Inventing Wonders

Chapter 21: Forgive Me, But What?

Mark Nikolaevich carefully looked at two neat little boxes. He had never failed in negotiations. And now, sitting in a bright room, Bulgari could say he had won. But her carefree "Didn't you know?" kept ringing in his head. Of course, he didn't know! He suspected, but he didn't know for sure. And how could he believe such a thing?

The count stood up and approached the finally completed portrait: how many more mysteries did those mocking eyes hide? Precisely mocking! Larisa Konstantinovna had decided to mock him! How did a girl who seemed to have come out of thin air manage to achieve so much? The more he interacted with the countess's friends, the more he was convinced she was a myth, a magical fantasy, a figment of everyone's imagination. Mark Nikolaevich could confidently say that she appeared out of nowhere on the Fontanka embankment last autumn. Because Ryleev, it seemed, was the first to encounter Vovk in St. Petersburg.

But young ladies don't appear out of thin air and build fortunes in half a year! Even if you disregard the fact that it's astonishingly incorrect, such a thing simply doesn't happen! Bulgari sighed nervously and returned to the boxes: "Didn't you know?" Yet half of his acquaintances swore they had the pleasure of conversing with the mysterious Maxim Konstantinovich.

And this story with the Grand Duke... Nikolai Pavlovich, of course, was a well-known manipulator, hard to refuse, but... So, she lied, saying it was her brother in her bedroom? Of course, she lied; how could she admit that an unmarried young lady had another man in her bed?

He opened the box. But how Larisa Konstantinovna writes! So, this bold flight of thought belongs to her? Where do these doubts come from? Whom is he trying to deceive? It was precisely this striking audacity and liveliness that attracted him. He closed the box. He just needed to admit it. At least to himself — he was afraid of marriage.

***

"Can you believe it?" Pelageya finally asked Lizaveta.

"I never would have thought he would agree to marry..." Alexandra drawled. "No, I never would have believed such a... such a calm young nobleman would decide on something like that..." She struggled to find the right words.

"And I don't believe she has forgotten Nikolai Pavlovich..." Liza noted, adjusting Sasha's hairstyle. "Listening to you, Palash, it seemed our mistress was ready to die for him, and here she is, getting married! What nonsense!"

Pelageya glanced at her friend. Liza often made such judgments as if Lara's actions insulted not the unfortunate engineer but Lizaveta herself.

"She was so against marriage!" Sasha nodded.

"Incredible story!"

"Honestly, I can hardly believe it myself..." Trubetskaya voiced her thoughts as she walked by.

Kirillushka, munching on tasteless state-issued plums, stared in amazement at the princess, who even greeted Pelageya.

"What surprises me more is such an address to us!" the boy declared.

"Larisa Konstantinovna instills tolerance in all of us," Anya haughtily lifted her chin, using a word whose meaning she didn't quite know.

The countess, having returned to the city, reinstated Anna Matveevna in her inner circle, but this did not make Anna feel any better: she had already made some rash decisions and now pondered whether her actions would have any consequences. Nevertheless, guilt did not prevent her from feeling incredibly important again, if only because her noble origin placed her on par with Lara and allowed her to condescendingly muse about tolerance.

"And what will be your tolerance, madam?" Kirillushka snorted, disliking this assistant of Lara's.

He spat the pit towards the flowerbed, though he wanted to spit at Anya.