"It is preposterous that people should make others suffer and go unpunished," he said, intent on his noble purpose. Catrina's eyelids flickered, but she made no answer. The soreness of her heart had not taken the form of a definite revenge as yet. Her love for Paul was still love, but it was perilously near to hatred. She had not reached the point of wishing definitely that he should suffer, but the sight of Etta--beautiful, self-confident, carelessly possessive in respect to Paul--had brought her within measurable distance of it. "The arrogance of those who have all that they desire is insupportable," the Frenchman went on in his favorite, non-committing, epigrammatic way. Catrina--a second Eve--glanced at him, and her silence gave him permission to go on. "Some men have a different code of honor for women, who are helpless." Catrina knew vaguely that unless a woman is beloved by the object of her displeasure, she cannot easily make him suffer. She clenched her teeth over her lower lip. As she played, a new light was dawning in her eyes. The music was a marvel, but no one in the room heard it. "I would be pitiless to all such men," said De Chauxville. "They deserve no pity, for they have shown none. The man who deceives a woman is worthy of--" He never finished the sentence. Her deep, passionate eyes met his. Her hands came down with one final crash on the chords. She rose and crossed the room. "Mother," she said, "shall I ring for tea?" When the countess awoke, De Chauxville was turning over some sheets of music at the piano. CHAPTER XXIII A WINTER SCENE Between Petersburg and the sea there are several favorite islands more or less assigned to the foreigners residing in the Russian capital. Here the English live, and in summer the familiar cries of the tennis-lawn may be heard, while in winter snow-shoeing, skating, and tobogganing hold merry sway. It was here, namely, on the island of Christeffsky, that a great ice fête was held on the day preceding the departure of the Howard Alexis household for Tver. The fête was given by one of the foreign ambassadors--a gentleman whose wife was accredited to the first place in Petersburg society. It was absolutely necessary, Steinmetz averred, for the whole Howard Alexis party to put in an appearance. The fête was supposed to begin at four in the afternoon, and by five o'clock all St. Petersburg--all, c'est à dire, worthy of mention in that aristocratic city--had arrived. One may be sure Claude de Chauxville arrived early, in beautiful furs with a pair of silver-plated skates under his arm. He was an influential member of the Cercle des Patineurs in Paris. Steinmetz arrived soon after, to look on, as he told his many friends. He was, he averred, too stout to skate and too heavy for the little iron sleds on the ice-hills.