do it?"
"It would have done no good to warn you," he replied quietly,
"for the reason that you could have effected nothing. Against
what was I to warn you? As likely as not, the General knows more
about Mlle. Blanche even than I do; yet the unhappy man still
walks about with her and Mlle. Polina. Only yesterday I saw this
Frenchwoman riding, splendidly mounted, with De Griers, while
the General was careering in their wake on a roan horse. He had
said, that morning, that his legs were hurting him, yet his
riding-seat was easy enough. As he passed I looked at him, and
the thought occurred to me that he was a man lost for ever.
However, it is no affair of mine, for I have only recently had
the happiness to make Mlle. Polina's acquaintance. Also"--he
added this as an afterthought--"I have already told you that I
do not recognise your right to ask me certain questions, however
sincere be my liking for you."
"Enough," I said, rising. "To me it is as clear as day that
Mlle. Polina knows all about this Mlle. Blanche, but cannot
bring herself to part with her Frenchman; wherefore, she consents
also to be seen in public with Mlle. Blanche. You may be sure
that nothing else would ever have induced her either to walk
about with this Frenchwoman or to send me a note not to touch
the Baron. Yes, it is THERE that the influence lies before which
everything in the world must bow! Yet she herself it was who
launched me at the Baron! The devil take it, but I was left no
choice in the matter."
"You forget, in the first place, that this Mlle. de Cominges is
the General's inamorata, and, in the second place, that Mlle.
Polina, the General's step-daughter, has a younger brother and
sister who, though they are the General's own children, are
completely neglected by this madman, and robbed as well."
"Yes, yes; that is so. For me to go and desert the children now
would mean their total abandonment; whereas, if I remain, I
should be able to defend their interests, and, perhaps, to save
a moiety of their property. Yes, yes; that is quite true. And
yet, and yet--Oh, I can well understand why they are all so
interested in the General's mother!"
"In whom? " asked Mr. Astley.
"In the old woman of Moscow who declines to die, yet concerning
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