Seite 205 von 3800

"I wished to get a nap, mon cousin, but I can't."

"Well, my dear?" said Prince Vasili, taking her hand and bending

it downwards as was his habit.

It was plain that this "well?" referred to much that they both

understood without naming.

The princess, who had a straight, rigid body, abnormally long for

her legs, looked directly at Prince Vasili with no sign of

emotion in her prominent gray eyes. Then she shook her head and

glanced up at the icons with a sigh. This might have been taken

as an expression of sorrow and devotion, or of weariness and hope

of resting before long. Prince Vasili understood it as an

expression of weariness.

"And I?" he said; "do you think it is easier for me? I am as worn

out as a post horse, but still I must have a talk with you,

Catiche, a very serious talk."