
 been further than Dresden, where each girl had 
 learned German for a year or so before her 
 presentation. 
 
 And what had Egypt done for Tamara ? Lifted 
 just one pretty white eyelid, perhaps. Stirred 
 something which only once or twice in her life she 
 7
 
 HIS HOUR 
 
 had been dimly conscious of. Everything had been 
 a kind of shock to her. A shock of an agreeable 
 description. And once driving at night in the orange 
 groves of Ghezireh, after some open-air fete, the 
 heavy scent and intoxicating atmosphere had made 
 her blood tingle. She felt it was almost wrong 
 that things should so appeal to her senses. Any- 
 thing which appealed deliberately to the senses 
 had always been considered as more than almost 
 wrong at Underwood Chase. 
 
 The senses were improper things which Aunt 
 Clara for her part never quite understood why the 
 Almighty should have had the bad taste to permit 
 in human beings. 
 
 But the Sphinx was again talking to Tamara 
 only this time in the voice of a young man who 
 without a word of warning had risen from a bank 
 of sand where he had been stretched motionless 
 and unperceived. 
 
 "A fine goddess, is she not, Madame," he said. 
 
 And to add to the impertinence of a stranger's 
 addressing her at all, Tamara was further incensed 
 by the voice being that of a foreigner! 
 
 But it was an extraordinarily pleasant voice, 
 8
 
 HIS HOUR 
 
 deep and tuneful, and the "Insolent" stood over 
 six feet high and was as slender as Tamara her- 
 self almost in spite of his shoulders and air of 
 strength. 
 
 She hardly knew what to answer, he had spoken 
 with such ease and assurance, almost with the tone 
 of one who hails a fellow worshiper and has a right 
 to exchange sympathy. 
 
 Tamara had been startled, too, by the sudden 
 rising of the man when she thought she was alone, 
 but at last she answered slowly, " Yes. " 
 
 "I often come here at night,** he went on, "when 
 those devils of tourists have gone back in their 
 devil of a tramway. Then you get her alone and 
 she says things to you. You think so, too, isn't it ? " 
 
 "Yes," again said Tamara, convulsed with 
 wonder at herself for speaking at all. 
 
 "At first I was angry when I saw your camel 
 against the sky and saw you come and dismount 
 and sit and look. I like to have her all to myself. 
 But afterwards when I watched you I saw you 
 meant no harm you aren't a tourist, and so you 
 did not matter." 
 
 "Indeed," said Tamara, the fine in her grasping 
 9
 
 HIS HOUR 
 
 the situation, the Underdown training resenting 
 its unconventionality. 
 
 "Yes,** he continued, unconcerned. "You 
 can't look at that face and feel we any of us matter 
 much can you?" 
 
 "No," said Tamara. 
 
 " How many thousand years has she been telling 
 people that? But it drives me mad, angry, 
 furious, to see the tourists! I want to strangle 
 them all!" 
 
 He clenched his hand and his eyes flashed. 
 
 Tamara peeped up at him he was not looking 
 at her but at the Sphinx. She saw that he was 
 extremely attractive in spite of having un-English 
 clothes, which were not worn with ease. Gray 
 flannel of unspeakable cut, and boots which would 
 have made her brother Tom shriek with laughter. 
 The Underdown part of her whispered, could he 
 be quite a gentleman? But when he turned his 
 face full upon her in the moonlight, that doubt 
 vanished completely. He might even be a very 
 great gentleman, she thought. 
 
 "Would you like to see a bit of the Arabian 
 Nights?" he asked her. 
 
 10
 
 HIS HOUR 
 
 Tamara rose. This really ought no to go on, 
 this conversation and yet 
 
 "Yes, I would," she said. 
 
 "Well, the spell is broken of the Sphinx," he 
 continued. "She can't talk to me with you there, 
 and she can't talk to you with me near, so let us go 
 and see something else that is interesting together. " 
 
 " What ? " asked Tamara. 
 
 "The Sheikh's village down below. Half the 
 people who come don't realize it is there, and the 
 other hah* would be afraid to ride through it at 
 night but they know me and I will take care of 
 you. " 
 
 Without the least further hesitation he called 
 Han's and the camel, spoke to them in Arabic, and 
 then stood ready to help Tamara up. She seemed 
 hypnotized, when she was settled in the high saddle. 
 She began to realize that she was going into the 
 unknown with a perfect stranger, but she did not 
 think of turning back. 
 
 "What do you ride?" she asked. 
 
 "See," he said, and he made a strange low 
 whistle, which was instantly answered by an 
 equally strange low whinny of a horse, and a 
 3 11
 
 HIS HOUR 
 
 beautiful Arab appeared from the foot of the 
 rocks where all things were in shadow led by 
 a little brown boy. 
 
 "I am taking him back with me," he said. 
 "Isn't he a beauty. I only bought him a week 
 ago, and he already knows me." 
 
 Then he was in the saddle with the lightest 
 bound, and Tamara, who had always admired 
 Tom on a horse, knew that she had never seen 
 anyone who seemed so much a part of his mount 
 as this quaint foreigner. "I suppose he is an 
 Austrian," she said to herself, and then added 
 with English insular arrogance, "Only Austrians 
 are like us." 
 
 The young man appeared quite indifferent 
 to anything she thought. He prepared to lead the 
 way down beyond the Sphinx, apparently into the 
 desert. 
 
 Now that he was in front of her, Tamara could 
 not help admiring the lines of his figure. He 
 was certainly a very decent shape, and certainly 
 knew how to ride. 
 
 Then it came to her that this was a most singular 
 adventure, and the faint pink mounted to her
 
 HIS HOUR 
 
 clear cheeks when she remembered how dread- 
 fully shocked Millicent would be or any of the 
 family! But it was her night of rebellion, so 
 things must take their course. 
 
 The young man rode in front until they were 
 on the flat desert, then he drew rein and waited 
 for her. 
 
 "You see," he said, "we skirt these rocks and 
 then we shall ride through the village. One can 
 very well imagine it has been the same always." 
 
 They entered the little town. The streets were 
 extremely narrow and the dark houses gave an 
 air of mystery a speculation what could be going 
 on behind those closed shutters? Here and there 
 a straight blue-clad figure slunk away round a cor- 
 ner. There was a deep silence and the moonlight 
 made the shadows sharp as a knife. Then a shaft 
 of red light would shoot from some strange low 
 hovel as they passed, and they could see inside a 
 circle of Arab Bedouins crouching over a fire. 
 There seemed no hilarity, their faces were solemn 
 as the grave. 
 
 Presently, in the narrowest and darkest street, 
 there was a sound of tom-toms, strains of weird 
 13
 
 HIS HOUR 
 
 music and voices, and through the chinks of the 
 half-opened shutters light streamed across the road 
 while a small crowd of Arabs were grouped about 
 the gate in the wall holding donkeys and a camel. 
 
 "A wedding," said the young man. "They have 
 escorted the bride. What pleasure to raise a veil 
 and see a black face! But each one to his taste." 
 
 Tamara looked up at the window. She wondered 
 what could be happening within were the other 
 wives there as well ? She would have liked to have 
 asked. 
 
 The young man saw her hesitation and said 
 laconically 
 
 "Well?" 
 
 "They are having a party," Tamara replied, 
 with lame obviousness. 
 
 "Of course," said the young man. "Weddings 
 and funerals equally good occasions for company. 
 They are so wise they leave all to fate; they do not 
 tear their eyes out for something they cannot have 
 and fight after disappointment. They are philoso- 
 phers, these Arabs." 
 
 The little crowd round the gate now barred the 
 road, half good humoredly, half with menace. 
 14
 
 HIS HOUR 
 
 "So, so," said the young man, riding in front. 
 Then he laughed, and putting his hand in his 
 pocket, brought out a quantity of silver and flung 
 it among them with merry words in Arabic, while 
 he pointed to the windows of the house. 
 
 Then he seized the bridle of Tamara's camel 
 and started his horse forward. The crowd smiled 
 now and began scrambling for the baksheesh, and 
 so they got through in peace. 
 
 Neither spoke until they were in a silent lane 
 again. 
 
 "Sometimes they can be quite disagreeable,'* 
 he said, "but it is amusing to see it ah*. The 
 Sheikh lives here he fancies the pyramids belong 
 to him, just as the Khedive fancies all Egypt is his 
 life is mostly imagination.'* 
 
 Now Tamara could see his face better as he 
 looked up to her superior height on the camel. 
 He had a little moustache and peculiarly chiseled 
 lips too chiseled for a man, she thought for a 
 moment, until she noticed the firm jaw. His eyes 
 were sleepy slightly Oriental in their setting, and 
 looked very dark, and yet something made her 
 think that in daylight they might be blue or gray. 
 15
 
 HIS HOUR 
 
 He did not smile at all; as he spoke his face was 
 grave, but when something made him laugh as 
 they turned the next corner, it transformed him. 
 It was the rippling spontaneous gaiety of a child. 
 
 Two goats had got loose from opposite hovels 
 and were butting at one another in the middle of 
 the road. 
 
 He pulled up his horse and watched. 
 
 "I like any fight," he said. 
 
 But the goats fled in fear of him, so they went on. 
 
 Tamara was wondering why she felt so stupid. 
 She wanted to ask her strange companion a num- 
 ber of questions. Who he was? What he was 
 doing at the Sphinx ? and indeed in Egypt. Why 
 he had spoken to her at all? and yet appeared 
 absolutely indifferent as they rode along! He had 
 not asked her a single question or expressed the 
 least curiosity. For some reason she felt piqued. 
 
 Presently they emerged at the end of the village 
 where there was a small lake left by the retirement 
 of the Nile. The moon, almost full, was mirrored 
 in it. The scene was one of extreme beauty. The 
 pyramids appeared an old rose pink, and every- 
 thing else in tones of sapphire not the green-blue 
 16
 
 HIS HOUR 
 
 of moonlight in other countries. All was breath- 
 lessly still and lifeless. Only they two, and the 
 camel boys, alone in the night. 
 
 The dark line of trees which border the road 
 faced them, and they rode slowly in that direction. 
 
 "You are going to the hotel, I suppose?" he 
 said. " I will see you safely to it." 
 
 And they climbed the bank on to the avenue 
 from Cairo. 
 
 "And you?" Tamara could not prevent herself 
 from asking. ** Where do you go?" 
 
 "To hell, sometimes," he answered, and his 
 eyes were full of mist, "but to-night I shall go to 
 bed for a change." 
 
 Tamara was nonplussed. She felt intensely 
 commonplace. She was even a little cross with 
 herself. Why had she asked a question? 
 
 The Arab horse now took it into his head to 
 curvet and bound in the air for no apparent reason, 
 but the young man did not stir an inch he laughed. 
 
 "Go on, my beauty," he said. "I like you 
 to be so. It shows you are alive." 
 
 As they approached the hotel, Tamara began 
 to hope no one would see them. No one who 
 17
 
 HIS HOUR 
 
 could tell Millicent that she had a companion. 
 She bent down and said rather primly to the 
 young man who was again at her side: 
 
 "I am quite safe now, thank you. I need not 
 trouble you any further. Good-bye! and I am so 
 obliged to you for showing me a new way home." 
 
 He looked up at her, and his whole face was 
 lit with a whimsical smile. 
 
 "Yes, at the gate," he said. "Don't be ner- 
 vous. I will go at the gate." 
 
 Tamara did not speak, and presently they 
 came to the turning into the hotel. Then he 
 stopped. 
 
 "I suppose we shall meet again some day," 
 he said. "They have a proverb here, 'Meet 
 before dawn part not till dawn.' They see into 
 the future in a few drops of water in any hollow 
 thing. Well, good-night" and before she could 
 answer he was off beyond the hotel up the road 
 and then turning to the right on a sand-path, 
 galloped out of sight into what must be the vast 
 desert. 
 
 Where on earth could he be going to? pos- 
 sibly the devil if one knew. 
 18
 
 CHAPTER II 
 
 THEN Tamara woke in the morning 
 the recollection of her camel ride 
 seemed like a dream. She sat for 
 a long time at the window of her room looking 
 out toward the green world and Cairo. She 
 was trying to adjust things in her mind. This 
 stranger had certainly produced an effect upon her. 
 
 She wondered who he was, and how he would 
 look in daylight and above all whither he had 
 galloped into the desert. Then she wondered 
 at herself. The whole thing was so out of her 
 line so bizarre in a life of carefully balanced 
 proprieties. And were the thoughts the Sphinx 
 had awaked in her brain true? Yes, certainly 
 she had been ruled by others always and had 
 never developed her own soul. 
 
 She was very sensitive that last whimsical 
 
 smile of the unknown had humiliated her. She 
 
 felt he had laughed at her prim propriety in 
 
 wishing to get rid of him before the gate. Indeed, 
 
 19
 
 HIS HOUR 
 
 she suddenly felt he might laugh at a good many 
 of the things she did. And this ruffled her serenity. 
 She put up her slender hands and pushed the thick 
 hair back 'from her forehead with an impatient 
 gesture. It all made her dissatisfied with her- 
 self and full of unrest. 
 
 "You don't tell me a thing about your Sphinx 
 excursion last night, Tamara," Millicent Hard- 
 castle said at breakfast, rather peevishly. They 
 were sipping coffee together in the latter's room 
 in dressing-gowns. "Was it nice, and had the 
 tourists quite departed?" 
 
 "It was wonderful!" and Tamara leant back 
 and looked into distance. "There were no tour- 
 ists, and it made me think a number of new things 
 we seem such ordinary people, Millicent." 
 
 Mrs. Hardcastle glanced up surprised, not to 
 say offended, with coffee cup poised in the air. 
 
 "Yes you may wonder, but it is true, Milly 
 we do the same things every day, and think the 
 same thoughts, and are just thoroughly common- 
 place and uninteresting." 
 
 " And you came to these conclusions from gazing 
 at the Sphinx?" Mrs. Hardcastle asked. 
 20
 
 HIS HOUR 
 
 "Yes,** said Tamara, the pink deepening for a 
 moment in her cheeks. In her whole life she hardly 
 ever had had a secret. " I sat there, Millicent, in the 
 sand opposite the strange image, and it seemed to 
 smile and mock at all little things; it appeared 
 perfectly ridiculous that we pay so much attention 
 to what the world says or thinks. I could not help 
 looking back to the time when you and I were at 
 Dresden together. What dull lives we have both 
 led since! Yours perhaps more filled than mine 
 has been, because you have children; but really we 
 have both been browsing like sheep. " 
 
 Mrs. Hardcastle now was almost irritated. 
 
 "I cannot agree with you," she said. "Our 
 lives have been full of good and pleasant things 
 and I hope, dear, we have both done our duty. " 
 
 This, of course, ended the matter! It was so 
 undoubtedly true each had done her duty, 
 
 After breakfast they started for a last donkey- 
 ride, as they must return to Cairo in time for the 
 Khedive's ball that night, which, as distinguished 
 English ladies, they were being taken to by their 
 compatriots at the Agency. Then on the morrow 
 they were to start for Europe. Mrs. Hardcastle
 
 HIS HOUR 
 
 could not spare more time away from her babies. 
 Their visit had only been of four short weeks, and 
 now it was December 27, and home and husband 
 called her: 
 
 For Tamara's part, she could do as she pleased; 
 indeed, for two pins she would have stayed on in 
 Egypt. 
 
 But that was not the intention of fate! 
 
 "Do let us go up that sand-path, Millicent, " she 
 said, when they turned out of the hotel gate. " We 
 have never been there, and I would like to see 
 where it leads to perhaps we shall get quite a new 
 vista from the top " 
 
 And so they went. 
 
 What she expected to find she did not ask herself. 
 In any case they rode on, eventually coming out at 
 a small enclosure where stood a sort of bungalow 
 in those days it is probably pulled down now, but 
 then it stood with a wonderful view over the desert, 
 and over the green world. Tamara had vaguely 
 observed it in the distance before, but imagined 
 it to be some water-tower of the hotel, it was so 
 bare and gaunt. It had been built by some mad 
 Italian, they heard afterward, for rest and quiet.
 
 HIS HOUR 
 
 It was a quaint place with tiny windows high up, 
 evidently to light a studio, and there was a veranda 
 to look at the view towards the Nile. 
 
 When they got fairly close they could see that 
 on this veranda a young man was stretched at full 
 length. A long wicker chair supported him, while 
 he read a French novel. They at least Tamara 
 could see the yellow back of the book, and also, 
 one regrets to add, she was conscious that the 
 young man was only clothed in blue and white 
 striped silk pyjamas! the jacket of which was 
 open and showed his chest and one foot, stretched 
 out and hanging over the back of another low chair, 
 was actually bare! 
 
 Mrs. Hardcastle touched her donkey and hurried 
 past the path went so very near this unseemly 
 sight! And Tamara followed, but not before the 
 young man had time to raise himself and frown 
 with fury. She almost imagined she heard him 
 saying "Those devils of tourists!" Then with the 
 corner of her eye ere they got out of sight, she per- 
 ceived that a blue-clad Arab brought coffee on a 
 little tray. 
 
 She glowed with annoyance. Did he think she 
 23
 
 HIS HOUR 
 
 had come to look at him ? Did he he certainly 
 was quite uninterested, for he must have recog- 
 nized her; but perhaps not; people look so different 
 in large straw hats to what they appear with scarves 
 of chiffon tied over their heads. But why had she 
 come this way at all ? She wished a thousand times 
 she had suggested going round the pyramids 
 instead. 
 
 "Tamara," said Mrs. Hard castle, when they 
 were safely descending the further sand-path, with 
 no unclothed young giant in view, "did you see 
 there was a man in that chair? What a dreadful 
 person to be lying on the balcony undressed!" 
 
 "I never noticed," said Tamara, without a 
 blush. "I am surprised at you having looked, 
 Millie when this view is so fine." 
 
 "But, my dear child, I could not possibly help 
 seeing him. How you did not notice, I can't think; 
 he had pyjamas on, Tamara and bare feet!" 
 
 Mrs. Hardcastle almost whispered the last 
 terrible words. 
 
 "I suppose he felt hot," said Tamara; "it is a 
 grilling day." 
 
 "But really, dear, no nice people, in any weather, 
 24
 
 HIS HOUR 
 
 remain er undressed at twelve o'clock in the 
 day for passers-by to look at do they?" 
 
 "Well, perhaps he isn't a nice person," allowed 
 Tamara. "He may be mad. What was he like, 
 since you saw so much, Millicent ? " 
 
 Mrs. Hardcastle glanced over her shoulder 
 reproachfully. "You really speak as though I 
 had looked on purpose," she said. "He seemed 
 very long and not fat. I suppose, as his hair was 
 not very dark, he must be an Englishman." 
 
 "Oh, dear, no! exclaimed Tamara. "Not an 
 Englishman. " Then seeing her friend's expression 
 of surprise, "I mean, it isn't likely an Englishman 
 would lie on his balcony in pyjamas at least not 
 the ones we see in Cairo; they they are too busy, 
 aren't they?" 
 
 This miserably lame explanation seemed to sat- 
 isfy Millicent. It was too hot and too disagree- 
 able, she felt, clinging to the donkey while it 
 descended the steep path, to continue the subject 
 further, having to turn one's head over the 
 shoulder like that; but when they got on the 
 broad level she began again: 
 
 "Possibly it was a madman, Tamara, sent here 
 25
 
 HIS HOUR 
 
 with a keeper in that out-of-the-way place. How 
 fortunate we had the donkey boys with us!" 
 
 Tamara laughed. 
 
 "You dear goose, Millie, he couldn't have 
 eaten us up, you know; and he was not doing 
 the least harm, poor thing. We should not have 
 gone that way; it may have been his private path." 
 
 "Still, no one should lie about undressed," 
 Mrs. Hardcastle protested. "It is not at all nice. 
 Girls might have been riding with us, and how 
 dreadful it would have been then.*' 
 
 "Let us forget it, pet!" Tamara laughed, 
 "and trot on and get some real exercise." 
 
 So off they started. 
 
 Just as they were turning out of the hotel gate, 
 late in the same afternoon, a young man on an 
 Arab horse passed the carriage. He was in 
 ordinary riding dress, and looked a slim, graceful 
 sight as he trotted ahead. 
 
 He never glanced their way. But while Tamara 
 felt a sudden emotion of sorts, Mrs. Hardcastle 
 exclaimed: 
 
 "Look, look! I am sure that is he the mad- 
 man who wore those pyjamas." 
 26
 
 CHAPTER in 
 
 S ^ m * HE Khedive's ball was a fairly fine sight, 
 M ^ Tamara thought, but driving through 
 the streets took such a ridiculously 
 long time, the crowd was so great. The palace 
 itself was, and probably is still, like all other 
 palaces that are decorated in that nondescript 
 style of Third Empire France not a thing 
 of beauty. But the levee uniforms of the offi- 
 cers gavqp an air of brilliance contrasted with 
 the civilians of the Government of Egypt. Tamara 
 thought their dress very ugly, it reminded her 
 of a clergyman's at a children's party, where he 
 has been decorated with caps and sham orders 
 from the crackers to amuse the little guests. It 
 seemed strange to see the English faces beneath 
 the fez. She and Millicent Hardcastle walked 
 about and talked to their friends. There were 
 many smart young gallants in the regiments then 
 quartered in Cairo, who enjoyed dancing with 
 the slender, youthful widow with the good jewels 
 3 27
 
 HIS HOUR 
 
 and pretty dress, and soon Tamara found herself 
 whirling with a gay hussar. 
 
 "Let us stop near the Royalties and look at 
 the Russians," he said. "You know, a Grand 
 Duke arrived to-day, and must be here to-night." 
 
 They came to a standstill close to the little 
 group surrounding the Khedive, and amid the 
 splendid uniforms of the Grand Duke's suite there 
 was one of scarlet, the like of which Tamara had 
 never seen before. 
 
 Afterward she learned it was a Cossack of the 
 Emperor's escort, but at the moment it seemed 
 like a gorgeous fancy dress. The high boots and 
 long, strangely graceful coat, cut with an Eastern 
 hang, the white under-dress, the way the loose 
 scarlet sleeves fell at the wrist, showing the white 
 tight ones, the gold and silver trimmings and 
 the arms, stuck in the quaint belt, all pleased 
 her eye extremely; and then she recognized its 
 wearer as the young man of the Sphinx. 
 
 How dress changes a person! she thought. 
 
 He looked at ease now in this gorgeous garment, 
 
 and a very prince for a fairy tale. That accounted 
 
 for the dreadful gray flannel he was a soldier 
 
 28
 
 HIS HOUR 
 
 and unaccustomed to wearing ordinary clothes; 
 She had heard that in foreign countries even the 
 officers wore their uniforms habitually; not as 
 the English do, merely as an irksome duty. 
 
 He did not appear to see her, but when she 
 began dancing again, and paused once more for 
 breath, she was close to him as he stood some way 
 apart and alone. 
 
 Their eyes met. His had the same whimsical 
 provoking smile in them which angered and yet 
 attracted her. He made no move to bow to her, 
 nor did he take any steps to be introduced. She 
 burnt with annoyance. 
 
 "He might at least have been presented; it is 
 too impertinent otherwise!" she thought. 
 
 She knew she was looking her best: a fair, dis- 
 tinguished woman as young and fresh as a girl. 
 Hardly a man in the room was unconscious of her 
 presence. Anger lent an extra brightness to her 
 eyes and cheeks. She went on dancing wildly. 
 
 The next time she was near the stranger was 
 some half an hour later, although not once was 
 she able to banish the scarlet form from her view. 
 He did not dance. He talked now and then to
 
 HIS HOUR 
 
 his Prince, and then he was presented to the offi- 
 cial ladies, with the rest of the suite. He looked 
 bored. 
 
 Tamara' would not ask his name, which she 
 could have done with ease, as every one was inter- 
 ested in the Russians and glad to talk about them. 
 She avoided the English group of bigwigs where 
 they were standing, and where she had her place 
 And when they passed the tall Cossack again she 
 turned upon him a witheringly unconscious 
 glance. 
 
 However, this was not to continue the whole 
 night, for presently she was requested by one of 
 the attache's to come and be presented to the 
 Grand Duke, and when she had made her curtsey 
 the suite came up in turn. 
 
 "Prince Milaslavski," and she heard one of 
 his friends call him "Gritzko." The name fell 
 pleasantly on her ears '* Gritzko"! Why was 
 he such a wretch as to humiliate her so? She 
 felt horribly small. She ought never to have let 
 him speak to her at the Sphinx. She was being 
 thoroughly punished for her unconventionally 
 now! 
 
 30
 
 HIS HOUR 
 
 She said a few words in French to each of 
 the others, and then, as he still stood there with 
 that provoking smile in his splendid eyes, she 
 turned away almost biting her lip with shame 
 and rage. 
 
 Before she knew it she was dancing with a 
 fierce count in green and silver. Their conver- 
 sation was interesting. 
 
 "You are here since long, Madame?" 
 
 "No, Monsieur, only a few weeks, and I go 
 to-morrow." 
 
 "Ah! you dance beautifully!" 
 
 "Do I? I am glad " 
 
 The Russian Count held her very tightly, and 
 they stopped quite out of breath, where the screened 
 windows half-hid the poor ladies of the harem, 
 who watched the throng from their safe retreat 
 
 The Count bowed and Tamara bowed. A 
 section, not the whole dance, was evidently the 
 Russian custom. 
 
 Then a voice said close to her ear: 
 
 "May I, too, have the honor of a turn, 
 Madame?" and she looked up into the eyes of 
 the Prince. 
 
 31
 
 HIS HOUR 
 
 For a second she hesitated. Her first impulse 
 was to scornfully say no, but she quickly realized 
 that would be undignified and absurd; so she 
 said yes, coldly, and let him place his arm about 
 her. The band was playing a particularly sen- 
 suous valse, which drove all young people mad 
 that year, and if the Count had danced well 
 this man's movements were heaven. Tamara did 
 not speak a word. She purposely did not look 
 at him, but drooped her proud head so that the 
 flashing diamonds of her tiara were all he could 
 have seen of her. 
 
 He put no special meaning into the way he 
 held her; he just danced divinely; but there was 
 something in the creature himself of a perfectly 
 annoying attractiveness or so it seemed to 
 Tamara. 
 
 They at last paused for a moment, and then 
 he spoke. He made not the slightest allusion to 
 the Sphinx incident. He spoke gravely of Cairo, 
 and the polo, and the races, and said that his 
 Grand Duke had arrived that day. He was not 
 on his staff, but was indeed travelling in Egypt 
 for his own amusement and delectation, he said.
 
 HIS HOUR 
 
 He had been there since November, it seemed, and 
 had .been up the Nile, and had fortunately been 
 able to secure a little bungalow at Mena, where 
 he could spend some hours of peace. 
 
 Then Tamara laughed. She remembered Milli- 
 cent Hardcastle's consternation over those unfor- 
 tunate pyjamas. She wondered if Millicent would 
 realize that she Tamara was dancing with their 
 wearer now! When she laughed he put his arm 
 around her once more and began dancing. This 
 time he held her rather closely, and suddenly as 
 she laughed again to herself provokingly, he clasped 
 her tight. 
 
 "If you laugh like that I will kiss you here in 
 the room," he said. 
 
 Tamara stopped dead short. She blazed with 
 anger. 
 
 "How dare you be so impertinent?" she said. 
 
 They were up in a corner; everyone's back 
 was turned to them happily, for in one second he 
 had bent and kissed her neck. It was done with 
 such incredible swiftness and audacity that even 
 had they been observed it must only have looked 
 as though he bent to pick up something she had
 
 HIS HOUR 
 
 dropped. But the kiss burned into Tamara's 
 flesh. 
 
 She could hardly keep the tears of outraged 
 pride from Jier eyes. 
 
 "How dare you! How dare you!'* she hissed. 
 "Truly you are making me ashamed of having 
 let you speak to me last night!" 
 
 "Last night?" he said, while he forcibly drew 
 her hand within his arm and began walking 
 toward the group of her friends. "Last night 
 you were afraid some should see me from the hotel, 
 and to-night you dare me. Do it once more and 
 I will kiss your lips!" 
 
 Tamara went dead white; she felt as if the 
 ground were sinking beneath her feet; her knees 
 trembled. In all her smooth, conventionally or- 
 dered life she had never experienced such a 
 strong emotion. 
 
 The Prince glanced at her, and the fierceness 
 went out of his eyes. He bowed gravely with 
 the most courtly homage, and left her standing by 
 Millicent's side. 
 
 Then Tamara remembered she was a lady, 
 and that tenue was expected of her; so she turned 
 34
 
 HIS HOUR 
 
 to her friend gaily and said how she was enjoying 
 the ball; but her fine nostrils quivered at intervals 
 for the rest of the night. 
 
 "Thank God!" she said to herself, when a 
 few hours later she got into bed " Thank God! 
 we are going to-morrow. I shall never see him 
 again, and no one shall ever know."
 
 CHAPTER IV 
 
 day they started, escorted to the 
 station by a troup of gushing friends. 
 Their compartment was a bower of 
 flowers, and as each moment went by Tamara's 
 equanimity was restored by the thought that she 
 would soon be out of the land of her disgrace. 
 
 It is a tiresome journey to Alexandria dusty 
 and glaring and not of great interest. They hurried 
 on board the ship when they arrived, without even 
 glancing at their fellow passengers following in the 
 gangway. Neither woman was a perfect sailor 
 and both were quite overcome with fatigue. It 
 promised to be a disagreeable night, too, so they 
 retired at once to their cabins, and were soon 
 asleep. 
 
 The next day, which was Sunday, the wind blew, 
 but by the afternoon calmed down again, and Ta- 
 mara decided to dress and go on deck. 
 
 "Mrs. Hardcastle went up some hours ago; she 
 was ready for luncheon, ma'am," her maid told her. 
 36
 
 HIS HOUR 
 
 "She left a message for you to join her when you 
 woke." 
 
 The ship was the usual sort of ship that goes 
 from Alexandria to Trieste, and the two English 
 ladies had secured places for their chairs in the 
 most protected spot. Tamara rather looked for- 
 ward to being able to sit there in the moonlight 
 and enjoy the Mediterranean. 
 
 Her maid preceded her with her rug and cushion 
 and book, and it was not until she was quite settled 
 that she took cognizance of an empty chair at her 
 other side. 
 
 "You lazy child!" Millicent Hardcastle said. 
 "To sleep all day like this! It has been quite 
 beautiful since luncheon, and I have had a most 
 agreeable time. That extremely polite nice young 
 Russian Prince we met at the Khedive's ball is here, 
 dear; indeed, that is his chair next you. He is 
 with Stephen Strong. We have been talking for 
 hours." 
 
 Tamara felt suddenly almost cold. 
 
 "I never saw him in the train or coming on 
 board," she said, with almost a gasp. 
 
 "Nor did I, and yet he must have been just 
 37
 
 HIS HOUR 
 
 behind us. Our places at meals are next him, 
 too. So fortunate he was introduced, because one 
 could not talk to a strange man, even on a boat. 
 I never can understand those people who pick up 
 acquaintances promiscuously; can you, dear ?" 
 
 "No," said Tamara, feebly. 
 
 She was pondering what to do. She could not 
 decline to know the Prince without making some 
 explanation to Millicent. She also could not 
 flatter him so much. She must just be icily cold, 
 and if he should be further impertinent she could 
 remain in her cabin. 
 
 But what an annoying contretemps! And she 
 had thought she should never see him again! and 
 here until Wednesday afternoon, she would be 
 constantly reminded of the most disgraceful inci- 
 dent in her career. All brought upon herself, too, 
 by her own action in having lapsed from the rigid 
 rules in which Aunt Clara had brought her up. 
 
 If she had not answered him at the Sphinx he 
 could not have but she refused to dwell upon tlie 
 shame of this recollection. 
 
 She had quite half an hour to grow calm before 
 the cause of her unrest came even into sight, and 
 38
 
 HIS HOUR 
 
 when he did, it was to walk past in the company of 
 their old friend, Stephen Strong. 
 
 The Prince raised his cap gravely, and Tamara 
 comforted herself by noticing again how badly 
 his clothes fitted him! How unsuitable, and even 
 ridiculous, they were to English eyes That gave 
 her pleasure! Also she must have a little fun with 
 Millicent. 
 
 "Has it struck you, Millie, the Prince is the 
 same young man we saw in the pyjamas on the 
 veranda ? I am suprised at your speaking to such 
 a person, even if he has been introduced!" 
 
 Mrs. Hardcastle raised an aggrieved head. 
 
 "Really, Tamara," she said, "I had altogether 
 forgotten that unpleasant incident. I wish you 
 had not reminded me of it. He is a most respect- 
 ful, modest, unassuming young man. I am sure 
 he would be dreadfully uncomfortable if he were 
 aware we had seen him so." 
 
 "I think he looked better like that than he does 
 now," Tamara rejoined, spitefully. "Did you 
 ever see such clothes ?" 
 
 Mrs. Hardcastle whisked right round in her 
 chair and stared at her friend. She was shocked, 
 39
 
 HIS HOUR 
 
 in the first place, that Tamara should speak 
 so lightly of a breach of decorum; and, secondly, 
 she was astonished at another aspect of the case. 
 
 "I thought you never saw him at all that morn- 
 ing!" she exclaimed. 
 
 Tamara was nettled. 
 
 "Your description was so vivid; besides, I looked 
 back!" 
 
 "You looked back! Tamara! after I had told you 
 he wasn't dressed! My dear, how could you?" 
 
 "Well, I did. Hush! he is coming toward us," 
 and Tamara hurriedly opened a book and looked 
 down. 
 
 "At last Mrs. Loraine has arrived on deck," 
 she heard Millicent say; and then, for convention's 
 sake she was obliged to glance up and bow coldly. 
 
 The young man did not seem the least impressed ; 
 he sat down and pulled his rug round his knees and 
 gazed out at the sea. The sun had set, and the 
 moon would soon rise in all her full glory. 
 
 There was hardly twilight and the ship's electric 
 
 lights were already being lit. The old Englishman, 
 
 Stephen Strong, greeted her and took the chair at 
 
 Mrs. Hardcastle's other side. That lady was in 
 
 40
 
 HIS HOUR 
 
 one of her chatty moods, when each nicely ex- 
 pressed sentence fell from her lips directly after 
 the other all so pleasant and easy to understand. 
 No one ever felt with Millicent he need use an 
 atom of brain. These are the women men like. 
 
 Tamara pretended to read her book, but she 
 was conscious of the near proximity of the Prince. 
 Nothing so magnetic in the way of a personality 
 had ever crossed her path as yet. 
 
 He sat as still as a statue gazing at the sea. An 
 uncontrollable desire to look at him shook Tamara, 
 but she dominated it. The discomfort at last 
 grew so great that she almost trembled. 
 
 Then he spoke: 
 
 " Have you cat's eyes ? " he asked. 
 
 Now, when there was a legitimate chance to 
 look at him, she found her orbs glued to her book. 
 
 "Of course not!" she said, icily. 
 
 "Then of what use to pretend you are reading 
 in this gloom ? The miserable lantern is not good 
 for a gleam." 
 
 Tamara was silent. She even turned a page. 
 She would be irritating, too ! 
 
 "That ball was a sight," he continued. "Did 
 41
 
 HIS HOUR 
 
 you see the harem ladies peeping from their 
 cage? They looked fat and ugly enough to be 
 wisely kept there. What a lot of fools they must 
 have thought us, cavorting for their amusement." 
 
 "Poor women!*' said Tamara. Her voice was 
 the primmest thing in voices she had ever heard. 
 
 "Why poor women?" he asked. "They have 
 all the pleasures of the body, and no anxieties; 
 nothing but the little excitement of trying now and 
 then to poison their rivals! It is the poor Khedive! 
 Think of his having to wade through all that 
 fat mass to find one pretty one!" 
 
 The tone of this conversation displeased Tamara. 
 She did not wish to enter into the ethics of the 
 harem. She wished he would be silent again, only 
 that deep voice of his was so pleasant! His English 
 was wonderful, too, with hardly the least accent; 
 and when she did allow herself to look at him she 
 could not help admiring the way his hair grew, 
 back from a forehead purely Greek. His nose 
 was short and rather square, while those too beau- 
 tifully chiseled lips of his had an expression of 
 extraordinary charm. His whole personality 
 breathed attraction, every human being who 
 42
 
 HIS HOUR 
 
 approached him was conscious of it. As for his 
 eyes, they were enormous, with broad full lids, 
 mystical, passionate, and yet unconcerned. Always 
 they suggested something Eastern, though on the 
 whole he was fair. Tamara's own soft brown hair 
 was only a shade lighter than his. 
 
 She was not sure yet, but now thought his eyes 
 were gray. 
 
 She could have asked him a number of questions 
 she wanted answered, but she refrained. He 
 suddenly turned and looked at her full in the face. 
 He had been gazing fixedly at the sea, and these 
 movements of quickness were disconcerting, es- 
 pecially as Tamara found herself caught in the act 
 of studying his features. 
 
 "What on earth made you go to the Sphinx?'* 
 he asked. 
 
 Anger rose in Tamara; the inference was not 
 flattering, in his speech, or the tone in which he 
 uttered it. 
 
 "To count the number of stones the creature is 
 made of, of course," she said. "Those technical 
 things are what one would go for at that time of 
 night." 
 
 4 43
 
 HIS HOUR 
 
 And now her companion rippled with laughter, 
 infectious, joyous laughter. 
 
 "Ah, you are not so stupid as I thought!" he 
 said, frankly. "You looked poetic and fine with 
 that gauze scarf round your head sitting there 
 and then afterwards. Wheugh! it was like a pretty 
 wax doll. I regretted having wasted the village on 
 you. All that is full of meaning for me. " 
 
 Tamara was interested in spite of her will to 
 remain reserved, although she resented the wax- 
 doll part. 
 
 "Yes?" she faltered. 
 
 "You can learn ah 1 the lessons you want in life 
 from the Sphinx," he went on. "What paltry 
 atoms you and I are! and how little we matter to 
 anyone but ourselves! She is cruel, too, and does 
 not hesitate to tear one in pieces if she wishes, and 
 she could make one ready to get drunk on blood." 
 
 Tamara rounded her sweet eyes. 
 
 "Then the village there, full of men with the 
 passions of animals, living from father to son for- 
 ever the same, wailing for a death, rejoicing at a 
 birth, taking strong physical pleasure in their 
 marriage rights and their women, and beating 
 44
 
 HIS HOUR 
 
 them when they are tired; but you are too civilized 
 in your country to understand any of these things. " 
 
 Tamara was stirred; she felt she ought to be 
 shocked. 
 
 Contrary to her determination, she asked a 
 question : 
 
 "Then you are not civilized in yours?" 
 
 "Not nearly so badly," he said. "The primitive 
 forces of life still give us emotions, when we are 
 not wild; when we are then it is the jolliest hell." 
 
 Tamara was almost repulsed. How could one 
 be so odd as this man? she thought. Was he a 
 type, or was he mad, or just only most annoyingly 
 attractive and different from any one else? She 
 found herself thrilled. Then with a subtle change 
 he turned and almost tenderly wrapped the rug, 
 which had blown a little down, more securely 
 round her. 
 
 "You have such a small white face," he said, 
 the words a caress. "One must see that you are 
 warm and the naughty winds do not blow you 
 away." 
 
 Tamara shivered; she could not have told why. 
 
 After this the conversation became general. 
 45
 
 HIS HOUR 
 
 Millicent joined in with her obvious remarks. The 
 sea was much smoother; they would be able to 
 eat some dinner; she had heard there was a gipsy 
 troupe on board in the third-class, and how nice it 
 would be to have some music! 
 
 And something angered Tamara in the way the 
 Prince assisted in all this, out-commonplacing her 
 friend in commonplaces with the suavest politeness, 
 while his grave face betrayed him not even by a 
 twinkle in the eye. Only when he caught hers; 
 then he laughed a sudden short laugh, and he 
 whispered : 
 
 "What a perfect woman! everything in the right 
 place. Heaven ! at the best times she would do her 
 knitting, and hand one a child every year! I'll 
 marry when I can find a wife like that ! " 
 
 Tamara was furious. She resented his ridicule 
 of Millicent, and she was horrified at the whole 
 speech; so, gathering her rug together, she said she 
 was cold, and asked Mr. Strong to pace the deck 
 with her. Nor would she take the faintest further 
 notice of the Prince, until they all went below to 
 the evening meal. 
 
 At dinner he seemed to be practically a stranger 
 46
 
 HIS HOUR 
 
 again. He was Tamara's neighbor, but he risked 
 no startling speeches; in fact, he hardly spoke to 
 her, contenting himself with discussing seafaring 
 matters with the captain, and an occasional re- 
 mark to Stephen Strong, who sat beyond Mrs. 
 Hardcastle. It was unnecessary for her to have 
 decided beforehand to snub him; he did not give 
 her the chance.
 
 , CHAPTER V 
 
 ON Monday they heard they would arrive 
 at Brindisi on the Tuesday morning, and 
 Tamara persuaded Mrs. Hardcastle to 
 agree to disembarking there instead of going on to 
 Trieste. 
 
 "We shall be home all the sooner," she said. 
 And so it was settled. But there was still all Mon- 
 day to be got through. 
 
 It was a perfect day, the blue Mediterranean 
 was not belying its name. Tamara felt in great 
 spirits, as she came on deck at about eleven o'clock, 
 to find Millicent taking a vigorous walk round and 
 round with the Russian Prince. They seemed to 
 be laughing and chattering like old friends. Again 
 Tamara resented it. 
 
 "He is only making fun of poor Millie," she 
 thought, "who never sees a thing," and she settled 
 herself in her chair and let her eyes feast on the 
 blue sea 
 
 What should she do with her life? This taste 
 48
 
 HIS HOUR 
 
 of change and foreign skies had unsettled her. 
 How could she return to Underwood and the hum- 
 drum everyday existence there? She seemed to 
 see it mapped out on a plain as one who stood on 
 a mountain. She seemed to realize that always 
 there had been dormant in her some difference 
 from the others. She remembered now how often 
 she perceived things that none of them saw, and 
 she knew it was because of this that it had grown 
 into a habit with her from early childhood to sup- 
 press the expression of her thoughts, and keep 
 them to herself until outwardly, at all events, 
 she was of the same stolid mould as her family. 
 The dears! they could not help it. 
 
 But about one point she was determined. She 
 would think and act for herself in future. Aunt 
 Clara's frown should not prohibit any book or any 
 action. The world should teach her what it could. 
 
 Tamara had received a solid education; now 
 she would profit by it, and instead of letting all 
 her knowledge lie like a bulb in a root-house, she 
 would plant it and tend it, and would hope to see 
 sweet flowers springing forth. 
 
 "Next summer I shall be twenty-five years old," 
 49
 
 HIS HOUR 
 
 she said to herself, " and the whole thing has been 
 a waste." 
 
 Each time the energetic promenaders passed 
 her chair she heard a few words of their conver- 
 sation, on hunting often, and the dogs, and the 
 children, Bertie's cleverness, and Muriel's chicken- 
 pox, but always the Prince seemed interested and 
 polite. 
 
 Presently the old man, Stephen Strong, came 
 up and took Mrs. Hardcastle's chair. 
 
 "May I disturb your meditations P" he said. 
 "You look so wise." 
 
 "No, I am foolish," Tamara answered. "Now 
 you who know the world must come and talk and 
 teach me its meaning." 
 
 He was rather a wonderful old man, Stephen 
 Strong, purely English to look at, and purely cos- 
 mopolitan in habits and We. He had been in the 
 diplomatic service years ago, and had been in 
 Egypt in the gorgeous Ismail time; then a fortune 
 came his way, and he traveled the earth over. 
 There were years spent in Vienna and Petersburg 
 and Paris, and always the early winter back in the 
 land of the Sphinx. 
 
 50
 
 HIS HOUR 
 
 "The world," he said, as he arranged himself 
 in the chair, "is an extremely pleasant place if 
 one takes it as it is, and does not quarrel with it. 
 One must not be intolerant, and one must not be 
 hypercritical. See it all and make allowances for 
 the weakness of the human beings who inhabit it." 
 
 "Yes," said Tamara, "I know you are right; 
 but so many of us belong to a tribe who think their 
 point of view the only one. I do, for instance; 
 that is why I say I am foolish." 
 
 The walkers passed again. 
 
 "There is a type for you to study," Stephen 
 Strong said, "Prince MilaslaVski. I have known 
 him for many years, since he was a child almost; 
 he is about twenty-nine or thirty now, and really 
 a rather interesting personality." 
 
 "Yes," said Tamara, honestly, "I feel that. 
 Tell me about him?" 
 
 Stephen Strong lit a cigar and puffed for a few 
 seconds, then he settled himself with the air of 
 a person beginning a narrative. 
 
 "He came into his vast fortune rather too young, 
 and lived rather fiercely. His mother was a 
 Basmanoff ; that means a kind of Crcesus in Russia. 
 51
 
 HIS HOUR 
 
 He is a great favorite with the powers that be, 
 and is in the Cossacks of the Escort. Something 
 in their wild freedom appealed to him more than 
 any other corps. He is a Cossack himself on the 
 mother's side, and the blood is all rather wild, you 
 know." 
 
 Tamara looked as she felt interested. 
 
 "They tell the most tremendous stories about 
 him," the old man went on, "hugely exaggerated, 
 of course; but the fact remains, he is a fascinating, 
 restless, dauntless character." 
 
 "What sort of stories?" asked Tamara, 
 timidly. 
 
 "Not all fit for your ears, gentle lady," laughed 
 Stephen Strong. "Sheer devilment, mostly. It 
 was the amusement in the beginning to dare him 
 to anything, the maddest feats. He ran off with 
 a nun once, it is said, for a bet, and deposited her 
 in the house of the man she had loved before her 
 vows were taken. That was in Poland. Then 
 he has orgies sometimes at his country place, when 
 every one is mad for three days on end. It causes 
 terrible scandal. Then he comes back like a lamb, 
 and purrs to all the old ladies. They say he obeys 
 5%
 
 HIS HOUR 
 
 neither God nor the Devil only the Emperor on 
 this earth." 
 
 "How dreadful!" force of habit made Tamara 
 say, while her thoughts unconsciously ran into 
 interested fascination. 
 
 "He is absolutely fearless, and as cool as an 
 Englishman, and there are not any mean things 
 told about him, though," Steven Strong continued, 
 "and indeed sometimes he lives the simplest 
 country life with his horses and dogs, and his own 
 people worship him, I believe. But there is no 
 wildest prank he is incapable of if his blood 
 is up." 
 
 "I think he looks like it," said Tamara. "Is it 
 because he habitually wears uniform that his ordi- 
 nary clothes fit so badly? To our eyes he seems 
 dressed like some commis voyageur." 
 
 "Of course," said Stephen Strong. "And even 
 in Paris I don't suppose you would approve of him 
 in that respect, but if you could see him in Peters- 
 burg, then I believe you would be like all the rest." 
 
 "All which rest?" asked Tamara. 
 
 "Women. They simply adore him. Bohe- 
 mians, great ladies, actresses, dancers, and '* 
 
 53
 
 HIS HOUR 
 
 He was just going to mention those of another 
 world, when he felt Tamara would hardly under- 
 stand him, so he stopped short. 
 
 Something in her rose up in arms. 
 
 "It shows how foolish they are," she said. 
 
 Stephen Strong glanced at her sideways, and if 
 she could have read his thoughts they were: 
 
 "This sweet Englishwoman is under Gritzko's 
 spell already, and how she is battling against it! 
 She won't have a chance, though, if he makes up 
 his mind to win." 
 
 But Tamara, for all her gentle features, was no 
 weakling; only her life had been a long hiber- 
 nation; and now the spring had come, and soon 
 the time of the finding of honey and a new life. 
 
 "What can he be talking about to my friend, 
 Mr. Strong?" she asked, as the two passed again. 
 "Millicent is one of the last women he can have 
 anything in common with; she would simply die 
 of horror if she heard any of these stories and he 
 can't be interested in a word she says/* 
 
 "He always does the unexpected," and Stephen 
 Strong laughed as he said it. He himself was 
 amused at this ill-matched pair. 
 54
 
 HIS HOUR 
 
 "Mrs. Hardcastle is agreeable to look at, too," 
 he continued. 
 
 Tamara smiled scornfully. 
 
 "That is the lowest view to take. One should 
 be above material appearance." 
 
 "Charming lady!" said Stephen Strong. "Yes, 
 indeed you do not know the world." 
 
 Tamara was not angry. She looked at him and 
 smiled, showing her beautiful teeth. 
 
 "Of course you think me a goose," she said, 
 "but I warned you I was one. Tell me, shall I 
 ever grow out of it tell me, you who know?" 
 
 "If the teacher is young and handsome enough 
 to make your heart beat," said her old com- 
 panion. And then Millicent and the Prince joined 
 them. 
 
 Mrs. Hardcastle's round blue eyes were flash- 
 ing brightly, and her fresh face was aglow with 
 exercise and enjoyment. 
 
 "Tamara dear, you are too incorrigibly lazy. 
 Why do you sit here instead of taking exercise? 
 and you have no idea of the interesting things the 
 Prince has been telling me. All about a Russian 
 poet called oh, I can't pronounce the name, 
 55
 
 HIS HOUR 
 
 but who wrote of a devil not exactly Faust, you 
 know, though something like it." 
 
 Tamara noticed that amused, whimsical, mock- 
 ing gleam in the Cossack's great eyes, but Millicent 
 went gaily on, unconscious of anything but herself. 
 
 "I mean those mythical, strange sort of devils 
 who come to earth, you know, and and make 
 love to ladies a sort of Satan like in Marie Corelli's 
 lovely book. You remember, Tamara, the one you 
 were so funny about, laughing when you read it." 
 
 "You mean 'The Demon' of Lermontoff, prob- 
 ably, Millicent, don't you?" Tamara said. "A 
 friend of my mother's translated it into English, 
 and I have known it since I was a child. I think 
 it must be very fine in the original," and she 
 looked at the Prince. 
 
 In one moment his face became serious and 
 sympathetic. 
 
 "You know our great poet's work, then?" he 
 said, surprised. " One would not have thought it !" 
 
 Then again Tamara's anger rose. There was 
 always the insinuation in his remarks, seemingly 
 unconscious, and therefore the more irritating, 
 that she was a commonplace fool. 
 56
 
 HIS HOUR 
 
 "Her name the heroine's is the same as my 
 own," she said, gravely; but there was a challenge 
 in her eyes. 
 
 "Tamara!" he said. "Well it could be a 
 devil might come your way, but you would kneel 
 and pray, and eat bonbons, and not listen to 
 him." 
 
 "It would depend upon the devil," she said. 
 
 "Those who live the longest will see the most," 
 and the Prince put back his head and laughed 
 with real enjoyment at his thoughts, just as he had 
 done when the two goats had butted at one another 
 in the road. 
 
 Tamara felt her cheeks blaze with rage, but she 
 would not enter the lists, in spite of the late chal- 
 lenge in her eyes. 
 
 Mr. Strong had vacated Millicent's chair and 
 taken his own. The party soon settled into their 
 legitimate places, and Tamara again took up her 
 book. 
 
 "No, don't read," the Prince said. "You get 
 angry at once with me when we talk, and the red 
 comes into your cheeks, and I like it." 
 
 Exasperation was almost uncontrollable in 
 57
 
 HIS HOUR 
 
 Tamara. She remained silent, only the little ear 
 next the Prince burned scarlet. 
 
 "Some day you will come to Russia," he said, 
 "and then you will learn many things." 
 
 "I have no desire to go there,*' said Tamara, 
 lying frankly, as it had always been her great wish, 
 and indeed her godmother, who never forgot her, 
 had often begged her to visit that northern clime; 
 but Russia! as well have suggested the moon at 
 Underwood. 
 
 "It would freeze you, perhaps, or burn you 
 who can tell?" the Prince said. "One would see 
 when you got there. I have an old lady, a dear 
 friend, with white hair and a mole on her cheek 
 someone who sees straight. She would be good 
 for your education." 
 
 Tamara thought it would be wiser not to show 
 any further annoyance, so she said lightly: 
 
 "Yes, I am only sixteen, and have never left 
 the schoolroom; it would be delightful to be taught 
 how to live." 
 
 He turned and smiled at her. 
 
 "You hardly look any more twenty, perhaps, 
 and never kissed!" 
 
 58
 
 HIS HOUR 
 
 A memory rose up of a scorched neck, and sud- 
 denly Tamara's long eyelashes rested on her cheek. 
 
 Then into his splendid eyes came a fierce, savage, 
 passionate gleam, which she did not see, but dimly 
 felt, and he said in a low voice a little thick: 
 
 "And as yet never really kissed.'* 
 
 "Milly," said Tamara, as calmly as she could, 
 "what time do we get into Brindisi to-morrow 
 morning? And think of it, on Thursday night 
 we shall be at home." 
 
 Home seemed so very safe! 
 
 The Prince did not come in to luncheon, some- 
 thing was the matter with his Arab horse, and he 
 had gone to see to it just before a concern on his 
 face as of the news of illness to his nearest kin. 
 
 Tamara was gay and charming, and laughed with 
 Stephen Strong and the captain in quite an unusual 
 way for her. They both thought her an adorable 
 woman. Poor Tamara! and so she really was. 
 
 About tea-time Prince Milasldvski turned up 
 again. 
 
 "He is all right now," he said, sure that his 
 listeners were in perfect sympathy with him. "It 
 was those fools down there. I have made them 
 5 59
 
 HIS HOUR 
 
 suffer, I can say," and then he turned to Stephen 
 Strong. "Among the steerage there is an Alex- 
 andrian gipsy troupe. I have ordered them up to 
 sing to us to-night, since Madame wished it," and 
 he turned upon Millicent an air of deep devotion. 
 
 "Common ragged creatures, but one with some 
 ankles and one with a voice. In any case, we 
 must celebrate these ladies' last night." 
 
 And thus the terrible present end to their acquain- 
 tance fell about! 
 
 Nothing could have been more charming than 
 the Prince was until dinner-time, and indeed 
 through that meal, only he made Stephen Strong 
 change places with him, so that he might be next 
 Mrs. Hardcastie, much to that lady's delight. 
 
 "He is really too fascinating," she said, as she 
 came into Tajmara's cabin to fetch her for the even- 
 ing meal. "I hardly think Henry would like his 
 devotion to me. What do you think, dear ?" 
 
 "I am sure he would be awfully jealous, Milly 
 darling; you really must be careful," Tamara said. 
 And with a conscious air of complacent pleasantly 
 tickled virtue Mrs. Hardcastie led the way to the 
 saloon. 
 
 60
 
 HIS HOUR 
 
 It was not possible, Tamara thought, that any- 
 thing so terribly unpleasant as the Prince's having 
 too much champagne at dinner could have ac- 
 counted for his simply scandalous behavior after; 
 and yet surely that would have been the kindest 
 thing to say. But, no, it was not that. 
 
 This was, in brief, the scene which was enacted 
 on the upper deck: 
 
 With the permission of the captain, the gipsy 
 troupe were brought, and began their performance, 
 tame enough at the commencement until the Prince 
 gave orders for them to be supplied with unlimited 
 champagne, and then the wildest dancing began. 
 They writhed and gesticulated and undulated in a 
 manner which made Millicent cling on to her chair, 
 grow crimson in the face, and finally start to her 
 feet. 
 
 But the worst happened when the Prince rose and, 
 taking a tambourine, began, with a weird shriek, to 
 beat it wildly, his eyes ablaze and his lips apart. 
 
 Then, seizing the chief dancer and banging it 
 upon her head, he held his arm about her heaving 
 breast, as she turned to him with a serpentine 
 movement of voluptuous delight. 
 61
 
 HIS HOUR 
 
 In a second he had caught hold of her and had 
 lifted and swung her far out over the dark blue 
 waters, then, with a swirl to the side, held her 
 suspended in the air above the open deck below. 
 
 "Ha, ha!" yelled the troupe, in frenzied pleasure, 
 and, nimble as a cat, one rough dark man rushed 
 down the ladder and caught the hanging woman 
 in his arms. Then they all clapped and cheered 
 and shrieked with joy, while the Prince, putting his 
 hands in his pockets, pulled out heaps of gold and 
 flung it among them. 
 
 "Back to hell, rats!" he shouted, laughing. 
 "See, you have frightened the ladies. You should 
 all be killed!" 
 
 For Tamara and Millicent had risen, and with 
 stately steps had quitted the scene. 
 
 It was all too terrible and too vulgarly melodra- 
 matic, Tamara thought, especially that touching 
 of the woman and that flinging of the gold, the 
 latter caused by the same barbaric instinct which 
 made him throw the silver in the Sheikh's vil- 
 lage by the moonlit Sphinx, only this was worse a 
 thousandfold. 
 
 The next morning the two ladies left the ship at 
 62
 
 HIS HOUR 
 
 Brindisi before either the Prince or Stephen Strong 
 was awake. Both were silent upon the subject 
 of the night before, until Millicent at last said when 
 they were in the train: 
 
 "Tamara you won't tell Henry or your family, 
 will you, dear? Because really, last night he was 
 so fascinating but that dancing! I am sure you 
 feel, with me, we could have died of shame."
 
 ^ CHAPTER VI 
 
 WEN Tamara reached Underwood 
 md saw a letter from her Russian 
 godmother among the pile which 
 awaited her, she felt it was the finger of fate, 
 and when she read it and found it contained not 
 only New Year's wishes, but an invitation couched 
 in affectionate and persuasive terms that she should 
 visit St. Petersburg, she suddenly, and without 
 consulting her family, decided she would go. 
 
 "There is something drawing me to Russia," 
 she said to herself. "One gets into the current of 
 things. I felt it in the air. And why should I 
 hesitate now I am free ? Why should I not accept, 
 just because one Russian man has horrified me. It 
 is, I suppose, a big city, and perhaps I shall never 
 see him there." 
 
 So she announced her decision to the dum- 
 founded household, and in less than a week took 
 the Nord Express. 
 
 "The Court, alas! is in mourning," her god- 
 64
 
 HIS HOUR 
 
 mother had written, "so you will see no splendid 
 Court balls, but I daresay we can divert you other- 
 wise, Tamara, and I am so anxious to make the 
 acquaintance of my godchild." 
 
 The morning after she left them Aunt Clara ex- 
 pressed herself thus at breakfast: 
 
 "I see a great and most unwelcome change in 
 dear Tamara since she returned from Egypt, I 
 had hoped Millicent Hardcastle would be all that 
 was steadying and well-balanced as a companion 
 for her, but it seems this modern restlessness has 
 got into her blood. I tremble to think what ideas 
 she will bring from Russia. Almost savages 
 they are there! She may be sent to Siberia or 
 something dreadful, and we may never see her 
 again." 
 
 "Oh! come Aunt Clara!" Tom Underdown 
 protested, as he buttered his toast. "I think you 
 are a little behind the times. There is a Russian 
 at Oxford with me and he is the decentest chap in 
 the world. You speak as though they almost lived 
 on raw fish!" 
 
 " My dear Tom, " said Miss Underdown, severely. 
 "I was reading only yesterday, in the 'Christian 
 65
 
 HIS HOUR 
 
 Clarion,' how one of their Emperors cut off every- 
 one's head. Dreadful customs they have, it seems; 
 and one of their Empresses Catherine, I think 
 her name was. Well, dear, it is too shocking to 
 .speak of and most people were sent to the mines ! " 
 "Oh! hang it all, Aunt Clara, you can't have 
 looked at the date! You can hunt up just those 
 jolly kind of stories about our Henry VIII. if you 
 want to, you know, and our Elizabeth wasn't the 
 saint they made out. And as for Siberia, I am 
 going there myself some day, on the Trans-Siberian 
 Hailway. Tamara will be all right. I wish to 
 leavens she had taken me with her. We have got 
 dry rot in this house, that is what is the matter 
 with us!" 
 
 " Tom ! " almost gasped Miss Underdown. " Your 
 manners are extremely displeasing, and the tone 
 of your remarks is far from what one could wish!" 
 Meanwhile Tamara was speeding on her way to 
 the North, her interest and excitement in her jour- 
 ney deepening with each mile. 
 
 The snow and the vast forests impressed her 
 from the train windows. Every smallest shade 
 made its effect upon her brain. Tamara was sen- 
 66
 
 HIS HOUR 
 
 sitive to all form and color. She was a person who 
 apprehended things, and from the habit GJ keeping 
 all her observations to herself perhaps the faculty 
 of perception had grown the keener. 
 
 The silence seemed to be the first thing she 
 remarked on reaching the frontier. The porters 
 were so grave and quiet, with their bearded kindly 
 faces, many of them like the saints and Biblical 
 characters in Sunday-school picture books at home. 
 
 And finally she arrived at St. Petersburg, and 
 found her godmother waiting for her on the plat- 
 form. They recognized each other immediately. 
 Tamara had several photographs of the Princess 
 Ardacheff. 
 
 "Welcome, ma filleule," that lady cried, while 
 she shook her hand. "After all these years I can 
 have you in my house." 
 
 They said all sorts of mutually agreeable things 
 on their way thither, and they looked at each other 
 shyly. 
 
 "She is not beautiful," ran the Princess* com- 
 ments. "Though she has a superb air of breeding 
 that is from her poor mother but her eyes are 
 her father's eyes. She is very sweet, and what a 
 67
 
 HIS HOUR 
 
 lovely skin yes, and eyelashes and probably a 
 figure when one can see beneath the furs tall and 
 very slender in any case. Yes, I am far from dis- 
 appointed --far. " 
 
 And Tamara thought: 
 
 "My godmother is a splendid looking lady! I 
 like her bright brown eyes and that white hair; and 
 what a queer black mole upon her left cheek, like 
 an early eighteenth-century beauty spot. Where 
 have I heard lately of someone with a mole ? 
 
 " You fortunately see our city with a fresh mantle 
 of snow, Tamara, " the Princess said, glancing 
 from the automobile window as they sped along. 
 "It is not, alas! always so white as this." 
 
 It appeared wonderful to Tamara so quite 
 unlike anything she had imagined. The tiny 
 sleighs seemingly too ridiculously small for the 
 enormously padded coachman on the boxes the 
 good horses with their sweeping tails 'the unusual 
 harness. And, above all, again the silence caused 
 by the snow. 
 
 Her first remark was almost a childish one of 
 glee and appreciation, and then she stopped short. 
 What would her godmother think of such an out- 
 68
 
 HIS HOUR 
 
 burst! She must return to the contained self- 
 repression of the time before her visit to the Sphinx 
 surely in this strange land! 
 
 The Princess ArddchefFs frank face was illu- 
 minated with a smile. 
 
 "She is extremely young," she thought, "in spite 
 of her widowhood, but I like her, and I know we 
 shall be friends. " 
 
 Just then they arrived at her house in the Ser- 
 guiefskaia. It had not appeared to Tamara that 
 they were approaching any particularly fashionable 
 quarter. A fine habitation seemed the neighbor 
 of quite a humble one, and here there was even a 
 shop a few doors down, and except for the very tall 
 windows there was nothing exceptionally imposing 
 on the outside. But when they entered the first 
 hall and the gaily-liveried suisse and two footmen 
 had removed their furs, and the Princess' snow 
 boots, then Tamara perceived she was indeed in a 
 glorious home. 
 
 Princess Arddcheff's house was, and is, perhaps 
 the most stately in all Petersburg. 
 
 As they ascended the enormous staircase dividing 
 on the first landing, and reaching the surrounding 
 69
 
 HIS HOUR 
 
 galleries above in two sweeps, a grave major-domo 
 and more footmen met them, and opened wide the 
 doors of a lofty room. It was full of fine pictures 
 and objets 1 d'art, and though the furniture dated 
 from the time of Alexander II., and even a little 
 earlier when a flood of frightful taste pervaded 
 all Europe still the stuffs and the colors were 
 beautiful and rich, and time had softened their 
 crudity into a harmonious whole. 
 
 Be the decorations of a house what they will, it 
 is the mistress of it who gives the rooms their soul. 
 If hers is vulgar, so will the rooms be, even though 
 Monsieur Nelson himself has but just designed 
 them in purest Louis XVI. But the worst of all 
 are those which look as though their owner con- 
 stantly attended bazaars, and brought the super- 
 fluous horrors she secured there back with her. 
 Then there are vapid rooms, and anaemic rooms, 
 and fiddly, and messy rooms, and there are 
 monuments of wealth with no individuality 
 at all. 
 
 Tamara felt all these nuances directly, and she 
 knew that here dwelt a woman of natural refine- 
 \rwsnt and a broad outlook. 
 70
 
 HIS HOUR 
 
 She sank into an old-fashioned sofa, covered 
 with silk a quarter of an inch thick, and the atmos- 
 phere seemed to breathe life and completeness. 
 
 Tea and quantities of different little bonnes 
 bouches awaited them. But if there was a samovar 
 she did not recognize it as such; in fact, she had 
 seen nothing which many writers describe as 
 "Russian." 
 
 The Princess talked on in a fashion of perfect 
 simplicity and directness. She told her that her 
 friends would all welcome her and be glad that an 
 Englishwoman should really see their country, and 
 find it was not at all the grotesque place which 
 fancy painted it. 
 
 "We are so far away that you do not even 
 imagine us," she said. "You English have read 
 that there was an Ivan the Terrible and a Peter the 
 Great, who crushed through your Evelyn's hedges, 
 and was a giant of seven foot high! Many of you 
 believe wolves prowl in the streets at night, and 
 that among the highest society Nihilists stalk, 
 disguised as heaven knows what! While the .sud- 
 den disappearance of a member of any great or 
 small family can be accounted for by a nocturnal 
 71
 
 HIS HOUR 
 
 visit of police, and a transportation in chains to 
 Siberian mines ! Is it not so, Tamara ? " 
 
 Tamara laughed. "Yes, indeed," she said. 
 "I am sure that is what Aunt Clara thinks 
 now! Are we not a ridiculously insular people, 
 Marraine?" 
 
 She said the last word timidly and put out her 
 hand. "May I call you Marraine, Princess?" 
 she asked. "I never knew my mother, and it 
 sounds nice." 
 
 "Indeed, yes!" the Princess said, and she rose 
 and kissed Tamara. "Your mother was very 
 dear to me, long ago, before you were born, we spent 
 a wild season together of youth and happiness. 
 You shall take the place of my child Tamara, if 
 she had lived." 
 
 Before they had finished drinking their tea, other 
 guests came in a tall old General in a beautiful 
 uniform, and two ladies, one young and the other 
 old. They all spoke English perfectly, and were 
 so agreeable and sans fopon, Tamara's first impres- 
 sion was distinctly good. 
 
 Presently she heard the elder lady say to her 
 godmother: 
 
 72
 
 HIS HOUR 
 
 "H%ve you seen Gritzko since his return, Vera? 
 One hears he has a wild fit on and is at Milaslav 
 with " the rest of the words were almost whis- 
 pered. Tamara found herself unpleasantly on the 
 alert how ridiculous, though, she thought Gritz- 
 ko! there might be a dozen Gritzkos in Peters- 
 burg. 
 
 "No, he returns to-night," Princess Arddcheff 
 said; "but I never listen to these tales, and as no 
 matter what he does we all forgive him, and let 
 him fly back into our good graces as soon as he 
 purses up that handsome mouth of his it is 
 superfluous to make critiques upon his conduct 
 it seems to me!" 
 
 The lady appeared to agree to this, for she 
 laughed, and they talked of other things, and soon 
 all left. 
 
 And when they were gone "To-night I have 
 one or two of my nicest friends dining," the Prin- 
 cess said, "whom I wish you to know, so I thought 
 if you rested now you would not be too tired for a 
 little society," and she carried Tamara off to her 
 warm comfortable bedroom, an immense apart- 
 ment in gorgeous Empire taste, and here was a 
 73
 
 HIS HOUR 
 
 great bunch of roses to greet her, and her maid 
 could be seen unpacking in the anti-chamber 
 beyond. 
 
 The company, ten or twelve of them, were all 
 assembled when Tamara reached one of the great 
 salons, which opened from the galleries surround- 
 ing the marble hall. She came in a slender wil- 
 lowy creature, with a gentle smile of contrition- 
 was she late? 
 
 And then the presentations took place. What 
 struck her first was that dark or fair, fat-faced or 
 thin, high foreheads or low, all the ladies wore 
 coiffees exactly the same the hair brushed up from 
 the forehead and tightly anduUs. It gave a look of 
 universal distinction, but in some cases was not 
 very becoming. They were beautifully dressed in 
 mourning, and no one seemed to have much of a 
 complexion, from an English point of view, but 
 before the end of the evening Tamara felt she had 
 never met women with such charm. Surely no 
 other country could produce the same types, per- 
 fectly simple in manner perfectly at ease. Ex- 
 tremely highly educated, with a wide range of 
 subjects, and a knowledge of European literature 
 74
 
 HIS HOUR 
 
 whieh must be unsurpassed. Afterwards when she 
 knew them better she realized that here was one 
 place left in Europe where there were no parvenues 
 and no snobs or if there were any, they were 
 beautifully concealed. Such absolute simplicity 
 and charm can only stay in a society where no one 
 is trying "to arrive," all being there naturally by 
 birth. There could be no room for the metier 
 adopted by several impecunious English ladies of 
 title that of foisting anyone, however unsuitable, 
 upon society and their friends for a well-gilded 
 consideration. 
 
 In Russia, at least, it is the round peg in the 
 round hole. No square peg would have a chance 
 of admission. Thus there are the ease and ele- 
 gance of one large and interesting family. 
 
 It seemed to Tamara that each one was endowed 
 with natural fascination. They made no "frais" 
 for her. There were no compliments or gushing 
 welcomes. They were just casual and delightful 
 and made her feel at home and happy with them 
 all. 
 
 They took "Zacouska" in an ante-room. Such 
 quantities of strange dishes ! There seemed enough 
 6 75
 
 HIS HOUR 
 
 for a whole meal, and Tamara wondered how it 
 would be possible to eat anything further! At 
 dinner she sat between a tall old Prince and a 
 diplomat. The uniforms pleased her and the 
 glorious pearls of the ladies. Such pearls worth 
 a king's ransom! 
 
 Then she was interested to see the many differ- 
 ent sorts of wine, and the extreme richness of the 
 food, and finally the shortness of the meal. 
 
 The pretty custom of the men kissing the hostess* 
 hand as they all left the dining-room together, 
 she found delightful. 
 
 They were drinking coffee in the blue salon, and 
 most of the party had retired to the bridge tables 
 laid out, and Tamara, who played too badly, sat by 
 the fire with her godmother and another lady, when 
 suddenly the door opened and, with an air of com- 
 plete insouciance and assurance, Prince Milas- 
 laVski came in. 
 
 "I want some coffee, Tantine,'* he said, kissing 
 the Princess* hand, while he nodded to everyone 
 else. "I was passing and so came in to get it." 
 
 "Gritzko back again!'* the whole company 
 cried, and the Princess, beaming upon him fond 
 76
 
 HIS HOUR 
 
 smiles, gave him the coffee, while she murmured 
 her glad welcome. 
 
 The society now began to chaff him as to his 
 doings, which he took with the utmost sang froid. 
 
 "That old cat of a Marianne Mariuski sets about 
 as usual one of her stories. I am having an orgie 
 at MilaslaV, and this time with a seraglio of Egyp- 
 tian houris the truth being I only brought back 
 by the merest chance one small troupe of Alexan- 
 drian dancers, and two performing bears. They 
 made us laugh for three days, Serge, Sasha, and 
 the rest!" 
 
 " Gritzko, will you 'never learn wisdom," said 
 one lady, the Princess She'banoff, plaintively, 
 while the others all laughed. "Were they pretty, 
 and what were they like ?" they asked. 
 
 " The bears ? little angels, especially Fatima, 
 and with the manners of Princesses," and he bowed 
 to an old lady who was surveying him severely 
 through her pince-nez, while she held her cards 
 awry. "Which reminds me we are failing in ours, 
 Tantine, you have not presented me to the English- 
 lady, who is, I perceive, a stranger." 
 
 During all this Tamara had sat cold and silent^ 
 77
 
 HIS HOUR 
 
 She was angry with herself that this man's entrance 
 should cause her such emotion or rather com- 
 motion and sensation. Why should he make her 
 feel nervous' and stupid, unsure of herself, and 
 uncertain what to do. Invariably he placed her 
 at some disadvantage, and left the settling of their 
 relations to himself. Whereas all such regulations 
 ought to have been in her hands. Now she was 
 without choice again, she could only bow stiffly as 
 her godmother said his name and her name, and 
 Prince Milaslavski took a chair by her side and 
 began making politenesses as though he were 
 really a stranger. 
 
 Had she just arrived ? Did she find Russia very 
 cold P Was she going to stay long ? etc., etc. 
 
 To all of which Tamara answered in mono- 
 syllables, while two bright spots of rose color 
 burned in her cheeks. 
 
 The Prince was astonishingly good looking in his 
 Cossack's uniform, and his eyes had a laugh in 
 them, but a shadow round as if bed had not seen 
 him for several nights. 
 
 His whole manner to Tamara was different 
 from any shade it had formerly worn. It was as 
 78
 
 HIS HOUR 
 
 if a courtly Russian were welcoming an honored 
 guest in his aunt's house. 
 
 He did not mock or tease, or announce startling 
 truths; he was pleasant and ordinary and serene. 
 
 He and the Princess Ard&cheff were no real 
 blood relations; the first wife of her late husband 
 had been his mother's sister, but the tradition of 
 aunt had gone on in the family and the Princess 
 loved him almost as a son. He had always called 
 her "Tantine" as though she had been his real 
 aunt. 
 
 "What did you think of Gritzko Milasldvski,, 
 Tamara ?" she asked, when all the guests were gone, 
 and the two had retired to Tamara's room. "He 
 is one of the dearest characters when you know him 
 but a terrible tease." 
 
 " He seemed very pleasant," Tamara said blankly, 
 while she picked up a book. Even to speak of 
 him caused her unease. 
 
 "He is not at all the type of an ordinary Rus- 
 sian," the Princess continued. "He has traveled 
 so much, he is so fin there is almost a French touch 
 in him. I am afraid you will find our young men 
 rather dull as a rule. They are very hard worked 
 79
 
 HIS HOUR 
 
 at their military duties, and have not much time 
 for les dames du monde." 
 
 "No?" said Tamara. "Well, the women seem 
 to make up for it. I have never met so many clever 
 delightful ones." 
 
 "It is our education," the Princess said. "You 
 see from babyhood we learn many languages, and 
 thus the literatures of countries are open to us 
 before we begin to analyze anything, and English 
 especially we know well, because in that language 
 there are so many books for young girls." 
 
 "In England," said Tamara, "what may be 
 given to young girls seems to rule everything, no 
 one is allowed a thought for herself, every idea 
 almost is brought down to that dead level one 
 rebels after a while but tell me, Marraine, if I 
 may ask, what makes them all so tired and gray 
 looking, the people I have seen to-night I mean. 
 Do they sit up very late at parties, or what is it ?'* 
 
 "In the season, yes, but it is not that, it is our 
 climate and our hot closed-up rooms, and the 
 impossibility of taking proper exercise. In the 
 summer you will not know them for the same 
 faces." 
 
 80
 
 HIS HOUR 
 
 And then she kissed her goddaughter good-night, 
 but just at the door she paused. "You were not 
 shocked about the Alexandrian dancers, I hope, 
 child?" she said. "If one knew the truth, they 
 were poor people who were starving, probably, 
 and Gritzko paid them money and helped them 
 out of the kindness of his heart those are the 
 sort of things he generally does I find when I 
 investigate, so I never pay attention to what he 
 says." 
 
 Tamara, left to herself, gazed into the glowing 
 embers of her wood fire. 
 
 "I wonder I wonder," she said. But what 
 she wondered she hardly dared admit even ta 
 herself.
 
 CHAPTER VH 
 
 P"R next day was the last of the Russian 
 old year the 13th of January new style 
 and w^ien Tamara appeared about ten 
 o'clock in her godmother's own sitting-room, a 
 charming apartment full of the most interesting 
 miniatures and bibelots collected by the great 
 Ardacheff, friend of Catherine II., she found the 
 Princess already busy at her writing table. 
 
 "Good-morning, my child," she said. "You 
 behold me up and working at a time when most of 
 my countrywomen are not yet in their baths. We 
 keep late hours here in the winter, while it is dark 
 and cold. You will get quite accustomed to going 
 to bed at two and rising at ten; but to-night, if it 
 pleases you to fall in with what is on the tapis for 
 you, I fear it will be even four in the morning before 
 you sleep. Prince Milaslavski has telephoned that 
 he gives a party at his house on the Foutonka, to 
 dine first and then go on to a caf 6 to hear the Bohe- 
 mians sing. It is a peculiarity of the place these 
 82
 
 HIS HOUR 
 
 Bohemians we shall drink in the New Year and 
 then go. It will not bore you. No ? Then it is 
 decided," and she pressed a lovely little Faberger 
 enamel bell which lay on the table near, and one 
 of the innumerable servants, who seemed to be 
 always waiting in the galleries, appeared. She 
 spoke to him in Russian, and then took up the 
 telephone by her side, and presently was in com- 
 munication with the person she had called. 
 
 "It is thou, Gritzko? Awake? Of course she 
 is awake, and here in the room. Yes, it is arranged 
 we dine not until nine o'clock? you cannot 
 be in before. Bon. Now promise you will be 
 good. Indeed, yes. Of course any English lady 
 would be shocked at you So ! I tell you she is in 
 the room pray be more discreet," and she smiled 
 at Tamara, and then continued her conversation. 
 "No, I will not talk in Russian, it is very rude. If 
 you ae not completely sage at dinner we shall 
 not go on. I am serious! Well, good-bye," 
 and with a laugh the Princess put the receiver 
 down. 
 
 "He says nothing would shock you he is sure 
 you understand the world! Well, we must amuse 
 83
 
 HIS HOUR 
 
 ourselves, and try and restrain him if he grows too 
 wild." 
 
 "He is often wild, then ?" Tamara said. 
 
 The Princess rose and stood by the window 
 looking out on the thickly falling snow. 
 
 "I am afraid a little yes, though never in 
 the wrong situation; above all things Gritzko is a 
 gentleman; but sometimes I wish he would take 
 life less as a game. One cannot help speculating 
 how it can end." 
 
 " Has he no family ?" Tamara asked. 
 
 "No, everyone is dead. His mother worshipped 
 him, but she died when he was scarcely eighteen, 
 and his father before that. His mother is his 
 adored memory. In all the mad scenes which he 
 and his companions, I am afraid, have enacted in 
 the Fontonka house, there is one set of rooms no 
 one has dared to enter her rooms and he keeps 
 flowers there, and an ever-burning lamp. Thare is 
 a strange touch of sentiment and melancholy in 
 Gritzko, and of religion too. Sometimes I think 
 he is unhappy, and then he goes off to his castle in 
 the Caucasus or to Milasldv, and no one sees him 
 for weeks. Last year we hoped he would marry 
 84
 
 HIS HOUR 
 
 a charming Polish girl he quite paid her attention 
 for several nights; but he said she laughed one day 
 when he felt sad, and answered seriously when he 
 was gay, and made crunching noises with her teeth 
 when she eat biscuits ! and her mother was fat and 
 she might grow so too ! And for these serious reasons 
 he could not face her at breakfast for the rest of 
 his life! Thus that came to an end. No one 
 has any influence upon him. I have given up 
 trying. One must accept him as he is, or leave him 
 alone he will go his own way." 
 
 Tamara had ceased fighting with herself about 
 the interest she took in conversations relating to 
 the Prince. She could not restrain her desire to 
 hear of him, but she explained it now by telling 
 herself he was a rather lurid and unusual foreign 
 character, which must naturally be an interesting 
 study for a stranger. 
 
 "It was an escape for the girl at least, perhaps," 
 she said, when the Princess paused. 
 
 "Of that I am not sure; he is so tender to chil- 
 dren and animals, and his soul is full of generosity 
 and poetry and justice too. Poor Gritzko," 
 and the Princess sighed. 
 85
 
 HIS HOUR 
 
 Then Tamara remembered their conversation 
 during their night ride from the Sphinx, and she 
 felt again the humiliating certainty of how com- 
 monplace he must have found her. 
 
 Presently the Princess took her to see the house. 
 Every room filled with relics of the grand owners 
 who had gone before. There were portraits of 
 Peter the Great, and the splendid Catherine, in 
 almost every room. 
 
 "An Empress so much misjudged in your coun- 
 try, Tamara," her godmother said. "She had the 
 soul and the necessities of a man, but she was 
 truly great." 
 
 Tamara gazed up at the proud dgbonnaire face, 
 and she thought how at home they would think 
 of the most unconventional part of her character, 
 to the obliteration of all other aspects, and each 
 moment she was realizing how ridiculous and 
 narrow was the view from the standpoint from 
 which she had been made to look at life. 
 
 For luncheon quite a number of guests arrived, 
 the Princess, she found afterward, was hardly 
 ever alone. 
 
 "I don't care to go out, Tamara, as a rule, to
 
 HIS HOUR 
 
 dejeuner," she said, "but I love my house to be 
 filled with young people and mirth.'* 
 
 The names were very difficult for Tamara to 
 catch, especially as they all called each other by 
 their petits noms all having been friends since 
 babyhood, if not, as often was the case, related 
 by ties of blood; but at last she began to know that 
 "Olga" was the Countess Gteboff, and "Sonia," 
 the Princess Solentzeflf-Zasiekin both young, 
 under thirty, and both attractive and quite sans 
 gene. 
 
 "Olga" was little and plump, with an oval 
 face and rather prominent eyes, but with a way of 
 saying things which enchanted Tamara's ear. 
 Her manner was casualness itself, and had a won- 
 derful charm; and another thing struck her now 
 that she saw them in daylight, not a single woman 
 present and there were six or seven at least 
 had even the slightest powder on her face. They 
 were as nature made them, not the faintest aid 
 from art in anyway. "They cannot be at all 
 coquette like the French," she thought, "or even 
 like us in England, or they could not all do their 
 hair like that whether it suits them or no! But 
 87
 
 HIS HOUR 
 
 what charm they have much more than we, or 
 the French, or any one I know." 
 
 They were all so amusing and gay at lunch and 
 talked of teeny scandals with a whimsical humor 
 at themselves for being so small, which was delight- 
 ful, and no one said anything spiteful or mean. 
 Quantities of pleasant things were planned, and 
 Tamara found her days arranged for a week 
 ahead. 
 
 That night, as they drove to Prince MilaslaVski's 
 dinner, an annoying sense of excitement possessed 
 Tamara. She refused to ask herself why. Curi- 
 osity to see the house of this strange man most 
 likely in any case, emotion enough to make her 
 eyes bright. 
 
 It was one of the oldest houses in Petersburg, 
 built in the time of Catherine, about 1768, and 
 although in a highly florid rococo style of decora- 
 tion, as though something gorgeous and barbaric 
 had amalgamated with the Louis XV., still it had 
 escaped the terrible wave of 1850 vandalism, and 
 stood, except for a few Empire rooms, a monument 
 of its time. 
 
 Everything about it interested Tamara. The 
 88
 
 HIS HOUR 
 
 strange Cossack servants in the hall; the splendid 
 staircase of stone and marble, and then finally 
 they reached the salons above. 
 
 "One can see no woman lives here," she thought, 
 though the one they entered was comfortable 
 enough. Huge English leather armchairs elbowed 
 some massively gilt seats of the time of Nicholas I., 
 and an ugly English high fender with its padded 
 seat, surrounded the blazing log fire. 
 
 The guests were all assembled, but host, there 
 was not! 
 
 "What an impertinence to keep them waiting 
 like this," Tamara thought! However, no one 
 seemed to mind but herself, and they all stood 
 laughing or sitting on the fender in the best of 
 spirits. 
 
 "I will bet you," said Olga Gle*boff, in her 
 attractive voice, "that Gritzko comes in with no 
 apology, and that we shall none of us be able to 
 drag from him where he has been!" 
 
 As she spoke he entered the room. 
 
 "Ah! you are all very early," he said, shaking 
 their hands in frank welcome. "So good of you, 
 dear friends. Perhaps I am a little late, you will 
 89
 
 HIS HOUR 
 
 forgive me, I know; and now for Zacouska, a 
 wolf is tearing at my vitals, I feel, and yours too. 
 It is nine o'clock!" 
 
 Then the dining-room doors at the side opened 
 and they all went in en bande, and gathered round 
 the high table, where they began to eat like hun- 
 gry natural people, selecting the dishes they wanted. 
 Some of the men taking immense spoonfuls of 
 caviare, and spreading them on bread, like children 
 with jam. All were so joyous and so perfectly 
 without ceremony. Nothing could be more agree- 
 able than this society, Tamara thought. 
 
 Some of the men were elderly, and a number 
 the husbands of the various ladies; there were a 
 few young officers and several diplomats from the 
 Embassies, too. But young or old, all were gay 
 and ready to enjoy life. 
 
 "You must taste some vodka, Madame," Prince 
 Milasldvski said, pouring a small glass at Tamara's 
 side. "You will not like it, but it is Russian, and 
 you must learn. See I take some, too, and drink 
 your health!" 
 
 Tamara bowed and sipped the stuff, which she 
 found very nasty, with a whiff of ether in it. And 
 90
 
 HIS HOUR 
 
 then they all trouped to the large table in this huge 
 dining-hall. 
 
 Tamara sat on her host's right hand, and Prin- 
 cess Sonia on his left. 
 
 To-night his coat was brown and the underdress 
 black, it was quite as becoming as the others she 
 had seen him in, with the strange belt and gold 
 and silver trimmings and the Eastern hang of it 
 all, and his great dark gray-blue eyes blazed at 
 Tamara now and then with a challenge in them 
 she could hardly withstand. 
 
 "Now tell us, Gritzko, what did you do in 
 Egypt this year?" Princess Sonia said. "It is the 
 first time that no histories of your ways have come 
 to our ears were you ill ? or bored ? We feared 
 you were dead." 
 
 "On the contrary, I was greatly alive," he an- 
 swered gravely. "I was studying mummies and 
 falling in love with the Sphinx. And just at the end 
 I had a most interesting kind of experience; I came 
 upon what looked like a woman, but turned out 
 to be a mummy and later froze into a block of ice!" 
 
 "Gritzko!" they called in chorus. "Can any- 
 one invent such impossible stories as you!" 
 7 91
 
 HIS HOUR 
 
 *'I assure you I am speaking the truth. Is it 
 not so, Madame?" And he looked at Tamara 
 and smiled with fleeting merry mockery in his eyes. 
 "See," and he again turned to his guests, "Madame 
 has been in Egypt she tells me, and should be able 
 to vouch for my truth." 
 
 Tamara pulled herself together. 
 
 "I think the Sphinx must have cast a spell 
 over you, Prince," she said, "so that you could not 
 distinguish the real from the false. I saw no 
 women who were mummies and then turned into 
 ice!" 
 
 Some one distracted Princess Sonia's attention 
 for a moment, and the Prince whispered, " One can 
 melt ice!" 
 
 "To find a mummy?" Tamara asked with 
 grave innocence. "That would be the inverse 
 rotation." 
 
 "And lastly a woman in one's arms," the 
 Prince said. 
 
 Tamara turned to her neighbor and became 
 engrossed in his conversation for the rest of the 
 repast. 
 
 All the women, and nearly all the men, spoke 
 92
 
 HIS HOUR 
 
 English perfectly, and their good manners were 
 such that even this large party talked in the strange 
 guest's language among themselves. 
 
 "One must converse now as long as one can," 
 her neighbor told her, "because the moment we 
 have had coffee everyone will play bridge, and no 
 further sense will be got out of them. We are a 
 little behind the rest of the world always in Peters- 
 burg, and while in England and Paris this game 
 has had its day, here we are still in its claws to a 
 point of madness, as Madame will see." 
 
 And thus it fell about. 
 
 Prince Milasl&vski gave Tamara his arm and 
 they found coffee awaiting them in the salon when 
 they returned there, and at once the rubbers were 
 made up. And with faces of grave pre-occupation 
 this lately merry company sat down to their game, 
 leaving only the Prince and one lady and Tamara 
 unprovided for. 
 
 "Yes, I can play," she had said, when she was 
 asked, "but it bores me so, and I do it so badly; 
 may I not watch you instead?" 
 
 The lady who made the third had not these 
 ideas, and she sat down near a table ready to cut
 
 HIS HOUR 
 
 in. Thus the host and his English guest were left 
 practically alone. 
 
 "I did not mean you to play," he said, "I knew 
 you couldn't I arranged it like this." 
 
 "Why did you know I couldn't?" Tamara 
 asked. "I am too stupid perhaps you think!" 
 
 "Yes too stupid and too sweet." 
 
 "I am neither stupid nor sweet!" and her 
 eyes flashed. 
 
 "Probably not, but you seem so to me. Now 
 don't get angry at once, it makes our acquaintance 
 so fatiguing, I have each time to be presented over 
 again." 
 
 Then Tamara laughed. 
 
 " It really is all very funny," she said. 
 
 "And how is the estimable Mrs. Hardcastle?" 
 he asked, when he had laughed too his joyous 
 laugh. "This is a safe subject and we can sit 
 on the fender without your wanting to push me 
 into the fire over it." 
 
 "I am not at all sure of that," answered Tamara. 
 She could not resist his charm, she could not con- 
 tinue quarrelling with him; somehow it seemed too 
 difficult here in his own house, so she smiled as 
 94
 
 HIS HOUR 
 
 she went on. "If you laugh at my Millicent, I 
 shall get very angry indeed." 
 
 "Laugh at your Millicent! The idea is miles 
 from my brain did not I tell you when I could 
 find a wife like that I would marry what more 
 can I say!" and the Prince looked at her with su- 
 preme gravity. "Did she tell 'Henry* that a devil 
 of a Russian bear had got drunk and flung a gipsy 
 into the sea?" 
 
 "Possibly. Why were you so horrible that 
 night ?" 
 
 "Was I horrible?" 
 
 "Probably not, but you seemed so to me,'* 
 Tamara quoted his late words. 
 
 "I seem horrible and you seem sweet." 
 
 "Surely the stupid comes in too!" 
 
 "Undoubtedly, but Russia will cure that, you 
 will not go away for a long time." 
 
 "In less than four weeks." 
 
 "We shall see," and the Prince got up and lit 
 another cigarette. "You do not smoke either? 
 What a little good prude!" 
 
 "I am not a prude!" Tamara's ire rose again. 
 "I have tried often with my brother Tom, and it 
 95
 
 HIS HOUR 
 
 always makes me sick. I would be a fool, not a 
 prude, to go on, would not I?" 
 
 "I am not forcing you to smoke. I like your 
 pretty teeth best as they are!" 
 
 Rebellion shook Tamara. It was his attitude 
 toward her one of supreme unconcerned com- 
 mand as though he had a perfect right to take 
 his pleasure out of her conversation, and play upon 
 her emotions, according to his mood. She could 
 have boxed his ears. 
 
 "How long ago is it since we danced in Egypt 
 a fortnight, or more? You move well, but you 
 don't know anything about dancing," he went on. 
 "Dancing is either a ridiculous jumping about 
 of fools, who have no more understanding of its 
 meaning than a parcel of marionettes. Or it is 
 an expression of some sort of emotion. The Greeks 
 understood that in their Orchiesis, each feeling 
 had its corresponding movement. For me it means 
 a number of things. When a woman is slender 
 and pliant and smooth of step, and if she pleases 
 me otherwise, then it is not waste of time! To- 
 night I shall probably get drunk again," and he 
 flicked the ash off his cigarette with his little 
 96
 
 HIS HOUR 
 
 finger; and even though Tamara was again annoyed 
 with him, she could not help noticing that his hands 
 were fine and strong. 
 
 " But you were not drunk on the ship you could 
 not even plead that," she said, almost shocked at 
 herself for speaking of anything so horrible. 
 
 "It is the same thing. I feel a mad super- 
 charge of life an intoxication of the senses, per- 
 haps. It has only one advantage over the cham- 
 pagne result. I am steady on my feet, and my 
 voice is not thick!" 
 
 Tamara did not speak. 
 
 "I wonder what this music we shall hear will 
 say to you. Will it make the milk and water you 
 call blood in your veins race? it will amuse me 
 to see." 
 
 "I am not made for your amusement, Prince. 
 How dare you always treat me as you do ?" And 
 Tamara drew herself up haughtily. "And if my 
 veins contain milk and water, it is at least my 
 own." 
 
 "You dared me once before, Madame," he 
 said, smiling provokingly. "Do you think it is 
 quite wise of you to try it again ?" 
 97
 
 HIS HOUR 
 
 "I do not care if it is wise or no. I hate you!" 
 almost hissed poor Tamara. 
 
 Then his eyes blazed, as she had never seen 
 them yet. 'He moved nearer to her, and spoke in 
 a low concentrated voice. 
 
 "It is a challenge. Good. Now listen to what 
 I say. In a little short time you shall love me. 
 That haughty little head shall lie here on my 
 breast without a struggle, and I shah* kiss your 
 lips until you cannot breathe.'* 
 
 For the second time in her life Tamara went 
 dead white he saw her pale even to her lips. 
 And since the moment was not yet, and since his 
 mood was not now to make her suffer, he bent 
 over with contrition and asked her to forgive him 
 in a tender voice. 
 
 " Madame I am only joking but I am a brute," 
 he said. 
 
 Tamara rose and walked to the bridge tables, 
 furious with herself that he could have seen his 
 power over her, even though it were only to cause 
 rage. 
 
 He came up behind her and sat down and began 
 to talk nicely again about the sights to be seen 
 98
 
 HIS HOUR 
 
 in the capital, and the interesting museums and col- 
 lections of pictures and arms. Nothing could be 
 more correct than his manner, and the bridge 
 players who were within earshot smiled, while 
 Countess Olga thought. 
 
 "Either Gritzko has just been making love to 
 the Englishwoman, or he is immensely bored 
 The latter from his face."
 
 CHAPTER VIII 
 
 E company stopped their game about 
 a quarter to twelve, and tables and 
 champagne and glasses were brought in, 
 and hand in hand they made a circle and drank 
 in the New Year. 
 
 Tamara took care to stand by Princess Arda- 
 cheff, but her host looked at her as he raised his 
 glass. Then they descended to the hall, and were 
 wrapped in their furs again to go to the caf where 
 the Bohemians were to sing. 
 
 Tamara and the Princess were already in the 
 latter's coup when Prince Milaslavski called out: 
 "Tantine ! take me too I am slim and can sit 
 between you, and I want to arrive soon, I have 
 sent my motor on with Serge and Valonne." 
 
 And without waiting he got in. 
 
 They had to sit very close, and Tamara became 
 incensed with herself, because in spite of all her 
 late rage with the Prince, she experienced a sensa- 
 100
 
 HIS HOUR 
 
 tion which was disturbing and unknown. The 
 magnetic personality of the man was so strong. 
 He bent and whispered something to the Princess, 
 and then as though sharing a secret, he leaned the 
 other way, and whispered to Tamara, too. The 
 words were nothing, only some ordinary nonsense, 
 of which she took no heed. But as he spoke his 
 lips touched her ear. A wild thrill ran through 
 her, she almost trembled, so violent was the emo- 
 tion the little seemingly accidental caress caused. 
 A feeling she had never realized in the whole of 
 her life before. Why did he tease her so. Why 
 did he always behave in this maddening manner! 
 and choose moments when she was defenseless and 
 could make no move. Of one thing she was certain, 
 if she should stay on in Russia she must come to 
 some understanding with him if possible, and 
 prevent any more of these ways absolutely insult- 
 ing to her self-respect. 
 
 So she shrunk back in her corner and gave no 
 reply. 
 
 "Are you angry with me?" he whispered. "It 
 was the shaking of the automobile which caused 
 me to come too near you. Forgive me, I will try 
 101
 
 HIS HOUR 
 
 mot to sin again," but as he spoke he repeated his 
 offense! 
 
 Tamara clasped her hands together, tightly, and 
 answered in the coldest voice 
 
 "I did not notice anything, Prince, it must be a 
 guilty conscience which causes you to apologize." 
 
 "In that case then all is well!" and he laughed 
 softly. 
 
 The Princess now joined in the conversation. 
 
 "Gritzko, you must tell Mrs. Loraine how these 
 gipsies are, and what she will hear she will think 
 it otherwise so strange." 
 
 He turned to Tamara at once. 
 
 "They are a queer people who dwell in a clan. 
 They sing like the fiend one hates it or loves it, 
 but it gets on the nerves, and if a man should fancy 
 one of them, he must pay the chief, not the girl. 
 Then they are faithful and money won't tempt 
 them away. But if the man makes them jealous, 
 they run a knife into his back." 
 
 "It sounds exciting at all events," Tamara said. 
 
 "It is an acquired taste, and if you have a par- 
 ticularly sensitive ear the music will make you feel 
 inclined to scream. It drives me mad." 
 102
 
 HIS HOUR 
 
 "Gritzko," the Princess whispered to him. 
 "You promise to be sage, dear boy, do you not? 
 Sometimes you alarm me when you go too far." 
 
 "Tantine!" and he kissed her hand. "Your 
 words are law!" 
 
 "Alas! if that were only true," she said with a 
 sigh. 
 
 "To-night all shall be suited to the eleven 
 thousand virgins!" and he laughed. "Or shall I 
 say suited to an English grande dame which is the 
 same!" 
 
 They had crossed the Neva by now, and presently 
 arrived at a building with a gloomy looking door, 
 and so to a dingy hall, in which a few waiters were 
 scurrying about. They seemed to go through end- 
 less shabby passages, like those of a lunatic asylum, 
 and finally arrived at a large and empty room 
 empty so far as people were concerned for at the 
 end there were sofas and a long narrow table, and 
 a few smaller ones with chairs. 
 
 The tables were already laid, with dishes of raw 
 ham and salted almonds and various bonnes bouches, 
 while brilliant candelabra shone amidst numerous 
 bottles of champagne. 
 
 103
 
 HIS HOUR 
 
 The company seemed to have forgotten the 
 gloom that playing bridge had brought over them, 
 and were as gay again as one could wish, while 
 divesting themselves of their furs and snow-boots. 
 
 And soon Tamara found herself seated on the 
 middle sofa behind the long table, Count Gle"boff 
 on her right, and the French Secretary, Count 
 Valonne, at her left, while beyond him was Princess 
 Sonia, and near by all the rest. 
 
 Their host stood up in front, a brimming glass 
 in his hand. 
 
 Then there filed in about twenty-five of the most 
 unattractive animal-looking females, dressed in 
 ordinary hideous clothes, who all took their seats 
 on a row of chairs at the farther end. They wore 
 no national costume nor anything to attract the 
 eye, but were simply garbed as concierges or shop- 
 girls might have been; and some were old, gray- 
 haired women, and one had even a swollen face tied 
 up in a black scarf! How could it be possible that 
 any of these could be the "fancy" of a man! 
 
 They were followed by about ten dark, beetle- 
 browed males, who carried guitars. 
 
 These were the famous Bohemians! Their 
 104
 
 HIS HOUR 
 
 appearance at all events was disillusioning enough, 
 Tamara's disappointmen twas immense. 
 
 But presently when they began to sing she 
 realized that there was something something in 
 their music even though it was of an intense 
 unrest. 
 
 She found it was the custom for them to sing a 
 weird chant song on the name of each guest, and 
 every one must drink to this guest's health, all 
 standing, and quaffing the glasses of champagne 
 down at one draught. 
 
 That they all remained sober at the end of the 
 evening seemed to do great credit to their heads, 
 for Tamara, completely unaccustomed to the smoke 
 and the warm room, feared even to sip at her 
 glass. 
 
 The toasting over, every one sat down, Prince 
 Milaslavski and a Pole being the only two in front 
 of the table, and they with immense spirit chaffed 
 the company, and called the tunes. 
 
 The music was of the most wild, a queer metallic 
 sound, and the airs were full of unexpected har- 
 monies and nerve-racking chords. It fired the 
 sense, in spite of the hideous singers. 
 105
 
 HIS HOUR 
 
 They all sat there with perfectly immovable 
 faces and entirely still hands, singing without 
 gesticulations what were evidently passionate love- 
 songs ! Nothing could have been more incongruous 
 or grotesque ! 
 
 But the fascination of it grew and grew. Every 
 one of their ugly faces remained printed on 
 Tamara's brain. Long afterward she would 
 see them in dreams. 
 
 How little we yet know of the force of sounds! 
 How little we know of any of the great currents 
 which affect the world and human life! 
 
 And music above any other art stirs the sense. 
 Probably the Greek myth of Orpheus and his lute 
 was not a myth after all; perhaps Orpheus had 
 mastered the occult knowledge of this great power. 
 Surely it would be worth some learned scientist's 
 while to investigate from a psychological point of 
 view how it is, and why it is, that certain chords 
 cause certain emotions, and give base or elevating 
 visions to human souls. 
 
 The music of these gipsies was of the devil, it 
 seemed to Tamara, and she was not surprised at 
 the wild look in Prince Milasldvski's eyes, for 
 106
 
 HIS HOUR 
 
 she herself she, well brought up, conventionally 
 crushed English Tamara, felt a strange quicken- 
 ing of the pulse. 
 
 After an hour or so of this music, two of the 
 younger Bohemian women began to dance, not in 
 the least with the movements that had shocked Mrs. 
 Hardcastle in the Alexandrian troupe on the ship, 
 but a foolish valsing, while the shoulders rose and 
 fell and quivered like the flapping wings of some 
 bird. The shoulders seemed the talented part, 
 not the body or hips. 
 
 And then about three o'clock the entire troupe 
 filed out of the room for refreshment and rest. The 
 atmosphere was thick with smoke, and heated to 
 an incredible extent. Some one started to play the 
 piano, and every one began to dance a wild round 
 a mazurka, perhaps and Tamara found herself 
 clasped tightly in the arms of her Prince. 
 
 She did not know the step, but they valsed to 
 the tune, and all the time he was whispering mad 
 things in Russian in her ear. She could not correct 
 him, because she did not know what they might 
 mean. 
 
 " Doushka," he said at last. "So you are awake; 
 8 107
 
 HIS HOUR 
 
 so it is not milk and water after all in those pretty 
 blue veins! God! I will teach you to live!" 
 
 And Tamara was not angry; she felt nothing 
 except an unreasoning pleasure and exultation. 
 
 The amateur bandsman came to a stop, and 
 another took his place; but the spell fortunately 
 was broken, and she could pull herself together 
 and return to sane ways. 
 
 "I am tired," she said, when the Prince would 
 have gone on, "and I am almost faint for want of 
 air." So he opened a window and left her for a 
 moment in peace. 
 
 She danced again with the first man who asked 
 her, going quickly from one to another so as to 
 avoid having to be too often held by the Prince. 
 But each time she felt his arm round her, back 
 again would steal the delicious mad thrill. 
 
 "I hope you are amusing yourself, dear child," 
 her godmother said. "This is a Russian scene; 
 you would not see it in any other land." 
 
 And indeed Tamara was happy, in spite of her 
 agitation and unrest. 
 
 She sat down now with Olga Gle"boff, and they 
 watched the others while they took breath. The 
 108
 
 HIS HOUR 
 
 Prince was dancing with Princess She'banoff, and 
 her charming face was turned up to him with an 
 adoring smile. 
 
 "Poor Tatiane, " Countess Olga said low to 
 herself. 
 
 When the gipsies returned, their music grew 
 wilder than ever, and some of the solos seemed to 
 touch responsive chords in Tamara's very bones. 
 
 The Prince sat next her on the sofa now, and 
 every few moments he would bend over to take an 
 almond, or light a cigarette, so that he touched her 
 apparently without intention, but nevertheless with 
 intent. And the same new and intoxicating sensa- 
 tion would steal through her, and she would draw 
 her slender figure away and try to be stiff and severe, 
 but with no effect. 
 
 It was long after five o'clock before it was all 
 done, and they began to wrap up and say " Good- 
 night." And the troupe, bowing, went out to an- 
 other engagement they had. 
 
 "They sing all night and sleep in the day," 
 Count Gle"boff told Tamara, as they descended 
 the stairs. "At this time of the year they never see 
 daylight, only sometimes the dawn." 
 109
 
 HIS HOUR 
 
 "Tantine," said the Prince, "order your motor 
 to go back. I sent for my troika, and it is here. 
 We must show Madame Loraine what a sleigh 
 feels like." ' 
 
 And the Princess agreed. 
 
 Oh! the pleasure Tamara found when presently 
 they were flying over the snow, the side horses 
 galloping with swift, sure feet. And under the furs 
 she and her godmother felt no cold, while Gritzko, 
 this wild Prince, sat facing them, his splendid eyes 
 ablaze. 
 
 Presently they stopped and looked out on the 
 Gulf of Finland and a vast view. Above were 
 countless stars and a young, rising moon. 
 
 It was striking seven as they went to their rooms. 
 
 Such was Tamara's first outing in this land of 
 the North.
 
 CHAPTER IX 
 
 X days went past before Tamara again 
 saw the Prince. Whether he was busy or 
 kept away because he wished to, she did 
 not know and would not ask but a piqued 
 sensation gradually began to rise as she thought 
 of him. 
 
 "I must arrange for you to go to Tsarskoi-Se'lo 
 to see the ceremony of the Emperor blessing the 
 waters on the 6th of our January, Tamara," her 
 godmother said, a day or two after the Bohemian 
 feast. "I have seen it so often, and I do not wish 
 to stand about in the cold, but Sonia's husband is 
 one of the aides-de-camp, and, as you know, she 
 lives at Tsarskoi. Olga is going out there, and will 
 take you with her, and you three can go on; it will 
 interest you, I am sure." 
 
 And Tamara had gladly acquiesced. 
 
 Tsarskoi-Se'lo, which they reached after half an 
 hour's train, seemed such a quaint place to her. 
 Like some summer resort made up of wooden villas, 
 111
 
 HIS HOUR 
 
 only now they were all covered with snow. She 
 and Countess Olga had gone together to Princess 
 Sonia's house, and from there to the palace grounds, 
 where they followed snow-cleared paths to a sort 
 of little temple near the lake, where they were 
 allowed to stand just outside the line of Cossacks 
 and watch for the coming procession. 
 
 The sky was heavy, and soon the snow began to 
 fall intermittently in big, fluffy flakes. This back- 
 ground of white showed up the brilliant scarlet 
 uniforms of the escort. Standing in long rows, 
 they were an imposing sight. And Tamara 
 admired their attractive faces, many so much more 
 finely cut than the guards further on. They wore 
 fierce beards, and they all seemed to be extremely 
 tall and slim, with waists which would not have 
 disgraced a girl. And, at the end of the line at the 
 corner where they stood, she suddenly saw the 
 Prince. He was talking to some other officers, and 
 apparently did not see them. Tamara grew angry 
 with herself at finding how the very sight of him 
 moved her. The procession, soon seen advancing, 
 was as a lesser interest, her whole real concentra- 
 tion being upon one scarlet form. 
 112
 
 HIS HOUR 
 
 From the time the signal was given that the 
 Emperor had started from the palace all the heads 
 were bare bare in a temperature many degrees 
 below freezing and in falling snow! It was the 
 Prince who gave the word of command, and while 
 he stood at attention she watched his face. It 
 was severe and rigid, like the face of a statue. On 
 duty he was evidently a different creature from 
 the wild Gritzko of gipsy suppers. But there was 
 no use arguing with herself he attracted her in 
 every case. 
 
 Then the procession advanced, and she looked 
 at it with growing amazement. This wonderful 
 nation! so full of superstition and yet of common 
 sense. It seemed astonishing that grown-up 
 people should seriously assist at this ceremony of 
 sentiment. 
 
 First came the choir-boys with thick coats cover- 
 ing their scarlet gowns; then a company of singing 
 men; then the priests in their magnificent robes of 
 gold and silver, and then the Emperor, alone and 
 bareheaded. Afterward followed the Grand 
 Dukes and the standard of every guard regiment 
 and finally all the aides-de-camps. 
 113
 
 HIS HOUR 
 
 When the Emperor passed she glanced again 
 at the Prince. The setness of his face had given 
 place to a look of devotion. There was evidently 
 a great love for his master in his strange soul. 
 When the last figure had moved beyond the little 
 temple corner, the tension of all was relaxed, and 
 they stood at ease again, and Gritzko appeared to 
 perceive the party of ladies, and smiled. 
 
 "I am coming to get some hot coffee after lunch, 
 Sonia," he called out. "I promised Marie." 
 
 " Does it not give them cold ?" Tamara asked, 
 as she looked at the Cossacks' almost shaven bare 
 heads. "And they have no great-coats on! What 
 can they be made of, poor things P" 
 
 "They get accustomed to it, and it is not at all 
 cold to-day, fortunately," Countess Olga said. 
 "They would have their furs on if it were. Don't 
 you think they are splendid men? I love to see 
 them in their scarlet; they only wear it on special 
 occasions and when they are with the Emperor, 
 or at Court balls or birthdays. I am so glad you 
 see Gritzko in his." 
 
 Tamara did not say she had already seen the 
 Prince in the scarlet coat; none of her new 
 114
 
 HIS HOUR 
 
 friends were aware that they had met before in 
 
 Egypt. 
 
 All this time the guns were firing, and soon the 
 ceremony of dipping the cross in the water was 
 aver, and the procession started back again. 
 
 It was the same as when it came, only the priests 
 were wiping the cross in a napkin, and presently 
 all passed out of sight toward the palace, and the 
 three ladies walked quickly back to the waiting 
 sleigh, half -frozen with cold. 
 
 About ten minutes after they had finished lunch, 
 and were sitting at coffee in Princess Sonia's cosy 
 salon so fresh and charming and like an English 
 country house they heard a good deal of noise in 
 the passage, and the Prince came in. He was 
 followed by a sturdy boy of eight, and carried in 
 his arms a tiny girl, whose poor small body looked 
 wizened, while in her little arms she held a crutch. 
 
 "We met in the hall my friend Marie and I," 
 he said, as he bent to kiss Princess Sonia's hand, 
 and then the other two ladies', "and we have a 
 great deal to say to one another." 
 
 "These are my children, Mrs. Loraine," Princess 
 Sonia said. "They were coming down to see you; 
 115
 
 HIS HOUR 
 
 but now Gritzko has appeared we shall receive no 
 attention, I fear," and she laughed happily, 
 while the little boy came forward, and with beautiful 
 manners kissed Tamara's hand. 
 
 "You are an English lady," he said, without 
 the slightest accent. "Have you a little boy, too ?" 
 
 Tamara was obliged to own she had no children, 
 which he seemed to think very unfortunate. 
 
 "Marie always has to have her own way, but 
 while she is with Gritzko she is generally good,'* 
 he announced. 
 
 "How splendidly you speak English!" Tamara 
 said. "And only eight years old! I suppose you 
 can talk French, too, as well as Russian ?" 
 
 "Naturally, of course," he replied, with fine 
 contempt. "But I'll tell you something German 
 I do very badly. We have a German governess, 
 and I hate her. Her mouth is too full of teeth." 
 
 "That certainly is a disadvantage," Tamara 
 agreed. 
 
 "When Gritzko gets up with us he makes her 
 in a fine rage! She spluttered so at him last week 
 the bottom row fell out. We were glad !" 
 
 Princess Sonia now interruoted: "What are 
 116
 
 HIS HOUR 
 
 you saying, Peter?" she said. "Poor Fratilein! 
 You knovv I shall have to forbid Gritzko from 
 going to tea with you. You are all so naughty 
 when you get together!" 
 
 There was at once a fierce scream from the other 
 side of the room. 
 
 "Maman! we will have Gritzko to tea! I love 
 him! Je 1'aime!" and the poor crippled tiny 
 Marie nearly strangled her friend with a frantic 
 embrace. 
 
 "You see, Maman, we defy you!" the Prince 
 said, when he could speak. 
 
 The little boy now joined his sister, and both 
 soon shrieked with laughter over some impossible 
 tale which was being poured into their ears; and 
 Princess Sonia said softly to Tamara: 
 
 "He is too wonderful with children Gritzko 
 when he happens to like them isn't he, Olga? 
 All of ours simply adore him, and I can never tell 
 you of his goodness and gentleness to Marie last 
 year when she had her dreadful accident. The 
 poor little one will be well some day, we hope, and 
 so I do not allow myself to be sad about it; but it 
 was a terrible grief." 
 
 117
 
 HIS HOUR 
 
 Tamara looked her sympathy, while she mur- 
 mured a few words. Princess Sonia was such a 
 sweet and charming lady. 
 
 More' visitors now came in, and they all drank 
 their coffee and tea, but the Prince paid no atten- 
 tion to any one beyond casual greetings; he con- 
 tinued his absorbing conversation with his small 
 friends. 
 
 Tamara was surprised at this new side of him. 
 It touched her. And he was such a gloriously 
 good-looking picture as he sat there in his scarlet 
 coat, while Marie played with the silver cartridges 
 across his breast, and Peter with his dagger. 
 
 When she and Countess Olga left to catch an 
 early afternoon train he came too. He had to be 
 back in Petersburg, he said. Nothing could look 
 more desolate than the tracts of country seen from 
 the train windows, so near the capital and yet wild, 
 uncultivated spaces, part almost like a marsh. 
 There seemed to be nothing living but the lonely 
 soldiers who guarded the Royal line a hundred 
 yards or so off. It depressed Tamara as she gazed 
 out, and she unconsciously sighed, while a sad 
 look came into her eyes. 
 
 118
 
 HIS HOUR 
 
 The Prince and Countess Olga and another 
 officer, who had joined them, were all chaffing 
 gaily while they smoked their cigarettes, but 
 Gritzko appeared to be aware of everything that 
 was passing, for he suddenly bent over and whis- 
 pered to Tamara: 
 
 " Madame, when you have been here long enough 
 you will learn never to see what you do not wish." 
 Then he turned back to the others, and laughed 
 again. 
 
 What did he mean ? she wondered. Were there 
 many things then to which one must shut one's eyes ? 
 
 She now caught part of the conversation that 
 was going on. 
 
 "But why won't you come, Gritzko?" Countess 
 Olga was saying. "It will be most amusing and 
 the prizes are lovely, Tatiane, who has seen them, 
 says." 
 
 "I? to be glued to a bridge table for three 
 solid evenings. Mon Dieu!" the Prince cried. 
 "Having to take what partner falls to one's lot! 
 No choice! My heavens! nothing would drag 
 me. Whatever game I play in life, I will select 
 my lady myself." 
 
 119
 
 HIS HOUR 
 
 "You are tiresome!" Countess Olga said. 
 When they got to the station the Princess's coup 
 was waiting, as well as the Gle"boff sleigh. 
 
 "Good-bye, and a thousand thanks for taking 
 me," Tamara said, and they waved as Countess 
 Olga drove off. And then the Prince handed her 
 into the coupd and asked her if she would drop him 
 on the way. 
 
 For some time after they were settled under the 
 furs and rushing along, he seemed very silent, and 
 when Tamara ventured a few remarks he answered 
 mechanically. At last after a while: 
 
 "You are going to this bridge tournament at 
 the Varishkine's, I suppose?" he suddenly said. 
 "It ought to be just your affair." 
 
 "Why my affair?" Tamara asked, annoyed. 
 "I hate bridge." 
 
 "So you do. I forgot. But Tantine will take 
 you, all the same. Perhaps, if nothing more 
 amusing turns up, I will drop in one night and see; 
 but wheugh!" and he stretched himself and 
 spread out his hands "I have been impossibly 
 sage for over a fortnight. I believe I must soon 
 break out." 
 
 120
 
 HIS HOUR 
 
 "What does that mean, Prince to 'break out'?" 
 
 "It means to throw off civilized things and be 
 as mad as one is inclined," and he smiled mock- 
 ingly while some queer, restless spirit dwelt in his 
 eyes. "I always break out when things make 
 me think, and just now in the train when you 
 looked at the sad country " 
 
 "That made you think ?" said Tamara, surprised. 
 
 "Well never mind, good little angel. And 
 now good-bye," and he kissed her hand lightly and 
 jumped out; they had arrived at his house. 
 
 Tamara drove on to the Serguif skaia with a great 
 desire to see him again in her heart. 
 
 ****** ** 
 
 And so the days passed and the hours flew. 
 Tamara had been in Russia almost Jhree weeks; 
 and since the blessing of the waters the time had 
 been taken up with a continual round of small 
 entertainments. The Court mourning prevented 
 as yet any great balls; but there were receptions, 
 and "bridges" and dinners, and night after night 
 they saw the same people, and Tamara got to 
 know them fairly well. But after the excursion 
 to Tsarskoi-Se*lo for several days she did not see
 
 HIS HOUR 
 
 the Prince. His military duties took up his whole 
 time, her godmother said. And when at last he 
 did come it was among a crowd, and there was no 
 possible chance of speech. 
 
 "This bores me," he announced when he found 
 the room full of people, and he left in ten minutes, 
 and they did not see him again for a week, when 
 they met him at a dinner at the English Embassy. 
 
 Then he seemed cool and respectful and almost 
 commonplace, and Tamara felt none of the satis- 
 faction she should have done from this changed 
 order of things. 
 
 At the bridge tournament he made no appear- 
 ance whatever. 
 
 "Why do we see Prince MilaslaVski so seldom 
 when we go out, Marraine?" she asked her god- 
 mother one day. "I thought all these people were 
 his intimate friends!" 
 
 "So they are, dear; but Gritzko is an odd crea- 
 ture," the Princess said. "He asked me once if 
 I thought he was an imbecile or a performing mon- 
 key, when I reproached him for not being at the 
 balls. He only goes out when he is so disposed. 
 If some one person amuses him, or if he suddenly
 
 HIS HOUR 
 
 wants to see us all. It is merely by fits and starts 
 always from the point of view of if he feels inclined, 
 never from the observance of any social law, or 
 from obligation." 
 
 "Why on earth do you put up with such man- 
 ners ?" Tamara exclaimed with irritation. 
 
 "I do not know. We might not in any one else, 
 but Gritzko is a privileged person," the Princess 
 said. "You can't imagine, of course, dear, because 
 you do not know him well enough, but he has ways 
 and famous of coaxing. He will do the most out- 
 rageous things, and make me very angry, and then 
 he will come and put his head in my lap like a 
 child, and kiss my hands, and call me 'Tantine/ 
 and, old woman as I am, I cannot resist him. And 
 if one is unhappy or ill, no one can be more tender 
 and devoted." Then she added dreamily: 
 " While as a lover I should think he must be quite 
 divine." 
 
 Tamara took another cup of tea and looked into 
 the fire. She was ashamed to show how this con- 
 versation interested her. 
 
 "Tatiane She'banoff is madly in love with him, 
 poor thing, and I do not believe he has ever given 
 9 123
 
 HIS HOUR 
 
 her any real encouragement," the Princess con- 
 tinued. "I have seen him come to a ball, and 
 when all the young women are longing for him to 
 ask them 'to dance, he will go off with me, or 
 old Countess Nivenska, and sit talking half 
 the night, apparently unaware of any one else's 
 presence." 
 
 "It seems he must be the most exasperating, 
 tiresome person one has ever heard of, Marraine," 
 Tamara exclaimed. "He rides over you all, and 
 you cannot even be angry, and continually forgive 
 him." 
 
 "But then he has his serious side," the Princess 
 went on, eager to defend her favorite. "He is 
 now probably studying some deep military prob- 
 lem all this time, and that is why we have not seen 
 him," and then noticing the scornful pose of 
 Tamara's head she laughed. "Don't be so con- 
 temptuous, dear child," she said. "Perhaps you 
 too will understand some day." 
 
 "That is not very likely," Tamara said. 
 
 But alas! for the Princess* optimistic surmises 
 as to the Prince's occupations, a rumor spread 
 toward the end of the week of the maddest orgie 
 124
 
 HIS HOUR 
 
 which had taken place at the Fontonka house. It 
 sounded like a phantasmagoria in which unclothed 
 dancers, and wild beasts, and unheard-of feats 
 seemed to float about. And the Princess sighed 
 as she refuted the gossip it caused. 
 
 "Oh, my poor Gritzko! if he might only even 
 for a while remain in a state of grace," she said. 
 
 And Tamara's interest in him, in spite of her 
 shocked contempt, did not decrease. 
 
 And so the time went on. 
 
 She was gradually growing to know the society 
 better, and to get a peep at the national point of 
 view. They were a wonderfully uncomplex people, 
 with the perfect ease which only those at the bottom 
 of the social ladder who have not started to climb 
 at all, and those who have reached the top, like 
 these, can have. They were casually friendly 
 when the strangers pleased them, and completely 
 unimpressed with their intrinsic worth if they did 
 not. They seemed to see in a moment the shades 
 in people, and only to select the best. And when 
 Tamara came to talk seriously with even the most 
 apparently frivolous, she found they all had the 
 s<ime trace of vague melancholy and mystery, as 
 125
 
 HIS HOUR 
 
 though they were grasping in the dark for some- 
 thing spiritual, they wished to seize. Their views 
 and boundaries of principles in action seemed to 
 be limitless, just as their vast country seems to 
 have no landmarks for miles. One could imagine 
 the unexpected happening in any of their lives. 
 And the charm and fascination of them continued 
 to increase. 
 
 It was late one afternoon when Prince Milas- 
 lavski again came prominently into view on 
 Tamara's horizon. 
 
 She was sitting alone reading in the blue salon 
 when he walked unceremoniously in. 
 
 "Give me some tea, Madame," he said. "The 
 Princess met me in the hall, and told me I 
 should find you here; so now let us begin by 
 this." 
 
 Tamara poured it out and leaned back in the 
 sofa below the beautiful Falconet group, which 
 made and makes the glory of the blue salon in 
 the Ardacheff House. She felt serene. These 
 two weeks of unawakened emotions and just pleas- 
 ant entertainments since the day at Tsarskoi had 
 given her fresh poise. 
 
 126
 
 HIS HOUR 
 
 "And what do you think of us by now v 
 Madame?" he asked. 
 
 "I think you are a strange band," she said. 
 "You are extremely intellectual, you are brilliant, 
 and yet in five minutes all intelligence can fade out 
 of your faces, and all interest from your talks, and 
 you fly to bridge." 
 
 "It is because we are primitive and unspoilt; 
 this is our new toy, and we must play with it; the 
 
 excitement will wane, and a fresh one come ' 
 
 he paused and then went on in another tone 
 
 "You in England have many outlets for your 
 supervitality you cannot judge of other nations 
 who have not. You had a magnificent system of 
 government. It took you about eight hundred 
 years to build up, and it was the admiration of 
 the world and now you are allowing your Social- 
 ists and ignorant plebeian place hunters to pull it 
 all to pieces and throw it away. That is more 
 foolish surely, than even to go crazy over bridge! 5 ' 
 
 Tamara sighed. 
 
 "Have you ever been in England, Prince?" 
 she asked. 
 
 He sat down on the sofa beside her. 
 127
 
 HIS HOUR 
 
 "No but one day I shall go, Paris is as far as 
 I have got on the road as yet." 
 
 "You would think us all very dull, I expect, 
 and calculating and restrained," Tamara said 
 softly. "You might like the hunting, but some- 
 how I do not see you in the picture there " 
 
 He got up and moved restlessly to the mantle- 
 piece, where he leaned, while he stirred his tea 
 absently. There was almost an air of bravado 
 in the insouciant tone of his next remark 
 
 "Do you know, I did a dreadful thing," he said. 
 "And it has grieved me terribly, and I must have 
 your sympathy. I hurt my Arab horse. You 
 remember him, Suliman, at the Sphinx ?" 
 
 "Yes," said Tamara. 
 
 "I had a little party to some of my friends, and 
 we were rather gay not a party you would have 
 approved of, but one which pleased us all the same 
 and they dared me to ride Suliman from the 
 stables to the big saloon." 
 
 "And I suppose you did?" Tamara's voice 
 was full of contempt. 
 
 He noticed the tone, and went on defiantly: 
 
 "Of course; that was easy; only the devil of a 
 128
 
 HIS HOUR 
 
 carpet made him trip at the bottom again, and he 
 has strained two of his beautiful feet. But you 
 should have seen him!" he went on proudly. "As 
 dainty as the finest gentleman in and out the 
 chairs, and his great success was putting his 
 forelegs on the fender seat!" 
 
 "How you have missed your metie*r!" Tamara 
 said, and she leant back in her sofa and sur- 
 veyed him as he stood, a graceful tall figure in his 
 blue long coat. "Think of the triumph you 
 would have in a Hippodrome!" 
 
 He straightened himself suddenly, his great eyes 
 flashed, and over his face came a fierceness she 
 had not guessed. 
 
 "I thought you had melted a little here in our 
 snow, but I see it is the mummy there all the same," 
 he said. 
 
 Tamara laughed. For the first time it was she 
 who held the reins. 
 
 " Even to the wrappings," and she gently kicked 
 out the soft gray folds of her skirt. 
 
 He took a step nearer her, and then he stood 
 still, and while the fierceness remained in his face, 
 his eyes were full of pain. 
 129
 
 HIS HOUR 
 
 She glanced up at him, and over her came almost 
 a sense of indignation that he should so unworthily 
 pass his time. 
 
 "How you waste your life!" she said. "Oh! 
 think to be a man, and free, and a great landowner. 
 To have thousands of peasants dependent upon 
 one's frown. To have the opportunity of lifting 
 them into something useful and good. And to 
 spend one's hours and find one's pleasure in such 
 things as this! Riding one's favorite horse at the 
 risk of its and one's own neck, up and down the 
 stairs. Ah! I congratulate you, Prince!" 
 
 He drew himself up again, as if she had hit him, 
 and the pain in his eyes turned to flame. 
 
 "I allow no one to criticize my conduct," he 
 said. "If it amused me to ride a bear into this 
 room and let it eat you up, I would not hesitate." 
 
 "I do not doubt it," and Tamara laughed 
 scornfully. "It would be in a piece with all the 
 rest." 
 
 He raised his head with an angry toss, and then 
 they looked at each other like two fighting cats, 
 when fortunately the door opened, and the Princess 
 came in. 
 
 130
 
 HIS HOUR 
 
 In a moment he had laughed, and resumed his 
 habitually insouciant mien. 
 
 "Madame has been reading me a lecture," he 
 said. "She thinks I am wasted in the Emperor's 
 escort, and a circus is my place." 
 
 Tamara did not speak. 
 
 "Why do you seem always to quarrel so, 
 Gritzko?" the Princess said, plaintively. "It 
 really quite upsets me, dear boy." 
 
 "You must not worry, Tantine," and he kissed 
 the Princess' hand. "We don't quarrel; we are 
 the best of friends; only we tell one another home 
 truths. I came this afternoon to ask you if you 
 will come to Milasldv next week. I think Madame 
 ought to see Moscow, and we might make an 
 excursion from there just for a night," and he 
 looked at Tamara with a lifting of the brows. 
 
 "Then, Tantine, she could see how I cow my 
 peasants with a knout, and grind them to starva- 
 tion. It would be an interesting picture for her to 
 take back to England." 
 
 "I should enjoy all that immensely, of course," 
 Tamara said, pleasantly. "Many thanks, Prince." 
 
 "I shall be so honored," and he bowed politely; 
 131
 
 HIS HOUR 
 
 then, turning to the Princess: "You will settle it, 
 won't you, Tantine?" 
 
 "I will look at our engagements, dear boy. We 
 will try to arrange it. I can t^ell you at the ballet," 
 and the Princess smiled encouragingly up at him. 
 "My godchild has not seen our national dancing 
 yet, so we go to-night with Prince Miklefski and 
 Valonne." 
 
 "Then it is au revoir," he said, and kissing their 
 hands he left them. 
 
 When the door was shut and they were alone. 
 
 "Tamara, what had you said to Gritzko to move 
 him so?" the Princess asked. "I, who know every 
 line of his face, tell you I have not seen him so 
 moved since his mother's death." 
 
 So Tamara told her, describing the scene. 
 
 "My dear, you touched him in a tender spot," 
 her godmother said. "His mother was a saint al- 
 most to those people at Milaslav; they worshipped 
 her. She was very beautiful and very sweet, and 
 after her husband's death she spent nearly all her 
 life there. She started schools to teach the peasants 
 useful things, and she encouraged them and cared 
 for their health; and her great wish was that 
 132
 
 HIS HOUR 
 
 Gritzko should carry out her schemes. She was 
 no advanced Liberal, the late Princess, but she 
 had such a tender heart, she longed to bring 
 happiness to those in her keeping, and teach them 
 to find happiness themselves." 
 
 "And he has let it all slide, I suppose," Tamara 
 said. 
 
 " Well, not exactly that," and the Princess sighed 
 deeply; "but I dare say these over gay companions 
 of his do not leave him much time for the arrange- 
 ment such things require. Ah! if you knew, 
 Tamara," she went on, "how fond I am of that 
 boy, and how I feel the great and noble parts of 
 his character are running to waste, you would 
 understand my grief." 
 
 "You are so kind, dear Marraine," Tamara 
 said. "But surely he must be very weak." 
 
 "No, he is not weak; it is a dare-devil wild strain 
 in him that seems as if it must out. He has a will 
 of iron, and never breaks his word; only to get him 
 to be serious, or give his word, is as yet an unac- 
 complished task. I sometimes think if a great 
 love could come into his life it would save him 
 his whole soul could wake to that." 
 133
 
 HIS HOUR 
 
 Tamara looked down and clasped her hands. 
 
 "But it does not seem likely to happen, does it, 
 Marraine ?" 
 
 The Princess sighed again. 
 
 "I would like him to love you, dear child," she 
 said; amd then as Tamara did not answer she went 
 on softly almost to herself: "My brother Alexis 
 was just such another as Gritzko. That season 
 he spent with me in London, when your mother 
 and I were young, he played all sorts of wild pranks. 
 We three were always together. He was killed in 
 a duel after, you know. It was all very sad." 
 
 Tamara stroked her godmother's hand. 
 
 "Dear, dear Marraine," she said. 
 
 Then they checked sentiment and went to dress 
 for dinner, arm in arm. They had grown real 
 friends in these three short weeks.
 
 CHAPTER X 
 
 /^* * HE scene at the ballet was most brilliant, 
 A ^ as it is always on a Sunday night. The 
 great auditorium, with its blue silk- 
 curtained boxes, the mass of glittering uniforms, 
 and the ladies in evening-dress, although they 
 were all in black, made a gay spectacle almost like 
 a gala night. Then it is so delightf ul to have one's 
 eyes pleased with what is on the stage and yet be 
 able to talk. 
 
 But Tamara, as she sat and looked at it, was not 
 enjoying herself. She was overcome with a vague 
 feeling of unrest. She hated having to admit that 
 the Prince was the cause of it. She could not look 
 ahead; she was full of fear. She knew now that 
 when he was near her she experienced certain 
 emotion, that he absorbed far too much of her 
 thoughts. He did not really care for her probably, 
 and if he did, how could one hope to be happy with 
 such a wild, fierce man ? No, she must control her- 
 self; she must conquer his influence over her, and 
 135
 
 HIS HOUR 
 
 if she could not she could at least go away. Eng- 
 land seemed very uninteresting and calm and 
 safe! 
 
 Filled with these sage resolutions she tried to 
 fix her eyes on the stage, but unconsciously they 
 continually strayed to a tall blue figure which was 
 seated in the front row of the stalls with a number 
 of officers of the Chevaliers Gardes. And when 
 the curtain went down, and instead of the Prince 
 joining them in the box, as she fully expected he 
 would do, he calmly leaned against the orchestra 
 division and surveyed the house with his glasses 
 she felt a sudden pang, and talked as best she might 
 to the many friends who thronged to pay the 
 Princess court. 
 
 Gritzko did not even glance their way! he stood 
 laughing with his comrades, and it would have 
 been impossible to imagine anything more insouci- 
 ant and attractive and provoking than the creature 
 looked. 
 
 "No wonder Tatiane She"banoff is in love with 
 him or that actress or the rest!" Tamara 
 thought. 
 
 And then a wave of rage swept over her. She 
 136
 
 HIS HOUR 
 
 at least would not give in and join this throng! 
 To be his plaything. She would be mistress of 
 herself and her thoughts! 
 
 But alas! all these emotions not unmixed with 
 pique, spoilt the ballet's second act! 
 
 For the interval after it, the two ladies got up 
 and went into the little ante-chamber beyond the 
 box. Tamara was glad. There she could not see 
 what this annoying Prince would do. 
 
 What he did do was to open the door in a few 
 minutes and saunter in. He greeted Tamara with 
 polite indifference, and having calmly displaced 
 Count Valonne, sat down by the Princess' side. 
 
 Valonne was a charming person, and he and 
 Tamara were great friends. He chatted on now, 
 and she smiled at him, but with ears preternaturally 
 sharpened she heard the conversation of the other 
 pair. 
 
 It was this. 
 
 "Tantine, I am feeling the absolute devil to- 
 night. Will you come and have supper with me 
 after this infernal ballet is over ?" 
 
 " Gritzko what is it ? Something has disturbed 
 
 you!" 
 
 137
 
 HIS HOUR 
 
 He leant forward and rested his chin on his 
 hands. "Well, your haughty guest touched me 
 with too sharp a spur, perhaps," he said, "but she 
 was right. - I do waste my life. I have been think- 
 ing of my mother. I believe she might not be 
 pleased with me sometimes. And then I felt mad, 
 aud now I must do something to forget. So if you 
 won't sup " 
 
 "Oh! Gritzko!" the Princess said. 
 
 "I telephoned home and ordered things to be 
 ready. I know you don't like a restaurant. Say 
 you will come," and he kissed her hand. "I have 
 asked all the rest." And the Princess had to 
 consent! 
 
 "You must promise not to quarrel any more 
 with my godchild if we do. I am sure you frighten 
 and upset her, Gritzko promise me," she said. 
 He laughed. 
 
 "I upset her! She is too cold and good to be 
 upset!" 
 
 Tamara still continued to talk to Valonne, and 
 
 presently they all moved into the box, and the 
 
 Prince sat down beside her, and again as he leaned 
 
 over in the shaded light that nameless physical 
 
 138
 
 HIS HOUR 
 
 thrill crept over her. Was she really cold, she 
 asked herself. If so, why should she shiver as she 
 was shivering now ? 
 
 "I wonder if you have any heart at all, Ma- 
 dame?" he said. "If under the mummy's wrap- 
 pings there is some flesh and blood?" 
 
 Then she turned and answered him with passion. 
 "Of course there is," she said. 
 
 He bent over still nearer. "Just for to-night, 
 shall we not quarrel or spar ?" he whispered. " See, 
 I will treat you as a sister and friend. I want to be 
 petted and spoilt I am sad." 
 
 Tamara, of course, melted at once! His extra- 
 ordinarily attractive voice was very deep and had 
 a note in it which touched her heart. 
 
 "Please don't be sad," she said softly. "Perhaps 
 you think I was unkind to-day, but indeed it was 
 only because Oh! because it seemed to me such 
 waste that you you should be like that." 
 
 "It hurt like the fiend, you know," he said, 
 "the thought of the damned circus. I think we 
 are particularly sensitive as a race to those sort of 
 things. If you had been a man I would have killed 
 you." 
 
 10 139
 
 HIS HOUR 
 
 "I hated to hear what you told me," and Tamara 
 looked down. "It seemed so dreadful so barbaric 
 and so childish for a man who really has a brain. 
 If you were just an animal person like some of the 
 others are, it would not have mattered; but you 
 please I would like you never to do any of these 
 mad things again " 
 
 Then she stopped suddenly and grew tenderly 
 pink. She realized the inference he must read in 
 her words. 
 
 He did not speak for a moment, only devoured 
 her with his great blue-gray eyes. Of what he was 
 thinking she did not know. It made her uncom- 
 fortable and a little ashamed. Why had she 
 melted, it was never any use. So she drew herself 
 up stiffly and leaned back in her seat. 
 
 Then down at the side by the folds of her dress 
 he caught her hand while he said quite low: 
 
 "Madame, I must know do you mean 
 that?" 
 
 "Yes," she said, and tried to take away her 
 hand. "Yes, I mean that I think it dreadful for 
 any human being to throw things away and Oh! 
 I would like you to be very great." 
 140
 
 HIS HOUR 
 
 He did not let go her hand, indeed he held it 
 the more tightly. 
 
 "You are a dear after all, and I will try," he 
 said. "And when I have pleased you you must 
 give me a reward." 
 
 "Alas! What reward could I give you, Prince," 
 she sighed. 
 
 "That I will tell you when the time comes." 
 
 Thus peace seemed to be restored, and soon the 
 curtain fell for the interval before the last act, and 
 the Prince got up and went out of the box. 
 
 He did not reappear again, but was waiting for 
 them to start for his house. 
 
 "I met Stephen Strong, Tantine," he said. 
 " He left me at Trieste, you know, and only arrived 
 in Petersburg to-day. He has got a cousin with 
 him, Lord something, so I have asked them both 
 to come along. They will be a little late they said." 
 
 "It is not Jack Courtray by chance is it?" 
 Tamara asked, in an interested voice, as they 
 went. "Mr. Strong has a cousin who lives near 
 us in the country and he is always traveling about." 
 
 "Yes, I think that is the name Courtray. So 
 you know him then !" and the Prince leant forward 
 141
 
 HIS HOUR 
 
 from the seat which faced them. "An ami 
 d 'enf ance ?" 
 
 "We used to play cricket and fish and bird's- 
 nest," she said. "Tom my brother Tom was 
 his fag at Eton he is one of my oldest friends 
 dear old Jack." 
 
 "How fortunate I met him to-night!" 
 
 "Indeed, yes." 
 
 Then her attention was diverted, as it always 
 was each time she saw the blazing braziers and 
 heaped up flaming piles of wood at the corners of 
 the streets, since she had been in Russia. "How 
 glad I am there is something to make the poor 
 people warm," she said. 
 
 "When it gets below twelve degrees it is difficult 
 to enjoy life, certainly," the Prince agreed. "And, 
 indeed, it is hard sometimes not to freeze." 
 
 It was a strange lurid picture, the Isvostchiks 
 drawn round, while the patient horses with their 
 sleighs stood quiet some little distance off. 
 
 How hard must existence be to these poor 
 things. 
 
 Supper could not be ready for half an hour, the 
 Prince told them when they got to the Fontonka 
 142
 
 HIS HOUR 
 
 House, and as they all arrived more or less 
 together, they soon paired off for bridge. 
 
 " I am going to show Mrs. Loraine my pictures," 
 the host said. "She admires our Catherine and 
 Peter the Great." 
 
 And in the salon where they all sat, he began 
 pointing out this one and that, making comments 
 in a distrait voice. But when they came to the 
 double doors at the end he opened them wide, 
 and led Tamara into another great room. 
 
 "This is the ballroom," he said. "It is like all 
 ballrooms, so we shall not linger over that. I 
 have two Rembrandts in my own apartment 
 beyond which it may interest you to see, and a 
 few other relics of the past." 
 
 He was perfectly matter of fact, his manner 
 had not a shade of gallantry in it, and Tamara 
 accepted this new situation and followed him with- 
 out a backward thought. 
 
 They seemed to go through several sheet-shrouded 
 salons and came out into a thoroughly comfortable 
 room. Its general aspect of decoration had a 
 Byzantine look, and on the floor were several 
 magnificent bear skins, while around the walls 
 143
 
 HIS HOUR 
 
 low bookcases with quantities of books stood. 
 And above them many arms were crossed. Over 
 the mantlepiece a famous Rembrandt frowned, 
 and another from the opposite wall. But it was 
 strange there were no photographs of dancers or 
 actresses about as Tamara would have thought. 
 
 The Prince talked intelligently. He seemed to 
 know of such things as pictures, and understood 
 their technique. And if he had been an elderly 
 art critic he could not have been more aloof. 
 
 Presently Tamara noticed underneath the first 
 picture there was hung a quaint sword. Some- 
 thing in its shape and workmanship attracted her 
 attention, and she asked its history. 
 
 The Prince took it down and placed it in her 
 hand. 
 
 "That sword belonged to a famous person," 
 he said "a Cossack Stenko Razin was his name 
 a robber and a brigand and a great chief. He 
 loved a lady, a Persian Princess whom he had 
 captured, and one day when out on his yacht on 
 the Volga, being drunk from a present of brandy 
 some Dutch travellers had brought him, he clasped 
 her in his arms. She was very beautiful and 
 144
 
 HIS HOUR 
 
 gentle and full of exquisite caresses, and he loved 
 her more than all his wealth. But mad thoughts 
 mounted to his brain, and after making an oration 
 to the Volga for all the riches and plunder she had 
 brought him, he reproached himself that he had 
 never given this river anything really valuable 
 in return, and then exclaiming he would repair 
 his fault, unclasped the clinging arms of his mis- 
 tress and flung her overboard." 
 
 "What a horrible brute!" exclaimed Tamara, 
 and she put down the sword. 
 
 The Prince took it up and drew it from its sheath. 
 
 "The Cossacks had a wild strain in them even 
 in those days," he said. "You must not be too 
 hard on me for merely riding my horse!" 
 
 "Would you be cruel like that, too, Prince?" 
 Tamara asked; and she sat down for a second on 
 the arm of a carved chair. And when he had put 
 the sword back in its place, he bent forward and 
 leaned on the back of it. 
 
 "Yes, I could be cruel, I expect," he said. "I 
 
 could be even brutal if I were jealous, or the 
 
 woman I loved played me false, but I would not 
 
 be cruel to her while it hurt myself. Razin lost 
 
 145
 
 HIS HOUR 
 
 his pleasure for days through one mad personal 
 act. It would have been more sensible to have 
 kept her until he was tired of her, or she had 
 grown cold to him. Don't you agree with me about 
 that ?" 
 
 "It is a horrible history and I hate it," Tamara 
 said. "Such ways I do not understand. For me 
 love means something tender and true which 
 could never want to injure the thing it loved." 
 
 He looked at her gravely. 
 
 "Lately I have wondered what love could mean 
 for me. Tell me what you think, Madame," he 
 said. 
 
 She resolved not to allow any emotion to master 
 her, though she was conscious of a sudden beating 
 of her heart. 
 
 "You would torture sometimes, and then you 
 would caress." 
 
 "I would certainly caress." 
 
 He moved from his position and walked across 
 the room, while he talked as though the words 
 burst from him. 
 
 "Yes, I should demand unquestioning surrender, 
 -and if it were refused me, then I might be cruel. 
 146
 
 HIS HOUR 
 
 And if my love were cold or capricious, then I 
 would leave her. But if she loved me truly my 
 God, it would be bliss." 
 
 "Think how it would hurt her when you did 
 those foolish things though," Tamara said. 
 
 He stopped short in his restless walk. 
 
 "No one does foolish things when he is happy, 
 Madame. All such outbursts are the froth of a 
 soul in its seething. But if one were satisfied " 
 he paused, and then he went on again. "Oh! 
 If you knew! In the desert in Egypt I used to 
 think I had found rest, sometimes. I am sated 
 with this life here. A quoi bon, Madame! the 
 same thing year after year! and then since I have 
 known you. I have wondered if perhaps you in 
 your country could teach me peace." 
 
 "So many of you are so de'sequilibre's," Tamara 
 said. "You seem to be so polished and sensible 
 and even great, and then in a moment you are off 
 at a tangent, displaying that want of discipline 
 that we at home would not permit in a child." 
 
 "Yes it is true." 
 
 "It seems that you love, and must have, or you 
 hate and must kill. There are storms and passions, 
 147
 
 HIS HOUR 
 
 and the gaiety of children and their irresponsibility, 
 and all on the top is good manners and smiles, but 
 underneath I have a feeling I know not what 
 volcano may burst." 
 
 "To-night I feel one could flame with me." 
 He came up close now and looked into her eyes, 
 as if he were going to say something, and then he 
 restrained himself. 
 
 Tamara did not move, she looked at him 
 gravely. 
 
 "You all seem as if you had no aim," she said. 
 "You are not interested in the politics of your 
 country. You don't seem to do anything but kill 
 time Why ?" 
 
 "Our country!" he said, and he flung himself 
 into a seat near. "It would be difficult to make 
 you understand about that. In the old days of the 
 serfs, it was all very well. One could be a good 
 
 landlord and father to them all, but now " 
 
 Then he got up restlessly and paced the room. 
 "Now there are so many questions. If one would 
 think it would drive one mad, but I am a soldier, 
 Madame, so I do not permit myself to speculate 
 at all." 
 
 148
 
 HIS HOUR 
 
 "Things are not then as you would wish?" she 
 asked. 
 
 "As I would wish no, not as I would wish 
 but as I told you, I do not mix myself up with 
 them. I only obey the Emperor and shall to the 
 end of my life." 
 
 Tamara saw she had stirred too deep waters. 
 His face wore a look of profound melancholy. She 
 had never felt so drawn toward him. She let her 
 eyes take in the picture he made. There was 
 something very noble about his brow and the set 
 of his head. Who could tell what thoughts were 
 working in his brain. Presently he got up again 
 and knelt by her side his movements had the 
 grace and agility of a cat. He took her hand and 
 kissed it. 
 
 "Madame, please don't make me think," he 
 said. "The question is too great for one man to 
 help. I do not go with the Liberals or any of the 
 revolt. Indeed I am far on the other side. Good 
 to this country should all have come in a different, 
 finer way, and now it must work out its own sal- 
 vation as best it may. For me, my only duty is 
 to my master. Nothing else could count." His 
 149
 
 HIS HOUR 
 
 eyes which looked into hers seemed great sombre 
 pools of unrest and pain. 
 
 She did not take away her hand and he kissed 
 it again. ' 
 
 Then the clock on the mantlepiece chimed one, 
 and she started to her feet. 
 
 "Oh! Prince, should we not be thinking of 
 supper," she said. "Come, let us forget we have 
 been serious and go back and eat!" 
 
 He rose. 
 
 "They have probably gone in without us, they 
 know me so well," he said; "but as you say, we 
 will no more be serious, we will laugh." 
 
 Then he took her hand, and merrily, like two 
 children, they ran through all the big empty 
 rooms to find exactly what he had predicted had 
 occurred. The party were at supper quite 
 unconcerned ! 
 
 It was such a gay scene. Princess Sonia and 
 Serge Grekoff were busily cutting raw ham, by 
 their places; while others drank tea or vodka 
 or champagne, or helped themselves from various 
 dishes the servants had brought up. There was 
 no ceremony or stiffness, each one did as he pleased. 
 150
 
 HIS HOUR 
 
 And there sitting by Olga Gle"boff, already per- 
 fectly at home, was Lord Courtray; and further 
 down the Princess Arddcheff sat by Stephen Strong. 
 
 "Gritzko we could not wait!" Countess Olga 
 said. 
 
 Then both the Englishmen got up and greeted 
 Tamara. 
 
 "Fancy seeing you here, Tamara! What a bit 
 of luck!" Jack Courtray said.
 
 CHAPTER XI 
 
 JACK COURTRAY was a thoroughly good 
 all-around sportsman, and had an immense 
 success with women as a rule. His methods 
 were primitive and direct. When not hunting or 
 shooting, he went straight to the point with a 
 beautiful simplicity unhampered by sentiment, 
 and then when wearied with one woman, moved 
 on to the next. 
 
 He was a tremendously good fellow every man 
 said. Just a natural animal creature, whom groom- 
 ing and polishing in the family for some hundred 
 or so of years had made into a gentleman. 
 
 He was as ignorant as he could well be. To 
 him the geography of the world meant different 
 places for sport. India represented tigers and 
 elephants. It had no towns or histories that 
 mattered, it had jungles and forests. Africa said 
 lions. Austria, chamois and Russia, bears! 
 
 Women were either sisters, or old friends and 
 jolly comrades like Tamara. Or they came under 
 152
 
 HIS HOUR 
 
 the category of sport. A lesser sport, to be indulged 
 in when the rarer beasts were not obtainable for 
 his gun but still sport! 
 
 He found himself in a delightful milieu. The 
 prospect of certain bears in the near future a 
 dear old friend to frolic with in the immediate 
 present, and the problematic joys of a possible 
 affair to be indulged in meanwhile. No wonder 
 he was in the best of spirits, and when Tamara, 
 without arri&re pensee, took the empty place at 
 his side, he bent over her and filled her plate with 
 the thinnest ham he had been able to cut, with all 
 the apparent air of a devoted lover. And if she 
 had looked up she would have seen that the Prince 
 suddenly had begun to watch her with a fierceness 
 in his eyes. 
 
 "This is a jolly place," Jack Courtray said. He 
 had just the faintest lisp, which sounded rather 
 attractive, and Tamara, after the storms and 
 emotions of the past few days, found a distinct 
 pleasure and rest in his obviousness. 
 
 It is an ill wind which blows no one any good, 
 for presently the Prince turned and devoted him- 
 self to Tatiane She"banoff. 
 153
 
 HIS HOUR 
 
 She was quite the prettiest of all this little clique, 
 petite and fair and sweet. Divorced from a brute 
 of a husband a year or so ago, and now married to 
 an elderly Prince. 
 
 And she loved Gritzko with passion, and while 
 she was silent about it, her many friends told 
 him so. 
 
 For his part he remained unconcerned, and 
 sometimes troubled himself about her, and some- 
 times not. 
 
 And so the evening wore on, and apparently it 
 had no distinct sign that it was to be one of the 
 finger-posts of fate. 
 
 When all had finished supper, they moved back 
 into another great room. 
 
 "You must notice this, Tamara, it is very Rus- 
 sian," her godmother said. 
 
 It was an immense apartment with a great 
 porcelain stove at one corner, and panelled with 
 wood, and it suggested to Tamara, for no sane 
 reason, something of an orthodox church! One 
 end was bare, and the other carpeted with great 
 Persian rugs, had huge divans spread about; 
 there was an electric piano and an organ, and 
 154
 
 HIS HOUR 
 
 there were also crossed foils, and masks, and 
 everything for a fencing bout. 
 
 The Prince went to the piano and started a 
 valse. Then he came up to Tamara and asked 
 her to dance. 
 
 There was no trace left of his respectful friendli- 
 ness! His sleepy eyes were blazing, he had never 
 looked more oriental, or more savage, or more 
 intense. 
 
 It was almost with a thrill of fear that Tamara 
 yielded herself to his request. He clasped her so 
 tightly she could hardly breathe, all she knew was 
 she seemed to be floating in the air, and to be 
 crushed against his breast. 
 
 "Prince, please, I am suffocating!" she cried 
 at last. 
 
 Then he swung her off her feet, and stopped 
 by an armchair, and Tamara subsided into it, 
 panting, not able to speak. And all across her 
 milk-white chest there were a row of red marks 
 from the heavy silver cartridges, which cross in 
 two rows in the Cossack dress. 
 
 "I would like those brands of me to last forever," 
 the Prince said. 
 
 11 155
 
 HIS HOUR 
 
 Tamara lay back in the chair a prey to tumul- 
 tuous emotions. She ought to be disgusted she 
 supposed, and of course she was such an unciv- 
 ilized horrible thought! but at the same time every 
 nerve was tingling and her pulse was beating with 
 the strange thrills she had only lately begun to 
 dream of. 
 
 "Tamara! By jove! What have you done to 
 your neck?" Jack Courtray said, as he 
 came up. 
 
 And Tamara was glad she had a gauze scarf 
 over her arm, which she wrapped around care- 
 lessly as she said: 
 
 "Nothing, Jack let's dance!" 
 
 " What an awfully decent chap our host is, isn't 
 he!" Lord Courtray said, as they ambled along 
 in their valse. "And jolly good-looking too for 
 a foreigner. These Russians are men after my 
 own heart!" 
 
 "Yes, he is good-looking," admitted Tamara. 
 "If he weren't so wild; but don't you think he 
 has a frightfully savage expression, Jack?" 
 
 "If you are intending to play with him, old girl, 
 take my advice, you had better look out," and he 
 156
 
 HIS HOUR 
 
 laughed his merry laugh as they stopped because 
 the piano stopped. 
 
 Meanwhile the Prince had left the room. 
 
 "Gritzko has gone to telephone for a Tzigane 
 band," Princess Sonia said. "And to the club 
 and to the reception at Madame Sueboffs, and 
 soon we shall have enough people for a contre- 
 danse and some real fun." 
 
 That it was almost three o'clock in the morning 
 never seemed to have struck anyone! 
 
 "Now, tell me everything, Tamara," Lord 
 Courtray said, as they sat down on one of the big 
 divans. " Give me a few wrinkles. I can see one 
 wants to comprehend these tent ropes." 
 
 "Well, first they are the nicest people you 
 could possibly meet, Jack," Tamara said. "And 
 don't imagine because they skylark like this, and 
 sit up all night, that they aren't most dignified 
 when they have to be. That is their charm, this 
 sense of the fitness of things. They have not got 
 to have any pretence like some of us have. Not 
 one of them has a scrap of pose. They are nice 
 to you because they like you, or they leave you 
 entirely alone if they do not. And some days 
 157
 
 HIS HOUR 
 
 when they are all together they will whisper and 
 titter and have jokes among themselves, leaving 
 you completely out in the cold what would really 
 be fearful ill-manners with us, but it is not in the 
 least, it is just they have forgotten you are there, 
 and as likely as not you will be the center of the 
 whispering in the next minute. They are all like 
 volcanoes with the most beautiful Faberger enamel 
 on the top." 
 
 "And the men? I suppose they make awful 
 love ?" 
 
 "I don't think so," went on Tamara, while she 
 stupidly blushed. "They all seem to be just 
 merry friends, and the young ones don't go out 
 very much. I don't mean the quite, quite young 
 who dance with girls, but the young men. My 
 godmother says they are very hard worked, and in 
 their leisure they like to have dinners in their regi- 
 ments or at restaurants with, with other sort 
 of ladies, where they can do what they please. It 
 seems a little elementary don't you think so?" 
 
 "Jolly common-sense!" said Jack Courtray. 
 
 "And then, you see, if by chance, when they are 
 in the world, if they do fall in love, it is possible 
 158
 
 HIS HOUR 
 
 for the lady to get a divorce here without any 
 scandal and fuss, and the whole clan stick to their 
 own member, no matter how much in the wrong 
 she may be, and so all is arranged, and life seems 
 much simpler and apparently happier than it is 
 with us. If it is really so I cannot say, I have not 
 been here long enough to judge." 
 
 "It sounds a kind of Utopia," and Lord Courtray 
 laughed. And just then the Prince came into the 
 room again, and over to them and they got up and 
 the two men went off together to examine the foils. 
 
 Presently the band arrived and more guests, 
 and soon the contre-danse was begun. That 
 grown-up people could seriously take pleasure in 
 this amazing romp was a new and delightful idea 
 to Tamara. 
 
 It was a sort of enormous quadrille with numer- 
 ous figures and f arandole, while one sat on a chair 
 between the figures, as at a cotillon. And toward 
 the end the company stamped and cried, and the 
 band sang, and nothing could have been more gay 
 and exciting and wild. 
 
 Before they began, the Prince came up to Tamara 
 and said: 
 
 159
 
 HIS HOUR 
 
 "I want you to dance this with me. I have 
 had it on purpose to show you a real Russian 
 sight." 
 
 They haxl moved into the ballroom by then, 
 which was now a blaze of light, while as if by 
 magic the sheet coverings had been removed from 
 the chairs. 
 
 And the Prince exerted himself to amuse and 
 please his partner, and did not again clasp her too 
 tight, only whenever she had turns with her country- 
 man, his eyes would flame, and he would immedi- 
 ately interrupt them and carry her off. 
 
 Tamara felt perfectly happy, she was no longer 
 analyzing and questioning, and she was no longer 
 fighting against her inclination. She abandoned 
 herself to the rushing stream of life. 
 
 It was about five o'clock when some one sug- 
 gested supper at the Islands was now the proper 
 thing. This was the delightful part about them 
 on no occasion was there ever a halt for the con- 
 sideration of ways and means. They wanted 
 some particular amusement and had it! Con- 
 vention, from an English point of view, remained 
 an unknown quantity. Now those who decided 
 160
 
 HIS HOUR 
 
 to continue the feasting all got into their waiting 
 conveyances. 
 
 With the thermometer at fifteen degrees Reaumur, 
 a coachman's life is not one altogether to be 
 envied in Russia, but apparently custom will make 
 anything endurable. 
 
 "I know you like the troika, Tamara," Princess 
 Arddcheff said. "So you go with Olga and 
 Gritzko and your friend only be sure you wrap 
 up your head." 
 
 And when they were all getting in, the Countess 
 Gteboff said: 
 
 "It is so terribly cold to-night, Gritzko. I am 
 going to sit with my back to the horses, so as not 
 to get the wind in my face." 
 
 When they were tucked in under the furs this 
 arrangement seemed to Jack Courtray one of real 
 worth, for he instantly proceeded to take Countess 
 Olga's hand, while he whispered that he was cold 
 and she could not be so inhuman as to let a poor 
 stranger freeze! 
 
 It seemed amusing to look from the windows of 
 a private room, down upon a gay supping throng, 
 in the general salle at the restaurant on the Islands, 
 161
 
 HIS HOUR 
 
 while Tziganes played and their supper was being 
 prepared. 
 
 "Who could think it was five o'clock in the 
 morning ! What a lesson for our rotten old County 
 Council in London," Jack Courtray said. "By 
 Jove! this is the place for me!" and he proceeded 
 to make violent love to Olga Gle"boff, to who's side 
 he remained persistently glued. 
 
 And then the gayest repast began; nothing could 
 have been more entertaining or full of wild entrain, 
 and yet no one over-did it, or was vulgar or coarse. 
 
 At the last moment, when they were all starting 
 for home about seven o'clock, Countess Olga 
 decided she could not face the cold of the open 
 sleigh, and Lord Courtray and she got into her 
 motor instead. 
 
 It was done so quickly, Tamara was already 
 packed into the troika, and the outside steeds 
 were prancing in their desire to be off. 
 
 "The horses won't stand," the Prince said, 
 nd he jumped in beside her and gave the order to 
 go. Thus Tamara found herself alone with him 
 flying over the snow under the stars. 
 
 There was a delicious feeling of excitement in 
 162
 
 HIS HOUR 
 
 her veins. They neither of them spoke for a while, 
 but the Prince drew nearer and yet nearer, and 
 presently his arm slipped round her, and he folded 
 her close. 
 
 " Doushka," he whispered. " I hate the English- 
 man and life is so short. Let us taste it while 
 we may," and then he bent and kissed her lips! 
 
 Tamara struggled against the intense intoxicat- 
 ing emotion she was experiencing. What frightful 
 tide was this which had swept into her well-ordered 
 life! She vainly put up her arms and tried to 
 push him away, but with each sign of revolt he 
 held her the tighter. 
 
 "Darling," he said softly in her ear. "My 
 little white soul. Do not fight, it is perfectly 
 useless, because I will do what I wish. See, I 
 will be gentle and just caress you, if you do not 
 madden me by trying to resist!" 
 
 Then he gathered her right into his arms, and 
 again bent and most tenderly kissed her. All 
 power of movement seemed to desert Tamara. 
 She only knew that she was wildly happy, that 
 this was heaven, and she would wish it never to end. 
 
 She ceased struggling and closed her eyes, then 
 163
 
 HIS HOUR 
 
 he whispered all sorts of cooing love words in 
 Russian and French, and rubbed his velvet eye- 
 lids against her cheek, and every few seconds his 
 lips would come to meet her lips. 
 
 At last, when they had crossed the Troitzka 
 bridge, he permitted her to release herself, and 
 only held her hands under the furs, because dawn 
 was breaking and they could be observed. 
 
 But when they turned into the wide Serguief- 
 skaia, which seemed deserted, he bent once more 
 and this time with wildest passion he seemed to 
 draw her very soul through her lips. 
 
 Then ere she could speak, they drew up at the 
 door, and he lifted her out, and before the Suisse 
 and the waiting footmen. 
 
 "Good-night, Madame sleep well," he calmly 
 said. 
 
 But Tamara, trembling with mad emotion, 
 rushed quickly to her room.
 
 CHAPTER XII 
 
 riife there comes sometimes a tidal wave 
 in the ebb of which all old landmarks are 
 washed out. And so it was with Tamara. 
 
 She had fallen into bed half dead with fatigue 
 and emotion, but when she woke the sickly gray 
 light of a Russian winter mid-day pouring into 
 her room, and saw her maid's stolid face, back 
 rushed the events of the night, and she drew in 
 her breath with almost a hiss. Yes, nothing 
 could ever be the same again. "Leave me, 
 Johnson," she said, "I am too tired, I cannot 
 get up yet." 
 
 And the respectful maid crept from the room. 
 
 Then she lay back in her pillows and forced 
 herself to face the position, and review what she 
 had done, and what she must now do. 
 
 First of all, she loved Gritzko, that she could 
 
 no longer argue with herself about. Secondly, 
 
 she was an English lady, and could not let herself 
 
 be kissed by a man whose habit it was to play with 
 
 165
 
 HIS HOUR 
 
 whom he chose, and then pass on. She was free, 
 and he was free, it followed his caressing then 
 divine as it had been was an absolute insult. 
 If he wanted her so much he should have asked 
 her to marry him. He had not done so, therefore 
 the only thing which remained for her to do, was 
 to go away. The sooner the better. 
 
 Then she thought of all the past. 
 
 From the moment of the good-bye at the Sphinx 
 it had been a humiliation for her. Always, always, 
 he had been victor of the situation. Had she 
 been ridiculously weak? What was this fate 
 which had fallen upon her? What had she done 
 to draw such circumstances? Then even as she 
 lay there, communing sternly with herself, a thrill 
 swept over her, as her thoughts went back to 
 that last passionate kiss. And her slender hands 
 clenched under the clothes. 
 
 "If he really loved me," she sighed, "I would 
 face the uncertain happiness with him. I know 
 now he causes me emotions of which I never 
 dreamed and for which I would pay that price. 
 But I have no single proof that he does really love 
 me. He may be playing in the same way with 
 166
 
 HIS HOUR 
 
 Tatiane She*banoff and the jest." And at this 
 picture her pride rose in wild revolt. 
 
 Never, never! should he play with her again 
 at least! 
 
 Then she thought of all her stupid ways, per- 
 haps if she had been different, not so hampered 
 by prejudice, but natural like all these women 
 here, perhaps she could have made him really love 
 her. Ah! if so. 
 
 This possibility, however, brought no comfort j 
 only increased regret. 
 
 The first thing now to be done was to restrain 
 herself in an iron control. To meet him casually. 
 To announce to her godmother that she must go 
 home, and as soon as the visit to Moscow should be 
 over, she would return to England. She must not 
 be too sudden, he would think she was afraid. 
 She would be just stiff and polite and serene, 
 and show him he was a matter of indifference 
 to her, and that she had no intention to be trifled 
 with again! 
 
 At last, aching in mind and body, she lay still. 
 Meanwhile, below in the blue salon, the Princess 
 Ardacheff was conversing with Stephen Strong. 
 167
 
 HIS HOUR 
 
 "Yes, mon ami," she was saying. "You must 
 come we go in a week the day after my ball, 
 to show Tamara Moscow, and from there to spend 
 a night at Milaslav. Olga and Sonia and her hus- 
 band and the Englishman, and Serge Grekoff 
 and Valonne are coming, and it will be quite 
 amusing." 
 
 "Think of the travelling and my old bones!" 
 And Stephen Strong smiled. "But since it is 
 your wish, dear Princess, of course I must come." 
 
 They were old and very intimate friends these 
 two, and with him the Princess was accustomed 
 to talk over most of her plans. 
 
 He got up and lit a cigarette, then he walked 
 across the room and came back again, while his 
 hostess surveyed him with surprise. At last he 
 sat down. 
 
 "Vera, tell me the truth," he said. "How are 
 things going ? I confess last night gave me qualms." 
 
 The Princess gazed at him inquiringly. 
 
 "Why qualms?" 
 
 " You see, Gritzko is quite an exceptional person, 
 he is no type of a Russian or any other nation that 
 one can reckon with, he is himself, and he has the 
 168
 
 HIS HOUR 
 
 most attractive magnetic personality a man could 
 have." 
 
 "Well, then?" 
 
 "And if you knew the simple unsophisticated 
 atmosphere in which your godchild has been 
 brought up ." 
 
 "Stephen, really," and the Princess tapped 
 her foot impatiently. "Please speak out. Say 
 what you mean." 
 
 "She is no more fitted to cope with him than a 
 baby, that is what I mean." 
 
 "But why should she cope with himp Are not 
 men tiresome!" and the Princess sighed. "Can't 
 you see I want them to love one another. It is 
 just that if she would not snub and resist him 
 all would be well." 
 
 "It did not look much like resistance last night," 
 said Stephen Strong. "And if Gritzko is only 
 playing the fool, and means nothing serious, then 
 I think it is a shame." 
 
 "You don't suggest, surely, that I should inter- 
 fere with fate ?" 
 
 "Only to the extent of not giving him unlimited 
 opportunities. You remember that season in 
 169
 
 HIS HOUR 
 
 London and your brother Alexis and her mother, 
 and what came of that!" 
 
 The Princess put her hands up with a sudden 
 gesture and covered her eyes. 
 
 "Oh! Stephen! how cruel of you to bring it back 
 to me," she said; "but this is quite different 
 they are free and it is my dearest wish that Ta- 
 mara and Gritzko should be united." Then she 
 continued in another tone. "I think you are 
 quite wrong in any case. My plan is to throw 
 them together as much as possible he will see her 
 real worth and delicate sweetness and they will 
 get over their quarrelling. It is her reserve and 
 resistance which drives him mad. Sometimes I 
 do not know how he will act." 
 
 " No, one can never count upon how he will act ! " 
 and Stephen Strong smiled. "But since you are 
 satisfied I will say no more, only between you 
 don't break my gentle little countrywoman's 
 heart." 
 
 "You hurt me very much, Stephen!" the Princess 
 said. "You you of all people, who know the 
 tie there is between Tamara and me. You to sug- 
 gest even that I would aid in breaking her heart." 
 170
 
 HIS HOUR 
 
 "Dear Vera, forgive me," and he kissed her 
 plump white hand. "I will suggest nothing, and 
 will leave it all to you, but do not forget a man's 
 passions, and Gritzko, as we know, is not made 
 of snow!" 
 
 "You all misjudge him, my poor Gritzko," the 
 Princess said, hardly mollified. "He has the 
 noblest nature underneath, but some day you 
 will know." 
 
 It was late in the afternoon when Tamara 
 appeared, to find a room full of guests having tea. 
 Her mind was made up, and she had regained her 
 calm. 
 
 She would use the whole of her intelligence and 
 play the game. She would be completely at ease 
 and indifferent to Gritzko and would be incident- 
 ally as nice as possible to Jack. And so get through 
 the short time before she must go home. "For," 
 she had reasoned with herself sadly, "If he had 
 loved me really he would never have behaved as 
 he has done." 
 
 So when the Prince and Lord Courtray came in 
 together presently, her greeting to both was natural- 
 ness itself, and she took Jack off to a distant sofa 
 12 171
 
 HIS HOUR 
 
 with friendly familiarity, and conversed with him 
 upon their home affairs. 
 
 "By Jove! you know, Tamara, you are awfully 
 improved, my child," Lord Courtray said, pres- 
 ently. "You've acquired some kind of a look in 
 your eye! If I wasn't so taken with that darling 
 little Countess Olga I should feel inclined to make 
 love to you myself." 
 
 "You dear silly old Jack!" Tamara said. 
 
 It was Lord Courtray 's fashion, when talking 
 to any woman, even his own mother, to lean over 
 her with rather a devoted look. And Tamara 
 glancing up caught sight of Prince Milaslavski's 
 face. It wore an expression which almost filled her 
 with fear. Of all things she must provoke no 
 quarrel between him and dear old Jack, who was 
 quite blameless in the affair. 
 
 At the same time there was a consolation in the 
 knowledge that she could make him feel. 
 
 She thought it wiser soon to rise and return to 
 the general group, while Jack, on his own amuse- 
 ment bent, now took his leave. 
 
 She sat down by Stephen Strong, she was in a 
 most gracious mood it seemed. 
 172
 
 HIS HOUR 
 
 "You have heard of our excursion to Moscow, 
 Mr. Strong," she said. "The Princess says you 
 must come too, I am looking forward to it 
 immensely." 
 
 "We ought to have a most promising time in 
 front of us," that old cynic replied, while he puffed 
 rings of smoke. " It all should be as full of adven- 
 ture as an egg is full of meat!" 
 
 "I have been reading up the guide books, so as 
 to be thoroughly learned and teach Jack he is 
 so terribly ignorant always, worse than Tom!" and 
 she laughed. 
 
 "We must try and see the whole show, and if the 
 snow lasts, as it promises to do, we should have a 
 delightful time." 
 
 "Gritzko," Princess Ardacheff said. "How 
 many versts is it from Moscow to Milaslav?" 
 
 The Prince had been leaning on the mantlepiece 
 without speaking for some moments, listening to 
 Tamara's conversation, but now he joined in, and 
 sinking into a chair beside her, answered from there. 
 
 "Thirty versts, Tantine we shall go in troikas 
 but you must send your servants on the night 
 before." 
 
 173
 
 HIS HOUR 
 
 Then he turned to Tamara, who seemed wonder- 
 fully absorbed, almost whispering to Stephen 
 Strong. " Did you sleep well, Madame ?" he said. 
 There was an expression of mocking defiance in his 
 glance, which angered Tamara. However, faithful 
 to her resolutions, she kept herself calm. 
 
 "Never better, thank you, Prince. It was a most 
 interesting evening, and I am learning the customs 
 of the country," she said. "The thing which 
 strikes me most is your wonderful chivalry to 
 women especially strange women." 
 
 They looked into one another's eyes and meas- 
 ured swords, and if she had known it she had 
 never so deeply attracted him before. 
 
 She had broached the subject of her return to 
 England to her godmother, who had laughed the 
 idea to scorn, but now she spoke to Gritzko as if it 
 were an established fact. 
 
 " I go home from Moscow, you know," she said. 
 
 "You find our country too cold?" he asked. 
 
 "It is too full of contrasts, freezing one moment 
 and thawing the next, and while outside one is 
 turned to ice, indoors one is consumed with heat; 
 it is upsetting to the equilibrium." 
 174
 
 HIS HOUR 
 
 "All the same, you will not go," and he leaned 
 back in the chair with his provoking lazy smile. 
 
 "Indeed, I shall." 
 
 "We shall see. There are a number of things 
 for you to learn yet." 
 
 "What things?" 
 
 The Prince lit a cigarette. "The possibilities of 
 the unknown fires you have lit," he said. "You 
 remember the night at the Sphinx, when we said 
 good-bye. I told you a proverb they have there 
 about meeting before dawn, and not parting until 
 dawn. Well, that dawn has not arrived yet. And 
 I have no intention for the moment that it shall 
 arrive." 
 
 Tamara felt excited, and as ever his tone of 
 complete omnipotence annoyed her. At the same 
 time to see him sitting there, his eyes fixed with 
 deep interest on her face, thrilled and exalted her. 
 Oh! she certainly loved him! Alas! and it would 
 be dreadfully difficult to say good-bye. But those 
 three words in his sentence stung her pride "for 
 the moment." Yes, there was always this hint of 
 caprice. Always he gave her the sensation of 
 instability, there was no way to hold him. She 
 175
 
 HIS HOUR 
 
 must ever guard her emotions and ever be ready 
 to fence. 
 
 And now that she had taken a resolve to go home, 
 to linger no more, she was free to tease him as 
 much as she could. To feel that she could, gave 
 her a fillip, and added a fresh charm to her face. 
 
 "You think you can rule the whole world to 
 your will, Prince," she said. 
 
 "I can rule the part of it I want, as you will find," 
 he retorted fiercely. She made a pouting moue and 
 tapped her little foot, then she laughed. 
 
 "How amusing it would be if you happened to 
 be mistaken this time," she cooed. Then she 
 rapidly turned to the Princess Sonia, who had just 
 come in, and they all talked of the great ball which 
 was to take place in the house in a week. The 
 first after the period of the deep mourning. 
 
 "We cannot yet wear colors, but whites and 
 grays and mauves and won't it be a relief from 
 all this black," Princess Sonia said. 
 
 When they had all gone and Tamara was dressing 
 
 for dinner, she felt decidedly less depressed. She 
 
 had succeeded better than she had hoped. She 
 
 had contrived to outwit the Prince, when he had 
 
 176
 
 HIS HOUR 
 
 plainly shown his intention was to continue talk- 
 ing to her, she had turned from one to another, 
 and finally sat down by a handsome Chevalier 
 Garde. In companies she had a chance, but 
 when they were alone! however, that was simple, 
 because she must arrange that they should never 
 be alone.
 
 4 * CHAPTER XHI 
 
 rwas perhaps a fortunate thing that for 
 three days after this the Prince was kept at 
 his military duties at Tsarsk6i-Se"lo, and 
 could not come to Petersburg, for he was in a mood 
 that could easily mean mischief. Tamara also 
 was inclined to take things in no docile spirit. 
 
 She felt very unhappy, underneath her gay 
 exterior. It was not agreeable to her self-respect 
 to realize she was fleeing from a place because 
 she loved a man whose actions showed he did 
 not entertain the same degree of feeling for 
 her. No amount of attention from any other quite 
 salved that ever-constant inward hurt. 
 
 She went often through strange moments. In 
 the middle of a casual conversation suddenly back 
 would come a wave of remembrance of the dawn 
 drive in the troika, and she would actually quiver 
 with physical emotion as the vivid recollection of 
 the bliss of it would sweep over her. 
 
 Then she would clench her hands and determine 
 178
 
 HIS HOUR 
 
 more fiercely than ever to banish such memories. 
 But with all her will, hardly for ten minutes at a 
 time could she keep Gritzko from her thoughts. 
 His influence over her was growing into an 
 obsession. 
 
 She wondered why he did not come. She would 
 not ask her godmother. The three days passed in 
 a feverish, gnawing unrest; and on the third evening 
 they went to the ballet again. 
 
 Opposite them, in a box, a very dark young 
 woman was seated. She had a hard, determined 
 face, and she was well dressed, and not too covered 
 with jewels. 
 
 "That is a celebrated lady," Count Valonne 
 said. "You must look at her, Madame Loraine; 
 she was one of the best dancers at the ballet, and 
 last year she tried to commit suicide in a charm- 
 ingly dramatic way at one of Gritzko's parties. 
 She was at the time perhaps his chbre amie one 
 never knows, but in all cases violently in love with 
 him and is still, for the matter of that or so it is 
 said and in the middle of rather a wild feast he 
 was giving for her, she suddenly drank off some 
 poison, after making the terrifying announcement 
 179
 
 HIS HOUR 
 
 of her intention ! We were all petrified with horror, 
 but he remained quite calm, and, seizing her, he 
 poured a whole bottle of salad oil down her throat, 
 and then sent for a doctor! Of course the poor 
 lady recovered, and the romantic end was quite 
 rate! She was perfectly furious, one heard and 
 married a rich slate merchant the week after. 
 Wasn't it like Gritzko? He said the affair was 
 vulgar, and he sent her a large diamond bracelet, 
 and never spoke to her again !" 
 
 Tamara felt her cheeks burn and her pride 
 galled her more than ever. So she and the ex- 
 dancer were in the same boat ? but she at least 
 would not try to commit suicide and be restored 
 by salad oil! 
 
 "How perfectly ridiculous!" she said, with 
 rather a bitter little laugh. "What complete 
 bathos!" 
 
 "It was unfortunate, was it not?" Valonne 
 went on, and he glanced at Tamara sideways. 
 
 He guessed that she was interested in the Prince; 
 
 but Valonne was a charming creature with an 
 
 understanding eye, and in their set was in great 
 
 request. He knew exactly the right thing to talk 
 
 180
 
 HIS HOUR 
 
 about to each different person, as a perfect diplomat 
 should, and he was too tactful and sympathetic to 
 tease poor Tamara. On the contrary, he told her 
 casually that Gritzko had been on some duty these 
 three days, in case she did not know it. 
 
 From the beginning Tamara always had liked 
 Valonne. 
 
 Then into the box came the same good-looking 
 Chevalier Garde, Count Varishkine, whom she 
 had talked to on the last occasion of Gritzko 's 
 visit, and the spirit of hurt pride caused her to be 
 most gracious with him. Meanwhile the Princess 
 Ard&cheff watched her with a faint sensation of 
 uneasiness, and at last whispered to Stephen 
 Strong: 
 
 "Does not my godchild seem to be developing 
 new characteristics, Stephen? She is so very 
 stately and quiet; and yet to-night it would almost 
 seem she is being flirtatious with Boris Varishkine. 
 I trust we shall have no complications. What 
 do you think ?" 
 
 Mr. Strong laughed. 
 
 "It will depend upon how much it angers 
 Gritzko. It could come to mean anything 
 181
 
 HIS HOUR 
 
 bloodshed, a scandal, or merely bringing things to a 
 crisis between them. Let us hope, for the latter." 
 
 "Indeed, yes " 
 
 "You must remember, for an Englishwoman it 
 would be very difficult to grasp all the possibilities 
 in the character of Gritzko. We are not accustomed 
 to these tempestuous headlong natures in our 
 calm country." 
 
 "Fortunately Boris and Gritzko are very great 
 friends." 
 
 "I never heard that the warmest friendship 
 prevented jealousy between men," Stephen Strong 
 said, a little cynically he had suffered a good 
 deal in his youth. 
 
 "I am delighted we are going to Moscow. There 
 will be no Boris, and I shall arrange for my two 
 children to be together as much as possible. I feel 
 that is the surest way," the Princess answered; and 
 they talked of other things 
 
 After the ballet was over the party went on to 
 supper at Cubat's in a private room, contrary to 
 the Princess' custom. But it was Stephen Strong's 
 entertainment, and he had no house to invite 
 them to. 
 
 182
 
 HIS HOUR 
 
 As they passed down the passage to their salon 
 the door of another opened as a waiter came 
 out, and loud laughter and clatter of glass burst 
 forth, and above the din one shrill girl's treble 
 screamed : 
 
 "Gritzko! Oh, Gritzko!" 
 
 The food nearly choked Tamara when they 
 reached their room, and supper began. It was not, 
 of course, a heinous crime for the Prince to be 
 entertaining ladies of another world. But on the 
 top of everything else it raised a wild revolt in her 
 heart, and a raging disgust with herself. Never, 
 never should she unbend to him again. She would 
 not love him. 
 
 Alas! for the impotency of human wills! Only 
 the demonstrations of love can be controlled, the 
 emotion itself comes from heaven or hell, and is 
 omnipotent. Poor Tamara might as well have 
 determined to keep the sun from rising as to keep 
 herself from loving Gritzko. 
 
 She was quite aware that men even the nicest 
 
 men like Jack and her brother Tom, sometimes 
 
 went out with people she would not care to know; 
 
 but to have the fact brought under her very 
 
 183
 
 HIS HOUR 
 
 observation disgusted her fine senses. To realize 
 that the man she loved was at the moment perhaps 
 kissing some ordinary woman, revolted and galled 
 her immeasurably. But if she had known it this 
 night, at least, the Prince was innocent. He had 
 strolled into that room with some brother officers, 
 and was not the giver of the feast. And a few 
 minutes after Mr. Strong's party had begun their 
 repast he opened the door. 
 
 " May I come in, Stephen ?" he asked. " I heard 
 you were all here, Serge saw you. I have just 
 arrived from Tsarskoi, and must eat." 
 
 And of course he was warmly welcomed and 
 pressed to take a seat, while Valonne chaffed him 
 in an undertone about the joys he had precipitately 
 left. 
 
 Tamara's face was the picture of disdain. But 
 the Prince sat beside her godmother, apparently 
 unconcerned. He did not trouble to address her 
 specially, and before the end of supper, in spite of 
 rage and disgust and anger and shame, she was 
 longing for him to talk to her. 
 
 The only consolation she had was once when 
 they went out, as she looked up sweetly at Count 
 184
 
 HIS HOUR 
 
 Varishkine she caught a fierce expression stealing 
 over Gritzko's face. 
 
 So even though he did not love her really he 
 could still feel jealous; that was something, at all 
 events ! 
 
 Thus in these paltry rages and irritations, these 
 two human beings passed the next three days 
 when their real souls were capable of something 
 great. 
 
 Prince Milasldvski, to every one's surprise, 
 appeared continuously in the world. 
 
 Tamara and the Princess met him everywhere, 
 and while the Princess did her best to throw them 
 together, Tamara maneuvered so that not once 
 could he speak to her alone, while she was assid- 
 uously charming to every one else. Now it was 
 old Prince Miklefski or Stephen Strong, now one 
 of the husbands, or Jack, and just often enough 
 to give things a zest she was bewitching to the 
 handsome Chevalier Garde. 
 
 And the strange, fierce light in Gritzko's eyes 
 did not decrease. 
 
 The night before the Ard&cheff ball they were 
 going to a reception at one of the Embassies for a 
 185
 
 HIS HOUR 
 
 foreign King and Queen, who were paying a visit 
 to the Court, and Tamara dressed with unusual 
 care, and fastened her high tiara in her soft brown 
 hair. 
 
 The Prince should see her especially attractive, 
 she thought. 
 
 But when they arrived at the great house and 
 walked among the brilliant throng no Prince was 
 to be seen! It might be he had no intention to 
 come. 
 
 Presently Tamara went off to the refreshment 
 room with her friend Valonne. 
 
 The conversation turned to Gritzko with an easy 
 swing. 
 
 He seemed on the brink of one of his maddest 
 fits. Valonne had seen him in the club just before 
 dinner. 
 
 "If you really go to England I think he will 
 follow you, Madame," he said. 
 
 " How ridiculous !" and Tamara laughed. " How 
 can it make a difference to him whether I go or no ? 
 We do not exist for one another," and she fanned 
 herself rather rapidly, while Valonne smiled a 
 fine smile. 
 
 186
 
 HIS HOUR 
 
 "I should not be quite sure of that," he said. 
 "If I might predict, I should say you will be lucky 
 if you get away from here without being the cause 
 of a duel of some sort." 
 
 "A duel!" Tamara was startled. "How dread- 
 ful, and how silly! But why? I thought dueling 
 had quite gone out in all civilized countries; and 
 in any case, why fight about me ? And who should 
 fight? Surely you are only teasing me, Count 
 Valonne." 
 
 " Duels are real facts here, I am afraid," he said. 
 " Gritzko has already engaged in two of them. He 
 is not quarrelsome, but just never permits any 
 one to cross his wishes or interfere with his 
 game." 
 
 "But what is his game? You speak as though 
 it were some kind of cards or plot. What do you 
 mean?" and Tamara, with heightened color, 
 lifted her head. 
 
 "The game of Gritzko P" and Count Valonne 
 laughed. "Frankly, I think he is very much in love 
 with you, Madame," he said. "So by that you 
 can guess what would be any man's game." 
 
 "You have a vivid imagination, and are talking 
 13 187
 
 HIS HOUR 
 
 perfect nonsense." Tamara laughed nervously. 
 "I refuse to be the least upset by such ideas!" 
 
 At the moment up came Count Boris Varishkine, 
 and after a while she went off with him to a sofa 
 by the window, and there was seated in deep con- 
 verse when the Prince came in. 
 
 He looked at them for a second and then made 
 straight for the Princess Ardacheff, who was just 
 about to arrange her rubber of bridge. 
 
 "Tantine, I want to talk to you," he said. 
 
 And the Princess at once left the cardroom and 
 returned with him. They found a quiet corner 
 opposite Tamara and her Garde, and there sat 
 down 
 
 "Tantine, I brought you here to look over there. 
 What does that mean?" 
 
 The Princess put up her glasses to gain time. 
 
 "Nothing, dear boy. Tamara is merely amusing 
 herself like all the rest of us at a party. Are you 
 jealous, Gritzko?" she asked. 
 
 He looked at her sharply, and for a moment 
 unconsciously fingered the dagger in his belt. 
 
 " Yes, I believe I am jealous. I am not at all sure 
 that I do not love your charming friend," he said. 
 188
 
 HIS HOUR 
 
 "Well, why don't you marry her then?'* sug- 
 gested the Princess. 
 
 "Perhaps I shall if she does not drive me to 
 doing something mad first. I don't know what I 
 intend. It may be to go off to the Caucasus, or to 
 stay and make her love me so deeply that she will 
 forgive me no matter what I do." 
 
 He paused a moment, and his great eyes filled 
 with mist, and then the wild light grew. 
 
 "If ever she becomes my Princess, she shall 
 be entirely for me. I will not let her have a look 
 or thought for any other man. All must be mine 
 unshared, and then she shall be my queen." 
 
 Princess Arddcheff leant back and looked at 
 him. He was in his blue uniform with the scarlet 
 underdress; and even she old woman and fond 
 friend could not help picturing the gorgeous 
 joy such a fate would give to have him for a lover! 
 to see his fierce, proud head bent in devotion, 
 to feel his tender caress. Tamara must be an 
 unutterable fool if she should hesitate. 
 
 But what he had said was not reassuring in 
 its prospect of calm. She felt she must put in 
 some small word of admonition. 
 189
 
 HIS HOUR 
 
 "You will be careful won't you, Gritzko?" 
 she ventured to suggest. "Remember, Tamara 
 is an Englishwoman, and not accustomed to your 
 ways." 
 
 "It will depend upon herself," he said. "If 
 she goes on teasing nje I do not know what I shall 
 do. If she does not " 
 
 "You will be good?" 
 
 "Possibly. But one thing, Tantine, I will not 
 be interfered with either by her friend the English- 
 man or Boris Varishkine." 
 
 At this moment Tamara looked up and caught 
 the two pairs of eyes fixed upon her. And into 
 her spirit flowed a devilment. Duels! They 
 were all nonsense. She should certainly play a 
 little with her new friend. 
 
 In her whole life before she came to Russia she 
 had never been really flirtatious. She was in no 
 way a coquette, rather a simple creature who 
 recked little of men. But the simplest woman 
 develops feline qualities under certain provoca- 
 tion; and her pride was deeply hurt. 
 
 Count Boris Varishkine asked nothing better 
 than to fall in with her views. He was, however, 
 190
 
 HIS HOUR 
 
 like most of his countrymen, sincere, and not merely 
 passing the time. 
 
 Jack Courtray came up, too, and joined them, 
 his Countess Olga had sent him temporarily from 
 her side. And Tamara scintillated and sparkled 
 as she talked to them both in a way which sur- 
 prised herself. 
 
 This society was very diplomatic, and it amused 
 her to watch the representatives of the different 
 nations the English and the Russians standing 
 out as so much the finest men. 
 
 Presently the little group was joined by Stephen 
 Strong. 
 
 "Isn't this an amusing party, Mrs. Loraine?" 
 he said. 
 
 "Yes," said Tamara. "And I am beginning 
 to be able to place the members of the different 
 countries. Don't you think the Russians look 
 much the most like us, Mr. Strong?" 
 
 "The Russians, dear lady? When you have 
 traveled a little more you will see that term covers 
 half the types of the earth but I agree. What 
 we see here in Petersburg are very much like us 
 a trifling difference in the way the eyes are set, 
 191
 
 HIS HOUR 
 
 and the way the hair is brushed; and, given the 
 same uniforms, half these smart young men might 
 be our English Guards." 
 
 "We do hot resemble you in character, though," 
 said Count Varishkine. "You can feel just what 
 you like, or not at all, whereas we are storm-tossed, 
 and have not yet learnt the arts of pretence." 
 
 "We're a deuced cold-blooded race, aren't 
 we, Tamara ? " Jack Courtray said, and he grinned 
 his happy grin. 
 
 The little party looked so merry and content 
 Princess Ardacheff hardly liked to disturb them, 
 but was impelled to by a look in Gritzko's face. 
 
 "Tamara, dear," she said, as she joined them, 
 "I am so very tired after last night, for once shall 
 we go home reasonably early ? " 
 
 And Tamara rose gladly to her feet. 
 
 "Of course, Marraine, I too am dropping with 
 fatigue," she said. 
 
 The Prince spoke a few words to Stephen Strong, 
 and Jack joined in; so that the three were a pace 
 or so to one side when the two ladies wished them 
 good-night. 
 
 "Come and see me early to-morrow, Jack," 
 192
 
 HIS HOUR 
 
 Tamara said. "I want to show you Tom's letter 
 from home," and she looked up with an alluring 
 smile, feeling the Prince was watching her; then, 
 turning to Count Boris, "I am sure you will re- 
 gret your bargain in having asked me to dance the 
 Mazurka to-morrow night," she said. " I do not 
 know a single figure or a step but I hope we shall 
 have some fun. I am looking forward to it." 
 
 "More than fun!" the young man said, with 
 devotion, as he kissed her hand. 
 
 Then they walked to say good-night to the hostess, 
 and Gritzko seemed to disappear. But when they 
 got down into the hall they saw him already in 
 his furs. 
 
 The Princess' footman began to hand Tamara 
 her snow-boots and cloak, but Gritzko almost 
 snatched them from the man's hand. She made 
 no protest, but let him help her to put them on and 
 wrap her up, while her godmother thought it 
 advisable to walk toward the door. 
 
 "To-night was your moment, Madame," he 
 said, in a low voice. "But the gods are often 
 kind to me, and my hour will come!" 
 
 Tamara summoned everything she knew of 
 193
 
 HIS HOUR 
 
 provokingness into her face as she looked up and 
 answered : 
 
 "Tant pis! et bon soir! Monsieur le de"mon 
 de Lermontoff!" 
 
 Then she felt it prudent to run quickly after the 
 Princess and get into the automobile!
 
 CHAPTER XIV 
 
 rwas twenty-four hours later. The night 
 of the Ard&cheff ball had come. The 
 glorious house made the background of a 
 festive scene. The company waited all round the 
 galleries for the arrival of the Grand Dukes and 
 the foreign King and Queen. 
 
 And Tamara stood by her godmother's side at 
 the top of the stairs, a strange excitement flooding 
 her veins. 
 
 Since the night before they had heard nothing 
 of the Prince. And as each guest came in view, 
 past the splendid footmen grouped like statues on 
 every six steps, both women watched with quicken- 
 ing pulses for one insouciant Cossack face. 
 
 The Royalties arrived in a gorgeous train, and 
 yet neither Gritzko nor Count Varishkine. 
 
 It might mean nothing, but it was curious all 
 
 the same. The opening contre-danse was in full 
 
 swing, and still they never came, and by the time 
 
 of the second valse after it Tamara was a prey to 
 
 195
 
 HIS HOUR 
 
 a vague fear. While the Princess* uneasiness 
 grew more than vague. 
 
 Tamara could not enjoy herself. She talked 
 at random, she made her partners continually 
 promenade through the salons, and her eyes con- 
 stantly scanned the doors. 
 
 The immense ballroom, quite two stories high, 
 presented a brilliant sight with its stately decora- 
 tions of the time of Alexander I. And all the 
 magnificent jewels and uniforms, and the flowers. 
 Somehow a riot of roses takes an extra charm 
 when outside the thermometer measures zero. 
 And no one would have believed, looking at this 
 dignified throng, that they could be the same 
 people who could frolic wildly at a Bohemian 
 supper. 
 
 There is a great deal in breeding, after all, and 
 the knowledge of the fitness of things which fol- 
 lows in its train. 
 
 Tamara was valsing with Jack Courtray, and 
 they stopped to look at the world. 
 
 "Are they not a wonderful people, Jack? 
 Could anything be more decorous and dignified 
 than they are to-night ? And yet if you watch, in 
 196
 
 HIS HOUR 
 
 the contre-danse their eyes have the same excited 
 look as when we wildly capered after supper in 
 Prince Milasldvski's house.'* 
 
 "Which reminds me why is he not here?" 
 asked Jack. 
 
 "I wish I knew," Tamara said. "Jack, be a 
 dear and go and forage about and get hold of 
 Serge Grekoff, if you can see him, or Mr. 
 Strong, or Sasha Basmanoff, or some one who 
 might know but it seems as if none of them are 
 here." 
 
 "As interested as that?" and Lord Courtray 
 laughed. "Well, my child, I'll do my best," so 
 he relinquished her for the next turn and left her 
 with Valonne, who had just arrived. 
 
 "Apparently I shall have to go partnerless for 
 the Mazurka," Tamara carelessly said while she 
 watched the Frenchman's face with the corner of 
 her eye. "I was engaged for it to Count Varish- 
 kine, and he has never turned up. I do wonder 
 what has happened to him. Do you know ?" 
 
 "I told you you would be lucky if you got away 
 from here without some row of sorts, Madame," 
 and Valonne smiled enigmatically. 
 197
 
 HIS HOUR 
 
 "What do you mean? Please tell me?" and 
 Tamara turned pale. 
 
 "I mean nothing; only I fancy you will only see 
 one of them to-night; which it will be is still on 
 the cards." 
 
 A cold, sick feeling came over Tamara. 
 
 "You are not insinuating that they have been 
 fighting?" she asked, with a tremble in her voice 
 which she could not control. 
 
 But Valonne reassured her. 
 
 "I am insinuating nothing," he said, with a 
 calm smile. "Let us have one more turn before 
 this charming valse stops." 
 
 And, limp and nerveless, Tamara allowed her- 
 self to be whirled around the room; nor could 
 she get anything further out of Valonne. 
 
 When it was over she sought in vain for her god- 
 mother or Jack or Stephen Strong. The Princess 
 was engaged with the Royalties and could not be 
 approached, and neither of the men were to be seen. 
 
 The next half-hour was agony, in which, with 
 a white face and fixed smile, Tamara played her 
 part, and then just before the Mazurka was going 
 to begin Gritzko came in. 
 198
 
 HIS HOUR 
 
 It seemed as if her knees gave way under her 
 for a moment, and she sat down in a seat. The 
 relief was so great. Whatever had happened he 
 at least was safe. 
 
 She watched him securing two chairs in the best 
 place, and then he crossed over to where she sat 
 by the door to the refreshment room. 
 
 "Bon soir, Madame," he said. "Will you take 
 me as a substitute for your partner, Count Varish- 
 kine?" and he bowed with a courtly grace which 
 seemed suited to the scene. "He is, I regret to 
 say, slightly indisposed, and has asked me to crave 
 your indulgence for him, and let me fill his place." 
 
 For a moment Tamara hesitated; she seemed 
 to have lost the power of speech; she felt she must 
 control her anxiety and curiosity, so at last she 
 answered gravely: 
 
 "I am so very sorry! I hope it is nothing seri- 
 ous. He is so charming, Count Varishkine." 
 
 ** Nothing serious. Shall we take our places? 
 I have two chairs there not far from Olga and your 
 friend," and the Prince prepared to lead the way. 
 
 Tamara, now that the tension was over, almost 
 thought she would refuse, but the great relief and 
 199
 
 HIS HOUR 
 
 joy she felt in his presence overcame her pride, 
 and she meekly followed him across the room. 
 
 They passed the Princess on the way, and as 
 she apparently gave some laughing reply to the 
 Ambassador she was with, she hurriedly whispered 
 in Tamara's ear: 
 
 "Pour 1'amour de Dieu ! Be careful with Gritzko 
 to-night, my child." 
 
 When they were seated waiting for the dance 
 to begin Tamara noticed that the Prince was very 
 pale, and that his eyes, circled with blue shadows, 
 seemed to flame. 
 
 The certainty grew upon her that some mysteri- 
 ous tragic thing had taken place; but, frightened 
 by the Princess' words, she did not question him. 
 
 She hardly spoke, and he was silent, too. It 
 seemed as though now he had gained his end and 
 secured her as a partner it was all he meant to do. 
 
 Presently he turned to her and asked lazily: 
 
 "Have you been amused since the Moravian 
 reception? How have you passed the time? I 
 have been at Tsarskoi again, and could not come 
 to see Tantine." 
 
 "We have been quite happy, thanks, Prince," 
 200
 
 HIS HOUR 
 
 Tamara said. "Jack Courtray and I have spent 
 the day studying the lovely things in the Hermitage. 
 We must see what we can before we both go home." 
 
 Gritzko looked at her. 
 
 "I like him he is a good fellow your friend," 
 and then he added reflectively: "But if he spends 
 too much time with you I hope the bears will eat 
 him!" 
 
 This charitable wish was delivered in a grave, 
 quiet voice, as though it had been a blessing. 
 
 "How horrible you are!" Tamara flashed. 
 "Jack to be eaten by bears! Poor dear old Jack! 
 What has he done ?" 
 
 "Nothing, I hope, as yet; but time will tell. 
 Now we must begin to dance." 
 
 And they rose, called to the center by the Master 
 of the Ceremonies to assist in a figure. 
 
 While the Prince was doing his part she noticed 
 his movements seemed languid and not full of his 
 usual wild entrain, and her feeling of unease and 
 dread of she knew not what increased. 
 
 Tamara was very popular, and was hardly left 
 for a moment on her chair when the flower figures 
 began, so their conversations were disjointed, and 
 201
 
 HIS HOUR 
 
 at last almost ceased, and unconsciously a stiff 
 silence grew up between them, caused, if she had 
 known it, on his side, by severe physical pain. 
 
 She was surprised that he handed all his flowers 
 to her but did not ask her to dance, nor did he rise 
 to seek any other woman. He just sat still, though 
 presently, when magnificent red roses were brought 
 in in a huge trophy, and Serge Grekoff was seen 
 advancing with a sheaf of them to claim Tamara, 
 he suddenly asked her to have a turn, and got up 
 to begin. 
 
 She placed her hand on his arm, and she noticed 
 he drew in his breath sharply and winced in the 
 slightest degree. But when she asked him if 
 something hurt him, and what it was, he only 
 laughed and said he was well, and they must dance; 
 so away they whirled. 
 
 A feverish anxiety and excitement convulsed 
 Tamara. What in heaven's name had occurred? 
 
 When they had finished and were seated again 
 she plucked up courage to ask him: 
 
 "Prince, I feel sure Count Varishkine is not 
 really ill. Something has happened. Tell me 
 what it is." 
 
 202
 
 HIS HOUR 
 
 "I never intended you to dance the Mazurka 
 with him," was all Gritzko said. 
 
 "And how have you prevented it?" Tamara 
 asked, and grew pale to her lips. 
 
 "What does it matter to you?" he said. "Are 
 you nervous about Boris ?" 
 
 And now he turned and fully looked at her, 
 and she was deeply moved by the expression in 
 his face. 
 
 He was suffering extremely, she could distin- 
 guish that, but underneath the pain there was a 
 wild triumph, too. Her whole being was wrung. 
 Love and fear and solicitude, and, yes, rebellion 
 also had its place. And at last she said: 
 
 "I am nervous, not for Count Varishkine, but 
 for what you may have done." 
 
 He leaned back and laughed with almost his 
 old irresponsible mirth. 
 
 "I can take care of my own deeds, thanks, 
 Madame," he said. 
 
 And then anger rose in Tamara beyond sym- 
 pathy for pain. 
 
 She sat silent, staring in front of her, the strain 
 of the evening was beginning to tell. She hardly 
 14 203
 
 HIS HOUR 
 
 knew what he said, or she said, until the Mazurka 
 was at an end, all the impression it left with her 
 was one of tension and fear. Then the polonaise 
 formed, and they went in to supper. 
 
 Here they were soon seated next their own 
 special friends, and Gritzko seemed to throw off 
 all restraint. He drank a great deal, and then 
 poured out a glass of brandy and mixed it with 
 the champagne. 
 
 He had never been more brilliant, and kept the 
 table in a roar, while much of his conversation was 
 addressed to Tatiane She"banoff, who sat on his 
 left hand. 
 
 Tamara appeared as though she were turned 
 into stone. 
 
 And so the night wore on. It was now four 
 o'clock in the morning. The company all went to 
 the galleries again to watch the departure of the 
 King and Queen. And, leaning on the marble 
 balustrade next the Prince, Tamara suddenly 
 noticed a thin crimson stream trickle from under 
 his sleeve to his glove. 
 
 He saw it, too, and with an impatient exclamation 
 of annoyance he moved back and disappeared in 
 204
 
 HIS HOUR 
 
 the crowd. The rest of the ball for Tamara was a 
 ghastly blank, although they kept it up with 
 immense spirit until very late. 
 
 She seemed unable to get near the Princess, she 
 was always surrounded, and when at last she did 
 come upon her in deep converse with Valonne. 
 
 "Tamara, dear," she said, "you must be so 
 dreadfully tired. Slip off to bed. They will go on 
 until daylight," and there was something in her 
 face which prevented any questions. 
 
 So, cold and sick with apprehension, poor 
 Tamara crept to her room, and, dismissing her 
 weary maid, sat and rocked herself over her fire. 
 
 What horrible thing had occurred ? 
 
 What was the meaning of that thin stream of 
 blood?
 
 CHAPTER XV 
 
 AMARA and her godmother did not meet 
 until nearly lunch-time next day. A 
 little before that meal the Princess came 
 into her room. Tamara was still in bed, perfectly 
 exhausted with the strain of the night. The Prin- 
 cess wore an anxious look of care, as she walked 
 from the window to the dressing table and then 
 back again. Finally she sat down and took up a 
 glove which was lying on a cushion near. 
 
 "Tamara, you saw I talked last night with 
 Valonne, and this morning I sent for Serge Grekoff , 
 but he would not come, so I got Valonne again." 
 She paused an instant. "I was extremely worried 
 last night about Gritzko. I dare say you were not 
 to blame, dear, but " 
 
 "Please tell me, Marraine," and poor Tamara 
 sat up and pushed her hair back. 
 
 "It appears, as far at I can gather, they all dined 
 at the Fontonka house Boris Varishkine and 
 Gritzko have always been great friends and at 
 206
 
 HIS HOUR 
 
 the end of dinner Valonne imagines, because no 
 one is sure what took place between them at this 
 stage Gritzko, it is supposed, said to Boris in 
 quite an amiable way that he did not wish him to 
 dance the Mazurka with you, but to relinquish his 
 right in his Gritzko's favor." 
 
 She paused again, and Tamara's eyes fixed 
 themselves in fascinated fear on her face. The 
 Princess, after smoothing out the glove in her hand 
 with a nervous energy, went on: 
 
 "They had all had quite enough champagne, 
 of course, and apparently Boris refused, and 
 suggested that they should toss up, and whoever 
 won the toss should have first shot in the dark." 
 
 "Yes," said Tamara faintly. 
 
 "You know, dear, our boys are often very wild, 
 and they have a game they play when they are at 
 the end of their tether for something to do when 
 quartered in some hopeless outpost a kind of 
 blind-man 's-bufi 7 only it is all in the dark, and the 
 blind man stands in the middle of the room and the 
 rest clap hands and then dodge, and he fires his 
 revolver at the point the sound seems to come from, 
 and the object is not to get shot. You may have 
 207
 
 HIS HOUR 
 
 noticed Sasha Basmanoff has no left thumb? He 
 lost it last year on just such a night." 
 
 "Oh! Marraine, how dreadful!" Tamara said. 
 
 "It is perhaps not a very civilized game," the 
 Princess continued," but we are not discussing 
 that, I am telling you what occurred. Well, from 
 this point Valonne and the rest were eyewitnesses. 
 Gritzko and Boris, still laughing in rather a strained 
 way, said they had some slight difference of opinion 
 to settle, and had decided to do it in the ballroom, 
 in the dark. I won't go into details of how many 
 steps to the right or left, the impromptu seconds 
 arranged, only it was settled when Sasha at one 
 end and Serge at the other should shut the doors 
 they should both fire, and if in three times neither 
 was shot, both should give up their claim." 
 
 "It is too horrible! and for such a trifle," Tamara 
 said, clutching the bedclothes, and the Princess 
 went on. 
 
 "Valonne said they were both hit in the first 
 round, and all the company burst into the room. 
 Nothing seemed very serious, and they laughed 
 and shook hands. So Valonne left to be in time 
 for the ball, but this morning, he told me, he found 
 208
 
 HIS HOUR 
 
 Boris Varishkine had had a shoulder wound which 
 bled very badly and quite prevented his coming, 
 while Gritzko was shot through the flesh of the 
 right arm, and as soon as they could bind it up 
 decently, as you know, he came on." 
 
 Tamara's face was as white as her pillow. She 
 clasped her hands with a movement of anguish. 
 
 "Oh! Marraine, I am too unhappy," she wailed. 
 "Indeed, indeed, I did nothing to cause this. You 
 heard me, I only said to Count Varishkine I was 
 looking forward to the dance. He is impossible, 
 Gritzko. Oh! let me go home!" 
 
 "Alas! my child, what would be the good of 
 that? If you went off to-night instead of coming 
 to Moscow, it might create a talk; what we want is 
 to prevent a scandal, to hush everything up. None 
 of these men will tell, and your name will not be 
 dragged into it. And if we go on our trip amicably 
 as was arranged it will discountenance rumor. 
 Gritzko and Boris are quite friends again. And if 
 anything about the shooting does leak out, if no 
 one has further cause for connecting you with it, 
 they will generally think it merely one of Gritzko 's 
 mad parties. For heaven's sake let it all blow over, 
 209
 
 HIS HOUR 
 
 and after Moscow and a reasonable time, not to 
 appear too hurried, you shall go home." 
 
 "But meanwhile, how can I know that he won't 
 shoot at Jack? or do some other awful thing! He 
 does not love me really a bit, Marraine. It is all 
 out of pride and devilment because he wants to win 
 and conquer me and add me to his scalps, and I 
 won't be conquered. I tell you I won't!" and 
 Tamara clenched her hands. 
 
 The Princess did not know what to say, she was 
 not perfectly sure in her own mind as to Gritzko's 
 feelings, and she was too thoroughly acquainted 
 with his ways to hazard any theory as to his possible 
 acts. She felt it might not be fair to assure her 
 godchild that he truly loved her. She could only 
 think of tiding over matters for the time being. 
 
 "Tamara, dearest, could you at least try to keep 
 the peace on our trip?" she asked. "Be gentle 
 with him, and do not excite him in any way." 
 
 Tamara buried her face in her pillows, she was 
 too English to be dramatic and sob; but when she 
 spoke her soft voice trembled a little and her eyes 
 glistened with tears. 
 
 "He is horribly cruel, Marraine," she said. 
 210
 
 HIS HOUR 
 
 "Why should he treat me as he does. I won't I 
 won't bear it." 
 
 The Princess sighed. 
 
 "Tamara, forgive me for asking you, but I must, 
 I feel I must. Do you love him, child ?" 
 
 Then passion flamed up in Tamara's white face, 
 her secret was her own, and she would defend it 
 even from this kind friend so **I believe I hate 
 him!" she said. 
 
 After a while the Princess left her, they having 
 come to the agreement that Tamara should do all 
 that she could to keep the peace; but when she was 
 alone she decided to speak to Gritzko as little as 
 possible herself, and to ignore him completely, 
 There would be no Boris and no one to make him 
 jealous. She would occupy herself with Stephen 
 Strong, and the sight-seeing, and even Sonia's 
 husband, who was a bore and old, too; but the 
 prospect held out no charms for her, She knew 
 that she loved him deeply this wild, fierce Gritzko 
 more deeply than ever to-day, and the tears, one 
 after another, trickled down her pale cheeks. 
 
 If there was not a chance of any happiness, at 
 least she must go home keeping some rag of self-
 
 HIS HOUR 
 
 respect. She firmly determined that he should not 
 see the slightest feeling on her side, it should be 
 restrained or perhaps capricious even, as his own. 
 
 Their train for Moscow started at nine o'clock, 
 and the whole party had arranged to dine at the 
 Ardacheff house at seven and then go to the 
 station. 
 
 Nothing of the scandal of the night seemed to 
 have transpired, for no one even hinted at anything 
 about it. 
 
 Gritzko was still very pale, but appeared none 
 the worse, and the atmosphere seemed to have 
 resumed a peaceful note. 
 
 The five sleeping compartments reserved for 
 this party of ten were all in a row in one carriage, 
 and Tamara and the Princess, on the plea of 
 fatigue, immediately retired to their berths for the 
 night, Tamara not having addressed a single direct 
 word to Gritzko. So far, so well. But when 
 she was comfortably tucked into the top berth, 
 and an hour or so later was just falling off to 
 sleep, he knocked at the door, and the Princess 
 believing it to be the ticket-collector opened it, and 
 he put his head in. The shade was drawn over
 
 HIS HOUR 
 
 the lamp and the compartment was in a blue 
 gloom. Tamara was startled by hearing her 
 godmother say: 
 
 " Gritzko ! Thou ! What do you want, dear boy, 
 disturbing us like this ?" 
 
 "I came to ask you to tie up my arm," he said. 
 "I was practising with a pistol yesterday, and it 
 went off and the bullet grazed the skin, and the 
 damned thing has begun bleeding again. I know 
 you are a trained nurse, Tantine. Serge, who is 
 with me, has tried and made a ridiculous mess of 
 it, so I brought the bandage to you." 
 
 He now pulled back the shade and they saw he 
 was standing there quite sans gene in the same 
 kind of blue silk pyjamas Tamara remembered 
 to have seen once before, and his eyes, far from 
 being tragic or serious, had the naughtiest, most 
 mischievous twinkle in them, while he whispered 
 to the Princess and enlisted her sympathy for his 
 pain. 
 
 "Gritzko, dearest child, but you are suffering! 
 But let me see! only wait in the passage until I have 
 my dressing-gown, and then come in again." 
 
 Tamara now thought it prudent to crouch down 
 213
 
 HIS HOUR 
 
 in the clothes and pretend to be asleep, while the 
 kind Princess got up and arranged herself. 
 
 Then with a gentle tap this poor wounded one 
 came in. , 
 
 Tamara was conscious that her godmother was 
 murmuring horrified and affectionate solicitations, 
 as she busily set to work. She was also conscious 
 that Gritzko was standing with his shoulder leant 
 against her berth. He was so tall he could look at 
 her, in spite of her retirement to the farthest side, 
 and she was horribly conscious of the magnetic 
 power exercised by his eyes. She longed quite to 
 open hers, she longed really to look. She felt so 
 nervous she almost gave a silly little laugh, but her 
 will won, and her long eyelashes remained resting 
 on her cheek. 
 
 "You darling. You are doing it beautifully!" 
 he presently said, and then more softly, "I had no 
 idea how pretty your friend is! and how soundly 
 she sleeps ! Do you think I might kiss her, Tantine ? 
 I have always wanted to, only she is of such a sever- 
 ity I have been too frightened. May I, Tantine?" 
 And his voice sounded coaxing and sweet, and 
 Tamara felt sure he was caressing the Princess* 
 214
 
 HIS HOUR 
 
 hair with his free hand, for that lady kept murmur* 
 ing. 
 
 "Tais toi! Gritzko have done! How can I 
 bind your arm if you conduct yourself so! Not a 
 moment of stillness! Truly what a naughty child 
 keep still!" Then she spoke more severely to 
 him in Russian, and he laughed while he answered, 
 and then presently the bandage was done, and 
 standing on tip-toe he looked full at Tamara. 
 
 "And you think I must not kiss her? Oh! you 
 are a most cruel Tantine! She is sound asleep and 
 would never know, and it would be just one of the 
 things which could cool my fever and help my 
 arm." 
 
 But the Princess interposed, sternly, and getting 
 really annoyed with him, he was forced to go. But 
 first he kissed her hand and thanked her and purred 
 affection and gratitude with his astonishing charm, 
 and the Princess* voice grew more and more 
 mollified as she said: "There there what a boy! 
 Gritzko, dear child, begone!" 
 
 And all this while, with her long eyelashes resting 
 upon her cheek, Tamara apparently slept peace- 
 fully on. 
 
 215
 
 HIS HOUR 
 
 But when the door was safely shut and bolted, 
 the Princess addressed her. 
 
 " You are not really asleep, Tamara, I suppose," 
 she said. "You have heard? Is he not difficult. 
 What is one to do with him? I can never remain 
 angry long. Those caresses! Mon Dieu! I wish 
 you would love each other and marry and go and 
 live at Milasldv, and then we others might have a 
 little peace and calm!" 
 
 "Marry him," and Tamara raised herself in 
 bed. "One might as well marry a panther in a 
 jungle, it would be quite as safe!" she said. 
 
 But the Princess shook her head. "There you 
 are altogether wrong," she replied. "Once there 
 were no continuous obstacles to his will, he would 
 be gentle and adoring, he would be as tender and 
 thoughtful as he is to me when I am ill." 
 
 Then into Tamara 's brain there rushed visions 
 of the unutterable pleasure this tenderness would 
 mean, and she said: 
 
 "Don't let us talk; I want to sleep, Marraine." 
 
 And in the morning they arrived at Moscow.
 
 CHAPTER XVI 
 
 E whole day of the sight-seeing passed 
 with comparative smoothness, Tamara 
 persistently remained with Sonia's hus- 
 band or Stephen Strong, when any moment came 
 that she should be alone with any man. 
 
 She was apparently indifferent to Gritzko, 
 considering that she was throbbing with interest 
 in his every movement and inwardly longing to 
 talk to him she kept up the rdle she had set herself 
 to play very well. It was not an agreeable one, 
 and but for the inward feverish excitement she 
 would have suffered much pain. 
 
 Gritzko for his part seemed whimsically in- 
 different for most of the time, but once now and 
 then the Princess, who watched things as the 
 god in the car, experienced a sense of uneasiness. 
 And yet she could not suggest any other line of 
 conduct for Tamara to pursue. But on the whole 
 the day was a success. 
 
 The two young English guests had both been 
 217
 
 HIS HOUR 
 
 extremely interested in what they saw. Stephen 
 Strong was an old hand and knew it intimately, 
 and the whole party was so merry and gay. The 
 snow fortunately had held, and they rushed about 
 in little sleighs seeing the quaint buildings and 
 picturesque streets and the churches with their 
 bright gilt domes. Moscow was really Russian, 
 Prince Solentzeff-Zasiekin told them, unlike Peters- 
 burg, which at a first glance might be Berlin or 
 Vienna, or anywhere else; but Moscow is like no 
 other city in the world. 
 
 "How extremely good you Russians must be," 
 Tamara said. "The quantities of churches you 
 have, and everywhere the people seem so devout. 
 Look at them kissing that Ikon in the street! Such 
 faith is beautiful to see." 
 
 "Our faith is our safeguard," her companion 
 said. "When the people become sufficiently edu- 
 cated to have doubts then, indeed, a sad day will 
 come." 
 
 "They have such grave patient faces, don't 
 
 you think?" said Stephen Strong. "It is not 
 
 exactly a hopeless expression, it is more one of 
 
 resignation. Whenever I come here I feel of what 
 
 218
 
 HIS HOUR 
 
 use is strife, and yet after a while they make one 
 melancholy." 
 
 They were waiting by the house of the Romanoffs, 
 for their guide to open the door, and just then a 
 batch of beggars passed, their wild hah* and terribly 
 ragged sheepskins making them a queer gruesome 
 sight. They craved alms with the same patient 
 smile with which they thanked when money was 
 given. Misery seemed to stalk about a good 
 deal. 
 
 "How could a great family have lived in this tiny 
 house?" Tamara asked. "Really, people in olden 
 times seem to have been able to double up any- 
 where. Pray look at this bedroom and this ridicu- 
 lous bed!" 
 
 "It will prepare you for what you are coming 
 to at Milaslav," Gritzko said. "A row of tent 
 stretchers for everyone together in the hall ! " 
 
 Tamara made no answer, she contrived to move 
 on directly he spoke, and her reply now was to 
 the general company, as it had been all day. 
 
 If she had looked back then she would have 
 seen a gleam in his eyes which boded no peace. 
 She thought she was doing everything for the best, 
 is 219
 
 HIS HOUR 
 
 but each rebuff was adding fuel to that wild fire 
 in his blood. 
 
 By the end of the day, after walks through the 
 Treasury and museums, and what not, and never 
 having been able to speak to Tamara, his temper 
 was at boiling point. But he controlled it, and 
 his face wore a mask, which disarmed even the 
 Princess' fears. 
 
 Their dinner was very gay, and the Russians 
 asked Lord Courtray what had impressed him most. 
 
 "I like the story of Ivan the Terrible putting 
 his jolly old alpenstock through the fellow's foot 
 on the stairs when he came with the letter," Jack 
 said. "Sensible sort of thing to do. Kept the 
 messenger in place." 
 
 Meanwhile Tamara was conversing in a lower 
 voice with Stephen Strong. 
 
 "The more you stay in this country, the more 
 it fascinates you," he said. "And you feel you 
 have got back to some of the fierce primitive pas- 
 sions of nature. Here, in Moscow, the whole 
 earth must be stained with wild orgies and blood, 
 and yet they are full of poetry and romance. Even 
 Ivan the Terrible had his religious side, and every 
 220
 
 HIS HOUR 
 
 creature of them believes in the saints and the 
 priests. It is said the impostor who posed as Ivan's 
 son might have succeeded had he not been too 
 kind, he showed clemency to Shuisky and his 
 enemies and did not have them torn to pieces, so the 
 people would not believe he could be the Terrible's 
 son! And they chased him to that window you 
 remember we saw in the old palace of the Kremlin 
 and there he had to throw himself out." 
 
 "It makes one wonder what can arise from a 
 history of such horrible crimes," Tamara said. 
 
 "You must not forget that the country is prac- 
 tically three hundred years behind the times, 
 though," Stephen Strong went on. "No doubt 
 quite as great horrors marked others if we look at 
 them at an equivalent stage of development. It is 
 missing this point which makes most strangers, 
 and many foreign historians, so unjust to Russia 
 and her people. The national qualities are im- 
 measurably great, but as a civilized nation they are 
 so very young." 
 
 "I believe one could grow to love them," Tamara 
 said. "I have never had the feeling that I am 
 among strangers since I have been here." 
 221
 
 HIS HOUR 
 
 Then she wondered vaguely why Stephen Strong 
 smiled softly to himself. 
 
 By the end of dinner, Gritzko's eyes were blazing, 
 and he suggested every sort of astonishing way to 
 spend the night. But Princess Ardacheff, as the 
 doyenne of the party, prudently put her foot 
 down, and insisted upon bed. For had they not 
 a whole morning of sight-seeing still to do on the 
 morrow, and then their thirty versts in troikas 
 to arrive at Milaslav. So the ladies all trouped 
 off to rest. 
 
 "Leave your door open into my room, Tamara 
 dear, if you do not mind," her godmother said. 
 *'I am always nervous in hotels " 
 
 "I trust everything is going quietly," she added 
 to herself, "but one never can tell." 
 
 Next day the whole sky was leaden with un- 
 fallen snow. Nothing more strange and gloomy 
 and barbaric than Moscow looked could have been 
 imagined, Tamara thought. It brought out the 
 gilt domes and the unusual colors of things in a 
 lurid way. 
 
 Their first visit was to the Church of the Assump- 
 tion, where the emperors are crowned. Its great 
 222
 
 HIS HOUR 
 
 beauty and rich colors pleased the eye. The totally 
 different arrangement of things from any other sort 
 of church the shape and the absence of chairs 
 or seats the hidden altar behind the doors of the 
 sanctuary the numerous pictures and frescoed 
 walls all gave it a mysterious, wonderful charm, 
 and here again the two English were struck by the 
 people's simple faith. 
 
 "We would catch every sort of disease kissing 
 those Ikons after filthy ulcerated beggars," Stephen 
 Strong said to Tamara. "But the belief that 
 only good can come to them brings only good. 
 The study of these people makes one less material- 
 istic and full of common sense. One puts more 
 credence in things occult." 
 
 A service was just beginning, it was some high 
 saint's day, and the beautiful singing, the boys' 
 angel voices and the deep bass of the priests, un- 
 accompanied by any instruments or organ, im- 
 pressed Tamara far more in this old temple than 
 the services had done in any of the St. Petersburg 
 churches. 
 
 A peace fell on her soul, and just as the gipsies' 
 music had been of the devil, so this seemed to come 
 223
 
 HIS HOUR 
 
 from heaven itself. She felt calmed and happier 
 when they came out. 
 
 After an early lunch they saw from the hotel 
 windows three troikas drawn up. Two of them 
 Gritzko's, and one belonging to Prince Solentzeff- 
 Zasiekin, who had also a country place in the 
 neighbourhood. 
 
 The two, which had come a day or so before from 
 MilaslaV, were indeed wonderful turn-outs. The 
 Prince prided himself upon his horses, which were 
 renowned throughout Europe. 
 
 The graceful shaped sleighs, with the drivers 
 in their quaint liveries standing up to drive, 'always 
 unconsciously suggest that their origin must have 
 been some chariot from Rome. 
 
 Gritzko's colors were a rich greenish-blue, 
 while the reins and velvet caps and belts of the 
 drivers were a dull cerise; the caps were braided 
 with silver, while they and the coats and the blue 
 velvet rugs were lined and bordered with sable. 
 One set of horses was coal black, and the others 
 a dark gray. Everything seemed in keeping with 
 the buildings, and the semi-Byzantine scene with 
 its Oriental note of picturesque grace. 
 224
 
 HIS HOUR 
 
 "Which will you choose to go in, Madame?" 
 Gritzko asked. "Shall you be drawn by the blacks 
 or the grays ? " 
 
 "I would prefer the blacks," Tamara replied. 
 "I always love black horses, and these are such 
 beautiful ones." And so it was arranged. 
 
 " If you will come with Stephen and me, Tantine," 
 the Prince said, "we shall be the lighter load and 
 get there first. Madame Loraine and Olga can 
 go with Serge and Lord Courtray, they will take 
 the blacks; that leaves Valonne for Sonia and her 
 husband. Will this please everyone?" 
 
 Apparently it did, for thus they started. It 
 was an enchanting drive over the snow. They 
 seemed to fly along, once they had left the town, 
 and the weird bleak country, unmarked by any 
 boundaries, impressed both Tamara and Jack. 
 And while Tamara was speculating upon its mys- 
 tical side, Lord Courtray was gauging its pos- 
 sibilities for sport. 
 
 They at last skirted a dark forest, which seemed 
 to stretch for miles, and then after nearly three 
 hours' drive arrived at the entrance to Milasldv. 
 
 They went through a wild, rough sort of park,
 
 HIS HOUR 
 
 and then came in view of the house a great place 
 with tall Ionic pillars supporting the front, and 
 wings on each side while beyond, stretching 
 in an irregular mass, was a wooden structure of a 
 much earlier date. 
 
 It all appeared delightfully incongruous and a 
 trifle makeshift to Tamara and Jack when they 
 got out of their sleigh and were welcomed by their 
 host. 
 
 A bare hall, at one side showing discolored 
 marks of mould on the wall, decorated in what 
 was the Russian Empire style, a beautiful concep- 
 tion retaining the classic lines of the French and 
 yet with an added richness of its own. Then on 
 up to a first floor above a low rez de chaussee by 
 wide stairs. These connecting portions of the 
 house seemed unfurnished and barren, walls of 
 stone or plaster with here and there a dilapidated 
 decoration. It almost would appear as if they 
 were meant to be shut off from the living rooms^ 
 like the hall of a block of flats. The whole thing 
 struck a strange note. There were quantities of 
 servants in their quaint liveries about, and when 
 finally they arrived in a great saloon it was bright 
 226
 
 HIS HOUR 
 
 and warm, though there was no open fireplace, 
 only the huge porcelain stove. 
 
 Here the really beautiful, though rather florid 
 Alexander I. style struggled from the walls with 
 an appalling set of furniture of the period of Alex- 
 ander II. But the whole thing had an odd unfin- 
 ished look, and a fine portrait of the Prince's 
 grandfather in one panel was entirely riddled with 
 shot! 
 
 Some splendid skins of bears and wolves were 
 on the floor, and there was a general air of the room 
 being lived in though magnificence and dilapi- 
 dation mingled everywhere. The very rich bro- 
 cade on one of the sofas had the traces of great 
 rents. And while one table held cigarette cases 
 and cigar boxes in the most exquisitely fine enamel 
 set with jewels, on another would be things of the 
 roughest wood. And a cabinet at the side filled 
 with a priceless collection of snuff boxes and bon- 
 bonnitres of Catherine's time had the glass of one 
 door cracked into a star of splinters. 
 
 Tamara had a sudden sensation of being a mil- 
 lion miles away from England and her family: it 
 all came as a breath of some other life. She felt 
 227
 
 HIS HOUR 
 
 strangely nervous, she had not the least notion 
 why. There was a reckless look about things 
 which caused a weird thrill. 
 
 "If it were only arranged, what capabilities it all 
 has," she thought; "but as it is, it seems to speak 
 of Gritzko and fierce strife." 
 
 Tea and the usual quantities of bonnes bouches 
 and vodka waited them and a bowl of hot punch. 
 
 And all three English people, Stephen Strong, 
 Tamara and Jack, admired their host's gracious 
 welcome, and his courtly manners. Not a trace 
 of the wild Gritzko seemed left. 
 
 Tamara wondered secretly what their sleeping 
 accommodation would be like. 
 
 "Tantine, you must act hostess for me. Will 
 you show these ladies their rooms," the Prince 
 said. "Dinner is at eight o'clock, but you have 
 lots of time before for a little bridge if you want." 
 
 He took them through the usual amount of 
 reception-rooms a billiard-room and library, and 
 small boudoir and then they came out on another 
 staircase which led to the floor above. Here he 
 left them and returned to the men. 
 
 " This was done up by the late Princess, Tamara,"
 
 HIS HOUR 
 
 her godmother said. "Even twenty years ago 
 the taste was perfectly awful, as you can see. 
 The whole house could be made beautiful if only 
 there was someone who cared though I expect 
 we shall be comfortable enough." 
 
 The top passage proved to be wide, but only 
 distempered in two colors, like the walls of a sta- 
 tion waiting-room. Not the slightest attempt to 
 beautify or furnish with carved chairs, and cabinets 
 of china, and portraits and tapestry on the walls, 
 as in an English house. In the passage all was 
 as plain as a barrack. 
 
 Tamara's room and the Princess' joined. 
 They were both gorgeously upholstered in crude 
 blue satin brocade, and full of gilt heavy furniture, 
 but in each there was a modern brass bed. 
 
 They were immense apartments, and warm 
 and bright, monuments of the taste of 1878. 
 
 "Is it not incredible, Marraine, that with the 
 beautiful models of the eighteenth century in front 
 of them, people could have perpetrated this? 
 Waves of awful taste seem to come, and artists lose 
 their sense of beauty and produce the grotesque." 
 
 "This is a paradise compared to some," the 
 229
 
 HIS HOUR 
 
 Princess laughed. "You should see my sister-in- 
 law's place!" 
 
 One bridge table was made up already when 
 they got back to the saloon, and Sonia, Serge 
 Grekoff and Valonne, only waited the Princess' 
 advent to begin their game. 
 
 It seemed to be an understood thing that Gritzko 
 and his English guest should be left out, and so 
 practically alone. 
 
 "I feel it is my duty to learn to play better," 
 Tamara said, "so I am going to watch." 
 
 He put down his hand and seized her wrist. 
 "You shall certainly not," he said. "You cannot 
 be so rude as deliberately to controvert your host. 
 It is my pleasure that you shall sit here and talk." 
 
 His eyes were flashing, and Tamara's spirit rose. 
 
 "What a savage you are, Prince," she laughed. 
 "Everything must be only as you wish! That I 
 want to watch the bridge does not enter into your 
 consideration." 
 
 "Not a bit." 
 
 "Well, then, since I must stay here I shall be 
 disagreeable and not say a word." 
 
 And she sat down primly and folded her hands. 
 230
 
 HIS HOUR 
 
 He lit a cigarette, and she noticed his hand 
 trembled a little, but his voice was quite steady, 
 and in fact low as he said: 
 
 "I tell you frankly, if you go on treating me as 
 you have done to-day, whatever happens is on 
 your head." 
 
 "Do you mean to strangle me then? or have 
 me torn up by dogs?" and Tamara smiled 
 provokingly. With all the others in the room, 
 and almost within earshot, she felt perfectly safe. 
 
 She had suffered so much, it seemed good to 
 oppose him a little, when it could not entail a duel 
 with some unoffending man! 
 
 "I do not know yet what I shall be impelled to 
 do, only I warn you, if you tease me, you will pay 
 the price." And he puffed a cloud of smoke. 
 
 "He can do nothing to-night," Tamara thought, 
 "and to-morrow we are going back to Moscow, 
 and then I am returning home." A spirit of 
 devilment was in her. Nearly always it had been 
 he who regulated things, and now it was her turn. 
 She had been so very unhappy, and had only the 
 outlook of dullness and regret. To-night she 
 would retaliate, she would do as she felt inclined. 
 231
 
 HIS HOUR 
 
 So she leaned back in her chair and smiled, 
 making a tantalizing moue at him, while she said, 
 mockingly: 
 
 "Aren't you a barbarian, Prince! Only the 
 days of Ivan the Terrible are over, thank goodness !" 
 
 He took a chair and sat down quietly, but the 
 tone of his voice should have warned her as he 
 said: 
 
 "You are counting upon the unknown." 
 
 She peeped at him now through half-closed 
 alluring lids, and she noticed he was very pale. 
 
 In her quiet, well-ordered life she had never 
 come in contact with real passion. She had not 
 the faintest idea of the vast depths she was stirring. 
 All she knew was she loved him very much, and 
 the whole thing galled her pride horribly. It 
 seemed a satisfaction, a salve to her wounded 
 vanity, to be able to make him feel, to punish him 
 a little for all her pain, 
 
 * Think! This time next week. I shall be safe 
 in peaceful England, where we have not to com- 
 bat the unknown." 
 
 "No?" 
 
 "No. Marraine and I have settled everything. 
 232
 
 HIS HOUR 
 
 1 take the Wednesday's Nord Express after we 
 get back to Petersburg." 
 
 "And to-morrow is Friday, and there are yet 
 five days. Well, we must contrive to show you 
 some more scenes of our uncivilized country, and 
 perhaps after all you won't go." 
 
 Tamara laughed with gay scorn. She put out 
 her little foot and tapped the edge of the great 
 stove. 
 
 "For once I shall do as I please, Prince. I shall 
 not ask your leave!" 
 
 His eyes seemed to gleam, and he lay perfectly 
 still in his chair like some panther watching its 
 prey. Tamara 's blood was up. She would not 
 be dominated! She continued mocking and defy- 
 ing him until she drove him gradually mad. 
 
 But on one thing she had counted rightly, he 
 could do nothing with them all in the room. 
 
 First one and then another left their game, and 
 joined them for a few minutes, and then went back. 
 
 And so in this fashion the late afternoon passed 
 and they went up to dress. 
 
 No one was down in the great saloon when 
 Tamara and the Princess descended for dinner,
 
 HIS HOUR 
 
 but as they entered, Stephen Strong and Valonne 
 came in from the opposite door and joined them 
 near the stove, and Tamara and Valonne talked, 
 while the other two wandered to a distant couch. 
 
 "Have you ever been to any of these wonderful 
 parties one hears have taken place, Count Valonne ?" 
 she asked. 
 
 Valonne smiled his enigmatic smile. "Yes," 
 he said. "I have once or twice perhaps you 
 think this room shows traces of some rather violent 
 amusements, and really on looking round, I 
 believe it does!" 
 
 Tamara shivered slightly. She had the feeling 
 known as a goose walking over her grave. 
 
 "It is as if wild animals played here hardly 
 human beings," she said. "Look at that cabinet, 
 and the sofa, and and that picture! One can- 
 not help reflecting upon what caused those holes. 
 One's imagination can conjure up extraordinary 
 things." 
 
 "Not more extraordinary than the probable 
 facts," and Valonne laughed as if at some astonish- 
 ing recollection. "You have not yet seen our 
 host's own rooms though, I expect ?" 
 234
 
 HIS HOUR 
 
 "Why?" asked Tamara. "But can they pos- 
 sibly be worse than this?" 
 
 "No, that is just it. He had them done up by 
 one of your English firms, and they are beauti- 
 fully comfortable and correct. His sitting-room 
 is full of books, and a few good pictures, and leads 
 into his bedroom and dressing-room; and as for 
 the bathroom it is as perfect as any the best Ameri- 
 can plumber could invent!" 
 
 Valonne had spent years at Washington, and in 
 England too, and spoke English almost as a native. 
 
 "He is the most remarkable contrast of wildness 
 and civilization I have ever met." 
 
 "It always seems to me as though he were trying 
 to crush something to banish something in him- 
 self," said Tamara. "As though he did these wild 
 things to forget." 
 
 "It is the limitless nature warring against an 
 impossible bar. If he were an Englishman he 
 would soar to be one of the greatest of your country, 
 Madame," Valonne said. "You have not perhaps 
 talked to him seriously; he is extraordinarily well 
 read; and then on some point that we of the Occi- 
 dent have known as children, he will be completely 
 16 235
 
 HIS HOUR 
 
 ignorant, but he never bores one! Nothing he does 
 makes one feel heavy like lead!" 
 
 Tamara looked so interested, Valonne went on. 
 
 "These servants down here absolutely idolize 
 him; they have all been in the house since he or 
 they were born. For them he can do no wrong. 
 He has a gymnasium, and he keeps two or three of 
 them to exercise him, and wrestle with him, and 
 last year Basil, the second one, put his master's 
 shoulder out of joint, and then tried to commit 
 suicide with remorse. You can't, until you have 
 been here a long time, understand their strange 
 natures. So easily moved to passion, so fierce and 
 barbaric, and yet so full of sentiment and fidelity. 
 I firmly believe if he were to order them to set 
 fire to us all in our beds to-night, they would 
 do it without a word! He is their personal 'Little 
 Father.' For them there is a trinity to worship and 
 respect the Emperor, God, and their Master." 
 
 Tamara felt extremely moved. A passionate wild 
 regret swept over her. Oh! why might not fate let 
 him love her really, so that they could be happy. 
 How she would adore to soothe him, and be tender 
 and gentle and obedient, and bring him peace! 
 236
 
 HIS HOUR 
 
 But just at that moment, with an air of exasper- 
 ating insouciant insolence, he came into the room 
 and began chaffing with Valonne, and turning to 
 her said something which set her wounded pride 
 again all aflame, and burning with impotence and 
 indignation she, as the strange guest, put her hand 
 on his arm to go in to dinner. 
 
 Zacouska was partaken of, and then the serious 
 repast began. Every one was hi the highest 
 spirits. Countess Olga and Lord Courtray looked 
 as though they were getting on with giant strides. 
 Jack had got to the whispering stage, which 
 Tamara knew to be a serious one with him. The 
 whole party became worked up to a point of extra 
 gaiety. On her other hand sat Sonia's husband, 
 Prince Solentzeff-Zasiekin. But Gritzko sparkled 
 with brilliancy and seemed to lead the entire 
 table. 
 
 There was something so extremely attractive 
 about him in his character of host that Tamara 
 felt she dared hardly look at him or she could not 
 possibly keep up this cold reserve if she did! 
 
 So she turned and talked, and apparently listened, 
 with scarcely a pause to her right-hand neighbor's 
 237
 
 HIS HOUR 
 
 endless dissertations upon Moscow, and while she 
 answered interestedly, her thoughts grew more and 
 more full of rebellion and unrest. 
 
 It was as if a needle had an independent will, 
 and yet was being drawn by a magnet against 
 itself. She had to use every bit of her force to keep 
 her head turned to Prince Solentzeff-Zasiekin, and 
 when Gritzko did address her, only to answer him 
 in monosyllables, stiffly, but politely, as a stranger 
 .guest should. 
 
 By the end of dinner he was again wild with rage 
 and exasperation. 
 
 When they got back to the great saloon, they 
 found the end of it had been cleared and a semi- 
 circle of chairs arranged for them to sit in and 
 watch some performance. It proved to be a troupe 
 >of Russian dancers and some Cossacks who made 
 a remarkable display with swords, while musi- 
 cians, in their national dress, accompanied the 
 performance. 
 
 Tamara and Lord Courtray had seen this same 
 
 sort of dancing in London when Russian troupes 
 
 gave their "turns," but never executed with such 
 
 wonderful fire and passion as this they witnessed 
 
 238
 
 HIS HOUR 
 
 now. The feats were quite extraordinary, and 
 one or two of the women were attractive-looking 
 creatures. 
 
 Gritzko's attitude toward them was that of the 
 benevolent master to highly trained valued hounds. 
 Indeed this feeling seemed to be mutual, the hounds 
 adoring their master with blind devotion, as all his 
 belongings did. 
 
 During most of the time he sat behind the 
 Princess, and whispered whatever conversation he 
 had in her ear; but every now and then he would 
 move to Princess Sonia or Countess Olga, and 
 lastly subsided close to Tamara, and bending over 
 leaned on the back of her chair. 
 
 He did not speak, but his close proximity caused 
 her to experience the exquisite physical thrill she 
 feared and dreaded. When her heart beat like 
 that, and her body tingled with sensation, it was 
 almost impossible to keep her head. 
 
 His fierceness frightened her, but when he was 
 gentle, she knew she melted at once, and only 
 longed to be in his arms. So she drew herself up 
 and shrank forward away from him, and began an 
 excited conversation with Stephen Strong. 
 239
 
 HIS HOUR 
 
 Gritzko got up abruptly and strode back to the 
 Princess. And soon tables and supper were brought 
 in, and there was a general move. 
 
 Tamara contrived to outwit him once more when 
 he came up to speak. It was the only way, she 
 felt. No half-measures would do now. She loved 
 him too much to be able to unbend an inch with 
 safety. Otherwise it would be all over with her, 
 and she could not resist. 
 
 They had been standing alone for an instant, 
 and he said, looking passionately into her eyes: 
 
 "Tamara, do you know you are driving me crazy 
 do you think it wise ?" 
 
 "I really don't care whether my conduct is wise 
 or not, Prince," she replied. "As I told you, to- 
 night, and from now onward, I shall do as I 
 please." And she gathered all her forces together 
 to put an indifferent look on her face. 
 
 "So be it then," he said, and turned instantly 
 away, and for the rest of the time never addressed 
 her again. 
 
 The long drive in the cold had made every one 
 sleepy, and contrary to their usual custom, they 
 were all ready for bed soon after one o'clock, and 
 240
 
 HIS HOUR 
 
 to their great surprise Gritzko made no protest, but 
 let the ladies quietly go. 
 
 Tamara's last thoughts before she closed her 
 weary eyes were, what a failure it all had been! 
 She had succeeded in nothing. She loved him 
 madly, and she was going back home. And if she 
 had made him suffer, it was no consolation! She 
 would much rather have been happy in his arms ! 
 
 Meanwhile, Gritzko had summoned Ivan, his 
 major domo, and the substance of his orders to 
 that humble slave was this. That early on the 
 morrow the stove was to be lit in the hut by the 
 lake, where at the time when the woodcock came 
 in quantities he sometimes spent the night waiting 
 for the dawn. 
 
 "And see that there is fodder for the horses," he 
 added. "And that Ste"pan drives my troika with 
 the blacks, and let the brown team be ready, too, 
 but neither of these to come round until the grays 
 have gone. And in the hut put food cold food 
 and some brandy and champagne." 
 
 The servant bowed in obedience and was prepar- 
 ing to leave the room. 
 
 "Oil the locks and put the key in my overcoat 
 241
 
 HIS HOUR 
 
 pocket," his master called again. And then he lit 
 another cigarette and drawing back the heavy 
 curtains looked out on the night. 
 
 It was inky black, the snow had not yet begun 
 to fall. 
 
 All promised well.
 
 CHAPTER XVII 
 
 had just begun to dress when 
 her godmother came into her room next 
 day. 
 
 "There is going to be a terrible snow storm, 
 dear," she said. "I think we should get' down 
 fairly early and suggest to Gritzko that we start 
 back to Moscow before lunch. It is no joke to be 
 caught in this wild country. I will send you in 
 Katia." 
 
 Tamara's maid had been left in Petersburg, and 
 indeed her godmother's, an elderly Russian ac- 
 customed to these excursions, had been the only one 
 brought. 
 
 "I won't be more than half an hour dressing," 
 she said. " Don't go down without me, Marraine." 
 
 And the Princess promised and returned to her 
 room. 
 
 "It has been a real success, our little outing, has 
 it not?" she said, when later they were descending 
 the stairs. "Gritzko has been so quiet and nice. 
 243
 
 HIS HOUR 
 
 I am so happy, dear child, that you can go away 
 now without that uncomfortable feeling of quarrel- 
 ing. There was one moment when he got up from 
 behind your chair last night I feared you had 
 angered him about something, but afterward he 
 was so gentle and charming when we talked I 
 felt quite reassured." 
 
 " Yes, indeed," feebly responded Tamara. " The 
 party has been positively tame ! " 
 
 They found their host had gone with Jack and 
 the rest of the men to the stables to inspect his 
 famous teams. But Princess Sonia and Countess 
 Olga were already down. They were smoking 
 lazily, and had almost suggested a double dummy 
 of their favorite game. 
 
 They hailed the two with delight, and soon the 
 four began a rubber, and Tamara, who hated it, 
 had to keep the whole of her attention to try and 
 avoid making some mistake. 
 
 Thus an hour past, and first Stephen Strong 
 and then the other men came in. 
 
 Jack Courtray was enthusiastic about the horses, 
 and indeed the whole thing. He and Gritzko 
 had arranged to go on a bear-hunt the following 
 244
 
 HIS HOUR 
 
 week, and everything looked cauleur de rose 
 except the sky, that continued covered with an 
 inky palL 
 
 The Princess beckoned to Gritzko and took 
 him aside. She explained her fears about the 
 storm, and the necessity of an earlier start, to which 
 he agreed. 
 
 " I am going to ask you to let us take Katia with 
 us, we have only the one maid, and must have her 
 in Moscow when we arrive," she said. 
 
 So thus it was arranged. The Princess and 
 Stephen Strong and Katia were to start first, and 
 Sonia and her husband would take both Serge 
 and Valonne, leaving Gritzko to bring Ta- 
 mara, Olga and Lord Courtray last. 
 
 All through the early lunch, which was now 
 brought in, nothing could have been more lamblike 
 than their host. He exerted himself to be sweetly 
 agreeable to every one, and the Princess, generally 
 so alert, felt tranquil and content, while Tamara 
 almost experienced a sense of regret. 
 
 Only Count Valonne, if he had been asked, 
 would have suggested but he was not officious 
 and kept his ideas to himself. 
 245
 
 HIS HOUR 
 
 The snow now began to fall, just a few thin 
 flakes, but it made them hurry their departure. 
 
 In the general chatter and chaff no one noticed 
 that Gritzko had never once spoken directly to 
 Tamara, but she was conscious of it, and instead 
 of its relieving her, she felt a sudden depression. 
 
 "You will be quite safe with Olga and your 
 friend, dearest," the Princess whispered to her 
 as she got into the first troika which came round. 
 "And we shall be only just in front of you." 
 
 So they waved adieu. 
 
 Then Princess Sonia's party started. The cold 
 was intense, and as the team of blacks had not yet 
 appeared, the host suggested the two ladies should 
 go back and wait in the saloon. 
 
 "Don't you think our way of herding in parties 
 here is quite ridiculous," he said to Jack, when 
 Olga and Tamara were gone. "After the rest get 
 some way on, I'll have round the brown team too. 
 It is going to be a frightful storm, and we shall 
 go much better with only two in each sleigh." 
 
 Jack was entirely of his opinion, from his Eng- 
 lish point of view, a party of four made two of them 
 superfluous. Countess Olga and himself were 
 246
 
 HIS HOUR 
 
 quite enough. So he expressed his hearty ap- 
 proval of this arrangement, and presently as they 
 smoked on the steps, the three brown horses trotted 
 up. 
 
 "I'll go and fetch Olga," Gritzko said, and as 
 luck would have it he met her at the saloon door. 
 
 "I had forgotten my muff," she said, "and had 
 just run up to fetch it." 
 
 Then he explained to her about the storm and 
 the load, and since it was a question of duty to the 
 poor horses, Countess Olga was delighted to let 
 pleasure go with it hand in hand. And she allowed 
 herself to be settled under the furs, with Jack, 
 without going back to speak to Tamara. Indeed, 
 Gritzko was so matter of fact she started without 
 a qualm. 
 
 "We shall overtake you in ten minutes," he 
 said. "The blacks are much the faster team." 
 And they gaily waved as they disappeared beyond 
 the bend of the trees. Then he spoke to his faithful 
 Ivan. "In a quarter of an hour let the blacks 
 come round." And there was again the gleam 
 of a panther in his eyes as he glanced at the snow. 
 
 All this while Tamara, seated by the saloon stove, 
 247
 
 HIS HOUR 
 
 was almost growing uneasy at being left so long 
 alone. What could Olga be doing to stay such a 
 time ? 
 
 Then the door opened, and the Prince came in. 
 
 "We must start now," he said, in a coldly polite 
 tone. "The storm is coming, and four persons 
 made too heavy a load; so Lord Courtray and 
 Olga have gone on." 
 
 Tamara's heart gave a great bound, but his 
 face expressed nothing, and her sudden fear calmed. 
 
 He was ceremoniously polite as he helped her in. 
 Nor did he sit too near her or change his manner 
 one atom as they went along. He hardly spoke; 
 indeed they both had to crouch down in the furs to 
 shelter from the blinding snow. And if Tamara 
 had not been so preoccupied with keeping her 
 woollen scarf tight over her head she would have 
 noticed that when they left the park gate they turned 
 to the right, in the full storm, not to the left, where 
 it was clearer and which was the way they had come. 
 
 At last the Prince said something to the coachman 
 in Russian, and the man shook his head the going 
 was terribly heavy. They seemed to be making 
 tracks for themselves through untrodden snow. 
 248
 
 HIS HOUR 
 
 " Ste*pan says we cannot possibly go much further, 
 and we must shelter in the shooting hut," Gritzko 
 announced, gravely; and again Tamara felt a 
 twinge of fear. 
 
 "But what has become of the others?" she 
 asked. "Why do we not see their tracks ?" 
 
 "They are obliterated in five minutes. You 
 do not understand the Russian storm," he said. 
 
 Tamara's heart now began to beat again rather 
 wildly, but she reasoned with herself; she was no 
 coward, and indeed why had she any cause for 
 alarm? No one could be more aloof than her 
 companion seemed. She was already numb with 
 cold too, and her common sense told her sheltei 
 of any sort would be acceptable. 
 
 They had turned into the forest by now, and 
 the road if road it could be called was rathei 
 more distinct. 
 
 It was a weird scene. The great giant pine 
 trees, and the fine falling flakes penetrating through, 
 the quickly vanishing daylight, and the mist rising 
 from the steaming horses as they galloped along; 
 while Ste'pan stood there urging them on like some 
 northern pirate at a ship's prow. 
 249
 
 HIS HOUR 
 
 At last the view showed the white frozen lake, 
 and by it a rough log hut. They came upon it 
 suddenly,, so that Tamara could only realize it 
 was not large and rather low, when they drew up 
 at the porch. 
 
 At the time she was too frozen and miserable to 
 notice that the Prince unlocked the door, but 
 afterward she remembered she should have been 
 struck by the strangeness of his having a key. 
 
 He helped her out, and she almost fell she was 
 so stiff with cold, and then she found herself, 
 after passing through a little passage, in a warm, 
 large room. It had a stove at one end, and the 
 walls, distempered green, had antlers hung round. 
 There was one plain oak table and a bench behind 
 it, a couple of wooden arm-chairs, a corner cup- 
 board, and an immense couch with leather cush- 
 ions, which evidently did for a bed, and on the 
 floor were several wolf skins. 
 
 The Prince made no explanation as to why 
 there was a fire, he just helped her off with her 
 furs without a word; he hung them up on a peg 
 and then divested himself of his own. 
 
 He wore the brown coat to-day, and was hand- 
 250
 
 HIS HOUR 
 
 some as a god. Then, after he had examined the 
 stove and looked from the window, he quietly 
 left the room. 
 
 The contrast of the heat after the intense cold 
 without made a tingling and singing in Tamara's 
 ears. She was not sure, but thought she heard 
 the key turn in the lock. She started to her, feet 
 from the chair where she sat and rushed to try the 
 door, and this time her heart again gave a terrible 
 bound, and she stood sick with apprehension. 
 
 The door was fastened from without. 
 
 For a few awful moments which seemed an 
 eternity, she was conscious of nothing but an 
 agonized terror. She could not reason or decide 
 how to act. And then her fine courage came back, 
 and she grew more calm. 
 
 She turned to the window, but that was double, 
 and tightly shut and fastened up. There was no 
 other exit, only this one door. Finding escape 
 hopeless, she sat down and waited the turn of 
 events. Perhaps he only meant to frighten her, 
 perhaps there was some reason why the door must 
 be barred; perhaps there were bears in this terribly 
 lonely place. 
 
 17 251
 
 HIS HOUR 
 
 She sat there reasoning with herself and con- 
 trolling her nerves for moments which appeared 
 like hours, and then she heard footsteps in the 
 passage, breaking the awful silence, and the door 
 opened, and Gritzko strode into the room. 
 
 He locked it after him, and pocketed the key; 
 then he faced her. What she saw in his passionate 
 eyes turned her lips gray with fear. 
 
 And now everything of that subtle thing in 
 womankind which resists capture, came upper- 
 most in Tamara's spirit. She loved him but 
 even so she would not be taken. 
 
 She stood holding on to the rough oak table 
 like a deer at bay, her face deadly white, and her 
 eyes wide and staring. 
 
 Then stealthily the Prince drew nearer, and 
 with a spring seized her and clasped her in his 
 arms. 
 
 "Now, now, you shall belong to me," he cried. 
 "You are mine at last, and you shall pay for the 
 hours of pain you have made me suffer!" and he 
 rained mad kisses on her trembling lips. 
 
 A ghastly terror shook Tamara. This man 
 whom she loved, to whom in happier circumstances 
 252
 
 HIS HOUR 
 
 she might have ceded all that he asked, now only 
 filled her with frantic fear. But she would not 
 give in, she would rather die than be conquered. 
 
 "Gritzko oh, Gritzko! please please don't!" 
 she cried, almost suffocated. 
 
 But she knew as she looked at him that he was 
 beyond all hearing. 
 
 His splendid eyes blazed with the passion of a 
 wild beast. She knew if she resisted him he would 
 kill her. Well, better death than this hideous 
 disgrace. 
 
 He held her from him for a second, and then 
 lifted her in his arms. 
 
 But with the strength of terrified madness she 
 grasped his wounded arm, and in the second in 
 which he made a sudden wince, she gave an eel- 
 like twist and slipped from his grasp, and as she 
 did so she seized the pistol in his belt and stood 
 erect while she placed the muzzle to her own 
 white forehead. 
 
 "Touch me again, and I will shoot!" she gasped, 
 and sank down on the bench almost exhausted 
 behind the rough wooden table. 
 
 He made a step forward, but she lifted the 
 253
 
 HIS HOUR 
 
 pistol again to her head and leant her arm on 
 the board to steady herself. And thus they glared 
 at one another, the hunter and the hunted. 
 
 "This is very clever of you, Madame," he said; 
 "but do you think it will avail you anything? 
 You can sit like that all night, if you wish, but 
 before dawn I will take you." 
 
 Tamara did not answer. 
 
 Then he flung himself on the couch and lit a 
 cigarette, and all that was savage and cruel in him 
 flamed from his eyes. 
 
 "My God! what do you think it has been like 
 since the beginning?" he said. "Your silly prud- 
 ish fears and airs. And still I loved you madly 
 loved you. And since the night when I kissed 
 your sweet lips you have made me go through 
 hell cold and provoking and disdainful, and last 
 night when you defied me, then I determined 
 you should belong to me by force; and now it is 
 only a question of time. No power in heaven or 
 earth can save you Ah! if you had been different, 
 how happy we might have been! But it is too 
 late; the devil has won, and soon I will do what 
 I please." 
 
 254
 
 HIS HOUR 
 
 Tamara never stirred, and the strain of keeping 
 the pistol to her head made her wrist ache. 
 
 For a long time there was silence, and the great 
 heat caused a mist to swim before her eyes, and 
 an overpowering drowsiness Oh, heaven! if un- 
 consciousness should come upon her! 
 
 Then the daylight faded quite, and the Prince 
 got up and lit a small oil lamp and set it on the 
 shelf. He opened the stove and let the glow 
 from the door flood through the room. 
 
 Then he sat down again. 
 
 A benumbing agony crept over Tamara; her 
 brain grew confused in the hot, airless room. 
 It seemed as if everything swam round her. All 
 she saw clearly were Gritzko's eyes. 
 
 There was a deathly silence, but for an occasional 
 moan of the wind in the pine trees. The drift of 
 snow without showed white as it gradually blocked 
 the window. 
 
 Were they buried here under the snow? Ah! 
 she must fight against this horrible lethargy. 
 
 It was a strange picture. The rough hut room 
 with its skins and antlers; the fair, civilized woman, 
 delicate and dainty in her soft silk blouse, sitting 
 255
 
 HIS HOUR 
 
 there with the grim Cossack pistol at her head 
 and opposite her, still as marble, the conquering 
 savage man, handsome and splendid in his picture- 
 esque uniform; and just the dull glow of the stove 
 and the one oil lamp, and outside the moaning 
 wind and the snow. 
 
 Presently Tamara's elbow slipped and the pistol 
 jerked forward. In a second the Prince had sprung 
 into an alert position, but she straightened her- 
 self, and put it back in its place, and he relaxed the 
 tension, and once more reclined on the couch. 
 
 And now there floated through Tamara's con- 
 fused brain the thought that perhaps it would be 
 better to shoot in any case shoot and have done 
 with it. But the instinct of her youth stopped her 
 suicide was a sin, and while she did not reason, 
 the habit of this belief kept its hold upon her. 
 
 So an hour passed in silence, then the agonizing 
 certainty came upon her that there must be an 
 end. Her arm had grown numb. 
 
 Strange lights seemed to flash before her eyes 
 Yes, surely that was Gritzko coming toward 
 her! 
 
 She gave a gasping cry and tried to pull the 
 256
 
 HIS HOUR 
 
 trigger, but it was stiff, her fingers had gone to 
 sleep and refused to obey her. The pistol dropped 
 from her nerveless grasp. 
 
 So this was the end! He would win. 
 
 She gave one moan and fell forward uncon- 
 scious upon the table. 
 
 With a bound Gritzko leaped up, and seizing her 
 in his arms carried her into the middle of the room. 
 Then he paused a moment to exult in his triumph. 
 
 Her little head, with its soft brown hair from 
 which the fur cap had fallen, lay helpless on his 
 breast. The pathetic white face, with its childish 
 curves and long eyelashes, resting on her cheek, 
 made no movement. The faint, sweet scent of a 
 great bunch of violets crushed in her belt came up 
 to him. 
 
 And as he fiercely bent to kiss her white, uncon- 
 scious lips, suddenly he drew back and all the 
 savage exultation went out of him. 
 
 He gazed at her for a moment, and then carried 
 her tenderly to the couch and laid her down. She 
 never stirred. Was she dead? Oh, God! 
 
 In frightful anguish he put his ear to her heart; 
 it did not seem to beat. 
 
 257
 
 HIS HOUR 
 
 In wild fear he tore open her blouse and wrenched 
 apart her fine underclothing, the better to listen. 
 Yes, now through only the bare soft skin he heard 
 a faint sound. Ah! saints in heaven! she was not 
 dead. 
 
 Then he took off her boots and rubbed her cold 
 little silk-stockinged feet, and her cold damp hands, 
 and presently as he watched, it seemed as if some 
 color came back to her cheeks, and at last she gave 
 a sigh and moved her head without opening her 
 eyes and then he saw that she was not uncon- 
 scious now, but sleeping. 
 
 Then the bounds of all his mad passion burst, 
 and as he knelt beside the couch, great tears suf- 
 fused his eyes and trickled down his cheeks. 
 
 " My Doushka ! my love !" he whispered, brokenly. 
 *'Oh, God! and I would have hurt you!" 
 
 He rose quickly, and going to the window opened 
 the ventilator at the top, picked up the pistol from 
 the table and replaced it in his belt, and then he 
 knelt once more beside Tamara, and with deepest 
 reverence bent down and kissed her feet. 
 
 "Sleep, sleep, my sweet Princess," he said softly, 
 and then crept stealthily from the room. 
 258
 
 CHAPTER XVIII 
 
 E light was gray when Tamara awoke, 
 though the lamp still burned more 
 than three parts of the window was 
 darkened by snow only a peep of daylight 
 flickered in at the top. 
 
 Where was she! What had happened? > ome ~ 
 thing ghastly but what P 
 
 Then she perceived her torn blouse, and with a 
 terrible pang remembrance came back to her. 
 
 She started up, and as she did so realized she 
 was only in her stockinged feet. 
 
 For a moment she staggered a little and then fell 
 back on the couch. 
 
 The awful certainty or so it seemed to her of 
 what had occurred came upon her, Gritzko had 
 won she was utterly disgraced. 
 
 The whole training of her youth thundered at 
 her. Of all sins, none had been thought so great 
 as this which had happened to her. 
 
 She was an outcast. She was no better than 
 259
 
 HIS HOUR 
 
 poor Mary Gibson whom Aunt Clara had with 
 harshness turned from her house. 
 
 She a- lady! a proud English lady! She 
 covered her face with her hands. What had her 
 anguish of mind been before, when compared with 
 this! She had suffered hurt to her pride the day 
 after he had kissed her, but now that seemed as 
 nothing balanced with such hideous disgrace. 
 
 She moaned and rocked herself to and fro. Wild 
 thoughts came where was the pistol? She would 
 end her life. 
 
 She looked everywhere, but it was gone. 
 
 Presently she crouched down in a corner like a 
 cowed dog, too utterly overcome with shame and 
 despair to move. 
 
 And there she still was when Gritzko entered 
 the room. 
 
 She looked up at him piteously, and with uncon- 
 scious instinct tried to pull together her torn blouse. 
 
 In a flash he saw what she thought, and one of 
 those strange shades in his character made him 
 come to a resolve. Not until she should lie willingly 
 in his arms herself given by love should he tell 
 her her belief was false. 
 
 260
 
 HIS HOUR 
 
 He advanced up the room with a grave quiet 
 face. His expression was inscrutable. She could 
 read nothing from his look. Her sick imagination 
 told her he was thus serene because he had won, 
 and she covered her face with her hands, while her 
 cheeks flamed, and she sobbed. 
 
 Her weeping hurt him he nearly relented but 
 as he came near she looked up. 
 
 No! Not in this mood would he win her! and 
 his resolve held. 
 
 She did not make him any reproaches; she just 
 sat there, a crumpled, pitiful figure in a corner on 
 the floor. 
 
 "The snowstorm is over," he said in a restrained 
 voice; "we can get on now. Some of my Moujiks 
 got here this morning, and I have been able to 
 send word to the Princess that she should not be 
 alarmed." 
 
 Then, as Tamara did not move, he put out his 
 hand and helped her up. She shuddered when he 
 touched her, and her tears burst out afresh. Where 
 was all her pride gone it lay trampled in the dust. 
 
 "You are tired and hungry, Madame," he said, 
 "and here is a looking-glass and a comb and 
 261
 
 HIS HOUR 
 
 brush," and he opened a door of the tall cupboard 
 which filled the corner opposite the stove, and took 
 the things ,out for her. "Perhaps you might like 
 to arrange yourself while I bring you some food." 
 
 "How can I face the others, with this blouse f 
 she exclaimed miserably, and then her cheeks 
 crimsoned again, and she looked down. 
 
 He did not make any explanation of how it had 
 got torn the moment was a wonderful one be- 
 tween them. 
 
 Over Tamara crept some strange emotion, and 
 he walked to the door quickly to prevent himself 
 from clasping her in his arms, and kissing away 
 her fears. 
 
 When she was alone the cunning of all Eve's 
 daughters filled her. Above all things she must 
 now use her ingenuity to efface these startling 
 proofs. She darted to the cupboard and searched 
 among the things there, and eventually found a 
 rough housewife, and chose out a needle and 
 coarse thread. It was better than nothing, so she 
 hurriedly drew off the blouse, then she saw her 
 torn underthings and another convulsive pang 
 went through her but she set to work. She 
 262
 
 HIS HOUR 
 
 knew that however she might make even the 
 blouse look to the casual eyes of her godmother, 
 she could never deceive her maid. Then the 
 thought came that fortunately Johnson was in 
 Petersburg, and all these things could be left 
 behind at Moscow. Yes, no one need ever know. 
 
 With feverish haste she cobbled up the holes, 
 glancing nervously every few moments to the door 
 in case Gritzko should come in. Then she put the 
 garment on again refastened her brooch and 
 brushed and recoiled her hair. What she saw in 
 the small looking-glass helped to restore her nerve. 
 Except that her eyes were red, and she was very 
 pale, she was tidy and properly clothed. 
 
 She sat down by the table and tried to think. 
 These outside things could still look right, but 
 nothing could restore her untarnished pride. 
 
 How could she ever take her blameless place in 
 the world again. 
 
 Once more it hurt Gritzko terribly to see the 
 woebegone, humbled, hopeless look on her face 
 as he came in and put some food on the table. 
 He cut up some tempting bits and put them on 
 her plate, while he told her she must eat and she 
 263
 
 HIS HOUR 
 
 obeyed mechanically. Then he poured out a 
 tumbler of champagne and made her drink it 
 down. It revived her, and she said she was ready 
 to start. But as she stood he noticed that all her 
 proud carriage of head was gone. 
 
 "My God! what should I feel like now?" he 
 said to himself, "if it were really true!'* 
 
 He wrapped her in her furs with cold politeness, 
 his manner had resumed the stiffness of their 
 yesterday's drive. 
 
 Suddenly she felt it was not possible there could 
 be this frightful secret between them. It must 
 surely be all a dreadful dream. 
 
 She began to speak, and he waited gravely for 
 what she would say; but the words froze on her 
 lips when she saw the pistol in his belt that 
 brought back the reality. She shuddered con- 
 vulsively and clenched her hands. He put on his 
 furs quietly and then opened the door. 
 
 He lifted her into the troika which was waiting 
 outside. Stefan's face, as he stood holding the 
 reins, was as stolid as though nothing unusual had 
 occurred. 
 
 So they started 
 
 264
 
 HIS HOUR 
 
 "I told the messenger to tell Tantine that we 
 were caught in the snow," he said, "and had to 
 take shelter at the farm. There is a farm a verst 
 to the right after one passes the forest. It contains 
 a comfortable farmer's wife and large family, and 
 though you found it too confoundedly warm in 
 their kitchen you passed a possible night. 
 
 "Very well," said Tamara with grim meekness. 
 
 Then there was silence. 
 
 Her thoughts became a little confused with 
 the intense cold and the effect of the champagne, 
 and once or twice she dozed off; and when he saw 
 this he drew her close to him and let her sleep with 
 her head against his arm, while he wrapped the 
 furs round her so that she felt no cold. Then he 
 kept watch over her tenderly, fondest love in his 
 eyes. She would wake sometimes with a start and 
 draw herself away, but soon fell off again, and in 
 this fashion, neither speaking, the hours passed and 
 they gradually drew near Moscow. 
 
 Then she woke completely with a shudder and 
 sat up straight, and so they came to the hotel and 
 found the Princess and the others anxiously waiting 
 for them. 
 
 265
 
 HIS HOUR 
 
 "What an unfortunate contretemps, Tamara, 
 dear child," her godmother said, "that wicked 
 storm! We only just arrived safely, and poor 
 Olga and your friend fared no better than you! 
 Imagine! they, too, had to take shelter in that 
 second village in a most horrible hovel, which they 
 shared with the cows. It has been too miserable 
 for you all four I am afraid." 
 
 But Gritzko was obliged to turn quickly away 
 to hide the irrepressible smile in his eyes really, 
 sometimes, fate seemed very kind. 
 
 So there was no scandal, only commiseration, 
 and both Countess Olga and Tamara were petted 
 and spoilt while, if there was a roguish note in 
 Valonne's sympathetic condolences, none of them 
 appeared to notice it. 
 
 However, no petting seemed to revive 
 Tamara. 
 
 "You have caught a thorough chill, I fear, dear- 
 est," the Princess said; and as they had missed their 
 sleeping berths engaged for the night before, and 
 were unable to get accommodation on the train again 
 for the night, they were forced to remain in Moscow 
 until the next day, so the Princess insisted upon 
 266
 
 HIS HOUR 
 
 her godchild going immediately to bed, while the 
 rest of the party settled down to bridge. 
 
 "It is a jolly thing, a snowstorm!" Lord Court- 
 ray said to Gritzko. "Isn't it? Ton my soul I 
 have never enjoyed the smell of cows and hay so 
 much in my life ! " 
 
 But upstairs in the stiff hotel bedroom Tamara 
 sobbed herself to sleep. 
 
 18
 
 CHAPTER XIX 
 
 E journey back to Petersburg passed in 
 a numb, hopeless dream for Tamara. 
 She did her best to be natural and gay, 
 but her white face, pinched and drawn, caused 
 her godmother to feel anxious about her. 
 
 Gritzko had bidden them good-bye at the train 
 he was going back to Milasldv to arrange for his 
 and Jack's bear-hunt and would not be in the 
 capital for two more days. That would be the 
 Tuesday, and Tamara was to leave on Wednesday 
 evening by the Nord Express. 
 
 He had kissed her hand with respectful reverence 
 as he said farewell, and the last she saw of him 
 was standing there in his gray overcoat and high 
 fur collar, a light in his eyes as they peered from 
 beneath his Astrakhan cap. 
 
 The Princess sent for the doctor next day they 
 arrived late at night at the Ardacheff house. 
 
 "Your friend has got a chill, and seems to have
 
 HIS HOUR 
 
 had a severe shock," he said when he came from 
 Tamara's room. "Make her rest in bed to-day, 
 and then distract her with cheerful society." 
 
 And the Princess pondered as she sat in the 
 blue salon alone. A shock what had happened ? 
 Could fear of the storm have caused a shock? 
 She felt very worried. 
 
 And poor Tamara lay limp in her bed; but every 
 now and then she would clench her hands in anguish 
 as some fresh aspect of things struck her. The 
 most ghastly moment of all came when she remem- 
 bered the eventual fate of Mary Gibson. 
 
 What if she also should have 
 
 "No! Oh, no!" she unconsciously screamed 
 aloud; and her godmother, coming into the room, 
 was really alarmed. 
 
 From this moment onward the horror of this 
 thought took root in her brain, and she knew no 
 peace. But her will and her breeding came to 
 her rescue. She would not lie there like an invalid; 
 she would get up and dress and go down to tea. 
 She would chaff with the others who would all 
 swarm to see her. No one should pity or speculate 
 about her. And she made Johnson garb her in 
 269
 
 HIS HOUR 
 
 her loveliest tea-gown, and then she went to the 
 blue salon. 
 
 And amidst the laughter and fun they had talking 
 of their adventure, no one but Stephen Strong 
 remarked the feverish unrest in her eyes, or the 
 bright, hectic flush in her cheeks. 
 
 When night came and she was alone again, her 
 thoughts made a hell; she could not sleep; she 
 paced her room. If Gritzko should not return on 
 Tuesday. If she should never see him again. 
 What what would happen if she too like 
 poor Mary Gibson 
 
 Next day the Tuesday at about eleven o'clock, 
 a servant in the MilaslaVski livery arrived with a 
 letter, a stiff-looking, large, sealed letter. She had 
 never seen Gritzko's writing before and she looked 
 at it critically as she tremblingly broke it open. 
 
 It was written from MilaslaV the day they had 
 left Moscow. It was short and to the point, and 
 her eyes dilated as she read. 
 
 It began thus: 
 
 "To MADAME LORAINE,- 
 
 "MADAME, I write to ask you graciously 
 to accord me the honor of your hand. If you 
 270
 
 HIS HOUR 
 
 will grant me this favor I will endeavor to make 
 
 you happy. 
 
 "I have the honor, Madame, to remain, 
 "Your humble and devoted serviteur, 
 
 "GREGOIR* MILASLAVSKI." 
 
 And as once before in her life Tamara's knees 
 gave way under her, and she sat down hurriedly 
 on the bed all power of thought had left her. 
 
 "The messenger waits, ma'am," her maid said, 
 stolidly, from the door. 
 
 Then she pulled herself together and went to 
 the writing-table. Her hand trembled, but she 
 steadied it, and wrote her answer 
 
 "To PRINCE MILASLAVSKI, 
 
 " MONSIEUR, I have no choice. I consent 
 "Yours truly, 
 
 "TAMARA LORAINE." 
 
 And she folded it, and placing it in the envelope, 
 she sealed it with her own little monogram seal, 
 in tender blue wax, and handed it to her maid, who 
 left the room. 
 
 Then she stared in front of her her arms crossed 
 
 * " Gritzko " is the diminutive of Gregoir. 
 
 271
 
 HIS HOUR 
 
 on the table but she could not have analyzed the 
 emotions which were flooding her being. 
 
 Her godmother found her there still as an image 
 when presently she came to ask after her health. 
 
 "Tamara! dearest child. You worry me dread- 
 fully. Confide in me, little one. Tell me what 
 has happened?" and she placed her kind arms 
 around her goddaughter's shoulders and caressed 
 and comforted her. 
 
 Tamara shivered, and then stood up. "I am 
 going to marry Gritzko, Marraine," she said. "I 
 have just sent him my answer." 
 
 And the Princess had too much tact to do more 
 than embrace her, and express her joy, and give 
 her her blessing. All as if the news contained no 
 flaw, and had come in the most delightful manner. 
 
 Then she left her alone in her room. 
 
 Yes, this was the only thing to be done, and 
 the sooner the ceremony should be over the better. 
 Lent would come on in a few short weeks; that 
 would be the excuse to hasten matters, and this 
 idea was all Tamara was conscious of as she 
 finished dressing. 
 
 At twelve o'clock, with formal ceremony, Prince 
 272
 
 HIS HOUR 
 
 Milasldvski sent to ask if the Princess Ardacheff 
 could receive him and soon after he was shown 
 up into the first salon, where the hostess awaited 
 him. 
 
 He was dressed in his blue and scarlet uniform, 
 and was groomed with even extra care, she noticed, 
 as he advanced with none of his habitual easy 
 familiarity to greet her. 
 
 "I come to ask your consent to my marriage 
 with your goddaughter, Tantine," he said, with 
 grave courtesy, as he kissed her hand. "She has 
 graciously promised to become my wife, and I 
 have only to secure your consent to complete my 
 felicity." 
 
 "Gritzko! my dear boy!" was all the Princess 
 could murmur. "If if you are sure it is for the 
 happiness of you both nothing of course could 
 give me greater joy; but " 
 
 "It will be for our happiness," he answered, 
 letting the hinted doubt pass. 
 
 Then his ceremonious manner melted a little, 
 and he again kissed his old friend's hand. " Dear 
 Tantine, have no fears. I promise you it shall be 
 for our happiness." 
 
 273
 
 HIS HOUR 
 
 The Princess was deeply moved. She knew 
 there must be something underneath all this, but 
 she was accustomed to believe Gritzko blindly, 
 and she felt that if he gave his word, things must 
 be right. She would ask no questions. 
 
 "Will you go and fetch my fiancee like the dar- 
 ling you are," he said presently, "I want you to 
 give her to me." 
 
 And the Princess, quite overcome with emotion, 
 left the room. 
 
 It was not like a triumphant prospective Princess 
 and bride that Tamara followed her godmother, 
 when they returned together. She looked a slender 
 drooping girl, in a clinging dove-colored gown, and 
 she hardly raised her eyes from the carpet. Her 
 trembling hand was cold as death when the Princess 
 took it and placed it in Gritzko's, and as they 
 stood receiving her blessing she kissed them both, 
 and then hurriedly made her exit. 
 
 When they were alone Tamara remained limp 
 and still, her eyes fixed on the ground. It was he 
 who broke the silence as he took her left hand, 
 and touched it with his lips. 
 
 He drew from her finger her wedding ring and 
 274
 
 HIS HOUR 
 
 carelessly put it on a table while he still held 
 her hand then he placed his gift in the wedding 
 ring's place, a glittering thing of an immense 
 diamond and ruby. 
 
 Tamara shivered. She looked down at her 
 hand, it seemed as if all safe and solid things were 
 slipping from her with the removal of that plain 
 gold band. She made no remark as to the beauty 
 of the token of her engagement, she did not thank 
 him, she remained inert and nerveless. 
 
 "I thank you, Madame, for your consent," 
 he said stiffly, "I will try to make you not regret 
 it." He used no word of love, nor did he attempt 
 any caresses, although if she had looked up she 
 would have seen the passionate tenderness brim- 
 ming in his eyes, which he could not conceal. But 
 she did not raise her head, and it all seemed to her 
 part of the same thing he knew he had sinned 
 against her, and was making the only reparation a 
 gentleman could offer. 
 
 And even now with her hand in his, and the 
 
 knowledge that soon she would be his Princess, 
 
 there was no triumph or joy, only the sick sense 
 
 of humiliation she felt. Passion, and its result 
 
 275
 
 HIS HOUR 
 
 necessity not love, had brought about this 
 situation. 
 
 So she stood there in silence. It required the 
 whole force of Gritzko's will to prevent him from 
 folding her shrinking pitiful figure in his strong 
 arms, and raining down kisses and love words 
 upon her. But the stubborn twist in his nature 
 retained its hold. No, that glorious moment should 
 come with a blaze of sunlight when all was won, 
 when he had made her love him in spite of 
 everything. 
 
 Meanwhile nothing but reserved homage, and a 
 settling of details. 
 
 "You will let the marriage take place before 
 Lent, won't you ?" he said, dropping her hand. 
 
 And Tamara answered dully. 
 
 "I will marry you as soon as you wish," and 
 she turned and sat down. 
 
 He leant on the mantlepiece and looked at her. 
 He understood perfectly the reason which made 
 her consent to any date and he smiled with some 
 strange powerful emotion and yet his eye had a 
 whimsical gleam. 
 
 "You are afraid that something can happen 
 276
 
 HIS HOUR 
 
 isn't it?" he said. "Well, I shall be most 
 
 pleased when that day comes." 
 
 But poor Tamara could not bear this the 
 crystalizing of her fears! With a stifled cry, she 
 buried her face in the cushions. He did not at- 
 tempt to comfort her though he could hardly 
 control his longing to do so. Instead of which he 
 said gravely, "I suppose you must communicate 
 with your family? They will come here perhaps 
 for the wedding? You have not to ask any one's 
 consent by the laws of your country, have you ? 
 being a widow." 
 
 Tamara with a shamed crimson face half raised 
 her head. 
 
 "I am free to do as I choose," she said, and she 
 looked down in crushed wretchedness. "Yes, 
 I suppose they will come to the wedding." 
 
 "Lent is such an excellent excuse," he went 
 on. "And all this society is accustomed to my 
 doing as I please, so there will be no great wonder 
 over the haste only I am sorry if it inconveniences 
 you such hurried preparation." 
 
 "How long is it before Lent?" Tamara asked 
 without interest. 
 
 277
 
 HIS HOUR 
 
 "Just under a month almost four weeks- 
 shall the wedding take place in about a fortnight? 
 Then we can go south to the sun to spend our 
 honeymoon." 
 
 "Just as you will;" Tamara agreed in a deadly 
 resigned voice. "I am always confused with the 
 dates the difference between the English and 
 Russian will you write down what it will be that 
 I may send it to my father?" 
 
 He picked up a calendar which lay upon 
 the table, and made the calculations, then he 
 jotted it all down on a card and handed it to 
 her. 
 
 She took it and never looking at him rose and 
 made a step toward the door, and as she passed 
 the table where he had put her wedding ring she 
 surreptitiously secured it. 
 
 "I suppose you are staying for lunch?" she said 
 in the same monotonous voice. " Can I go now ? 
 do you want to say any more ? " 
 
 "Tamara!" he exclaimed, with entreaty in his 
 tone, and then with quick repression he bowed 
 gravely and once more touched her hand with his 
 lips ere he held open the door for her. 
 278
 
 HIS HOUR 
 
 "I will be here when you return I will await 
 your pleasure." 
 
 So she left the room quietly. And when she was 
 gone he walked wildly up and down for a moment 
 then he bent and passionately kissed the cushion 
 she had leant on. 
 
 Tamara would learn what his love meant 
 when the day should come.
 
 CHAPTER XX 
 
 E lunch passed off with quiet reserve 
 there was no one present but Stephen 
 Strong. Tamara endeavored to behave 
 naturally and answered Gritzko whenever he spoke 
 to her. He, too, played his part, but the tone of 
 things did not impose upon Stephen Strong. 
 
 As they were leaving the dining-room, on the 
 plea of finding something, Tamara went to her 
 room, and Gritzko took his leave. 
 
 "I will fetch you for the French plays to-night, 
 Tantine," he said, "and probably will come back 
 to tea tell Tamara," and so he left, and the two 
 old friends were alone. 
 
 They stirred their coffee and then lit cigarettes 
 there was an awkward silence for a moment, and 
 then the Princess said: 
 
 "Stephen, I count upon you to help us all over 
 this. I do not, and will not, even guess what has 
 happened, but of course something has. Only 
 280
 
 HIS HOUR 
 
 tell me, do you think he loves her ? I cannot bear 
 the idea of Tamara's being unhappy." 
 
 The old Englishman puffed rings of smoke. 
 
 "If she is prepared never to cross his will, but 
 let him be absolute master of her body and soul, 
 while he makes continuous love to her, I should 
 think she will be the happiest woman in the world. 
 She is madly infatuated with him. She has been 
 ever since we came from Egypt I saw the begin- 
 ning on the boat and I warned you, as you know, 
 when I thought he was only fooling." 
 
 "In Egypt! they had met before then!" the 
 Princess exclaimed, surprised; "how like Gritzko 
 to pretend he did not know her, and be introduced 
 all over again! They had already quarreled, I 
 suppose, and that accounts for the cat and dog 
 like tone there has always been between them." 
 
 "Probably," said Stephen Strong; but now I 
 think we can leave it to chance. You may be 
 certain that to marry her is what he wishes most to 
 do, or he would not have asked her." 
 
 "Not even if he thought he ought to?" 
 
 "No dear friend. No! I believe I know 
 Gritzko even better than you do. If there was a 
 281
 
 HIS HOUR 
 
 sense of obligation, and no desire in the case, he 
 would simply shoot her and himself, rather than 
 submit to a fate against his inclination. You may 
 rest in peace about that. Whatever strain there 
 is between them, it is not of that sort. I believe he 
 adores her in his odd sort of way, just let them 
 alone now and all will be well." 
 
 And greatly comforted the Princess was able to 
 go out calling. 
 
 The news was received with every sort of emotion, 
 surprise, chagrin, joy, excitement, speculation, 
 and there were even those among them who averred 
 they had predicted this marriage all along. 
 
 "Fortunately we like her," Countess Olga said. 
 "She is a good sort, and perhaps she will keep 
 Gritzko quiet, and he may be faithful to her." 
 
 But this idea was laughed to scorn, until Valonne 
 joined in with his understanding smile. 
 
 "I will make you a bet," he said; "in five years' 
 time they will still be love-birds. She will be 
 the only one among this party who won't have 
 been divorced and have moved on to another 
 husband." 
 
 "You horribly spiteful cat!" Princess Sonia 
 282
 
 HIS HOUR 
 
 laughed. "But I am sure we all hope they will be 
 happy." 
 
 Meanwhile Jack Courtray had come in at once 
 to see Tamara. 
 
 "Well, upon my word! fancy you marrying a 
 foreigner, old girl!*' he said; "but you have got 
 just about the best chap I have ever met, and I 
 believe you'll be jolly happy." 
 
 And Tamara bent down so that he should not 
 see the tears which gathered in her eyes, while she 
 answered softly, "Thank you very much, Jack; 
 but no one is ever sure of being happy." 
 
 And even though Lord Courtray's perceptions 
 were rather thick he wondered at her speech it 
 upset him. 
 
 "Look here, Tamara," he said, "don't you do 
 it then if it is a chancy sort of thing. Don't go 
 and tie yourself up if you aren't sure you love him." 
 
 Love him! good God! 
 
 Pent-up feeling overcame Tamara. She an- 
 swered in a voice her old playmate had never 
 dreamed she possessed so concentrated and full 
 of passion. In their English lives they were so 
 accustomed to controlling every feeling into a level 
 19 283
 
 HIS HOUR 
 
 commonplace that if they had had time to think, 
 both would have considered this outburst 
 melodramatic. 
 
 "Jack;" Tamara said, "you don't know what 
 love is. I tell you I know now I love Gritzko so 
 that I would rather be unhappy with him than 
 happy with any one else on earth. And if they ask 
 you at home, say I would not care if he were a 
 Greek, or a Turk, or an African nigger, I would 
 follow him to perdition. There!" and she 
 suddenly burst into tears and buried her face in 
 her hands. 
 
 Yes, it was true. In spite of shame and disgrace, 
 and fear, she loved him passionately loved him. 
 
 Of course Jack, who was the kindest-hearted 
 creature, at once put his arm around her and took 
 out his handkerchief and wiped her eyes, while he 
 said soothingly: 
 
 "I say, my child there! there! this will never 
 do," and he continued to pet and try to comfort 
 her, but all she could reply was to ask him to go, 
 and to promise her not to say anything about her 
 outburst of tears to any one. 
 
 And, horribly distressed, Jack did what she 
 284
 
 HIS HOUR 
 
 wished, running against Gritzko in the passage as 
 he went out; but they had met before that day, so 
 he did not stop, but, nodding in his friendly way, 
 passed down the stairs. 
 
 Tamara sat where he had left her, the tears still 
 trickling over her cheeks, while she stared into the 
 fire. The vision she saw there of her future did 
 not console her. 
 
 To be married to a man whom she knew she 
 would daily grow to love more every moment of 
 her time conscious that the tie was one of sufferance, 
 her pride and self respect in the dust it was a 
 miserable picture. 
 
 Gritzko came in so quietly through the ante- 
 room that, lost in her troubled thoughts, she did 
 not hear him until he was quite close. She gave a 
 little startled exclamation and then looked at him 
 defiantly she was angry that he saw her tears. 
 
 His face went white and his voice grew hoarse 
 with overmastering emotion. 
 
 "What has happened between you and your 
 friend, Madame? Tell me the truth. No man 
 should see you cry! Tell me everything, or I will 
 kill him." 
 
 285
 
 HIS HOUR 
 
 And he stood there his eyes blazing. 
 
 Then Tamara rose and drew herself to her full 
 height, while a flash of her vanished pride returned 
 to her mien, and with great haughtiness she 
 answered in a cold voice: 
 
 "I beg you to understand one thing, Prince, I 
 will not be insulted by suspicions and threats 
 against my friends. Lord Courtray and I have 
 been brought up as brother and sister. We spoke 
 of my home, which I may never see again, and I 
 told him what he was to say to them there when 
 they asked about me. If I have cried I am ashamed 
 of my tears, and when you speak and act as you 
 have just done, it makes me ashamed of the feeling 
 which caused them." 
 
 He took a step nearer, he admired her courage. 
 
 "What was the feeling which caused them? 
 
 Tell me, I must know, " he said; but as he 
 
 spoke he chanced to notice she had replaced her 
 wedding ring, it shone below his glittering ruby. 
 
 "That I will not bear!" he exclaimed, and with 
 almost violence he seized her wrist and forcibly 
 drew both rings from her finger, and then replaced 
 his own. 
 
 286
 
 HIS HOUR 
 
 "There shall be no token of another! No gold 
 band there but mine, and until then, no jewel but 
 this ruby!" 
 
 Then he dropped her hand and turning, threw 
 the wedding ring with passion in the fire! 
 
 Tamara made a step forward in protest, and then 
 she stood petrified while her eyes flashed with 
 anger. 
 
 "Indeed, yes, I am ashamed I cried!" she said 
 at last between her teeth. 
 
 He made some restless paces, he was very much 
 moved. 
 
 "I must know " he began. But at that 
 
 moment the servants came in with the tea, and 
 Tamara seized the opportunity while they were 
 settling the tray to get nearer the door, and then 
 fled from the room, leaving Gritzko extremely 
 disturbed. 
 
 What could she mean? He knew in his calmer 
 moments he had not the least cause to be jealous of 
 Jack. What was the inference in her words ? Two 
 weeks seemed a long time to wait before he could 
 have all clouds dispersed, all things explained 
 as she lay in his arms. And this thought to hold 
 287
 
 HIS HOUR 
 
 her in his arms drove him wild. He felt inclined 
 to rush after her, to ask her to forgive him for his 
 anger, to kiss and caress her, to tell her he loved her 
 madly and was jealous of even the air she breathed 
 until he should hear her say she loved him. 
 He went as far as to write a note. 
 
 "Madame,' he began He determined to keep 
 to the severest formality or he knew he would never 
 be able to play his part until the end. "I regret 
 my passion just now. The situation seemed peculiar 
 as I came in. I understand there was nothing for 
 me to have been angry about, please forgive me. 
 Rest now. I will come and fetch you at quarter to 
 eight. 
 
 "GRITZKO." 
 
 And as he went away he had it sent to her room. 
 
 And when Tamara read it the first gleam of 
 comfort she had known since the night at the hut 
 illumined her thoughts. If he should love her 
 after all! But no, this could not be so; his behavior 
 was not the behavior of love. But in spite of the 
 abiding undercurrent of humiliation and shame, 
 the situation was intensely exciting. She feverishly 
 looked forward to the evening. Her tears seemed 
 288
 
 HIS HOUR 
 
 to have unlocked her heart she was no longer 
 numb. She was perfectly aware that no matter 
 what he had done she wildly loved him. He had 
 taken everything from her, dragged her down from 
 her pedestal, but that last remnant of self-respect 
 she would keep. He should not know of this 
 crowning humiliation that she still loved him. So 
 her manner was like ice when he came into the 
 room, and the chill of it communicated itself to 
 him. They hardly spoke on the way to the Theatre 
 Michel, and when they entered the box she pre- 
 tended great interest in the stage, while, between 
 the acts, all their friends came in to give their 
 congratulations. 
 
 Tamara asked to be excused from going on to 
 supper and the ball which was taking place. And 
 she kept close to her godmother while going out, 
 and so contrived that she did not say a word alone 
 with Gritzko. It was because he acquiesced fully 
 in this line of conduct that she was able to carry it 
 through, otherwise he would not have permitted 
 it for a moment. 
 
 He realized from this night that the situation 
 could only be made possible if he saw her rarely 
 289
 
 HIS HOUR 
 
 and before people alone with her, human nature 
 would be too strong. So with the most frigid 
 courtesy and ceremony between them the days 
 wore on, and toward the beginning of the following 
 week Gritzko went off with Jack Courtray on the 
 bear-hunt. He could stand no more. 
 
 But after he was gone Tamara loathed the 
 moments. She was overwrought and overstrung. 
 Harassed by the wailing and expostulations of her 
 family for what they termed her "rash act," 
 worried by dressmakers and dozens of letters to 
 write, troubled always with the one dominating 
 fear, at last she collapsed and for two days lay 
 really ill in a darkened room. 
 
 Then Gritzko returned, and there were only five 
 days before the wedding. He had sent her flowers 
 each morning as a lover should, and he had 
 loaded her with presents, all of which she re- 
 ceived in the same crushed spirit. With the fixed 
 idea in her brain that he was only marrying her 
 because as a gentleman he must, none of his gifts 
 gave her any pleasure. And he, with immense 
 control of passion had played his part, only his 
 time of probation was illumined by the knowledge 
 290
 
 HIS HOUR 
 
 of coming joy. Whereas poor Tamara, as the 
 time wore on, lost all hope, and grew daily 
 paler and more fragile-looking. 
 
 Her father had a bad attack of the gout, and 
 could not possibly move; but her brother Tom and 
 her sister, Lady Newbridge, and Millicent Hard- 
 castle were to arrive three days before the wedding.
 
 CHAPTER XXI 
 
 HE night of the bear-hunter's return there 
 was to be a small dinner at the Ard&cheff 
 house. The Princess had arranged that 
 there should be a party of six; so that while the four 
 played bridge the fiance's might talk to one another. 
 She was growing almost nervous, and indeed it had 
 required all Stephen Strong's assurance that things 
 eventually would come right to prevent her from 
 being actually unhappy. 
 
 "Let 'em alone!" the old man said. "Take no 
 notice! you won't regret it." 
 
 Tamara had only got up from her bed that after- 
 noon and was very pale and feeble. She wore a 
 white clinging dress and seemed a mere slip of 
 a girl. The great string of beautiful pearls, 
 Gritzko's latest gift, which had arrived that morning, 
 was round her neck, and her sweet eyes glanced up 
 sadly from the blue shadows which encircled them. 
 
 Gritzko was already there when the Princess 
 and Tamara reached the first salon, and his eyes 
 292
 
 HIS HOUR 
 
 swam with passionate concern when he saw how 
 Tamara had been suffering. He could not restrain 
 the feeling in his voice as he exclaimed : 
 
 "You have been ill! my sweet lady! Oh! 
 Tantine, why did you not send for me? How 
 could you let her suffer?" 
 
 And a sudden wave of happiness came over 
 Tamara when he kissed her hand. She was so 
 weak the least thing could have made her cry. 
 
 But her happiness was short-lived, for Gritzko 
 afraid yet of showing what was in his heart seemed 
 now colder than ever; though he was exulting 
 within himself at the thought that the moment 
 would come soon when all this pretence should 
 end. 
 
 Tamara, knowing nothing of these things, felt 
 a new sinking depression. In five days she would 
 be his wife, and then when he had paid the honor- 
 able price how would he treat her ? 
 
 He was looking wildly attractive to-night, his 
 voice had a thousand tones in it when he addressed 
 the others, he was merry and witty and gay and 
 almost made love to the Princess only to his 
 fiancee did he seem reserved. 
 293
 
 HIS HOUR 
 
 The food appeared impossible to swallow. She 
 almost felt at last as though she were going to faint. 
 The hopeless anguish of the situation weighed upon 
 her more than ever; for, alas! she felt she loved him 
 now beyond any pride, every barrier was broken 
 down. She had no more anger or resentment for 
 the night at the hut. All his many sins were 
 forgiven. 
 
 Dinner was an impossible penance, and with 
 a feverish excitement she waited for the time when 
 they should be alone. 
 
 It seemed an eternity before coffee was finished 
 and the four retired to their bridge. Then the two 
 passed out of the room and on into the blue salon. 
 
 It was extremely difficult for both of them. The 
 Prince could scarcely control his mad longing to 
 caress her. Only that strange turn in his character 
 held him. Also the knowledge that once he were 
 to grant himself an inch he could never restrain 
 the whole of his wild passion, and there were yet 
 five days before she should be really his . 
 
 Tamara looked a white, frozen shape as she 
 almost fell into the sofa below the Falconet group. 
 Cupid with his laughing eyes peeped down and 
 294
 
 HIS HOUR 
 
 mocked her. Gritzko did not sit beside her. He 
 took a chair and leant on a table near. 
 
 "We had good sport," he said dryly. "Your 
 friend can hit things. We got two bears." 
 
 "Jack must have been pleased," Tamara 
 answered dully. 
 
 "And your family they arrive on Monday, isn't 
 it?" he asked. "Your brother and sister and the 
 estimable Mrs. Hardcastle?" and he laughed as 
 he always did at the mention of Millicent. "They 
 will wonder, won't they, why you are marrying 
 this savage! but they will not know." 
 
 "No!" said Tamara. "They must never know." 
 Gritzko 's face became whimsical, a disconcerting, 
 mischievous provoking smile stole into 'his eyes. 
 
 "Do you know yourself?" he asked. 
 
 She looked up at him startled. It was her 
 habit now never to meet his eyes. Indeed, the 
 sense of humiliation under which she lived had 
 changed all her fearless carriage of head. 
 
 "Why do you ask such questions? I might as 
 
 well ask you why are you marrying me. We both 
 
 know that we cannot help it," and there was a 
 
 break in her voice which touched him profoundly. 
 
 295
 
 HIS HOUR 
 
 " Answer for yourself please, I may have several 
 other reasons," he said coldly, and got up and 
 walked across the room picking up a bibelot here 
 and there, and replacing it restlessly. 
 
 Tamara longed to ask him what these reasons 
 were. She was stirred with a faint hope, but she 
 had not the courage, the intensity of her feeling 
 made her dumb. 
 
 "They Tantine or Sonia have explained to 
 you all the service, I suppose," he said at last. " It 
 is 'different to yours in your country. It means 
 much more " 
 
 "And is more easily broken." 
 
 "That is so, but we shall not break ours, except 
 by death, 1 " and he raised his head proudly. "From 
 Wednesday onward the rest of your life belongs to 
 me." 
 
 Tamara shivered. If she could only overcome 
 this numbness which had returned if she could 
 only let her frozen heart speak; this was surely 
 the moment, but she could not, she remained 
 silent and white and lifeless. 
 
 He came over to the sofa. 
 
 "Tamara," he said, and his voice vibrated with 
 296
 
 HIS HOUR 
 
 suppressed passion. "Will you tell me the truth? 
 Do you hate me, or what do you feel for me?" 
 
 She thought he meant only to torture her further; 
 she would not answer the question. 
 
 "Is it not enough that you have conquered me 
 by force ? Why should you care to know what my 
 feelings are ? As you say, after Wednesday I shall 
 belong to you You can strangle me at Milaslav 
 if you wish. My body will be yours, but my soul 
 you shall never soil or touch, you have no part or 
 lot in that matter, Prince." 
 
 His eyes filled with pain. 
 
 " I will even have your soul," he said. Then, as 
 though restraining further emotion, he went on 
 coldly. "I have arranged that after the wedding 
 we go to my house, and do not start for the South 
 until Saturday. There are some things I wish to 
 show you there. Will that be as you wish?" 
 
 "I have no wishes, it is as you please," Tamara 
 answered monotonously. 
 
 He gave an impatient shrug, and walked up and 
 
 down the room, his will kept its mastery, but it 
 
 was a tremendous strain. Her words had stung 
 
 him, her intense quiet and absence of emotion had 
 
 297
 
 HIS HOUR 
 
 produced a faint doubt. What if after all he 
 should never be able to make her love him. For 
 the first time in his life a hand of ice clutched his 
 heart. He knew in those moments of agony that 
 she meant the whole world to him. 
 
 He glanced at her slender graceful figure so 
 listlessly leaning against the blue cushions, at her 
 pale ethereal face, and then he turned abruptly 
 away toward the door to the other salon. 
 
 "Come," he said, "it is of no avail to talk further, 
 we will say good-night." Tamara rose. The way 
 to her room led from the opposite side. 
 
 "Good-night then," she said, "make my adieu 
 to Sonia and the rest. I shall go to bed," and she 
 walked that way. The whole floor was between 
 them, as she looked back. He stood rigid by the 
 other door. 
 
 Then with great strides he was beside her, and 
 had taken her in his arms. 
 
 "Ah! God!" he said, as he fiercely kissed her, 
 and then almost flung her from him, and strode 
 from the room. 
 
 And Tamara went on to her own, trembling 
 with excitement. 
 
 298
 
 HIS HOUR 
 
 This was passion truly, but what if some love 
 lurked underneath? and when she reached her 
 great white bed she fell upon her knees, and bury- 
 ing her face in her hands she prayed to God. 
 
 Now of what use to write of the days that fol- 
 lowed the stiff restrained days or of the arrival 
 of Tom Underdown and his sister, and Millicent 
 Hardcastle or of the splendid Russian ceremonies 
 in the church or the quieter ones at the Embassy. 
 All that it concerns us to know is that Gritzko and 
 Tamara were at last alone on this their wedding 
 night. Alone with all their future before them. 
 Both then* faces had been grave and solemn through 
 all the vows and prayers, but afterward his had 
 shone with a wild triumph. And as they had 
 driven to his house on the Fontonka he had held 
 Tamara's hand but had not spoken. 
 
 It was a strange eventful moment when he led 
 her up the great stairs between the rows of bowing 
 servants up into the salons all decorated with 
 flowers. Then, still never speaking, he opened 
 the ball-room doors, and when they had walked 
 20 299
 
 HIS HOUR 
 
 its great length and came to the rooms beyond* 
 he merely said: 
 
 "These you must have done by that man in 
 Paris or how you please," as though the matter 
 were aloof, and did not interest him. And then 
 instead of turning into his own sitting-room, he 
 opened a door on the right, which Tamara did not 
 know, and they entered what had been his mother's 
 bedroom. It was warmed and lit, but it wore 
 that strange air of gloom and melancholy which 
 untenanted rooms, consecrated to the memory of 
 the dead, always have, in spite of blue satin and 
 bright gilding. 
 
 "Tamara," he said, and he took her hand, "these 
 were my mother's rooms. I loved her very much, 
 and I always thought I would never let any woman 
 even my wife enter them. I have left them 
 just as she used them last. But now I know that 
 is not what she would have wished." 
 
 His deep voice trembled a little with a note of 
 feeling in it which was new, and which touched 
 Tamara's innermost being. 
 
 "I want you to see them now with me, and then 
 while we are in the South all these things shall be 
 300
 
 HIS HOUR 
 
 taken away, and they shall be left bare and white 
 for you to arrange them when we come back, just 
 as you would like. I want my mother's blessing 
 to rest on us which it will do " 
 
 Then he paused, and there was a wonderful 
 silence, and when he went on, his tones were full 
 of a great tenderness. 
 
 "Little one, in these rooms, some day I will 
 make you happy." 
 
 Tamara trembled so she could hardly stand, the 
 reaction from her misery was so immense. She 
 swayed a little and put out her hand to steady 
 herself by the back of a chair. He thought she 
 was going to fall, seeing her so white, and he put 
 his arm round her as he led her through the room 
 and into the sitting-room, and then beyond again 
 to a little sanctuary. Here a lamp swung before 
 the Ikon, and the colors were subdued and rich, 
 while the virgin's soft eyes looked down upon them. 
 There were fresh lilies, too, in a vase below, and 
 their scent perfumed the air. He knelt for a second 
 and whispered a prayer, then he rose, and they 
 looked into each other's eyes and their souls met 
 and all shadows rolled away. 
 301
 
 HIS HOUR 
 
 "Tamara!" he said, and he held out his arms 
 and with a little inarticulate cry almost of pain 
 Tamara fell into them and he folded her to his 
 heart while he bent and kissed her hair. 
 
 Then he held her from him and looked deep into 
 her eyes. 
 
 "Sweetheart am I forgiven?" he asked, and 
 when she could speak she answered: 
 
 "Yes you are forgiven." 
 
 Then he questioned again. 
 
 "Tamara, do you love me?" 
 
 But he saw the answer in her sweet face, and 
 did not wait for her to speak, but kissed her 
 mouth. 
 
 Then he lifted her in his arms like a baby and 
 carried her back through the ghostly rooms to his 
 warm human sitting-room, and there he laid her 
 tenderly down upon the couch and knelt beside 
 her. 
 
 "Oh, my heart," he said. "What this time has 
 been since you promised to marry me! but I 
 would not change it I wanted you to love me 
 beyond everything beyond anger with me, beyond 
 fear beyond your pride. Now tell me you do. 
 302
 
 HIS HOUR 
 
 My sweet one. Moia Doushka. I must know. 
 I must know. You mean my life tell me?" 
 
 And passion overcame Tamara, and she answered 
 him in a low voice of vibrating emotion. 
 
 ** Gritzko ! do you think I care for what you have 
 done or will do ! You know very well I have always 
 loved you!" And she put up her mouth for him 
 to kiss her. Then he went quite mad for a few 
 moments with joy he caressed her as even on the 
 dawn-drive she had never dreamed, and pres- 
 ently he said with deep earnestness. 
 
 "Darling, we must live for one another in 
 the world of course for duty; but our real life shall 
 be alone at Milasldv for only you and me. You 
 must teach me to be calm and to banish impossible 
 thoughts. You must make yourself my center 
 Tamara, you must forget all your former life, and 
 give yourself to me, sweetheart. My country 
 must be your country, my body your body, and my 
 soul your soul. I love you better than heaven or 
 earth and you are mine now till death do us part." 
 
 Then the glory of paradise seemed to descend 
 upon Tamara, as he bent and kissed her lips. 
 
 Oh! what did anything else matter in the world 
 303
 
 HIS HOUR 
 
 since after all he loved her! This beautiful fierce 
 lover! 
 
 Visions of enchantment presented themselves 
 a complete intoxication of joy. 
 
 He held her in his arms, and all the strange 
 passion and mystic depths which had fascinated 
 her always, now dwelt in his eyes, only intensified 
 by delirious love. 
 
 "Do you remember, Sweetheart, how you defied 
 and resisted me? Darling! Heart of mine! but 
 I have conquered you and taken you, hi spite of all ! 
 You cannot struggle any more, you are my own. 
 Only you must tell me that you give me, too, your 
 soul. Ah! you said once I should have no part 
 or lot in that matter. Tamara, tell me that I 
 have it?" 
 
 And Tamara thrilled with ecstasy as she whis- 
 pered, "Yes, you have it." 
 
 She cared not at all about pride she did not 
 wish to struggle, she adored being conquered. Her 
 entire being was merged in his. 
 
 He held her from him for a second and the old 
 whimsical smile full of tender mischief stole into 
 his eyes. 
 
 304
 
 HIS HOUR 
 
 "That night at the hut when you dropped the 
 pistol when well, don't you want to know what 
 really did happen?" he said. 
 
 She buried her face in his scarlet coat. 
 
 " Oh, no, no, no ! " she cried. " It is all forgotten 
 and forgiven." 
 
 Then with wild passion he clasped her to his 
 breast. 
 
 "Oh! Love!" he said. "My sweet Princess; 
 the gods are very kind to us, for all happiness is 
 yet to come ! I did but kiss your little feet." 
 
 (S) 
 
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 ment, and gives some brilliant flashes ot light on one side of an 
 important question. 
 TONO-BUNGAY. By Herbert George Wells. 
 
 The hero of this novel is a young man who, through hard work, 
 earns a scholarship and goes to London. 
 
 Written with a frankness verging on Rousseau's, Mr. Wells still 
 uses rare discrimination and the border line of propriety is never 
 crossed. An entertaining book with both a story and a moral, and 
 without a dull page Mr. Wells's most notable achievement. 
 A. HUSBAND BY PROXY. By Jack Steele. 
 
 A youn 
 is drawn 
 through I 
 
 simplest child and again a perfect mistress of intrigue. A baffling 
 detective story. 
 
 LIKE ANOTHER HELEN. By George Horton. Illus- 
 trated by C M. Relyea. 
 
 Mr. Horton a powerful romance stands in a new field and brings 
 an almost unknown world in reality before the reader the world 
 of conflict between Greek and Turk on the Island of Crete. The 
 44 Helen " of the story is a Greek, beautiful, desolate, defiant pure 
 as snow. 
 
 There is a certain new force about the story, a kind of master* 
 < craf u manship and mental dominance that holds the reader. 
 !THE MASTER OF APPLEBY. By Francis Lynde. 
 Illustrated by T. de Thulstrup. 
 
 "A novel tale concerning itself in part with the great struggle in 
 the two Carolinas, but chiefly with the adventures therein of two 
 gentlemen who loved one and the same lady. 
 
 A strong, masculine and persuasive story. 
 A MODERN MADONNA. By Caroline Abbot Stanley. 
 
 A story of American life, founded on facts as they existed some 
 years ago in the District of Columbia. The theme is the maternal 
 love and splendid courage of a woman. 
 
 GROSSET & DUNLAP, 526 WEST 26th ST., NEW YORK
 
 A FEW OF 
 
 GROSSET & DUNLAP'S 
 Great Books at Little Prices 
 
 WHEN A MAN MARRIES. By Mary Roberts Rineharti 
 Illustrated by Harrison Fisher and Mayo Bunker. 
 
 A young artist, whose wife had recently divorced him, finds that 
 a visit is due from his Aunt Selina, an elderly lady having ideas 
 about things quite apart from the Bohemian set in which her 
 nephew is a shining light. The way in which matters are tempo- 
 rarily adjusted forms the motif of the story. 
 
 A farcical extravaganza, dramatized under the title of "Seven Days" 
 THE FASHIONABLE ADVENTURES OF JOSHUA 
 CRAIG. By David Graham Phillips. Illustrated. 
 
 A young westerner, uncouth and unconventional, appears in 
 political and social life in Washington. He attains power in poli- 
 tics, and a young woman of the exclusive set becomes his wife, un- 
 dertaking his education in social amenities. 
 
 " DOC." GORDON. By Mary E. Wilkins-Freeman, Illus. 
 trated by Frank T. Merrill. 
 
 Against the familiar background of American town life, the 
 author portrays a group of people strangely involved in a mystery. 
 "Doc. Gordon, the one physician of the place, Dr. Elliot, his 
 assistant, a beautiful woman and her altogether charming daughtet 
 are all involved in the plot. A novel of great interest 
 HOLY ORDERS. By Marie Corelli. 
 
 A dramatic story, in which is pictured a clergyman in touch with 
 society people, stage favorites, simple village folk, powerful finan- 
 ciers and others, each presenting vital problems to this man ^ in 
 holy orders " problems that we are now struggling with in America. 
 KATRINE. By Elinor Macartney Lane. With frontispiece. 
 
 Katrine, the heroine of this story, is a lovely Irish girl, of lowly 
 birth, but gifted with a beautiful voice. 
 
 The narrative is based on the facts of an actual singer's career, 
 and the viewpoint throughout is a most exalted one. 
 THE FORTUNES OF FIFI. By Molly Elliot Seawell. 
 Illustrated by T. de Thulstrup. 
 
 A story of life in France at the time of the first Napoleon. Fifi, 
 a glad, mad little actress of eighteen, is the star performer in a third 
 rate Parisian theatre. A story as dainty as a Watteau painting. 
 SHE THAT HESITATES. By Harris Dickson. Illus- 
 trated by C. W. Relyea. 
 
 The scene of this dashing romance shifts from Dresden to St. 
 Petersburg in the reign of Peter the Great, and then to New Orleans. 
 
 The hero is a French Soldier of Fortune, and the princess, who 
 hesitates but you must read the story to know how she that hesitates 
 may be lost and yet saved. 
 
 GROSSET & DUNLAP, 526 WEST 26th ST., NEW YORK
 
 TITLES SELECTED FROM 
 
 GROSSET & DUNLAP'S LIST 
 
 REALISTIC. ENGAGING PICTURES OF LIFF 
 
 THE GARDEN OF FATE. By Roy Norton. Illustrated 
 
 by Joseph Clement Coll. 
 
 The colorful romance of an American girl in Morocco, and 
 ..d a beautiful garden, whose beauty and traditions of strange 
 subtle happenings were closed to the world by a Sultan's seal. 
 
 THE MAN HIGHER UP. By Henry Russell Miller. 
 
 Full page vignette illustrations by M. Leone Bracket. 
 
 The story of a tenement waif who rose by his.own ingenuity 
 
 to the office of mayor of his native city. His experiences 
 
 while "climbing," make a most interesting example of the 
 
 possibilities of human nature to rise above circumstances. 
 
 THE KEY TO YESTERDAY. By Charles Neville 
 
 Buck. Illustrated by R. Schabelitz. 
 
 Robert Saxon, a prominent artist, has an accident, while in 
 
 Paris, which obliterates his memory, and the only clue he has 
 
 to his former life is a rusty key. What door in Paris will it 
 
 unlock? He must know that before he woos the girl he loves. 
 
 THE DANGER TRAIL. By James Oliver Curwood. 
 
 Illustrated by Charles Livingston Bull. 
 The danger trail is over the snow-smothered North. A 
 ;oung Chicago engineer, who is building a road through the 
 Hud&on Bay region, is involved in mystery, and is led into 
 ambush by a young woman. 
 
 THE GAY LORD WARING. By Houghton Townley. 
 
 Illustrated by Will Grefe. 
 
 A story of the smart hunting set in England. A gay young 
 iord wins in love against his selfish and cowardly brother and 
 apparently against fate itself. 
 
 BY INHERITANCE. By Octave Thanet. Illustrated 
 
 by Thomas Fogarty. Elaborate wrapper in colors. 
 
 A wealthy New England spinster with the most elaborate 
 
 plans for the education of the negro goes to visit her nephew 
 
 m Arkansas, where she learns the needs of the colored race 
 
 first hand and begins to lose her theories. 
 
 GROSSET & DUNLAP, 526 WEST 26th ST., NEW YORK
 
 GROSSET & DUNLAP'S 
 DRAMATIZED NOVELS 
 
 Original, sincere and 1 courageous often amusing the 
 kind that are making theatrical history. 
 
 rMADAME X. By Alexandra Bisson and J. W. McCon 
 aughy. Illustrated with scenes from the play. 
 A beautiful Parisienne became an outcast because her hus- 
 band would not forgive an error of her youth. Her love for 
 her son is the great final influence in her career. A tremen- 
 dous dramatic success. 
 
 THE GARDEN OF ALLAH. By Robert Hichens. 
 
 An unconventional English woman and an inscrutable 
 stranger meet and love in an oasis of the Sahara. Staged 
 this season with magnificent cast and gorgeous properties. 
 
 THE PRINCE OF INDIA. By Lew. Wallace. 
 
 A glowing romance of the Byzantine Empire, presenting 
 with extraordinary power the siege of Constantinople, and 
 lighting its tragedy with the warm underglow of an Oriental 
 romance. As a play it is a great dramatic spectacle. 
 
 TESS OF THE STORM COUNTRY. By Grace 
 Miller White. Illust. by Howard Chandler Christy. 
 A girl from the dregs of society, loves a young Cornell Uni- 
 versity student, and it works startling changes in her life and 
 the lives of those about her. The dramatic version is one of 
 the sensations of the season. 
 
 YOUNG WALLINGFORD. By George Randolph 
 
 Chester. Illust. by F. R. Gruger and Henry Raleigh. 
 
 A series of clever swindles conducted by a cheerful young 
 
 man, each of which is just on the safe side of a State's prison 
 
 offence. As "Get-Rich-Quick Wallingford," it is probably 
 
 the most amusing expose of money manipulation ever seer 
 
 on the stage. 
 
 THE INTRUSION OF JIMMY. By P. G. Wode 
 
 house. Illustrations by Will Grefe. 
 Social and club life in London and New York, an amateur 
 burglary adventure and a love story. Dramatized under the 
 title of "A Gentleman of Leisure," it furnishes hours of 
 laughter to the play-goers. 
 
 GROSSET & DUNLAP, 526 WEST 26th ST., NEW YORK
 
 LOUIS TRACY'S 
 
 CAPTIVATING AND EXHILARATING ROMANCES 
 
 THE STOWAWAY GIRL. Illustrated by Nesbitt Benson. 
 
 The story of a shipwreck, a lovely girl who shipped stow- 
 away fashion, a rascally captain, a fascinating young officer 
 and thrilling adventure enroute to South America. 
 THE CAPTAIN OF THE KANSAS. 
 
 A story of love and the salt sea of a helpless ship whirled 
 into the hands of cannibal Fuegians of desperate fighting 
 and a tender romance. A story of extraordinary freshness. 
 THE MESSAGE. Illustrated by Joseph Cummings Chase. 
 
 A bit of parchment many, many years old, telling of a 
 priceless ruby secreted in ruins far in the interior of Africa is 
 the "message" found in the figurehead of an old vessel. A 
 mystery develops which the reader will follow with breathless 
 interest. 
 THE PILLAR OF LIGHT. 
 
 The pillar thus designated was a lighthouse, and the au- 
 thor tells with exciting detail the terrible dilemma of its cut- 
 off inhabitants and introduces the charming comedy of a man 
 eloping with his own wife. 
 THE RED YEAR: A Story of the Indian Mutiny. 
 
 The never-to-be-forgotten events of 1857 form the back- 
 ground of this story. The hero who begins as lieutenant and 
 ends as Major Malcolm, has as stirring a military career as 
 the most jaded novel reader could wish. A powerful book. 
 THE WHEEL O'FQRTUNE. With illustrations by James 
 Montgomery Flagg. 
 
 The story deals with the finding of a papyrus containing 
 the particulars of the hiding of some of the treasures of the 
 Queen of Sheba. The glamour of mystery added to the 
 romance of the lovers, gives the novel an interest that makes 
 it impossible to leave until the end is reached. 
 THE WINGS OF THE MORNING. 
 
 A sort of Robinson Crusoe redivivus, with modern settings 
 and a very pretty love story added. The hero and heroine are 
 the only survivors of a wreck, and have adventures on their 
 desert island such as never could have happened except in a 
 Btory. 
 
 GROSSET & DUNLAP, 526 WEST 26th ST. , NEW YORK
 
 THE NOVELS OF 
 
 WINSTON CHURCHILL 
 
 Skillful in plot, dramatic in episode, powerful and original in climax. 
 
 MR. CREWE'S CAREER. Illus. by A.I. Keller and Kinneys. 
 
 A New England state is under the political domination 
 of a railway and Mr. Crewe, a millionaire, seizes the moment 
 when the cause of the people against corporation greed is 
 being espoused by an ardent young attorney, to further his 
 own interest in a political way, by taking up this cause. 
 
 The daughter of the railway president, with the sunny 
 humor and shrewd common sense of the New England girl, 
 plays no small part in the situation as well as in the life ofthe 
 young attorney who stands so unflinchingly for clean politics. 
 THE CROSSING. Illus. by S. Adamson and L. Baylis. 
 
 Describing the battle of Fort Moultrie and the British 
 fleet in the harbor of Charleston, the blazing of the Kentucky 
 wilderness, the expedition of Clark and his handful of daunt- 
 less followers in Illinois, the beginning of civilization along 
 the Ohio and Mississippi, and the treasonable schemes builded 
 against Washington and the Federal Government 
 CONISTON. Illustrated by Florence Scovel Shinn. 
 
 A deft blending of love and politics distinguishes this 
 book. The author has taken for his hero a New Englander, 
 a crude man of the tannery, who rose to political prominence 
 by his own powers, and then surrendered all for the love of a 
 woman. 
 
 It is a sermon on civic righteousness, and a love story of a 
 deep motive. 
 THE CELEBRITY. An Episode. 
 
 An inimitable bit of comedy describing an interchange of 
 personalities between a celebrated author and a bicycle sales- 
 man of the most blatant type. The story is adorned with 
 some character sketches more living than pen work. It is the 
 purest, keenest fun no such piece of humor has appeared for 
 years : it is American to the core. 
 THE CRISIS. Illus. by Howard Chandler Christy. 
 
 A book that presents the great crisis in our national life 
 with splendid power and with a sympathy, a sincerity, and a 
 patriotism that are inspiring. The several scenes in the book 
 m which Abraham Lincoln figures must be read in their en- 
 tirety for they give a picture of that great, magnetic, lovable 
 man, which has been drawn with evident affection and excep- 
 tional success. 
 
 GROSSET & DUNLAP, 526 WEST 26TH ST., NEW YORK
 
 KATE DOUGLAS WIGGIN'S 
 STORIES OF PURE DELIGHT 
 
 Full of originality and humor, kindliness and cheer 
 
 THE OLD PEABODY PEW. Large Octavo. Decorative 
 text pages, printed in two colors. Illustrations by Alice 
 Barber Stephens. 
 
 One of the prettiest romances that has ever come from this 
 author's pen is made to bloom on Christmas Eve in the sweet 
 freshness of an old New England meeting house. 
 
 PENELOPE'S PROGRESS. Attractive cover design in 
 colors. 
 
 Scotland is the background for the merry doings of three very 
 clever and original American girls. Their adventures in adjusting 
 themselves to the Scot and his land are full of humor. 
 
 PENELOPE'S IRISH EXPERIENCES. Uniform in style 
 with "Penelope's Progress." 
 
 The trio of clever girls who rambled over Scotland cross the bor- 
 der to the Emerald Isle, and again they sharpen their wits agains' 
 new conditions, and revel in the land of laughter and wit. 
 
 REBECCA OF SUNNYBROOK FARM. 
 
 One of the most beautiful studies of childhood Rebecca's artis- 
 tic, unusual and quaintly charming qualities stand out midst a circle 
 of austere New Englanders. The stage version is making a phe- 
 nomenal dramatic record. 
 
 NEW CHRONICLES OF REBECCA. With illustrations 
 by F. C. Yohn. 
 
 Some more quaintly amusing chronicles that carry Rebecca 
 through various stages to her eighteenth birthday. 
 
 ROSE O' THE RIVER. With illustrations by George 
 Wright. 
 
 The simple story of Rose, a country girl and Stephen a sturdy 
 young farmer, The girl's fancy for a city man interrupts their love 
 and merges the story into an emotional strain where the reader fol- 
 lows the events with rapt attention. 
 
 GROSSET & DUNLAP, 526 WEST 26th ST., NFW YORK
 
 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY 
 
 Los Angeles 
 REC'O (This book is DUE on the last date stamped below. 
 
 -tD 
 
 MAR 1 91974 ' 
 
 Form L9-Series 444
 
 A 000038103 8