Free A Legacy by Sybille Bedford Page B

been my impression so far," said Count Bernin.
    "Oh come, Count, you must credit us with a little gratitude."
    "What are we going to tell old FeldenV
    Count Bernin got up. "We must find a turn," he said.
    "I'd better not show my face there again," said Captain Montclair.
    "Oh, I shouldn't neglect pressing a personal advantage, Captain," said the Count.
    "Is there anything the old boy might want for himself you can think of, Bernin?"
    "He wants his peace."
    "Not much in that for us."
    "On the contrary," said the Count. "On the contrary."
    "Preposterous, isn't it? One spoilt brat in a position to upset the Imperial Government. . . ."
    Before going over to Landen, Count Bernin spoke to Clara. Gustavus was with her.
    "You may as well hear, too," said the Count. "The understanding between you has put me in an intolerable position. And I wish to say this—Clara, if Felden does not agree to send back his boy, I shall not give my consent to your marriage. I shall treat your engagement as though it had never been. I trust that you will not marry Gustavus Felden without my consent as long as I live. And if I know your brother, whose aims are mine, not during his lifetime either. I am very sorry. But I shall not accept being compromised."
    Presently the men from Berlin saw Count Bernin, fully dressed now, to the carriage.
    "I can promise you nothing," he said. But when he and Captain Montclair arrived at Landen, Johannes had already very nearly cooked his own goose.

    The old Baron greeted them on the stairs. "I am delighted to see you, cher Monsieur. So you were able to come back after all?" He took Captain Montclair by the arm. "Come in, come in. I was just about to have a glass of wine. // we can find somewhere to sit, that is; I've had such a morning. The house is full of the strangest people. But this is such a pleasure. You will find that I've been brushing up my mechanics for you. Not that I've had a quiet moment. Nobody seems to know when to go these days."
    "What do they want?" said Count Bernin.
    "Oh my dear Bernin, I wish you would find out. I don't think they know themselves. I believe they are impostors. My children say they all come from Benzheim, Jean's school you know. Well, perhaps they do. They look like it. Jean shouldn't have let them come here. He is having hysterics somewhere, so unattractive, so unhelpful. Jean's getting out of hand. Do you know, Monsieur, that Jean and Gabriel insisted you were from that place. Wait till you see those people! They've all gone to the kitchen. The first time they're in my house, they might have asked/*
    "Did they talk to you at all?" said Count Bernin.
    "Oh yes. For hours. Such a morning. Something about Jean's watch. Of course they haven't found it. One of them asked me to contribute to a publication— Perhaps I will let him have my treatise on Phosphates. . . . And there's a gentleman—quite civil—who says he's from Saint Petersburg. He brought his luggage. When I asked him and how is my old friend Countess Troubkine, he told me that he had danced with her at Tsarskoje and that she was a vision. The poor man must be out of his mind. Marie Fedorovna, who's been laid up with the gout these fifteen years. . . . And they all would talk to me about Benzheim. Well I told them what I thought of that/'
    "As a matter of fact Captain Montclair is in a sense connected with Benzheim," said Count Bernin.
    "Is he? Are you? What a very extraordinary coincidence?

    How wrong one can be. . . . It must be delightful for the boys to have you there."
    "The Captain is not actually at Benzheim."
    "Of course not. He wouldn't have the time. I expect you demonstrate your interesting experiments there occasionally. I wish my friend Mercier had told me. I seem to have got a wrong impression of that school. Jean is an ass. He's very nearly worried me into my grave with his stories. . . . Filling the house with those dreadful people too. I can see they have nothing to do with Benzheim."
    "They are