CHAPTER VI
When Tamara reached Underwood and saw a letter from her Russiangodmother among the pile which awaited her, she felt it was the fingerof fate, and when she read it and found it contained not only NewYear's wishes, but an invitation couched in affectionate and persuasiveterms that she should visit St. Petersburg, she suddenly, and withoutconsulting her family, decided she would go.
"There is something drawing me to Russia," she said to herself. "Onegets into the current of things. I felt it in the air. And why should Ihesitate now I am free? Why should I not accept, just because oneRussian man has horrified me. It is, I suppose, a big city, and perhapsI shall never see him there."
So she announced her decision to the dumfounded household, and in lessthan a week took the Nord Express.
"The Court, alas! is in mourning,"--her godmother had written,--"so youwill see no splendid Court balls, but I daresay we can divert youotherwise, Tamara, and I am so anxious to make the acquaintance of mygodchild."
The morning after she left them Aunt Clara expressed herself thus atbreakfast:
"I see a great and most unwelcome change in dear Tamara since shereturned from Egypt, I had hoped Millicent Hardcastle would be all thatwas steadying and well-balanced as a companion for her, but it seemsthis modern restlessness has got into her blood. I tremble to thinkwhat ideas she will bring from Russia. Almost savages they arethere!--She may be sent to Siberia or something dreadful, and we maynever see her again."
"Oh! come Aunt Clara!" Tom Underdown protested, as he buttered histoast. "I think you are a little behind the times. There is a Russianat Oxford with me and he is the decentest chap in the world. You speakas though they almost lived on raw fish!"
"My dear Tom," said Miss Underdown, severely. "I was reading onlyyesterday, in the 'Christian Clarion,' how one of their Emperors cutoff everyone's head. Dreadful customs they have, it seems; and one oftheir Empresses--Catherine, I think; her name was. Well, dear, it istoo shocking to speak of--and most people were sent to the mines!"
"Oh! hang it all, Aunt Clara, you can't have looked at the date! Youcan hunt up just those jolly kind of stories about our Henry VIII. ifyou want to, you know, and our Elizabeth wasn't the saint they madeout. And as for Siberia, I am going there myself some day, on theTrans-Siberian Railway. Tamara will be all right. I wish to heavens shehad taken me with her. We have got dry rot in this house, that is whatis the matter with us!"
"Tom!" almost gasped Miss Underdown. "Your manners are extremelydispleasing, and the tone of your remarks is far from what one couldwish!"
Meanwhile Tamara was speeding on her way to the North, her interest andexcitement in her journey deepening with each mile.
The snow and the vast forests impressed her from the train windows.Every smallest shade made its effect upon her brain. Tamara wassensitive to all form and color. She was a person who apprehendedthings, and from the habit of keeping all her observations to herselfperhaps the faculty of perception had grown the keener.
The silence seemed to be the first thing she remarked on reaching thefrontier. The porters were so grave and quiet, with their beardedkindly faces, many of them like the saints and Biblical characters inSunday-school picture books at home.
And finally she arrived at St. Petersburg, and found her godmotherwaiting for her on the platform. They recognized each otherimmediately. Tamara had several photographs of the Princess Ardacheff.
"Welcome, _ma filleule_," that lady cried, while she shook her hand."After all these years I can have you in my house."
They said all sorts of mutually agreeable things on their way thither,and they looked at each other shyly.
"She is not beautiful," ran the Princess' comments. "Though she has asuperb air of breeding--that is from her poor mother--but her eyes areher father's eyes. She is very sweet, and what a lovely skin--yes, andeyelashes--and probably a figure when one can see beneath thefurs--tall and very slender in any case. Yes, I am far fromdisappointed--far."
And Tamara thought:
"My godmother is a splendid-looking lady! I like her bright brown eyesand that white hair; and what a queer black mole upon her left cheek,like an early eighteenth-century beauty spot. Where have I heard latelyof someone with a mole------?
"You fortunately see our city with a fresh mantle of snow, Tamara," thePrincess said, glancing from the automobile window as they sped along."It is not, alas! always so white as this."
It appeared wonderful to Tamara--so quite unlike anything she hadimagined. The tiny sleighs seemingly too ridiculously small for theenormously padded coachmen on the boxes--the good horses with theirsweeping tails--the unusual harness. And, above all, again the silencecaused by the snow.
Her first remark was almost a childish one of glee and appreciation,and then she stopped short. What would her godmother think of such anoutburst! She must return to the contained self-repression of the timebefore her visit to the Sphinx--surely in this strange land!
The Princess Ardacheff's frank face was illuminated with a smile.
"She is extremely young," she thought, "in spite of her widowhood, butI like her, and I know we shall be friends."
Just then they arrived at her house in the Serguiefskaia. It had notappeared to Tamara that they were approaching any particularlyfashionable quarter. A fine habitation seemed the neighbor of quite ahumble one, and here there was even a shop a few doors down, and exceptfor the very tall windows there was nothing exceptionally imposing onthe outside. But when they entered the first hall and thegaily-liveried suisse and two footmen had removed their furs, and thePrincess' snow boots, then Tamara perceived she was indeed in aglorious home.
Princess Ardacheff's house was, and is, perhaps the most stately in allPetersburg.
As they ascended the enormous staircase dividing on the first landing,and reaching the surrounding galleries above in two sweeps, a gravemajor-domo and more footmen met them, and opened wide the doors of alofty room. It was full of fine pictures and objets d'art, and thoughthe furniture dated from the time of Alexander II., and even a littleearlier--when a flood of frightful taste pervaded all Europe--still thestuffs and the colors were beautiful and rich, and time had softenedtheir crudity into a harmonious whole.
Be the decorations of a house what they will, it is the mistress of itwho gives the rooms their soul. If hers is vulgar, so will the roomsbe, even though Monsieur Nelson himself has but just designed them inpurest Louis XVI. But the worst of all are those which look as thoughtheir owner constantly attended bazaars, and brought the superfluoushorrors she secured there back with her. Then there are vapid rooms,and anaemic rooms, and fiddly, and messy rooms, and there are monumentsof wealth with no individuality at all.
Tamara felt all these _nuances_ directly, and she knew that here dwelta woman of natural refinement and a broad outlook.
She sank into an old-fashioned sofa, covered with silk a quarter of aninch thick, and the atmosphere seemed to breathe life and completeness.
Tea and quantities of different little _bonnes bouches_ awaited them.But if there was a samovar she did not recognize it as such; in fact,she had seen nothing which many writers describe as "Russian."
The Princess talked on in a fashion of perfect simplicity anddirectness. She told her that her friends would all welcome her and beglad that an Englishwoman should really see their country, and find itwas not at all the grotesque place which fancy painted it.
"We are so far away that you do not even imagine us," she said. "YouEnglish have read that there was an Ivan the Terrible and a Peter theGreat, who crushed through your Evelyn's hedges, and was a giant ofseven foot high! Many of you believe wolves prowl in the streets atnight, and that among the highest society Nihilists stalk, disguised asheaven knows what! While the sudden disappearance of a member of anygreat or small family can be accounted for by a nocturnal visit ofpolice, and a transportation in chains to Siberian mines! Is it not so,Tamara?"
Tamara laughed. "Yes, indeed," she said. "I am sure that is what Au
ntClara thinks now! Are we not a ridiculously insular people, Marraine?"
She said the last word timidly and put out her hand. "May I call youMarraine, Princess?" she asked. "I never knew my mother, and it soundsnice."
"Indeed, yes!" the Princess said, and she rose and kissed Tamara. "Yourmother was very dear to me, long ago, before you were born, we spent awild season together of youth and happiness. You shall take the placeof my child Tamara, if she had lived."
Before they had finished drinking their tea, other guests came in--atall old General in a beautiful uniform, and two ladies, one young andthe other old. They all spoke English perfectly, and were so agreeableand _sans facon_, Tamara's first impression was distinctly good.
Presently she heard the elder lady say to her godmother:
"Have you seen Gritzko since his return, Vera? One hears he has a wildfit on and is at Milaslav with------" the rest of the words were almostwhispered. Tamara found herself unpleasantly on the alert--howridiculous, though, she thought--Gritzko!--there might be a dozenGritzkos in Petersburg.
"No, he returns tonight," Princess Ardacheff said; "but I never listento these tales, and as no matter what he does we all forgive him, andlet him fly back into our good graces as soon as he purses up thathandsome mouth of his--it is superfluous to make critiques upon hisconduct--it seems to me!"
The lady appeared to agree to this, for she laughed, and they talked ofother things, and soon all left.
And when they were gone--"Tonight I have one or two of my nicestfriends dining," the Princess said, "whom I wish you to know, so Ithought if you rested now you would not be too tired for a littlesociety," and she carried Tamara off to her warm comfortable bedroom,an immense apartment in gorgeous Empire taste, and here was a greatbunch of roses to greet her, and her maid could be seen unpacking inthe ante-chamber beyond.
The company, ten or twelve of them, were all assembled when Tamarareached one of the great salons, which opened from the galleriessurrounding the marble hall. She came in--a slender willowy creature,with a gentle smile of contrition--was she late?
And then the presentations took place. What struck her first was thatdark or fair, fat-faced or thin, high foreheads or low, all the ladieswore _coiffees_ exactly the same--the hair brushed up from the foreheadand tightly _ondules_. It gave a look of universal distinction, but insome cases was not very becoming. They were beautifully dressed inmourning, and no one seemed to have much of a complexion, from anEnglish point of view, but before the end of the evening Tamara feltshe had never met women with such charm. Surely no other country couldproduce the same types, perfectly simple in manner--perfectly at ease.Extremely highly educated, with a wide range of subjects, and aknowledge of European literature which must be unsurpassed. Afterwardswhen she knew them better she realized that here was one place left inEurope where there were no _parvenues_ and no snobs--or if there wereany, they were beautifully concealed. Such absolute simplicity andcharm can only stay in a society where no one is trying "to arrive,"all being there naturally by birth. There could be no room for the_metier_ adopted by several impecunious English ladies of title--thatof foisting anyone, however unsuitable, upon society and their friendsfor a well-gilded consideration.
In Russia, at least, it is the round peg in the round hole. No squarepeg would have a chance of admission. Thus there are the ease andelegance of one large and interesting family.
It seemed to Tamara that each one was endowed with natural fascination.They made no "frais" for her. There were no compliments or gushingwelcomes. They were just casual and delightful and made her feel athome and happy with them all.
They took "Zacouska" in an ante-room. Such quantities of strangedishes! There seemed enough for a whole meal, and Tamara wondered howit would be possible to eat anything further! At dinner she sat betweena tall old Prince and a diplomat. The uniforms pleased her and theglorious pearls of the ladies. Such pearls--worth a king's ransom!
Then she was interested to see the many different sorts of wine, andthe extreme richness of the food, and finally the shortness of the meal.
The pretty custom of the men kissing the hostess' hand as they all leftthe dining-room together, she found delightful.
They were drinking coffee in the blue salon, and most of the party hadretired to the bridge tables laid out, and Tamara, who played toobadly, sat by the fire with her godmother and another lady, whensuddenly the door opened and, with an air of complete insouciance andassurance, Prince Milaslavski came in.
"I want some coffee, Tantine," he said, kissing the Princess' hand,while he nodded to everyone else. "I was passing and so came in to getit."
"Gritzko--back again!" the whole company cried, and the Princess,beaming upon him fond smiles, gave him the coffee, while she murmuredher glad welcome.
The society now began to chaff him as to his doings, which he took withthe utmost _sang froid_.
"That old cat of a Marianne Mariuski sets about as usual one of herstories. I am having an orgie at Milaslav, and this time with aseraglio of Egyptian houris--the truth being I only brought back by themerest chance one small troupe of Alexandrian dancers, and twoperforming bears. They made us laugh for three days, Serge, Sasha, andthe rest!"
"Gritzko, will you never learn wisdom," said one lady, the PrincessShebanoff, plaintively, while the others all laughed. "Were theypretty, and what were they like?" they asked.
"The bears?--little angels, especially Fatima,--and with the manners ofPrincesses," and he bowed to an old lady who was surveying him severelythrough her pince-nez, while she held her cards awry. "Which reminds mewe are failing in ours, Tantine, you have not presented me to theEnglish lady, who is, I perceive, a stranger."
During all this Tamara had sat cold and silent. She was angry withherself that this man's entrance should cause her such emotion--orrather commotion and sensation. Why should he make her feel nervous andstupid, unsure of herself, and uncertain what to do. Invariably heplaced her at some disadvantage, and left the settling of theirrelations to himself. Whereas all such regulations ought to have beenin her hands. Now she was without choice again, she could only bowstiffly as her godmother said his name and her name, and PrinceMilaslavski took a chair by her side and began making politenesses asthough he were really a stranger.
Had she just arrived? Did she find Russia very cold? Was she going tostay long? etc., etc.
To all of which Tamara answered in monosyllables, while two brightspots of rose color burned in her cheeks.
The Prince was astonishingly good looking in his Cossack's uniform, andhis eyes had a laugh in them, but a shadow round as if bed had not seenhim for several nights.
His whole manner to Tamara was different from any shade it had formerlyworn. It was as if a courtly Russian were welcoming an honored guest inhis aunt's house.
He did not mock or tease, or announce startling truths; he was pleasantand ordinary and serene.
He and the Princess Ardacheff were no real blood relations; the firstwife of her late husband had been his mother's sister, but thetradition of aunt had gone on in the family and the Princess loved himalmost as a son. He had always called her "Tantine" as though she hadbeen his real aunt.
"What did you think of Gritzko Milaslavski, Tamara?" she asked, whenall the guests were gone, and the two had retired to Tamara's room. "Heis one of the dearest characters when you know him--but a terribletease."
"He seemed very pleasant," Tamara said blankly, while she picked up abook. Even to speak of him caused her unease.
"He is not at all the type of an ordinary Russian," the Princesscontinued. "He has traveled so much, he is so _fin_ there is almost aFrench touch in him. I am afraid you will find our young men ratherdull as a rule. They are very hard worked at their military duties, andhave not much time for _les dames du monde_."
"No?" said Tamara. "Well, the women seem to make up for it. I havenever met so many clever delightful ones."
"It is our education," the Princess said. "You see from babyhood welearn man
y languages, and thus the literatures of countries are open tous before we begin to analyze anything, and English especially we knowwell, because in that language there are so many books for young girls."
"In England," said Tamara, "what may be given to young girls seems torule everything, no one is allowed a thought for herself, every ideaalmost is brought down to that dead level--one rebels after awhile--but tell me, Marraine, if I may ask, what makes them all sotired and gray looking, the people I have seen tonight I mean. Do theysit up very late at parties, or what is it?"
"In the season, yes, but it is not that, it is our climate and our hotclosed-up rooms, and the impossibility of taking proper exercise. Inthe summer you will not know them for the same faces."
And then she kissed her goddaughter good-night, but just at the doorshe paused. "You were not shocked about the Alexandrian dancers, Ihope, child?" she said. "If one knew the truth, they were poor peoplewho were starving, probably, and Gritzko paid them money and helpedthem out of the kindness of his heart--those are the sort of things hegenerally does I find when I investigate, so I never pay attention towhat he says."
Tamara, left to herself, gazed into the glowing embers of her wood fire.
"I wonder--I wonder," she said. But what she wondered she hardly daredadmit--even to herself.