Читать книгу When I Was Czar онлайн

56 страница из 105

It was just the hitch I had foreseen and pointed out to old Kalkov; but how to get over it I did not see.

“And the point of minor importance; what is that?”

“The consent to the marriage is dated, and if a date is to remain, it should be that of a week or a month ago.”

“Why?”

At the quick question he looked across at Helga, who shrugged her shoulders.

“I do not see why you should not say. It concerns both the objections and accounts for them,” she said.

“The Duchess Stephanie is already my wife, monsieur,” said Boreski.

“The devil she is,” I exclaimed in genuine astonishment. “That puts the whole thing on a totally different footing.”

“It entails the consent being dated back, and makes the dowry payable at once, monsieur.”

“It means also that you have put your head in a noose, and have forfeited the Duchess’s fortune, since her marriage has taken place without my—without the Emperor’s consent;” and I folded up the papers and put them back in my pocket.

“It certainly produces a quite interesting complication,” said Helga, smiling.