Prince Zilah -- Volume 2

to have his coupe in readiness for the evening. "Take Trilby," he said. "He is a better horse than Jack, and we hav

which revived in Michel's mind happy hours, the only hours of his life in which he had really lived, perhaps. These letters, dated from Pau, burned him like a live coal as he read them. They still retained a subtle perfume, a fugitive aroma, which had survived their love, and which brought Marsa vividly before his eyes. Then, his heart burs

me not? What

s linked

he leaf unt

comes; it fa

pine. My fate pur

t? Even in

rt not

in thy step

oul in pain,

atches

!" Michel repeated the lines with a sort of defiance in his l

ace as his valet entered with a card up

you my orders that I

ieur; but Monsieur Laban

?" repeat

leaves Paris this even

efore his

for a sort of odd pessimism of aggressive philosophy, a species of mysticism mingled with bitterness, which Labanoff took no pains to conceal. The young Hungar

banoff's visit might make

onsieur

f wax, flashing eyes, and a little pointed mustache. His hair, black and curly, was brushed str

ngs. A long deferred secret hope troubled Labanoff as the memory of Marsa devoured Menko; and they had many times exchanged dismal theories upon the world, life, men, and laws. Their common bitterne

ed to him more enigmatic

sian fell only words of

an, and he noticed that an extraordinary fever

"and, as I was leaving Paris, I wished to see you before my de

hy

. Petersburg on p

shed your stud

came here. I have been living in Paris only to be mo

roje

tle curiosity to know Labanoff's secret; but the Russia

t subject, even to the man fo

ions before them. He remained silent for a m

ear Menko. Now, 'au revoir', or rather, good-by; for,

why,

And then, my beloved Russia is such a st

s that inexplicable smile

long, white hand

ou are going on some dangerous errand." Smiling: "I wi

s blue ey

nihilist. Annihilation is absur

f he feared that he ha

my dea

with a gesture, saying, w

out, like yourself, to commit a great folly; a different one from yours, no doub

sian, very pale, but still s

danger?" qu

f made

my affair will end. But, since chance ha

wn firm resolution to see yo

it is for that reason that I ask you to te

h?" repeat

are going to take? Shal

rsbu

is gaze riveted upon Menko. "In a month I shall sti

u to let me know, in s

hy

should like

ou

usty horse, it would give us the same idiotic round of days. I do not know-I do not wish to know-why you are going to Russia, and what this final farewell

ff, coldly. "You a

is hands upon the thin shoul

. It is well that they were not

in the habit of recklessly uttering my thoughts

u. Fear nothing: neither there nor here will I question you. But I shall be curious to know what has become of you, and you know that I have enou

tupid, egotistical an

ano

is nervous hand, burning, li

ell!"

, 'au r

n. I will let you know

here y

where

nished if I join yo

ishes me," said the

pressed profound disgust with li

for some tragical adventure, the Hungarian became more sombre and troubled than before, and Labanoff's appearanc

casting their clear light into the obscurity. The coupe then took the road to Maisons- Lafitte, crossing the plain and skirting wheat-fields and vineyards, with the towering silhouette of Mont Valerie

noff. It was a folly; and yet, who could tell? Might not Marsa have reflected? Might she not; alarmed at his threats, be now awaiting him? Her exquisite face, like a lily, ro

tract of land, on which a racecourse had been mapped out; and on the other extended with the stables and servants' quarters to the forest, the wall of the Avenue Lafitte bounding t

his coachman to drive to the corner of the Avenue Cornei

erre," he said, "and do

the daytime, but now looking like a deep hole, black as a tunnel. Pushing his way through the trees and bushes, and brushing aside the branches of the acacias, the leaves of which fell in showers about him, Michel reached an old wall, the white stones of which were overgrown with ivy. Behind the wall the wind rustled amid t

he not call for help, drive him

ll, and saw that by clinging to the ivy he could reach the t

ere, trembling, fearful, cursin

silence, "were even death behin