Intro: Count Rouvaloff

[conspiringcount]

He's a youngish man, dressed well but not extravagantly, and at present looking around with no small measure of confusion. Suddenly he begins to smile, and then to laugh. "A house in the country! Wonderful."

Typist: Count Rouvaloff here appears in both Lord Arthur Savile's Crime and The Nihilists by Oscar Wilde, and since if you tilt your head and

Comments

[naturestrangled]

". . . Well. Hello."

[naturestrangled]

"And you think he does not also have reasons?" She is furious, though trying to contain it -- tired of defending Alexis and herself (as she has had to do so often to herself.) "Do you honestly believe Russia is ready for a Republic? Right now, with no preparation, nothing to pave the way?"

[conspiringcount]

He shrugs. "Not really. Reform is most likely a better course than revolution, at this point. But as you can see, none of the attempts so far have been successful. It seems our friend the Czar is safe, for the time being."

[naturestrangled]

She calms a bit, though she's still watching him closely. ". . . You're a strange man," she says finally.

[conspiringcount]

Rouvaloff makes a slight, playful sort of bow. "Precisely why I've yet to be hanged at dawn or stabbed in the night. We cannot all afford to be entirely straightforward."

[naturestrangled]

". . . I suppose not."

[conspiringcount]

"And now that I have made you thoroughly angry with me-- " he takes her hand and kisses it "-- allow me to say that I am glad to see you well. As evidenced by our complete failure to kill anyone of importance, we are really quite useless without you."

[naturestrangled]

"Yes, well, until the targets are changed a bit, I'm afraid I will not have much sympathy," she says, retracting her hand carefully. ". . . but it is good to see you. For the most part."