The salon on the second floor was reserved for conversation, the third floor was a library and reading-room, and there was a terrace on the roof.
The structure was solidly built, and, for the greater part, very plainly finished. There was a cluster of columns in the centre of the two upper rooms inclosing a slender fountain jet in a high basin. The lights were all placed around these columns, and from each of them an arch vaulted to a pilaster in each of the six angles of the room. In the upper floor the walls were covered with book-cases, in the lower they were tinted a dark red with a fresco in each side of a Muse or dancer.
The partitioned angles were draped with curtains colored like the walls.
The second floor, the salon par excellence, was more brilliant. The walls were lined with small faceted blocks of white glass set in an amber-colored cement, the curtains of the angles were of amber-colored silk, the chairs, divans, sofas, and amorini were covered with an amber-colored linen that looked like satin, the floor was of small alternating amber and dark green tiles, the heavy rugs were amber colored. It was a room all light, except the dark green divan that surrounded the cluster of pillars.
These rooms were lighted till ten o’clock every evening but Sunday, and were free to all; but the inevitable law of selection had made it a tacit custom for certain persons to go on certain evenings. To meet a stranger, it was considered proper to give place to those who had been outside.
Elena brought out a beautiful lace dress that Tacita’s mother had left behind her on going out into the world. It was of pillow lace woven in stripes, and made over a soft silk in broad stripes of rose and cream-color. Dressed in it, Tacita looked like a blush rose.
They set out for her first assembly at early twilight. Lights in the houses showed them the way, there was a sound of violins in the dewy air, and figures flitting in the dance-room, and outside a number of persons were dancing gayly in the light that shone from the building.
“Our people are much given to dancing,” Elena said. “And we have the most beautiful and complex fancy dances in the world.”
They went up a winding stair, that started in a lower angle and ended in a terrace, from which a wide arched door opened into the salon, showing the glittering walls, the full light, the tossing fountain in its lightly shadowed seclusion, the silken curtain of the opposite boudoir, and a company almost filling the room.
The music came softened from below, allowing the voices to be heard.