The next day was the last of the Russian old year--the 13th of January
new style--and when Tamara appeared about ten o'clock in her
godmother's own sitting-room, a charming apartment full of the most
interesting miniatures and bibelots collected by the great Ardácheff,
friend of Catherine II., she found the Princess already busy at her
writing table.
"Good-morning, my child," she said. "You behold me up and working at a
time when most of my countrywomen are not yet in their baths. We keep
late hours here in the winter, while it is dark and cold. You will get
quite accustomed to going to bed at two and rising at ten; but
to-night, if it pleases you to fall in with what is on the tapis for
you, I fear it will be even four in the morning before you sleep.
Prince Milaslávski has telephoned that he gives a party at his house on
the Fontonka, to dine first and then go on to a café to hear the
Bohemians sing. It is a peculiarity of the place these Bohemians--we
shall drink in the New Year and then go. It will not bore you. No? Then
it is decided," and she pressed a lovely little Faberger enamel bell
which lay on the table near, and one of the innumerable servants, who
seemed to be always waiting in the galleries, appeared. She spoke to
him in Russian, and then took up the telephone by her side, and
presently was in communication with the person she had called.
"It is thou, Gritzko? Awake? Of course she is awake, and here in the
room. Yes, it is arranged--we dine--not until nine o'clock?--you cannot
be in before. Bon. Now promise you will be good.--Indeed, yes.--Of
course any English lady would be shocked at you--So!--I tell you she is
in the room--pray be more discreet," and she smiled at Tamara, and then
continued her conversation. "No, I will not talk in Russian, it is very
rude.--If you are not completely _sage_ at dinner we shall not go
on.--I am serious! Well, good-bye,"--and with a laugh the Princess put
the receiver down.
"He says nothing would shock you--he is sure you understand the world!
Well, we must amuse ourselves, and try and restrain him if he grows too
wild."
"He is often wild, then?" Tamara said.
The Princess rose and stood by the window looking out on the thickly
falling snow.
"I am afraid--a little--yes, though never in the wrong situation; above
all things Gritzko is a gentleman; but sometimes I wish he would take
life less as a game. One cannot help speculating how it can end."
"Has he no family?" Tamara asked.
"No, everyone is dead. His mother worshipped him, but she died when he
was scarcely eighteen, and his father before that. His mother is his
adored memory. In all the mad scenes which he and his companions, I am
afraid, have enacted in the Fontonka house, there is one set of rooms
no one has dared to enter--her rooms--and he keeps flowers there, and
an ever-burning lamp. There is a strange touch of sentiment and
melancholy in Gritzko, and of religion too. Sometimes I think he is
unhappy, and then he goes off to his castle in the Caucasus or to
Milasláv, and no one sees him for weeks. Last year we hoped he would
marry a charming Polish girl--he quite paid her attention for several
nights; but he said she laughed one day when he felt sad, and answered
seriously when he was gay, and made crunching noises with her teeth
when she ate biscuits!--and her mother was fat and she might grow so
too! And for these serious reasons he could not face her at breakfast
for the rest of his life! Thus that came to an end. No one has any
influence upon him. I have given up trying. One must accept him as he
is, or leave him alone--he will go his own way."
Tamara had ceased fighting with herself about the interest she took in
conversations relating to the Prince. She could not restrain her desire
to hear of him, but she explained it now by telling herself he was a
rather lurid and unusual foreign character, which must naturally be an
interesting study for a stranger.
"It was an escape for the girl at least, perhaps," she said, when the
Princess paused.
"Of that I am not sure; he is so tender to children and animals, and
his soul is full of generosity and poetry--and justice too. Poor
Gritzko," and the Princess sighed.
Then Tamara remembered their conversation during their night ride from
the Sphinx, and she felt again the humiliating certainty of how
commonplace he must have found her.
Presently the Princess took her to see the house. Every room filled
with relics of the grand owners who had gone before. There were
portraits of Peter the Great, and the splendid Catherine, in almost
every room.
"An Empress so much misjudged in your country, Tamara," her godmother
said. "She had the soul and the necessities of a man, but she was truly
great."
Tamara gazed up at the proud _débonnaire_ face, and she thought how at
home they would think of the most unconventional part of her character,
to the obliteration of all other aspects, and each moment she was
realizing how ridiculous and narrow was the view from the standpoint
from which she had been made to look at life.
For luncheon quite a number of guests arrived, the Princess, she found
afterward, was hardly ever alone.
"I don't care to go out, Tamara, as a rule, to déjeuner," she said,
"but I love my house to be filled with young people and mirth."
The names were very difficult for Tamara to catch, especially as they
all called each other by their _petits noms_--all having been friends
since babyhood, if not, as often was the case, related by ties of
blood; but at last she began to know that "Olga" was the Countess
Gléboff, and "Sonia," the Princess Solentzeff-Zasiekin--both young,
under thirty, and both attractive and quite _sans gêne_.
"Olga" was little and plump, with an oval face and rather prominent
eyes, but with a way of saying things which enchanted Tamara's ear. Her
manner was casualness itself, and had a wonderful charm; and another
thing struck her now that she saw them in daylight, not a single woman
present--and there were six or seven at least--had even the slightest
powder on her face. They were as nature made them, not the faintest aid
from art in any way. "They cannot be at all coquette like the French,"
she thought, "or even like us in England, or they could not all do
their hair like that whether it suits them or no! But what charm they
have--much more than we, or the French, or any one I know."
They were all so amusing and gay at lunch and talked of teeny scandals
with a whimsical humor at themselves for being so small, which was
delightful, and no one said anything spiteful or mean. Quantities of
pleasant things were planned, and Tamara found her days arranged for a
week ahead.
That night, as they drove to Prince Milaslávski's dinner, an annoying
sense of excitement possessed Tamara. She refused to ask herself why.
Curiosity to see the house of this strange man--most likely--in any
case, emotion enough to make her eyes bright.
It was one of the oldest houses in Petersburg, built in the time of
Catherine, about 1768, and although in a highly florid rococo style of
decoration, as though something gorgeous and barbaric had amalgamated
with the Louis XV., still it had escaped the terrible wave of 1850
vandalism, and stood, except for a few Empire rooms, a monument of its
time.
Everything about it interested Tamara. The strange Cossack servants in
the hall; the splendid staircase of stone and marble, and then finally
they reached the salons above.
"One can see no woman lives here," she thought, though the one they
entered was comfortable enough. Huge English leather armchairs elbowed
some massively gilt seats of the time of Nicholas I., and an ugly
English high fender with its padded seat, surrounded the blazing log
fire.
The guests were all assembled, but host, there was not!
"What an impertinence to keep them waiting like this," Tamara thought!
However, no one seemed to mind but herself, and they all stood laughing
or sitting on the fender in the best of spirits.
"I will bet you," said Olga Gléboff, in her attractive voice, "that
Gritzko comes in with no apology, and that we shall none of us be able
to drag from him where he has been!"
As she spoke he entered the room.
"Ah! you are all very early," he said, shaking their hands in frank
welcome. "So good of you, dear friends. Perhaps I am a little late, you
will forgive me, I know; and now for Zacouska, a wolf is tearing at my
vitals, I feel, and yours too. It is nine o'clock!"
Then the dining-room doors at the side opened and they all went in _en
bande_, and gathered round the high table, where they began to eat like
hungry natural people, selecting the dishes they wanted. Some of the
men taking immense spoonfuls of caviare, and spreading them on bread,
like children with jam. All were so joyous and so perfectly without
ceremony. Nothing could be more agreeable than this society, Tamara
thought.
Some of the men were elderly, and a number the husbands of the various
ladies; there were a few young officers and several diplomats from the
Embassies, too. But young or old, all were gay and ready to enjoy life.
"You must taste some vodka, Madame," Prince Milaslávski said, pouring a
small glass at Tamara's side. "You will not like it, but it is Russian,
and you must learn. See I take some, too, and drink your health!"
Tamara bowed and sipped the stuff, which she found very nasty, with a
whiff of ether in it. And then they all trouped to the large table in
this huge dining-hall.
Tamara sat on her host's right hand, and Princess Sonia on his left.
To-night his coat was brown and the underdress black, it was quite as
becoming as the others she had seen him in, with the strange belt and
gold and silver trimmings and the Eastern hang of it all, and his great
dark gray-blue eyes blazed at Tamara now and then with a challenge in
them she could hardly withstand.
"Now tell us, Gritzko, what did you do in Egypt this year?" Princess
Sonia said. "It is the first time that no histories of your ways have
come to our ears--were you ill?--or bored? We feared you were dead."
"On the contrary, I was greatly alive," he answered gravely. "I was
studying mummies and falling in love with the Sphinx. And just at the
end I had a most interesting kind of experience; I came upon what
looked like a woman, but turned out to be a mummy and later froze into
a block of ice!"
"Gritzko!" they called in chorus. "Can anyone invent such impossible
stories as you!"
"I assure you I am speaking the truth. Is it not so, Madame?" And he
looked at Tamara and smiled with fleeting merry mockery in his eyes.
"See," and he again turned to his guests, "Madame has been in Egypt she
tells me, and should be able to vouch for my truth."
Tamara pulled herself together.
"I think the Sphinx must have cast a spell over you, Prince," she said,
"so that you could not distinguish the real from the false. I saw no
women who were mummies and then turned into ice!"
Some one distracted Princess Sonia's attention for a moment, and the
Prince whispered, "One can melt ice!"
"To find a mummy?" Tamara asked with grave innocence. "That would be
the inverse rotation."
"And lastly a woman--in one's arms," the Prince said.
Tamara turned to her neighbor and became engrossed in his conversation
for the rest of the repast.
All the women, and nearly all the men, spoke English perfectly, and
their good manners were such that even this large party talked in the
strange guest's language among themselves.
"One must converse now as long as one can," her neighbor told her,
"because the moment we have had coffee everyone will play bridge, and
no further sense will be got out of them. We are a little behind the
rest of the world always in Petersburg, and while in England and Paris
this game has had its day, here we are still in its claws to a point of
madness, as Madame will see."
And thus it fell about.
Prince Milaslávski gave Tamara his arm and they found coffee awaiting
them in the salon when they returned there, and at once the rubbers
were made up. And with faces of grave pre-occupation this lately merry
company sat down to their game, leaving only the Prince and one lady
and Tamara unprovided for.
"Yes, I can play," she had said, when she was asked, "but it bores me
so, and I do it so badly; may I not watch you instead?"
The lady who made the third had not these ideas, and she sat down near
a table ready to cut in. Thus the host and his English guest were left
practically alone.
"I did not mean you to play," he said, "I knew you couldn't--I arranged
it like this."
"Why did you know I couldn't?" Tamara asked. "I am too stupid perhaps
you think!"
"Yes--too stupid and--too sweet."
"I am neither stupid--nor sweet!" and her eyes flashed.
"Probably not, but you seem so to me.--Now don't get angry at once, it
makes our acquaintance so fatiguing, I have each time to be presented
over again."
Then Tamara laughed.
"It really is all very funny," she said.
"And how is the estimable Mrs. Hardcastle?" he asked, when he had
laughed too--his joyous laugh. "This is a safe subject and we can sit
on the fender without your wanting to push me into the fire over it."
"I am not at all sure of that," answered Tamara. She could not resist
his charm, she could not continue quarrelling with him; somehow it
seemed too difficult here in his own house, so she smiled as she went
on. "If you laugh at my Millicent, I shall get very angry indeed."
"Laugh at your Millicent! The idea is miles from my brain--did not I
tell you when I could find a wife like that I would marry--what more
can I say!" and the Prince looked at her with supreme gravity. "Did she
tell 'Henry' that a devil of a Russian bear had got drunk and flung a
gipsy into the sea?"
"Possibly. Why were you so--horrible that night?"
"Was I horrible?"
"Probably not, but you seemed so to me," Tamara quoted his late words.
"I seem horrible--and you seem sweet."
"Surely the stupid comes in too!"
"Undoubtedly, but Russia will cure that, you will not go away for a
long time."
"In less than four weeks."
"We shall see," and the Prince got up and lit another cigarette. "You
do not smoke either? What a little good prude!"
"I am not a prude!" Tamara's ire rose again. "I have tried often with
my brother Tom, and it always makes me sick. I would be a fool, not a
prude, to go on, would not I?"
"I am not forcing you to smoke. I like your pretty teeth best as they
are!"
Rebellion shook Tamara. It was his attitude toward her--one of supreme
unconcerned command--as though he had a perfect right to take his
pleasure out of her conversation, and play upon her emotions, according
to his mood. She could have boxed his ears.
"How long ago is it since we danced in Egypt--a fortnight, or more? You
move well, but you don't know anything about dancing," he went on.
"Dancing is either a ridiculous jumping about of fools, who have no
more understanding of its meaning than a parcel of marionettes. Or it
is an expression of some sort of emotion. The Greeks understood that in
their Orchiesis, each feeling had its corresponding movement. For me it
means a number of things. When a woman is slender and pliant and smooth
of step, and if she pleases me otherwise, then it is not waste of
time!--Tonight I shall probably get drunk again," and he flicked the
ash off his cigarette with his little finger; and even though Tamara
was again annoyed with him, she could not help noticing that his hands
were fine and strong.
"But you were not drunk on the ship--you could not even plead that,"
she said, almost shocked at herself for speaking of anything so
horrible.
"It is the same thing. I feel a mad supercharge of life--an
intoxication of the senses, perhaps. It has only one advantage over the
champagne result. I am steady on my feet, and my voice is not thick!"
Tamara did not speak.
"I wonder what this music we shall hear will say to you. Will it make
the milk and water you call blood in your veins race?--it will amuse me
to see."
"I am not made for your amusement, Prince. How dare you always treat me
as you do?" And Tamara drew herself up haughtily. "And if my veins
contain milk and water, it is at least my own."
"You dared me once before, Madame," he said, smiling provokingly. "Do
you think it is quite wise of you to try it again?"
"I do not care if it is wise or no. I hate you!" almost hissed poor
Tamara.
Then his eyes blazed, as she had never seen them yet. He moved nearer
to her, and spoke in a low concentrated voice.
"It is a challenge. Good. Now listen to what I say. In a little short
time you shall love me. That haughty little head shall lie here on my
breast without a struggle, and I shall kiss your lips until you cannot
breathe."
For the second time in her life Tamara went dead white--he saw her pale
even to her lips. And since the moment was not yet, and since his mood
was not now to make her suffer, he bent over with contrition and asked
her to forgive him in a tender voice.
"Madame--I am only joking--but I am a brute," he said.
Tamara rose and walked to the bridge tables, furious with herself that
he could have seen his power over her, even though it were only to
cause rage.
He came up behind her and sat down and began to talk nicely
again--about the sights to be seen in the capital, and the interesting
museums and collections of pictures and arms. Nothing could be more
correct than his manner, and the bridge players who were within earshot
smiled, while Countess Olga thought.
"Either Gritzko has just been making love to the Englishwoman, or he is
immensely bored--The latter from his face."