Truly it appeared like fairyland to the young peasant maid. The room was long and very lofty; the ceiling, one great beautiful picture; the floor had no carpet, but was inlaid with different kinds of wood in many curious patterns; the walls were covered with blue flowered silk, on which mirrors and lovely pictures were hung alternately; while beautiful statues and luxurious couches covered with blue damask added to the elegance and comfort of the room.
There was no big, clumsy stove to be seen—for in the houses of the rich, in a recess in each room, is a kind of oven, in which a great wood fire is allowed to smoulder all day—but a delicious feeling of warmth prevailed, and a soft, sweet perfume floated on the air.
At last Katinka's eyes rested on the fair lady in her soft, fleecy gown of white (for even in winter Russian ladies wear the thinnest summer dresses in the house), and she said softly:
"I think this heaven, and surely you are like an angel!"
"Not an angel," said Lady Feodorovna, smiling, "but perhaps a good fairy. Have you a wish, pretty maid?"
"Indeed, yes," replied Katinka. "I wish, wish, wish (for you must always make a wish to a fairy three times) you would buy my lace flounce. See!"—and she unrolled it hurriedly from out the clean linen cloth in which it was wrapped. "It is fair and white, though I have worked on it for three years, and it is all finished but one little sprig. I could not wait for that; I want the money so much. Will you buy it?"
"What is the price?" asked the lady, who saw that it was indeed a beautiful piece of work.
"Ninety roubles" (about fifteen pounds), said Katinka almost in a whisper, as if she feared to name so great a sum aloud, though she knew the lace was worth it.
"Why, what will you do with so many roubles?" asked the lady, not curiously, but in such a good fairy way that Katinka said:
"Surely I need not fear to tell you. But it is a long story. Will you kindly listen to it all?"