Chapter XV
Prince Conrad Makes Merry
A table running parallel with the three windows of the room. An incredible collection of bottles, decanters and glasses, hardly leaving room for the dishes of cake and fruit. Ornamental side–dishes flanked by bottles of champagne. A basket of flowers surrounded by liqueur–bottles.
Twenty persons were seated at table, including half–a–dozen women in low–necked dresses. The others were officers, covered with gold lace and orders.
In the middle, facing the window, sat Prince Conrad, presiding over the banquet, with a lady on his right and another on his left. And it was the sight of these three, brought together in the most improbable defiance of the logic of things, that caused Paul to undergo a torture which was renewed from moment to moment.
That o
