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her!”
    Lais’s whispered voice was imploring. “No, no, please Nikolai, please. Wait here. I’ll speak with her. Just wait.”
    Leonie stood, her back straight, chin up, the way she always reacted when she was a little afraid, as Nikolai swaggered into the room, wrapping a paisley silk robe around his nakedness. He stood well over six feet with massive shoulders and chest and his dark eyes glowered at Leonie from beneath bushy eyebrows.
    “And to what do we owe this sudden visit?” he demanded, thrusting his hands into the pockets of his robe, looming over her threateningly.
    “I am here to speak to my granddaughter,” answered Leonie stiffly. “Be so kind as to tell her that.”
    “We want you to leave.
Now!
” Nikolai’s finger pointedtowards the open door where the little maid lurked outside, listening agog to what was being said.
    “And exactly
who
are
you?
” Leonie’s back was even straighter as she held her ground.
    “I am Count Nikolai Oblakoff, former officer in the Tsar’s army, and a son of one of Russia’s noblest families.” He pulled himself to his full, impressive height.
    “In that case there is no need for you to be living off my granddaughter!”
    “Oh Grand-mère!” Lais pushed in front of Nikolai. Her blonde hair was dishevelled and there were the remains of the previous night’s make-up on her pale face. Her pink silk nightdress barely concealed her slender body and with a pang Leonie noticed the puffy eyelids and the pink-violet shadows beneath her eyes. Excess never aided the cause of beauty.
    “Please, Grand-mère. Wait downstairs for me,” begged Lais. “We can talk then. Alone.”
    “This isn’t your grandmother’s house,” stormed Nikolai. “You are not spending her money. And who cares about her anyway?”
    “Nikolai, wait, please, just let me talk to Grand’mère alone. Everything will be all right, I promise you.”
    “This has gone far enough,” cried Leonie angrily. “
Just look at you, Lais. Look at this house!
Have you no
shame?
This is your father’s home—it’s
his
roof you are sleeping under with this—this impostor!”
    With a bellow of rage Nikolai shook Leonie by the shoulders. Lais leapt at him, screaming, clawing his face with her long scarlet nails. “You bastard. Don’t you dare touch her.”
    Nikolai put his hands to his face, then gazed at the blood on his fingers. Raising his arm he struck Lais a stinging blow, sending her reeling to the floor. “That is the way wetreat whores in my country,” he said to Leonie, straightening his robe.
    “I hear that there are certain things about your life that would be of great interest to the police,” said Leonie, picking up the telephone. “I’m calling them to have you evicted from this house, and if necessary I will obtain a court order to prevent you from ever seeing Lais again. If you should dare to come near her or this house ever again,
Count
Nikolai, you will find yourself behind bars.”
    “I have no intention of staying here a moment longer than necessary,” said Nikolai, recognising defeat when it stared him in the face. “This place is a pigsty.” Kicking an empty bottle from his path, he walked towards the bedroom. “She’s not only a whore—but a slut too.”
    “Nikolai,” wailed Lais, “wait, please … wait.”
    “Lais!” Leonie’s voice had an edge of ice. “Come with me. I want you to take a look at yourself in the mirror.”
    They walked together towards the great carved overmantel. “Now tell me what you see.”
    Lais peered through her swollen and bruised eye at her reflected image. Blood trickled from the corner of her mouth mingling with the smudges of red lipstick, and the left side of her face looked puffed and angry. Her blonde hair was tangled and her crumpled nightdress stained with blood.
    “Well?” demanded Leonie. “Do you see a slut, Lais? Or maybe a whore? Is Nikolai right then?”
    Lais flinched. “No. No Grand-mère, it wasn’t like