CHAPTER VIII
The company stopped their game about a quarter to twelve, and tablesand champagne and glasses were brought in, and hand in hand they made acircle and drank in the New Year.
Tamara took care to stand by Princess Ardacheff, but her host looked ather as he raised his glass. Then they descended to the hall, and werewrapped in their furs again to go to the cafe where the Bohemians wereto sing.
Tamara and the Princess were already in the latter's coupe when PrinceMilaslavski called out: "Tantine--! take me too--I am slim and can sitbetween you, and I want to arrive soon, I have sent my motor on withSerge and Valonne."
And without waiting he got in.
They had to sit very close, and Tamara became incensed with herself,because in spite of all her late rage with the Prince, she experienceda sensation which was disturbing and unknown. The magnetic personalityof the man was so strong. He bent and whispered something to thePrincess, and then as though sharing a secret, he leaned the other way,and whispered to Tamara, too. The words were nothing, only someordinary nonsense, of which she took no heed. But as he spoke his lipstouched her ear. A wild thrill ran through her, she almost trembled, soviolent was the emotion the little seemingly accidental caress caused.A feeling she had never realized in the whole of her life before. Whydid he tease her so. Why did he always behave in this maddening manner!and choose moments when she was defenseless and could make no move. Ofone thing she was certain, if she should stay on in Russia she mustcome to some understanding with him if possible, and prevent any moreof these ways--absolutely insulting to her self-respect.
So she shrunk back in her corner and gave no reply.
"Are you angry with me?" he whispered. "It was the shaking of theautomobile which caused me to come too near you. Forgive me, I will trynot to sin again,"--but as he spoke he repeated his offense!
Tamara clasped her hands together, tightly, and answered in the coldestvoice--
"I did not notice anything, Prince, it must be a guilty consciencewhich causes you to apologize."
"In that case then all is well!" and he laughed softly.
The Princess now joined in the conversation.
"Gritzko, you must tell Mrs. Loraine how these gipsies are, and whatshe will hear--she will think it otherwise so strange."
He turned to Tamara at once.
"They are a queer people who dwell in a clan. They sing like thefiend--one hates it or loves it, but it gets on the nerves, and if aman should fancy one of them, he must pay the chief, not the girl. Thenthey are faithful and money won't tempt them away. But if the man makesthem jealous, they run a knife into his back."
"It sounds exciting at all events," Tamara said.
"It is an acquired taste, and if you have a particularly sensitive earthe music will make you feel inclined to scream. It drives me mad."
"Gritzko," the Princess whispered to him. "You promise to be _sage_,dear boy, do you not? Sometimes you alarm me when you go too far."
"Tantine!" and he kissed her hand. "Your words are law!"
"Alas! if that were only true," she said with a sigh.
"Tonight all shall be suited to the eleven thousand virgins!" and helaughed. "Or shall I say suited to an English _grande dame_--which isthe same!"
They had crossed the Neva by now, and presently arrived at a buildingwith a gloomy looking door, and so to a dingy hall, in which a fewwaiters were scurrying about. They seemed to go through endless shabbypassages, like those of a lunatic asylum, and finally arrived at alarge and empty room--empty so far as people were concerned--for at theend there were sofas and a long narrow table, and a few smaller oneswith chairs.
The tables were already laid, with dishes of raw ham and salted almondsand various _bonnes bouches_, while brilliant candelabra shone amidstnumerous bottles of champagne.
The company seemed to have forgotten the gloom that playing bridge hadbrought over them, and were as gay again as one could wish, whiledivesting themselves of their furs and snow-boots.
And soon Tamara found herself seated on the middle sofa behind the longtable, Count Gleboff on her right, and the French Secretary, CountValonne, at her left, while beyond him was Princess Sonia, and near byall the rest.
Their host stood up in front, a brimming glass in his hand.
Then there filed in about twenty-five of the most unattractiveanimal-looking females, dressed in ordinary hideous clothes, who alltook their seats on a row of chairs at the farther end. They wore nonational costume nor anything to attract the eye, but were simplygarbed 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 blackscarf! 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 carriedguitars.
These were the famous Bohemians! Their appearance at all events wasdisillusioning enough. Tamara's disappointment was immense.
But presently when they began to sing she realized that there wassomething--something in their music--even though it was of an intenseunrest.
She found it was the custom for them to sing a weird chant song on thename of each guest, and every one must drink to this guest's health,all standing, and quaffing the glasses of champagne down at one draught.
That they all remained sober at the end of the evening seemed to dogreat credit to their heads, for Tamara, completely unaccustomed to thesmoke and the warm room, feared even to sip at her glass.
The toasting over, every one sat down, Prince Milaslavski and a Polebeing the only two in front of the table, and they with immense spiritchaffed the company, and called the tunes.
The music was of the most wild, a queer metallic sound, and the airswere full of unexpected harmonies and nerve-racking chords. It firedthe sense, in spite of the hideous singers.
They all sat there with perfectly immovable faces and entirely stillhands,--singing without gesticulations what were evidently passionatelove-songs! Nothing could have been more incongruous or grotesque!
But the fascination of it grew and grew. Every one of their ugly facesremained printed on Tamara's brain. Long afterward she would see themin dreams.
How little we yet know of the force of sounds! How little we know ofany of the great currents which affect the world and human life!
And music above any other art stirs the sense. Probably the Greek mythof Orpheus and his lute was not a myth after all; perhaps Orpheus hadmastered the occult knowledge of this great power. Surely it would beworth some learned scientist's while to investigate from apsychological point of view how it is, and why it is, that certainchords cause certain emotions, and give base or elevating visions tohuman souls.
The music of these gipsies was of the devil, it seemed to Tamara, andshe was not surprised at the wild look in Prince Milaslavski's eyes,for she herself--she, well brought up, conventionally crushed EnglishTamara,--felt a strange quickening of the pulse.
After an hour or so of this music, two of the younger Bohemian womenbegan to dance, not in the least with the movements that had shockedMrs. Hardcastle in the Alexandrian troupe on the ship, but a foolishvalsing, while the shoulders rose and fell and quivered like theflapping wings of some bird. The shoulders seemed the talented part,not the body or hips.
And then about three o'clock the entire troupe filed out of the roomfor refreshment and rest. The atmosphere was thick with smoke, andheated to an incredible extent. Some one started to play the piano, andevery one began to dance a wild round--a mazurka, perhaps--and Tamarafound herself clasped tightly in the arms of her Prince.
She did not know the step, but they valsed to the tune, and all thetime he was whispering mad things in Russian in her ear. She could notcorrect him, because she did not know what they might mean.
"Doushka," he said at last. "So you are awake; so it is not milk andwater after all in those pretty blue veins! God! I will teach you tolive!"
And Tamara was not angry; she felt nothing except an u
nreasoningpleasure and exultation.
The amateur bandsman came to a stop, and another took his place; butthe spell fortunately was broken, and she could pull herself togetherand return to sane ways.
"I am tired," she said, when the Prince would have gone on, "and I amalmost faint for want of air." So he opened a window and left her for amoment in peace.
She danced again with the first man who asked her, going quickly fromone to another so as to avoid having to be too often held by thePrince. But each time she felt his arm round her, back again wouldsteal the delicious mad thrill.
"I hope you are amusing yourself, dear child," her godmother said."This is a Russian scene; you would not see it in any other land."
And indeed Tamara was happy, in spite of her agitation and unrest.
She sat down now with Olga Gleboff, and they watched the others whilethey took breath. The Prince was dancing with Princess Shebanoff, andher charming face was turned up to him with an adoring smile.
"Poor Tatiane,--" Countess Olga said low to herself.
When the gipsies returned, their music grew wilder than ever, and someof the solos seemed to touch responsive chords in Tamara's very bones.
The Prince sat next her on the sofa now, and every few moments he wouldbend over to take an almond, or light a cigarette, so that he touchedher apparently without intention, but nevertheless with intent. And thesame new and intoxicating sensation would steal through her, and shewould draw her slender figure away and try to be stiff and severe, butwith no effect.
It was long after five o'clock before it was all done, and they beganto wrap up and say "Goodnight." And the troupe, bowing, went out toanother engagement they had.
"They sing all night and sleep in the day," Count Gleboff told Tamara,as they descended the stairs. "At this time of the year they never seedaylight, only sometimes the dawn."
"Tantine," said the Prince, "order your motor to go back. I sent for mytroika, and it is here. We must show Madame Loraine what a sleigh feelslike."
And the Princess agreed.
Oh! the pleasure Tamara found when presently they were flying over thesnow, the side horses galloping with swift, sure feet. And under thefurs she and her godmother felt no cold, while Gritzko, this wildPrince, sat facing them, his splendid eyes ablaze.
Presently they stopped and looked out on the Gulf of Finland and a vastview. Above were countless stars and a young, rising moon.
It was striking seven as they went to their rooms.
Such was Tamara's first outing in this land of the North.