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Rovinskaya no longer risked asking "How did you come to this life?" But it must be said, that the inmates of the house met her with an outward hospitality. Ellena Victorovna asked them to sing their usual canonical songs, and they willingly sang: Monday now is come again, They're supposed to get me out; Doctor Krassov won't let me out, Well, the devil take him then.
Ellena Victorovna was leaning upon his arm. And suddenly she asked: "Tell me, Volodya, where do you usually go when you take leave of so-called decent women?" Volodya hemmed and hawed. However, he knew positively that he could not lie to Rovinskaya. "M-m-m ... I'm afraid of offending your hearing. To the Tzigani, for instance ... to night cabarets ..." "And somewhere else? Worse?"
She turned to the little table upon which the telephone apparatus was standing, and rang: "Central 18-35 please ... Thank you ... Hello! ... Ask Ernst Andreievich to the telephone ... The artiste Rovinskaya ... Thank you ... Hello! ... Is this you, Ernst Andreievich? Very well, very well, but now it isn't a matter of little hands. Are you free? ... Drop the nonsense! ... The matter is serious.
Go away right now, otherwise I'll break up all the mirrors and bottles here..." Rovinskaya got up and said with sincere, warm tears in her eyes: "Of course, we'll go away, and the lesson of Mlle. Marguerite will prove of benefit to us. Your time will be paid for take care of it, Volodya. Still, you sang so much for us, that you must allow me to sing for you as well."
They were led into a cabinet with crimson wall paper, and on the wall paper was repeated, in the "empire" style, a golden design in the form of small laurel wreaths. And at once Rovinskaya recognized, with the keen memory of an artiste, that exactly the same paper had also been in that cabinet in which they had just been sitting. Four German women from the Baltic provinces came out.
That which you said was, between us, paradoxical; but then, how it was said! ... To this day I remember the tone of your voice, so warm, expressive ... And so, Ellena Victorovna," he turned to Rovinskaya again, sitting down on a small, low chair without a back, "in what can I be of use to you? I am at your disposal."
Rovinskaya was quietly whispering into Jennka's very ear: "Never despair. Sometimes things fall out so badly that there's nothing for it but to hang one's self but, just look, to-morrow life has changed abruptly. My dear, my sister, I am now a world celebrity. But if you only knew what seas of humiliation and vileness I have had to wade through! Be well, then, my dear, and believe in your star."
Rovinskaya negligently, yet at the same time intently as well, was looking down upon the stand and the spectators, and her face expressed fatigue, ennui, and perhaps also that satiation with all spectacles, which are such matters of course to celebrities. The splendid, long, slender fingers of her left hand were lying upon the crimson velvet of the box-seat.
But that I should ever let myself go as far as that? Pfui!" "A greater fall I have not imagined!" said Rovinskaya loudly and with aversion, getting up. "Pay gentlemen, and let's go on from here." When they had gone out into the street, Volodya took her arm and said in an imploring voice: "For God's sake, isn't one experiment enough for you?" "Oh, what vulgarity! What vulgarity!"
Or else you've been seeking only beastly carnal pleasure, while pregnancy and feeding interfered with your giving yourself up to it!" Rovinskaya became confused and uttered in a quick whisper: "Faites attention, baronne, que dans sa position cette demoiselle est instruite." "Pay attention, baroness, the girl is rather educated for one of her position."
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