n to
him."

"Ah, yes! _this morning_," she exclaimed sharply, and with emphasis on
these words. "Goodness me, what a poor head I have! I thought you said
_yesterday evening_. I understand French so badly, you know. Yes, yes,
he has been here. The poor young man is off his head. This is the second
time he has been here to beg me for Kondje-Gul's hand. He is quite
crazy! crazy!"

"Oh, then he has been before! But why did not you inform me?"

"It is true: I had forgotten to do so!" she replied.

I deemed it useless to appear to press her any more on the matter. Had
Madame Murrah tried to keep me in ignorance of these visits of Count
Kiusko's? Or was this merely a proof, or the contrary, of the slight
importance which she attached to them? In any case, for me to let her
see my distrust in her would only put her on her guard. So I broke off
the subject, and resumed my household instructions, as if I had remarked
nothing more important in this matutinal incident than the stupid
pertinacity of a discomfited lover. A quarter of an hour afterwards I
took my leave of her in quite a jaunty way.

Once out of the house, I considered the matter over calmly, and made my
reflections upon it. Had I, by accident, stumbled upon a plot, or was my
jealous mind alarmed without occasion by a foolish attempt which
Kondje-Gul's mother could not avert? Accustomed as she was to a sort of
passive submission, had she allowed herself to be cowed by a man who
spoke in the tone of a master? Was it not possible that, in her
embarrassment with the part she had to play, she had let out rather more
than was prudent? Was anything more than this necessary in order to
explain Daniel's conduct?

Without any kind of scruple Kiusko brought to the contest all the savage
energy of a will constituted to bend everything before it. The choice of
instruments was a matter of small importance to a man of his nature, the
incompleteness of whose education had left him scarcely half-civilized.
Accustomed to have all his own way, he made straight for his object,
rushing like a bull at every obstacle. The suppleness of his Slavonic
character displayed itself in this desperate game, in which, the
happiness of his life was at stake. He loved Kondje-Gul, as I knew full
well, with that blind love which admitted no compromise with reason.
With the mother as his ally, he no doubt conjectured that the marriage
would be brought about in accordance with Turkish custom without