"I want you to dance this with me. I have had it on purpose to show you
a real Russian sight."

They had moved into the ballroom by then, which was now a blaze of
light, while as if by magic the sheet coverings had been removed from
the chairs.

And the Prince exerted himself to amuse and please his partner, and did
not again clasp her too tight, only whenever she had turns with her
countryman, his eyes would flame, and he would immediately interrupt
them and carry her off.

Tamara felt perfectly happy, she was no longer analyzing and
questioning, and she was no longer fighting against her inclination.
She abandoned herself to the rushing stream of life.

It was about five o'clock when some one suggested supper at the Islands
was now the proper thing. This was the delightful part about them--on
no occasion was there ever a halt for the consideration of ways and
means. They wanted some particular amusement and--had it! Convention,
from an English point of view, remained an unknown quantity.--Now those
who decided to continue the feasting all got into their waiting
conveyances.

With the thermometer at fifteen degrees Reaumur, a coachman's life is
not one altogether to be envied in Russia, but apparently custom will
make anything endurable.

"I know you like the troika, Tamara," Princess Ardácheff said. "So you