Читать книгу The Ostrekoff Jewels онлайн

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"'Escort Colonel Patinsky to his rooms,' he told Krotonoff. 'See that servants assist him with his packing and order a car at once. The Colonel is obliged to leave us.'"

"Sounds like a bad business," Haven observed.

"It was a moment which I have never forgotten," Alexis declared solemnly. "Patinsky was white as a sheet. His hand kept on nervously fingering his side, where his sword would have hung had he been in uniform. His tongue was moistening his dry lips. It seemed as though he had been stricken dumb. He muttered something. His Highness made no reply. There were cards lying all across the table and the contents of a spilt bottle of wine still trickling on to the floor. But such a silence! It is by the silence I remember those moments. Even Patinsky failed to break it. He left the room. The Prince turned to the others.

"'Gentlemen,' he said, 'my apologies.'

"Then he motioned to the servants.

"'This table is befouled,' he added. 'Prepare another one.'

"They hurried to obey. He turned and saw me by the window and waved me away. I knew then that I was no longer wanted. I went back to my tramp along the terrace. That was the last time I saw Colonel Patinsky. It is he who is here to-night, who eats our food and drinks our wine below."