Full resolution (JPEG) - On this page / på denna sida - XXII. Evil omens in Petrograd
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
Below is the raw OCR text
from the above scanned image.
Do you see an error? Proofread the page now!
Här nedan syns maskintolkade texten från faksimilbilden ovan.
Ser du något fel? Korrekturläs sidan nu!
This page has never been proofread. / Denna sida har aldrig korrekturlästs.
i9i6] M. PROTOPOPOFF AND THE POLAKS 425
The very day of their arrival I invited these
gentlemen to dinner at the summer-restaurant, the
Hassel-baken, where they were to meet some Swedish financiers
in order to discuss the question of the hour: commercial
exchanges between Sweden and Russia. M. Protopopoff
replied that he would be enchanted to come, but he
begged me to invite also—if I thought it suitable—some
travelling companions of his, M. and Madame Polak.
I at once sent them an invitation, and that evening at
the Hasselbaken the young Polak couple were amongst
my guests. The husband was that same Polak whom I
mentioned in a previous chapter and who had been
entrusted with a politico-commercial mission to Bulgaria.
His wife, nee Achkenazi, was a charming young woman,
intelligent and lively; she was wearing two rosettes of
St. George, tokens of courage displayed with the
ambulances at the front. It did not take me long to discover
that M. Protopopoff was a complete victim to the
charms of his delightful and fascinating
travelling-companion.
The next day I was to take my three compatriots to
see M. Wallenberg, who had been apprised of their
presence in Stockholm. After an excursion and a lunch
which they had arranged with these same Polaks,
M. Protopopoff and Count Olsufieff—a pleasant and
intelligent man of the world—asked me to meet them
and Professor Vassilieff at the hotel where they were
staying. When we arrived there Protopopoff said to
me, in front of his two colleagues: "Monsieur, I must
tell you that after our visit to Wallenberg I am going
to have a very interesting interview; I am to meet a
German at the Polaks’ over the teacups. It is a certain
Herr Warburg, a great Hamburg trader with whom the
Polaks were connected through business and friendship
before the war, and who, having met them here by
chance, has suggested calling on them."
"But, M. Protopopoff," I said, "I could tell you
straight away all that the German trader will say to you ;
he will deplore the misunderstandings brought about
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
