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Then he laughed, and putting his hand in his pocket, brought out a quantity of silver and flung it among them with merry words in Arabic, while he pointed to the windows of the house. Then he seized the bridle of Tamara's camel and started his horse forward. The crowd smiled now and began scrambling for the baksheesh, and so they got through in peace.
They stirred their coffee and then lit cigarettes there was an awkward silence for a moment, and then the Princess said: "Stephen, I count upon you to help us all over this. I do not, and will not, even guess what has happened, but of course something has. Only tell me, do you think he loves her? I cannot bear the idea of Tamara's being unhappy." The old Englishman puffed rings of smoke.
And the Princess sighed as she refuted the gossip it caused. "Oh, my poor Gritzko! if he might only even for a while remain in a state of grace," she said. And Tamara's interest in him, in spite of her shocked contempt, did not decrease. And so the time went on. She was gradually growing to know the society better, and to get a peep at the national point of view.
"May I come in, Stephen?" he asked. "I heard you were all here, Serge saw you. I have just arrived from Tsarsköi, and must eat." And of course he was warmly welcomed and pressed to take a seat, while Valonne chaffed him in an undertone about the joys he had precipitately left. Tamara's face was the picture of disdain. But the Prince sat beside her godmother, apparently unconcerned.
And as once before in her life Tamara's knees gave way under her, and she sat down hurriedly on the bed all power of thought had left her. "The messenger waits, ma'am," her maid said, stolidly, from the door. Then she pulled herself together and went to the writing-table. Her hand trembled, but she steadied it, and wrote her answer. "To Prince Milaslávski, "Monsieur, I have no choice. I consent
"Don't get your back up, Borinka," said Lichonin. "Here all are equal." Niura came with a pillow and laid it down on the divan. "And what's that for?" Sobashnikov yelled at her. "Git! take it away at once. This isn't a lodging house." "Now, leave her be, honey. What's that to you?" retorted Jennie in a sweet voice and hid the pillow behind Tamara's back.
To obtain an interview with the singer was not very easy: the doorman below said that it looked as if Ellena Victorovna was not at home; while her own personal maid, who came out in answer to Tamara's knocking, declared that madam had a headache, and that she was not receiving any one.
Tamara's maid had been left in Petersburg, and indeed her godmother's, an elderly Russian accustomed to these excursions, had been the only one brought. "I won't be more than half an hour dressing," she said. "Don't go down without me, Marraine." And the Princess promised and returned to her room.
"He rides over you all, and you cannot even be angry, and continually forgive him." "But then he has his serious side," the Princess went on, eager to defend her favorite. "He is now probably studying some deep military problem all this time, and that is why we have not seen him," and then noticing the scornful pose of Tamara's head she laughed. "Don't be so contemptuous, dear child," she said.
The long drive in the cold had made every one sleepy, and contrary to their usual custom, they were all ready for bed soon after one o'clock, and to their great surprise Gritzko made no protest, but let the ladies quietly go. Tamara's last thoughts before she closed her weary eyes were, what a failure it all had been! She had succeeded in nothing. She loved him madly, and she was going back home.
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