Him Again
"Czarina, you performed admirably."
Olga Romanov did not even acknowledge Mikhail's platitudes. To her, it was all bromide, because she took it for granted that she performed admirably. He persisted in following her, rather doggedly.
"So what'd you think of the 14 Points? Pretty nifty, right?"
She didn't even miss a step. "Sure."
Oh, she responded, thought Mikhail, and for a second he was in heaven. Then he came down to earth, which was a heaven on earth, because he got to spend time with Olga, the most wonderful woman on earth. Only God and the Czar(ina) know, and Mikhail was willing to bet that Olga knew some things that He didn't.
Is this fool going to follow me to my room? she thought, as she rounded the corner.
She's going to let me into her room again. How does she trust me! Oh, it is love.
She gestured rather vaguely toward the doors as if she were some monarch, which she was, and the servants opened without complaint. At least, no verbal ones. Those who did complain often found themselves without a source of income. A brilliant case of the free market, Olga thought.
"I feel like reading," she said. "How about A Free People: A Treatise on the Values of a Free Market?"
"Oh, let me get that for you," he said, scrambling to her private library. The servants all rolled their eyes. Him again, they mouthed to her.
Him again, she mouthed back. She tolerated his presence for two hours and finally threw him out when she let him write a "report" on the "elections" in Russia.