We have been four months at Paris without anything to disturb the happy
life which we have led, secure from all suspicions. Nothing can be more
original or sweeter than this love concealed from all prying eyes, the
exquisite pleasures of which you can imagine. Kondjé, delighted with her
triumphs, plays everywhere her part of enchantress.
My romance is, however, complicated by a circumstance which I must at
once relate to you.
You will not have forgotten that my aunt had seen Kondjé-Gul at
Baroness de Villeneuve's party, and that she conceived a great liking
for her. Their friendship having been cemented during several parties at
the commodore's, where they met each other, my aunt very naturally
invited Madame Murrah and her daughter to dinner one evening. She is
fond of young people, as you know; and Suzannah, Maud, and Kondjé-Gul
formed such a charming trio, that she soon insisted on their coming to
dine with her every Thursday. Indeed, Kondjé has frequently met Anna
Campbell there, for the latter has leave out from her convent twice a
month.
The consequence was, we became in time so completely involved in
intimate relations together, that it would have been imprudent to make
any break in them: moreover, Kondjé-Gul was so very happy and so proud
of this intimacy which allied her still more closely with me! All of
them were charmed with her; even my uncle, who, delighted at the
opportunity of conversing with her in Turkish, treated her with quite a
display of gallantry.
Among the constant visitors at our house, I should have mentioned Count
Daniel Kiusko, a fabulously rich young Slav, the owner of platinum mines
in the Krapacks mountains, and in the forests of Bessarabia. This being
his first visit to Paris, I found myself selected to act as his guide or
bear-leader, and to introduce him to our gay world. It was a simple
enough task, for that matter, since I had hardly anything to do but to
present him in society.
He was tall, slenderly built, and a fine specimen of the young boyard,
with that determined expression of countenance which suggests a habit of
acting and being obeyed as the feudal lord. In less than a week, with
the most lofty recklessness, he had thrown away half a million francs in
the club at baccarat, and his other doings are all in the same vein.
With such a start, you may be sure he has taken the world by storm, so
that his friendship is sought after as a prize. A successful duel which
he fought with a Brazilian made his reputation as a skilful swordsman.