Page:The Tsar's Window.djvu/40

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34
THE TSAR'S WINDOW.

at exactly the right moment. I want you to know my sisters."

He bowed stiffly in response to her introduction. He was slightly bald, and made use of one eye-glass. I have discovered that he is younger than he looks; that he rarely laughs, and when he does there is a peculiar wrinkle in his nose, which I have learned to watch for with fresh interest every time anything amusing is said. He talks well, and seems to be quite unprejudiced,—for an Englishman. Either he knows a great deal about most subjects, or he makes a good show of a small amount of knowledge. I have seen people who did that. Certainly, I have not heard Mr. Thurber confess his ignorance on any subject. He was talking to me about pictures, when Judith quietly seated herself in a window, and looked out, leaving us to admire the smooth coils of yellow hair on the back of her head.

Mr. Thurber looked at her several times, as if he meant to speak to her. Finally he said, "I fear you will take cold in that window."

Judith smiled at him sweetly over her shoulder, while she answered, "I never take cold."

He pursued the subject as if she had said nothing. "The Russians never sit near a window. Will you take this chair?" drawing forward an arm-chair as he spoke.

Judith changed her seat with apparent reluctance. "Let us go somewhere," she said. "You and Dorris have certainly discussed Ruysdaal's sky to your hearts'