An Imperial Lover by Mary Imlay Taylor

SINCE the first meeting with mademoiselle before the Tower of Ivan Veliki, M. de Lambert had found it convenient to pass in that direction at a certain hour every afternoon. Mademoiselle did not appear so frequently, but Madame de Brousson and I knew the days on which he was fortunate by his high good-humor; and the rest of the week we had cause enough to regret Najine's caprice, since his mood was usually gloomy, and he found endless fault with Touchet, who was his particular attendant. But one evening he came in from the Kremlin, having seen mademoiselle, but still being in so terrible a temper that I divined at once that something was wrong. He ate little at supper, and it evidently cost him an effort to respond to Zénaïde's pleasantry. She made covert signs to me to observe him, and soon slipped out of the room to give me an opportunity to sound him. When we were alone, I rallied him on his gloomy mood.

"You were fortunate to-day, I know," I said lightly; "you saw mademoiselle, yet you have been but an owl at my feast. Forsooth, when I was of your age, I had a lighter heart."