im in Russia--of the things they
said of him?"

She waited for the answer with suppressed eagerness--a good woman
defending the memory of her dead husband--a fair lioness protecting her
cub.

"No; I never hear Russian gossip. I know no one in St. Petersburg, and
few in Moscow."

She gave a little sigh of relief.

"Then perhaps poor Sydney's delinquencies have been forgotten," she
said. "In six months every thing is forgotten now. He has only been dead
six months, you know. He died in Russia."

All the while she was watching his face. She had moved in a circle where
everything is known--where men have faces of iron and nerves of steel to
conceal what they know. She could hardly believe that Paul Alexis knew
so little as he pretended.

"So I heard a month ago," he said.

In a flash of thought Etta remembered that it was only within the last
four weeks that this admirer had betrayed his admiration. Could this be
that phenomenon of the three-volume novel, an honorable man? She looked
at him with curiosity--without, it is to be feared, much respect.

"And now," she said cheerfully, "let us change the subject. I have
inflicted enough of myself and my affairs upon you for one day. Tell me
about yourself. Why were you in Russia last summer?"

"I am half a Russian," he answered. "My mother was Russian, and I have
estates there."

Her surprise was a triumph of art.

"Oh! You are not Prince Pavlo Alexis?" she exclaimed.

"Yes, I am."

She rose and swept him a deep courtesy, to the full advantage of her
beautiful figure.

"My respects--mon prince," she said; and then, quick as lightning, for
she had seen displeasure on his face, she broke into a merry laugh.

"No, I won't call you that; for I know you hate it. I have heard of your
prejudices, and if it is of the slightest interest to you, I think I
rather admire them."

It is to be presumed that Mrs. Sydney Bamborough's memory was short. For
it was a matter of common knowledge in the diplomatic circles in which
she moved that Mr. Paul Howard Alexis of Piccadilly House, London, and
Prince Pavlo Alexis of the province of Tver, were one and the same man.

Having, however, fully established this fact, from the evidence of her
own ears, she conversed very pleasantly and innocently upon matters,
Russian and English, until other visitors arrived and Paul withdrew.

CHAPTER V

THE BARON

Among the visitors whom Paul left behind him in the little drawing-r