t was in vain that
he argued, pleaded, raged, finally--imprudence of imprudence! even
hinted at possible recompense. Brodsky, delighting in the pain he knew
himself to be inflicting, became more and more inexorable, more and more
insulting, till Ivan, angered beyond control, hurled out one furious
epithet, and left the little room--heart-broken.

The ensuing weeks were ones that Vladimir de Windt, certainly, never
forgot. For forty-nine endless days, until April had once more broken
Russia's icy chains, no word came from the Dravikines; who were
employing their time in a highly interesting fashion at Nice and Monaco
with a party of friends; while Ivan dragged himself about Petersburg,
madly seeking some distraction, finding it never. Daily his companions
marvelled anew at the duration of what was, to them, the pettiest of
"affairs." But Ivan's nature was ridiculously intense; and calf-love had
become, in his eyes, the most serious thing in life. At last, when he
had borne all that it seemed to him he could endure, fate offered him
the relief of a sharp stab in the spot where the monotony of a
continuous, dull ache had become intolerable.

On the morning of April 7th the court journal--and several other
papers--contained the announcement that "a marriage had been arranged
and would immediately take place between Mademoiselle Nathalie
Dravikine, daughter of,--etc., and S. A. Alexander Gregory Boris, Prince
Feodoreff, sometime Gentleman of the Bedchamber to his Imperial Majesty
Nicholas I." Further down the column came another statement that, owing
to the delicate health of the bride-elect, the wedding would be a quiet
one, celebrated at Nice within the month; whereafter, during the summer,
the Prince and Princess Feodoreff would return to Russia by easy stages,
probably spending August at Tsarskoe-Selo with the parents of the bride,
where the Prince would have time to settle into the new relationship
between himself and a lady who had hitherto occupied towards him a
position very different from that of mother-in-law. The beginning of the
winter season would, however, see the Feodoreff residence in the
Fourchstadskaia open for the occupation of the young Princess.

Ivan himself discovered these somewhat startling items of intelligence.
Later he pursued all the feminine details that appeared concerning the
bride's beauty, the magnificence of her trousseau, the wealth and
station of the groom, and even a hint or two of the