passages, like those of a lunatic asylum, and finally arrived at a
large and empty room--empty so far as people were concerned--for at the
end there were sofas and a long narrow table, and a few smaller ones
with chairs.

The tables were already laid, with dishes of raw ham and salted almonds
and various _bonnes bouches_, while brilliant candelabra shone amidst
numerous bottles of champagne.

The company seemed to have forgotten the gloom that playing bridge had
brought over them, and were as gay again as one could wish, while
divesting themselves of their furs and snow-boots.

And soon Tamara found herself seated on the middle sofa behind the long
table, Count Gléboff on her right, and the French Secretary, Count
Valonne, at her left, while beyond him was Princess Sonia, and near by
all the rest.

Their host stood up in front, a brimming glass in his hand.

Then there filed in about twenty-five of the most unattractive
animal-looking females, dressed in ordinary hideous clothes, who all
took their seats on a row of chairs at the farther end. They wore no
national costume nor anything to attract the eye, but were simply
garbed as concierges or shop-girls might have been; and some were old,
gray-haired women, and one had even a swollen face tied up in a black
scarf! How could it be possible that any of these could be the "fancy"
of a man!

They were followed by about ten dark, beetle-browed males, who carried