About midnight he walked under the windows of the Hall of Nobility. Countless lights of huge candelabra shone with brilliant radiance through the red curtains; and the whole square, blocked with carriages, was ringing with the insolent, festive, seductive strains of a waltz of Strauss’.
The next day at one o’clock, Litvinov betook himself to the Osinins’. He found no one at home but the prince, who informed him at once that Irina had a headache, that she was in bed, and would not get up till the evening, that such an indisposition was however little to be wondered at after a first ball.
‘C’est très naturel, vous savez, dans les jeunes filles,’ he added in French, somewhat to Litvinov’s surprise; the latter observed at the same instant that the prince was not in his dressing-gown as usual, but was wearing a coat. ‘And besides,’ continued Osinin, ‘she may well be a little upset after the events of yesterday!’
‘Events?’ muttered Litvinov.
‘Yes, yes, events, events, de vrais événements. You cannot imagine, Grigory Mihalovitch, quel succès elle a eu! The whole court noticed her! Prince Alexandr Fedorovitch said that her place was not here, and that she reminded him of Countess [Devonshire]. You know ... that ... celebrated.... And old Blazenkrampf declared in the hearing of all, that Irina was la reine du bal, and desired to be introduced to her; he was introduced to me too, that’s to say, he told me that he remembered me a hussar, and asked me where I was holding office now. Most entertaining man that Count, and such an adorateur du beau sexe! But that’s not all; my princess ... they gave her no peace either: Natalya Nikitishna herself conversed with her ... what more could we have? Irina danced avec tous les meilleurs cavaliers; they kept bringing them up to me.... I positively lost count of them. Would you believe it, they were all flocking about us in crowds; in the mazurka they did nothing but seek her out. One foreign diplomatist, hearing she was a Moscow girl, said to the Tsar: ‘Sire,’ he said, ‘décidément c’est Moscou qui est le centre de votre empire!’ and another diplomatist added: ‘C’est une vraie révolution, Sire—révélation or révolution ... something of that sort. Yes, yes, it was. I tell you it was something extraordinary.’
‘Well, and Irina Pavlovna herself?’ inquired Litvinov, whose hands and feet had grown cold hearing the prince’s speech, ‘did she enjoy herself, did she seem pleased?’
‘Of course she enjoyed herself; how could she fail to be pleased? But, as you know, she’s not to be seen through at a glance! Every one was saying to me yesterday: it is really surprising! jamais on ne dirait que mademoiselle votre fille est a son premier bal. Count Reisenbach among the rest ... you know him most likely.’
‘No, I don’t know him at all, and have never heard of him.’
‘My wife’s cousin.’
‘I don’t know him.’