I interrupted him in spite of myself, as if his words had pained me, and I thought of those pale green eyes, those magic eyes, eyes to be dreamt about, which were the color of grasshoppers, and I looked for them, and saw them in the darkness; they danced before me like phosphorescent lights, and I would have given then the whole contents of my purse to that man if he would only have been silent and urged his horses on to full speed, so that their mad gallop might carry me off quickly, quickly and far, and continually further from that girl.

THE MARQUIS

It was quite useless to expostulate when that obstinate little Sonia, with a Russian name and Russian caprices, had said:  “I choose to do it.”  She was so delicate and pretty also, with her slightly turned-up nose, and her rosy and childish cheeks, while every female perversity was reflected in the depths of her strange eyes, which were the color of the sea on a stormy evening.  Yes, she was very charming, very fantastic, and above all, so Russian, so deliciously and imperiously Russian, and all the more Russian, as she came from Montmarte, and in spite of this, not one of her seven lovers who composed her usual menagerie had laughed when their enslaver said one day: 

“You know my feudal castle at Pludun-Herlouet, near Saint Jacut-de-la-Mer, which I bought two years ago, and in which I have not yet set foot?  Very well, then!  The day after to-morrow, which is the first of May, we will have a house-warming there.”

The seven had not asked for any further explanation, but had accompanied little Sonia, and were now ready to sit down to dinner under her presidency in the dining-room of the old castle, which was situated ten hours from Paris.  They had arrived there that morning; they were going to have dinner and supper together, and start off again at daybreak next morning; such were Sonia’s orders, and nobody had made the slightest objection.

Two of her admirers, however, who were not yet used to her sudden whims, had felt some surprise, which was quickly checked by expressions of enthusiastic pleasure on the part of the others.

“What a delightful, original idea!  Nobody else would have thought of such things!  Positively, nobody else.  Oh! these Russians!” But those who had known her for some time, and who had been consequently educated not to be surprised at anything, found it all quite natural.

It was half-past six in the evening, and the gentlemen were going to dress.  Sonia had made up her mind to keep on her morning-gown, or if she dressed, she would do so later.  Just then she was not inclined to move out of her great rocking-chair, from which she could see the sun setting over the sea.  The sight always delighted her very much.  It might have been taken for a large red billiard ball, rebounding from the green cloth.  How funny it was!  And how lucky that she was all alone to look at it, for those seven would not have understood it at all!  Those men never have any soul, have they?