When Stella found the automobile drawing up at a strange hotel's doors
her tremors broke out afresh, until she saw the face of Ivan, who, with
the porter, came forward to meet her, saying respectfully in French,
would mademoiselle be pleased to mount directly to the rooms reserved
for the Princess Urazov? And soon, without anyone questioning her, she
found herself being taken up in the lift, and finally ushered into a
charming sitting-room full of flowers.
Here she sat down and trembled again. The wildest excitement filled her
veins. Would Sasha never come! She could not sit still, she walked from
bouquet to bouquet of roses and carnations, sniffing the scent, and at
last subsided into a big armchair, as the waiters brought in some tea.
He thought of everything for her, then--her lover. But oh, why did he
not come!
She had finished her tea and had begun her restless pacing again, when,
with a gentle tap, the door opened, and Count Roumovski appeared.
"Sasha!" she cried, and advanced toward him like a frightened child.
His usually calm blue eyes were blazing with some emotion which
disturbed her greatly, she knew not why, and his voice seemed to have
taken a tone of extra deepness, as he said:
"Stella! My little star! And so you are really here--and my own!"
He put his strong hands down and held on to the back of a chair, and
simple as she was she knew very well that otherwise he would have taken
her into his arms, which was where she was longing to be, if she had
known.
"Yes, I have come," she whispered, "I have left them all--for you. Oh!
when will your sister be here?"
"Not until six o'clock, darling," he answered, while his eyes melted
upon her with passionate love. "There is an hour yet to wait. I had
hoped you would not have been forced to leave your aunt's care until
then."
"Oh! I am delighted to have come away," Stella answered, regaining some
of her composure. "I was shut into my room and watched by a servant. It
was awful! But do--you know what has happened now? since I left? Are
they tearing about after me, or what?"
Count Roumovski still held on to the back of the chair, and his voice
was still deep, as he said:
"I believe they have gone to your Embassy in a band--and much good may
they get there. You are of age, you see. Besides, I have taken care
that no one at the Grand Hotel knows where we have gone, and it will
take them quite an hour or two to telephone about and find out--and by
that time my sister will have arrived, and we can defy them."
"Yes," said Stella, and then, nervously, "won't you have some tea?"
He sat down, still constrainedly and clasped his hands, and womanlike,
when she saw his agitation, her own lessened, and she assumed command,
while she asked almost archly if he took cream and sugar.
He liked neither, he said, and with the air of a little hostess she
handed him the cup. Then she smiled softly and stood quite near him.
He drew himself together and his face looked almost stern as he took
the tea, and over Stella there crept a chill--and the gay little speech
that had been bubbling to her lips died there, and a silence fell upon
them for a few moments. Then he put down his cup and crossed to the
stiff sofa where she was, and sat down beside her.
"Sweetheart," he said, looking deeply into her eyes, "it is a colossal
temptation, you know, to me to make love to you. But I am not going to
permit myself that happiness yet. I want to tell you all about what we
shall do presently, and see if it pleases you." He did not even take
her hand, and Stella felt rather aggrieved and wounded. "I propose that
as soon as the formalities can be got through, and the wedding can take
place, that we go straight to Paris--because you will want to get all
kinds of clothes. And it will be such a delight to me to give you
everything you wish for."
Stella smiled shyly. It seemed suddenly to bring realities of things
before her with keen force. He would have the right to give her
everything in the world--this man whom she did not really know, but
whom she felt she loved very much. She clasped her hands and a thrill
ran through her. What, what did it all mean? The idea of her marriage
with Eustace Medlicott had always appeared as an ugly vision, an end to
everything, a curtain which was yet drawn over a view which could only
be all dusk and gray shadows, and which she would rather not
contemplate. But now the thought of going away and beginning a new
existence with Sasha Roumovski was something so glorious and delicious
that she quivered with joy at any reference to it.
Her little movement and the clasping of her hands affected him
profoundly. He, too, quivered, but with the stern effort to control
himself. It was part of his code of honor. Not the slightest advantage
must be taken of the situation while Stella was alone and unchaperoned,
although the very fact of their propinquity and the knowledge of their
solitude were extremely exciting to him, who knew the meaning of every
emotion. He drew a little away from her, and said in a voice that
sounded cold:
"I have seen the consul this afternoon. It will take three weeks, I am
afraid, before we can be legally married here in Rome. It seems an
eternity to me."
"Yes," agreed Stella, and suddenly looked down. She wished intensely
that he would caress her a little--although she was unaware of the
desire. She wondered vaguely--was it then very wicked to make love,
since Sasha, too, like Eustace, seemed as if he were resisting
something with all his strength? And unconsciously she pouted her red
underlip, and Count Roumovski moved convulsively.
"My sister's room is next to this," he said, "and yours is beyond. I
have had only roses put there, because you are like a sweet June rose."
"Am I?" said Miss Rawson, and raised her head. She had grown extremely
excited and disappointed, and, she knew not what, only that she did not
like this new lover of hers to be sitting there constrained and aloof,
talking in a stiff voice unlike his usual easy grace. It was perfectly
ridiculous to have run away with some one with whom she was
passionately in love, if he were going to remain as cold as ice!
She got up and took a rose from a vase and fastened it in her dress.
The whole movement and action had the unconscious coquetry of a woman's
methods to gain her end. Totally unaccustomed as Stella was to all
artifices, instinct was her teacher.
Sasha Roumovski rose suddenly.
"Come and sit here beside me again, heart of mine," he commanded with
imperious love, and indicated the stiff Louis XIV sofa. "I must explain
everything to you, it would seem."
Stella had never heard this tone in his voice before; it caused her
strange delight, and she shyly took her seat at one end of the sofa,
and then, as he flung himself down beside her, she looked up at him.
"What must you explain?" she asked.
"First, that I love you madly, that it is sickening temptation to be
with you now every instant without holding you in my arms," and his
voice trembled, while his blue eyes glowed. "That I do not know how to
resist the wild passion which is overcoming me. I want to kiss you so
terribly, more than I have ever wanted anything in my life."
"We-ll?" said Stella, with a quiver of exquisite joy. "And--" she had
almost spoken her thought of, "Why do you not do so, then?"--but the
burning passion she read in his made her drop her eyes. This was too
much for him. He understood perfectly, and, with a little cry, he drew
her to him, and his lips had almost touched her red, young, pouting
lips when he suddenly controlled himself and put her from him.
"No, sweetheart," he said hoarsely, "you would never respect me any
more if I took advantage of your tenderness now. As soon--as soon as I
really may, I will teach you every shade of love and its meanings. I
will kiss those lips and unloosen that hair; I will suffocate you with
caresses and make you thrill as I shall thrill until we both forget
everything in the intoxication of bliss," and he half-closed his eyes,
and his face grew pale again with suppressed emotion.
"Oh, I do not understand at all," Stella said, in a disappointed and
perplexed voice. "Since we are going to be married, why would it be so
very wrong for you to kiss me? I--I--" her small rueful face, with its
sweet childlike irregular curves, looked almost pathetically comic, and
Sasha leaned forward and covered his eyes with his hands. And then he
mastered himself and laughed softly.
"Oh, you adorable one!" he said. "It is not wrong--not the least wrong.
Only presently, when you do understand, you will realize how very much
I loved you to-day."
But Stella was still pouting--and got up restlessly and went to the
window.
"What can they do when they get to the Embassy?" she asked. "Could they
really take me back if they found me by telephoning round?"
"I do not think so--if you are past twenty-one."
"I was twenty-one in April. I am not a bit afraid of them, but I do not
want to have any row."
"When my sister has arrived you must write to your aunt, and tell where
you are and what are your intentions, then all will be finished."
"Oh, I wish she would come, don't you?" Stella said.
"More than I can say, darling," he answered, fervently. "You will not,
I hope, find me so incomprehensible then."
He walked about the room once or twice, and at last paused in front of
her.
"Stella," he whispered, while his eyes blazed again, "I cannot bear it,
little sweetheart, to stay all alone with you here. Will you forgive
me, if I leave you until Anastasia has arrived? Go and rest in your
room, darling, and I will go to the station to meet her. Ivan will
remain outside your door and you will be quite safe."
But Stella put out her hands like a frightened baby.
"Oh. must you leave me?" she cried, pettishly. "You are very cruel! You
make me almost wish I had not come."
From having swum with love and passion his eyes suddenly gave forth a
flash of steel, and his voice was like ice as he answered:
"If that is so, mademoiselle, it is not too late. I would not exact any
unwilling sacrifice. Shall I take you back again?"
And then Stella's childishness melted and fell from her, and she became
a real woman as she looked into his stern face.
"No--" she said, "I will not go back. I am sorry I was so uncontrolled,
but I am nervous--and I do not know exactly what I am--Sasha, please
take care of me," and she held out her hands with a piteous gesture of
asking for his protection, and moved beyond all power of further
control he folded her in his arms.
"My darling, my darling!" he murmured, frantically kissing her hair.
But his iron will reasserted itself in a few seconds, and while he
still held her he said with more calm:
"Little star, you must never speak to me like that again, as you did
just now, I mean. It was unreasonable and not kind, if you but knew!
And I have a very arrogant temper, I fear, although I am nearly master
of it, and shall be quite in time, I hope. We might have parted then
and spoilt both our lives. Won't you believe me that I love--I adore
you!" he went on tenderly. "I am madly longing to be for you the most
passionate lover a woman ever had. It is only for your sake and for
honor and our future happiness that I restrain myself now. You see I am
not an Englishman who can accept half-measures. Do not make it
impossible for me, sweet love!"
His voice was almost a sob in its deep notes of pleading, and Stella
was touched.
"Oh! you are so dear and great," she answered fondly. "I am perhaps
very wicked to have tempted you. If it would be wrong for you to kiss
me, which I cannot understand, it is--oh, it is because I love you like
that, too!"
At this ingenuous admission, passion nearly overcame him again, and he
held her so tightly it seemed as if he must crush out her very breath.
Then he put her from him and walked toward the door.
"I dare not stay another second," he said, in a strangled voice. "Ivan
will guard your room, and my sister will come to you soon. Do as I tell
you, beloved one, and then all will be well."
With which he opened the door, and left her standing by the sofa
quivering with a strange joy and perplexity--and some other wild
emotion of which she had not dreamed.