not in the humour for entertaining her guests� .’

‘Perhaps you would have been right. And you, Count?� ’

‘And I?’ repeated Malevsky with his evil smile� .

‘You would offer him a poisoned sweetmeat.’ Malevsky’s face changed slightly, and assumed for an instant a Jewish expression, but he laughed directly.

‘And as for you, Voldemar,� ’ Zina�da went on, ‘but that’s enough, though; let us play another game.’

‘M’sieu Voldemar, as the queen’s page, would have held up her train when she ran into the garden,’ Malevsky remarked malignantly.

I was crimson with anger, but Zina�da hurriedly laid a hand on my shoulder, and getting up, said in a rather shaky voice: