x
When the regiment returned to Korosumska a month later, Captain Alexei Karamazov was a hero by popular acclimation. From the official viewpoint, he was a rash, insubordinate and untrustworthy young man who deserved to be sent home in chains and consigned to Siberia for a term at hard labor. He had endangered the lives of his command by marching against undetermined members of the enemy into what could have been an ambush. The attitude of his fellow professionals, when it was not more rancorous was that he had more luck than sense. They were not inclined to the view of several officers on the staff at corps HQ that there'd been such a scarcity of heroes in the dogged campaigning in Korgay that the credentials of any possible candidate should not be examined too closely. Heroism was pap for the newspapers, the civilians, who did not realize that duty was the stuff of armies. The professionals were only disgruntled by the fact that woodcut impressions of Alexei's hoorahing of Tharam flourished on front pages back in the states.8964 copyright protection5ＰＥＮＡＮＡsKZe9AgZgF 維尼
With barely one hundred men of his company, Alexei had marched up to Tharam, attacked before dawn and taken ninety-odd insurgents, including a general, several political advisers and a group of propaganda makers with the printing press they hauled from town to town. Had he accomplished this feat under orders, it would not have seemed half so glamorous. But for a man to bring off this kind of coup, against orders as well as against the numerical superiority of the enemy, marked him especially daring at a time when a pedantic atmosphere dominated headquarters and every responsible officer went strictly by the book.8964 copyright protection5ＰＥＮＡＮＡVwNcyVcmKh 維尼
The army, in view of the popular favor accorded Alexei both in Korosumksa and back in Moscow, could not afford to take disciplinary acclaim for the successful strike at Tharam. HQ suspected that he had encouraged Alexei's insubordination---one does not deliberately defy the man who is both commander and prospective father-in-law---especially after the general refused to reprimand Alexei. Within six weeks after the capture of Tharam the general's provisional command was dissolved and he was a commander without troops, waiting around Korosumska with other commandless generals. There was no more talk of his succeeding to the corps command. It was generally understood that he would be allowed to "rot on the vine," that he would be handled so discreetly, with polite disavowals that he was being shelved, that he could not demand a court of inquiry. 8964 copyright protection5ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2PO5pv6Oeh 維尼
None of these blemishes on his performance at Tharam bothered Alexei at the moment. He accepted the compliments that fluttered around him and ignored the frowns on certain elderly male faces when they observed him careening across the social scene.8964 copyright protection5ＰＥＮＡＮＡsj6CGGhiXc 維尼
And the new Russian society in Korosumska was lively, if not positively brilliant by international standards, that autumn of 1899. Along with a native bent towards the gregarious, as opposed to the former ruler's predilection for a starkly enclosed society, the Russians brought with them a liveliness quite unknown to the everyday Turanian. Many of the barriers between rank and wealth began to vanish, although not entirely, for Russians were conscious of certain distinctions. The military, in particular, could not afford a total breakdown in the caste system. The generals of the army, however little regard they might have for each other professionally, tended to cling to each other in any large gathering; and so on down the various grades of the armed services. Among civilians the members of the Commission sent out from Moscow were given a special status in the pecking order, but otherwise the doctors, teachers, scientists, bureaucrats and businessmen, who far outnumbered the official nabobs, mingled on fairly even terms---and had a much better time.8964 copyright protection5ＰＥＮＡＮＡk963gQd1mx 維尼
A feverish romanticism was also prevalent, engendered by the scenery, stage props and costumes of the muted drama being enacted in Korosumska, and by a definite talent for self-dramatization among those present, even those with the less glamorous roles. Russia, after all, had sent its more youthful and daring people to its newest oblast and they were not unconscious of the historic possibilities of their presence in "Oriental Russia." Young doctors of the Public Health Service were bound to remote fever spots where they were pledged to conquer disease and the sloth in which it breeds. Girls barely out of teachers' college were headed for the villages of scimitar-wielding heathens with little more than a stack of First Readers and their own splendid self-assurance as protection.8964 copyright protection5ＰＥＮＡＮＡqckGIvyY7Q 維尼
The air of easy victory, the romantic setting of Korosumska, the dark magnificence of the houses in which they reveled, the brilliance of the uniforms, which tended to acquire more gold braid and epaulets than required by the regulations---all conspired to thicken the atmosphere with a giddy hallucination that its beneficiaries would look back upon fondly and wonderingly all their lives. Those with superb literary skills, for example, found themselves reminded of Thackery's description of Brussels on the eve of Waterloo.8964 copyright protection5ＰＥＮＡＮＡt8af6mvakq 維尼
In this hothouse climate, with a kind of false chivalry blooming and an overblown gallantry flourishing nightly at balls and receptions among soldiers who would never hear the crack of a bullet, Alexei Karamazov cynically made the best of things. He grinned when a Korosumska newspaper characterized him as the "the Beau Sabreur of the Imperial Army," knowing how it would make his fellow gallants writhe. He smiled sardonically when young women from the Russian hinterland begged him for a lock of his dark hair to wear in their heart-shaped golden lockets. He accepted with a mock modesty the giggling and gasping rush of the ladies, old and young, when he made his entrance at a social affair or in the lobby of the Hafrar Inn. Dimitri credited him with keeping this sense of proportion despite the heady draughts of adulation, but soon learned, without shock, that Alexei was not above taking advantage of the situation. Few men would be. Yet Alex went about it in a calculating fashion more disturbing than if he had just been overwhelmed by the hero-worship.8964 copyright protection5ＰＥＮＡＮＡwsuu7FChAc 維尼
"That young brother of yours," Colonel Spravtsev remarked to Dimitri, "is easily the number-one womanizer of Korosumska. If he doesn't acquire some small sense of discretion, some husband is going to blow him to kingdom come. Do you think a fatherly lecture by his old colonel would do any good?"8964 copyright protection5ＰＥＮＡＮＡjyz0pNgaMR 維尼
"I'm sure it wouldn't," Dimitri said. "He was always able to charm his way past Mother and Father, and about all he's understood in the way of discipline is a brotherly punch in the jaw from time to time."8964 copyright protection5ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4SjbkxfMJt 維尼
"Well," Spravtsev grumbled, "he'd better straighten himself out before he gets into trouble. He reminds me of a young Cossack in his first battle, counting coups for all he's worth."8964 copyright protection5ＰＥＮＡＮＡq1ZCSIlyEk 維尼
The discussion came up at the monthly Army Assembly, an informal ball inaugurated to promote friendship and understanding between officers of the two services. It was held in the Provost Marshal's Building in the walled city, and attendance was obligatory for any officer on duty or on leave in Korosumska. Failure to attend would have indicated a churlish attitude towards the other service, and the senior officers of the army were bent on demonstrating a public comradeship.8964 copyright protection5ＰＥＮＡＮＡfBvrRIovuG 維尼
Dimitri and the colonel were at the bar having tall, iced drinks fashioned from vodka and lemons. An army band was thumping out the waltzes and two-steps, and the corridors as well as the dance floor of the stout old adobe building were crowded with people whirling themselves around with more energy than discretion. In the cruel heat the tunics of the men were plastered to their shoulders and even the more elegant ladies had a parboiled look about them, but most of the people were enjoying themselves too much to worry about a condition which they were becoming accustomed, that of being bathed constantly in a light film of perspiration, and which was no longer very embarrassing.8964 copyright protection5ＰＥＮＡＮＡFDF0mmj9AO 維尼
Alexei had attracted the colonel's attention by his activities on the dance floor with a young woman who should have been their last choice as a partner in flirtation, if that term was not too mild. Alexei was slyly paying court, as he had been for several months, beginning just before Raisa Milekhina and her father arrived from back west, to the wife of Brigadier General Kortney Alyokhin. Raisa, meanwhile, pretended to be engrossed in an awkward young first lieutenant just over from the mainland.8964 copyright protection5ＰＥＮＡＮＡhECOfI4ZuW 維尼
There was nothing overtly improper about Alexei's attentions to Euphrosyne Alyokhin, yet on close observation there was something distinctly lubricious about the way his left hand clutched at the lady's shapely back, at the way he looked into her eyes, at the caressing manner of his words and glances. Downright indecent, in their total effect, and no less shocking for the way Mrs. Alyokhin responded.8964 copyright protection5ＰＥＮＡＮＡf7fEteYItX 維尼
Among the more interested observers was General Alyokhin himself, gripping a cigar in one hand, an untasted drink in the other. The general, now in the quartermaster's department, looked like an elderly businessman, although he had been a soldier all his life. His eyes, pouched with weariness, followed his wife and her admirer with the disillusionment of a man who has long anticipated bankruptcy.8964 copyright protection5ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0vNkzl19AE 維尼
Euphrosyne Alyokhin was a strikingly attractive woman. She was perhaps five or six years old than Alexei, but the difference in their ages would have been noticeable only to another woman, who would assess certain hairline wrinkles around the eyes, a little puff of flesh under the jaw, a slight over ripeness of her contours, and find them satisfyingly indicative.8964 copyright protection5ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4zQJRYIBgx 維尼
She was the daughter of a wealthy and indulgent parliamentarian who had advanced her husband's career in partial payment for having irremediably spoiled his daughter. A high-styled brunette, she wore her glossy hair in an elaborate arrangement of puffs and buns that was more architecture than hairdo, contrasting vividly with her pale and delicate complexion and her lively blue eyes. Her sinuous movements on and off the dance floor were provocative enough to catch the attention of any male under 90 with passable eyesight. The sapphire gown she wore came directly from a Paris fashion house and was designed with an artful immodesty to display every ripple of the body beneath it.8964 copyright protection5ＰＥＮＡＮＡpHKZMdtg7h 維尼
When the two-step ended, Alexei guided Mrs. Alyokhin back to her husband's side, bowed to the general, glanced at Mrs. Alyokhin again, and then moved from the ill-mated couple.8964 copyright protection5ＰＥＮＡＮＡTlUdRfh9BH 維尼
Dimitri observed that the Alyokhins seemed to be having an unfriendly discussion, the general's face reddening with anger, his wife's hardening into an obdurate mask. Dimitri guessed that the general was insisting that they leave the Assembly, and his wife was refusing to go with him.8964 copyright protection5ＰＥＮＡＮＡLUuqYR7L2q 維尼
The general uttered a few more bitter words, turned and departed the ballroom.8964 copyright protection5ＰＥＮＡＮＡgFgLfBvPnz 維尼
Mrs. Alyokhin stayed. Her eyes immediately began searching the crowded room. A moment later Alexei, who had been waiting for this moment, came up behind her and quickly squeezed her slender waist. The general's lady whirled around, catching her breath in pleased surprise. The face she turned up to Alexei, hard and spiteful as it had been only a moment before, glowed with an unmistakable acquiescence. Although he was no expert in such matters, Dimitri gathered from that look of bruised tenderness that his brother and Mrs. Alyokhin had been, or soon would be, on terms of the greatest intimacy.8964 copyright protection5ＰＥＮＡＮＡlzY8zHFyfq 維尼
Dimitri went home early, which was just as well, for early the next morning General Alyokhin's aide knocked on the door of his room at the Hafrar Inn with a peremptory summons. Major Karamazov was to present himself immediately at the general's home. There was no explanation of the summons, and delicacy forbade that Dimitri question the aide about the reason for it.8964 copyright protection5ＰＥＮＡＮＡoxSFL4LmXu 維尼
On the way over in a hired carriage Dimitri tried to keep a tight hold on his imagination. The image of his brother lying dead, with a gun smoking in the general's hand and Euphrosyne Alyokhin beautifully aghast and immeasurably thrilled in a corner of the room, kept imposing itself on his mind. Tense with anxiety, he knew right away how much his brother meant to him, and years of aggravations and resentments be damned. For the first time in a good long while he remembered, also, his mother's injunction: "As the older brother, it is your duty to look after Alex to the best of your ability." Had his mother any idea back then what a strenuous role she had assigned to her eldest son?8964 copyright protection5ＰＥＮＡＮＡT8flKgEPAx 維尼
The general's house was one of the finest available in Korosumska, solid as a fort, admirably constructed to resist sun and wind, shaded by huge flowering trees. Dimitri had wasted no time admiring its symmetry, however, and hurried through the courtyard, past the stables of the ill-tempered carriage ponies that kicked stall doors in their outrage at the intrusion, past a fountain which sent plumes of water into the early sunlight, and finally into the sizable reception hall.8964 copyright protection5ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7hrukSucPy 維尼
A Turanian servant received him wordlessly, bowed and escorted him into a small book-lined study.8964 copyright protection5ＰＥＮＡＮＡCLLO4eWmHE 維尼
Here the general awaited him. Here, also, Raisa Milekhina and her father had been summoned. Dimitri couldn't resist looking around for some sign of violence, but there wasn't any. He studied their faces for a clue as to what had happened. Raisa's was white with shock or anger, maybe both, and her father studied the polished obsidian floor as though viewing in its reflection the melancholiest events. 8964 copyright protection5ＰＥＮＡＮＡvUR3bHZCxT 維尼
General Alyokhin was a sad and weary old man.8964 copyright protection5ＰＥＮＡＮＡEhF37igUse 維尼
"Thank you for coming at such an inconvenient hour, Major," he said. "I think you will agree that the reason for this meeting is urgent."8964 copyright protection5ＰＥＮＡＮＡa0SAVt0KY2 維尼
"Yes," agreed General Milekhina, "we must decide upon a course of action at once."8964 copyright protection5ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7Ka1ZWS3rc 維尼
"I don't care if I never see Alex again," Raisa said. "He has treated me abominably ever since we came to Korosumska."8964 copyright protection5ＰＥＮＡＮＡBlAMHfNF1j 維尼
"May I ask what has happened, sir?" Dimitri asked, trying to keep his voice level and patient.8964 copyright protection5ＰＥＮＡＮＡRp2jdQSy7i 維尼
"It would appear," General Alyokhin said, "that my wife has run off with Captain Karamazov."8964 copyright protection5ＰＥＮＡＮＡlB6oMEtxTZ 維尼
General Milekhina suggested, with more hope than faith, "It could, of course, all be a misunderstanding."8964 copyright protection5ＰＥＮＡＮＡyi12E7Kxu4 維尼
"Hardly, my dear Milekhina. Don't you think I tried to force myself to believe that in preference to the more likely event? I do not regard the horns of cuckoldry as something to be lightly accepted."8964 copyright protection5ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1aVrOxoMJS 維尼
"Mind your tongue, sir," General Milekhina blazed out. "Is it necessary to remind you that there is an unwed girl in this room?"8964 copyright protection5ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1abzvAhoqg 維尼
"I beg your pardon, Milekhina. And yours, Miss Milekhina. I fear there is little chance of a misunderstanding in this matter. Sometime early this morning, after the Assembly, my wife and Captain Karamazov came here together. They stayed just long enough for Mrs. Alyokhin to write me a note, then, according to one of the servants, they departed. I awakened, not long after they left and was naturally alarmed at my wife's absence. I found the note on this desk. It stated that she and the captain had gone for a carriage ride into the countryside because they wanted to watch the sun come up over the Czar's new land."8964 copyright protection5ＰＥＮＡＮＡheYXZnoXV9 維尼
"That sounds innocent enough," General Milekhina remarked.8964 copyright protection5ＰＥＮＡＮＡkwEx7Yt5ls 維尼
"Then where the hell are they? How long does it take for the sun to rise?" General Alyokhin was losing patience fast. "What the hell do they take me for?"8964 copyright protection5ＰＥＮＡＮＡgXNGCWfKEJ 維尼
"Everyone in Korosumska will know about it by noon," Raisa said.8964 copyright protection5ＰＥＮＡＮＡmzHNOJ5YVJ 維尼
"They will indeed," said General Alyokhin. "My Mohammedan boy will tell the one next door, and the talk will be buzzing up and down the Fahar, quick as lightning. Even if they walked into the room this moment, it'd be a scandal."8964 copyright protection5ＰＥＮＡＮＡpCooBlB5xs 維尼
"Damn him," said General Milekhina with deeply felt emotion. It was the only harsh word Dimitri had ever heard him utter against Alexei.8964 copyright protection5ＰＥＮＡＮＡEw8TGvgSe8 維尼
"He never thinks of anyone but himself," said Raisa.8964 copyright protection5ＰＥＮＡＮＡ08y9t2hDpo 維尼
"Why," wondered General Alyokhin, "does he think he's above the laws that govern everyone else?"8964 copyright protection5ＰＥＮＡＮＡCqW9lZjpSQ 維尼
"He's created a damnable situation, aside from my personal feelings," General Milekhina said. "Puts the army in a bad light, reflects on all Russians here. Just what the hell is that matter with your brother, Major?"8964 copyright protection5ＰＥＮＡＮＡgThTcBKNHd 維尼
All three, turning to Dimitri, seemed to be waiting for him to assume the rule of counsel for defense. Dimitri, however, realized that nothing he could say would soften their present opinion of Alexei. The wrath of a possibly betrayed husband, a highly affronted fiancée and a father-in-law-presumptive could hardly be ameliorated by a few words from the culprit's brother. But he had to say something, not just because they were expecting it but because he was, perversely perhaps, annoyed by their attitude. Why was he always ready to defend Alexei (only) when everyone else was on his case?8964 copyright protection5ＰＥＮＡＮＡhMc5TJENtO 維尼
"It's just that my brother," Dimitri said, "does not think before he acts. Whatever he does, he cares nothing for the other people's opinions of his actions. Forgive me if I'm not being profound but it's the only explanation I can offer.8964 copyright protection5ＰＥＮＡＮＡZVITQqub2k 維尼
"I can't blame him, at the moment, quite as much as the rest of you. There's one thing about Alexei: he's not a hypocrite. He lets you know exactly what he is and what he may do. I'm going to speak very bluntly, with no apologies to rank or gender. Raisa, you can never pretend to yourself that you didn't know what sort of man Alex was when you chose him over me. When you gave me the ring back you told me you realized that he acted on one of the most selfish impulses. As for you, General Milekhina, you've always encouraged his willfulness, laughed at his indiscretions and encouraged some of them. General Alyokhin, you must have known that my brother's intentions towards your wife were not entirely honorable, but apparently you exercise so little control over Mrs. Alyokhin that you were unable or unwilling to forbid her to see any more of him.8964 copyright protection5ＰＥＮＡＮＡVtmbVS3XeU 維尼
"This doesn't mitigate in any way whatever Alex might have done, but Mrs. Alyokhin is too mature a woman to be considered the victim of a designing marauder. She's a woman of the world, not a schoolgirl. I know it's considered proper to blame the man entirely in such a case. I'm being ungallant and unkind in suggesting otherwise, but this is a time for speaking the truth."8964 copyright protection5ＰＥＮＡＮＡFbKTzv9p4t 維尼
Raisa and her father were obviously much offended by his remarks.8964 copyright protection5ＰＥＮＡＮＡbi2MugTQ54 維尼
But General Alyokhin said quite calmly, "What you say in regard to my wife and me is likely fair and just, Major. Mrs. Alyokhin is a spoiled, vain and selfish woman. This is not the first occasion on which she has shamed me. I half failed, as a husband, to make her realize that the world wasn't created solely for her pleasure. I appreciate your honesty, Major. It should make us all realize that sitting around here and unleashing recriminations will solve nothing. The important thing is to mend the harm that's been done, as quickly, quietly, and discreetly as possible."8964 copyright protection5ＰＥＮＡＮＡF3Xc7IWfcq 維尼
General Milekhina was quick to see his point. "I agree that there must be no scandal, for the sake of all involved and, as you have pointed out, General Alyokhin, because of the larger issues at stake. God knows the civilians would love to sink their teeth into something like this..."8964 copyright protection5ＰＥＮＡＮＡNDJ4x9curN 維尼
"Aren't we putting the mule before the wagon, as it were?" Dimitri asked. "There might be a perfectly good reason why Alex and Mrs. Alyokhin haven't returned. An accident, for instance."8964 copyright protection5ＰＥＮＡＮＡgidIVDmIDM 維尼
"They'd have sent word by now," General Alyokhin said, shaking his head. "Naturally, when they return, they'll have trumped up some kind of story. No one will believe that story, I'm sure. This will, naturally, ruin what is left of my wife's reputation. It would also end Captain Karamazov's career. To save my own face, if nothing else, I would be forced to press charges of conduct unbecoming an officer and a gentleman against him. No military tribunal would be inclined to be lenient with him, especially with married men among his judges."8964 copyright protection5ＰＥＮＡＮＡYBIhju1cAd 維尼
"He'd be cashiered, then," said General Milekhina. "General Alyokhin, don't you think that would be excessive, despite the provocation you have suffered?"8964 copyright protection5ＰＥＮＡＮＡRUIBeQzgKQ 維尼
"I do not," General Alyokhin said slowly. "It would serve to dissuade other young rogues from trespassing. It would take some of the onus off my wife. It might make it possible for us to salvage from all this a little pride, a face, as the Chinese say. I've been thinking about all these things for the past several hours. I'm not a vindictive man, but I'm not going to bear one iota of suffering or disgrace more than needed on Alexei Karamazov's account.8964 copyright protection5ＰＥＮＡＮＡwfQE7f7dDD 維尼
"I spoke a moment ago of mending matters as quietly and discreetly as possible. If they have not behaved too flagrantly there might be a way out, short of pressing charges. We could all behave as if the inevitable gossip were baseless, ridiculous. But that would call for a big measure of forgiveness and tolerance on Miss Milekhina's part."8964 copyright protection5ＰＥＮＡＮＡYgNmKnV5i8 維尼
"I believe I see your point," General Milekhina said. "It has been a rather lengthy engagement."8964 copyright protection5ＰＥＮＡＮＡXMDr6f5lGs 維尼
"You mean...." Raisa gasped. Her eyes widened in disbelief. A moment later they were filled with cold anger. "You mean that Alex and I should be married as soon as possible to make everything look just---just dandy."8964 copyright protection5ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2pDKU7VDr8 維尼
"It would save the lad."8964 copyright protection5ＰＥＮＡＮＡA07MjkMeAb 維尼
"What of me? Do you want to quick-march your own daughter to the altar with a man like that? Who do you love most, Father, Alex or me?"8964 copyright protection5ＰＥＮＡＮＡGQfmrF4dIU 維尼
"You've always come first, Raisa, and you know it."8964 copyright protection5ＰＥＮＡＮＡW4uRtb6i96 維尼
"Then I hope you'll believe me when I say I'd rather die than marry Alex."8964 copyright protection5ＰＥＮＡＮＡL1mqJxjtcv 維尼
"You're talking out of hurt and anger. In a few days, a few hours even, you'll feel differently."8964 copyright protection5ＰＥＮＡＮＡqqCovGqQTx 維尼
It was as close to wheedling as General Milekhina was likely to come, Dimitri thought, short of the final judgment.8964 copyright protection5ＰＥＮＡＮＡeW0rGwBWVt 維尼
His daughter was unmoved. "You're wrong, Father," she said curtly. "I thought it all out on the train coming over. Alex was to have one more chance. Soon after we arrived, I saw that the only change in him had been for the worse. I told him he would have to start behaving like a man in love with me and not the whole female sex. But he was looking over my shoulder at some other woman even while I was delivering my pathetic little ultimatum. Oh, Dimitri's right when he says that Alex has warned us about himself time after time. That's exactly why I don't intend to go on playing the fool."8964 copyright protection5ＰＥＮＡＮＡwA0TVR4u9Y 維尼
Alex rose from her chair with her dignity admirably intact, said, "I'll wait for you outside, Father," nodded to General Alyokhin, and left the study.8964 copyright protection5ＰＥＮＡＮＡGAusRff2Hg 維尼
A moment later Dimitri, glancing through the narrow window looking out onto the courtyard, could see the slender form moving toward the pool at the fountain's base. She stared pensively into its serene waters. The sun was bright in her tawny hair, and her slightest movement was somehow both graceful and touching. For a long time, Dimitri had difficulty thinking of her as Alexei's girl; now, strangely enough, he could think of her in no other way, despite what had happened.8964 copyright protection5ＰＥＮＡＮＡoKmBgZy1fU 維尼
"She'll come around to our way of thinking," General Milekhina said. "I suppose she's entitled to a spell of childishness."8964 copyright protection5ＰＥＮＡＮＡQxoSkCpEcH 維尼
Dimitri considered that shockingly inept characterization of his daughter's feelings, but then the general had never been accused of being overly intuitive in personal dealings.8964 copyright protection5ＰＥＮＡＮＡIwQ0sIdB4D 維尼
"That poor child," murmured General Alyokhin8964 copyright protection5ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9cZ6qRMJfW 維尼
Dimitri asked to be excused.8964 copyright protection5ＰＥＮＡＮＡOsNxqfvU5J 維尼
General Alyokhin indicated his dismissal with a sudden wave of the hand, and as Dimitri left his two seniors were moving deliberately towards a taboret in the opposite corner of the room where a decanter and glasses were waiting. They looked as if they needed a peg or two of cognac to sustain them. Dimitri wondered how long they would have to wait for Alexei and Mrs. Alyokhin to return, tried to picture the pair's reception in that gloomy and brandy-fumed chamber, and felt a rare twinge of pity for his brother.8964 copyright protection5ＰＥＮＡＮＡmNkirO3VyP 維尼
Raisa was still waiting in the courtyard. She asked Dimitri to see her home. They found little to say on their way to the general's house.8964 copyright protection5ＰＥＮＡＮＡ807T3ATCuy 維尼
That evening Dimitri stood at the window of his room at the Hafrar Inn, his tunic unbuttoned, a glass of vodka in one hand and a cigar in the other. For some time, he had stayed there watching a storm build up in the sky over the desert. Lowering clouds had been darkening the western horizon for hours before sunset. The first thunderstorm of the rainy season was reported hurtling over the land towards Korosumska and was supposed to strike the city before midnight. Already the thunder shook the foundations of buildings in the Korgay prospect, and the wind was reaching a higher, more frantic pitch. People who claimed to be able to read the signs said it would be a real howler.8964 copyright protection5ＰＥＮＡＮＡnsreWdXjOs 維尼
An hour or so ago various employees of the inn had visited every room to batten down shutters and lock windows and distributed a warning to stay off the streets until the storm had blown itself out.8964 copyright protection5ＰＥＮＡＮＡs6wsc3A1Vd 維尼
Dimitri's mood, despite frequent resort to the vodka that afternoon, was a match for the weather. Stormy, with falling barometer. Liquor, he decided, wasn't much help to a troubled man. It had only made him more depressed, although he had greedily swallowed half a bottle thus far. The stuff seemed to have no effect on him; perhaps worry was the perfect counterweight to alcohol. All day he had been waiting for some kind of word concerning Alexei, and none had come.8964 copyright protection5ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3GovfSMWPf 維尼
He had just decided to go downstairs for a late dinner, providing the dining room was kept open on such a menacing night, and was putting his glass down on the marble top of the bureau when there was a light tap on the dor. Dimitri told whoever it was to come in. His caller was Raisa Milekhina.8964 copyright protection5ＰＥＮＡＮＡvcy4uR746Z 維尼
She was wrapped in a rain cape, which Dimitri took from her shoulders. Her smile was a trifle too carefree, and her manner, as she seated herself next to Dimitri on the divan near the windows, was close to abandon, or hysteria.8964 copyright protection5ＰＥＮＡＮＡhIa9oUqhCZ 維尼
"They've come back," she announced. "In midafternoon, just after I went back to find out what had happened to Father. I suppose I should have told you this earlier."8964 copyright protection5ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5sJNhtwRB0 維尼
"They're both safe, I assume."8964 copyright protection5ＰＥＮＡＮＡT5xulvMFFo 維尼
"Safe?" There was a slightly shrill edge to her laugher. "Of course, they're safe! Nothing bad ever happens to a creature like Euphrosyne Alyokhin. She's one of the anointed ones."8964 copyright protection5ＰＥＮＡＮＡNQpUg5O3zq 維尼
"What happened?"8964 copyright protection5ＰＥＮＡＮＡbvGlN6JKrN 維尼
"You mean on their romantic ride to watch the dawn?"8964 copyright protection5ＰＥＮＡＮＡGzCdy4sX38 維尼
"Yes."8964 copyright protection5ＰＥＮＡＮＡDCZk4MThAt 維尼
"Oh, one of those accidents. What always happens when two persons like that fail to return from a ride for nine or ten hours? I hardly listened to their excuses. One of the horses threw a shoe.... they were traveling on a deserted road....no one came by for hours......Mrs. Alyokhin was elected to tell the story---a wise choice, I daresay. She'd make a first-rate actress. If one were a little gullible, one might almost believe the whole thing had been a horrible ordeal. It was a miracle, according to Mrs. Alyokhin, that they weren't murdered by bandits or held for ransom by a rebel band. Oh, it was a gallant performance!"8964 copyright protection5ＰＥＮＡＮＡF99eiEh1lS 維尼
"How was it received?"8964 copyright protection5ＰＥＮＡＮＡnALO1c0YPR 維尼
"General Alyokhin slapped her across the face, and a lively scene ensued. Tears, recriminations, and finally an apology of sorts by the general. Dimitri, darling, would you give me a drink."8964 copyright protection5ＰＥＮＡＮＡdIf4YLirRi 維尼
"I have only vodka."8964 copyright protection5ＰＥＮＡＮＡAQymilWZJG 維尼
"That will do."8964 copyright protection5ＰＥＮＡＮＡCa7Kq6RqeI 維尼
She watched him pour a rather weak mixture of vodka and water, walked over to join him at the bureau, and briskly tilted the bottle again herself. "I want a real drink, Dimitri. Don't be so protective."8964 copyright protection5ＰＥＮＡＮＡe2XypJrCUN 維尼
"Vodka and anger don't mix very well," he said.8964 copyright protection5ＰＥＮＡＮＡtIAscsxtsk 維尼
"I deserve something for not laughing in that woman's face. Actually, I behaved rather well."8964 copyright protection5ＰＥＮＡＮＡPSywQSfaac 維尼
"I'm sure you did, Raisa. What would you have to gain by making matters worse?"8964 copyright protection5ＰＥＮＡＮＡgbshijltK8 維尼
"I would have felt better, that's what I would have gained."8964 copyright protection5ＰＥＮＡＮＡ73VrMaOCKV 維尼
"What about Alex?"8964 copyright protection5ＰＥＮＡＮＡWTxv0Ncp0n 維尼
"He stood there with a devil-may-care smile on his face---what else? He has to maintain his favorite attitude, doesn't he? The Beau Sabreur of the Imperial Army." She finished off her drink, but to Dimitri's relief did not request another. "You know I could swear that I heard the sand trickling down from their clothing as they stood there in the Alyokhin study. They must have down their dawn-watching from some golden dune in each other's arms."9Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTLXcyeq857
8964 copyright protection5ＰＥＮＡＮＡW2eYsg8TGd 維尼
"It won't do any good imagining what might have happened."8964 copyright protection5ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9rZxgc0DDN 維尼
"I'm not as hurt as you seem to think. Alexei has lost his capacity to hurt me. Quite a while ago I began to realize that I was a fool to give you up for Alex. It may not be maidenly modest for me to admit such a thing to you, but you're not the kind of man to misunderstand it."8964 copyright protection5ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7EHAoJJNUX 維尼
Her blue eyes, faintly shadowed by fatigue and emotional stress, gazed levelly across the room at him. She had primly seated herself in a chair after taking the drink.8964 copyright protection5ＰＥＮＡＮＡCsT48VP1nR 維尼
Outside the rain began catapulting down, and the wind was shrieking and clawing at all that stood in its way. Even the stoutly built Hafrar Inn, taking the force of the storm broadside, seemed like a ship foundering in a wild sea. The wind, seeking out every seam and chink in the structure, made the lamp flame gutter and almost snuffed it out. Somewhere nearby a shutter had been wrenched loose from its moorings and was dashed to the courtyard below, the wind bounding it against the building on its downward path. 8964 copyright protection5ＰＥＮＡＮＡypwxubyZMC 維尼
"I won't be able to go home for hours," she said. "Not until the storm lets up. What a wonderful excuse it would have made for Alex and Mrs. Alyokhin."8964 copyright protection5ＰＥＮＡＮＡG3J8lyEwF3 維尼
Her eyes still fixed on his, Raisa slowly rose from her chair and came across the room to the divan. She settled herself closer to him.8964 copyright protection5ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0zqVmH4rkT 維尼
"You won't put me out in the storm, will you, Dimitri?" she asked. Her breath was warm and tickling in his ear, and wing of her burnished blonde hair brushed his cheek. In a moment her mouth was seeking his with a melting urgency.8964 copyright protection5ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4kDXHc4aYT 維尼
9Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbadJKXSf8Z
8964 copyright protection5ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9AJaAcvI8f 維尼
9Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHWs4met27J
8964 copyright protection5ＰＥＮＡＮＡP0guOFHrjK 維尼
