It will give me great pleasure.

" Boris promised to fulfill her wish and was about to begin a conversation with her, when Anna Pavlovna called him away on the pretext that her aunt wished to hear him.

"You know her husband, of course?" said Anna Pavlovna, closing her eyes and indicating Helene with a sorrowful gesture.

" Ah, she is such an unfortunate and charming woman! Don't mention him before her--please don't! It is too painful for her!" When Boris and Anna Pavlovna returned to the others Prince Hippolyte had the ear of the company.

Bending forward in his armchair he said: "Le Roi de Prusse!" and having said this laughed.