The Argosy — page 211: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

196 The Sapphire Cross. an apparition,” replied Signor Renzo. —‘‘ But what can have induced Count Cioronski so utterly to defy les convenances as to appear at a ball not a year after his wife’s tragical end ?” ‘This is a kind of official occasion,” explained Hildegarde. “ And Count Cioronski 1s one of the Polish nobles whom the Czar has most delighted to honour.” ‘You know him ?” “Dear me, yes! My father was ambassador at St. Petersburg until last year. We knew Count Cioronski and poor Wanda, and that horrible sister-in-law of hers, Madame Raschkine, who made Wanda always so unhappy.” ‘Tt is really too crowded to dance,” said Signor Renzo. ‘“ Will you sit in this cool corner and eat an ice? ‘That’s right. Cream or water? So. Now tell me, how did Madame Raschkine make Countess Wanda unhappy ?” ‘Wanda was rather a flirt,” said Hildegarde; ‘there is no denying that. And the Count had furious fits of jealousy. But they were intermittent, for he was always odd ; suspected, indeed, of not being quite right in his head. But even when his suspicions were lulled for a time, la Raschkine always revived them by her hints.” “Ah!” Signor Renzo was greatly interested. The waltz was over, and he ought, properly speaking, to have taken his partner back to her stately mother. But he did not offer to do so, and she, hopeful, perhaps, of a little eventual flirtation, chattered on. ‘Poor Wanda was even taken away from St. Petersburg at a moment’s notice, on account of some story of that odious woman. And I have heard mamma say that she used to write to her brother constantly all kinds of ill-natured gossip which she had collected against her sister-in-law. In fact ” Hildegarde had a sudden return of prudence, and stopped short. However, it was a very yielding kind of prudence, that only required a little pressure to dissolve. ‘Pray go on,” Signor Renzo entreated. “Vou are quite excited, I declare,” laughed his companion. “TI ought not to tell you such things, but ———” She shrugged her pretty shoulders, and continued. ‘‘ Mamma has often told me that when the news of Wanda’s murder first reached St. Petersburg, before the particulars were known, people thought it might really have been the Count who murdered his wife. Such an absurd idea, you know, as it turned out.” “Very absurd. How came people by it?” ‘“ Madame Raschkine had at last discovered, or fancied she had discovered, something dreadful. Of course, I don’t know exactly what it was,” said Countess Hildegarde, all at once mindful of her part of an innocent jeune fille, ‘“‘but she was so exultant that she could not be silent. She told all her intimate friends, who told all EORNIE KOOKS (E(@)