Nobody would ever
understand what a trial in altruism had been. Nobody, in fact, ever
gave her credit for a grain of self-abnegation. And yet she was always
trying to please people--denying herself this and that. How harshly the
world judged!
She was also troubled in mind, though in a lesser degree, about the
fate of the remainder of the Russian colony. Were they not all her
brothers and sisters--these laughing, round-cheeked primitives? The
magistrate, that caricature of a man, that vindictive and corrupt
atheist, that tiger in human form, was doubtless thirsting for the
blood of those still at liberty on Nepenthe. How much longer would
Peter escape his malice? The dear boy! Her lambkin, her little soul--she
had learnt to babble a few words of Russian--her play for, harmless,
ever-hungry Peter! On this lovely island, where all men should be at
peace--how harshly they dealt with one another!
The rest of the foreign colony, undisturbed by such bitter personal
reflections, appeared to bear the loss of the lady with praiseworthy
equanimity.
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