"Then she really is with you?"
"Yes, she is."
"Then, what do you . . . do you mean to keep her?"
"Yes."
"Mr. Astley, it will make a scandal; it's impossible. Besides, she is quite ill; perhaps you don't see it?"
"Oh, yes, I notice it, and I've just told you she is ill. If she had not been ill she would not have spent the night with you."
"Then you know that?"
"Yes, I know it. She came here yesterday and I would have taken her to a relation of mine, but as she was ill, she made a mistake and went to you."
"Fancy that! Well, I congratulate you, Mr. Astley. By the way, you've given me an idea: weren't you standing all night under our window? Miss Polina was making me open the window and look out all night to see whether you were standing under the window; she kept laughing about it."
"Really? No, I didn't stand under the window; but I was waiting in the corridor and walking round."
"But she must be looked after, Mr. Astley."
"Oh, yes, I've sent for the doctor, and, if she dies, you will answer to me for her death."
I was amazed.
"Upon my word, Mr. Astley, what do you want?"
"And is it true that you won two hundred thousand thalers yesterday?"
"Only a hundred thousand florins."
"Well, do you see, you had better go off to Paris this morning!"
"What for?"
"All Russians who have money go to Paris," Mr. Astley explained, in a tone of voice as though he had read this in a book.
"What could I do now in Paris, in the summer? I love her, Mr. Astley, you know it yourself."
"Really? I am convinced you don't. If you remain here you will certainly lose all you have won and you will have nothing left to go to Paris with. But, good-bye, I am perfectly certain you will go to Paris to-day."
"Very well, good-bye, only I shan't go to Paris. Think, Mr. Astley, what will be happening here? The General . . . and now this adventure with Miss Polina—why, that will be all over the town."
