Only Heinrich remained pale and silent, and pressed his lips together till the blood came.
"Come, comrade, why so dumfoundered? Surely you are not angry?" bawled Casimir.
But Heinrich continued moody and sulky.
The grand banquet was not terminated, but interrupted by a ball. The Starosta himself gave the signal by lighting his big meerschaum pipe, whereupon the other gentlemen followed his example, and began their beloved fumigation by the side of their black coffee. The musicians thereupon quitted the dining-room, and a short time elapsed, during which they also took a snack, and then the music began again over the heads of the guests, in the upper story of the palace, which could be reached from the dining-room by means of a spiral staircase.
As soon as the inspiring notes of a mazurka burst forth from above, the fiery youths spurned their chairs away, and without waiting for a special invitation, hastened up the spiral staircase into the dancing-room. Those of the elderly gentlemen whose feet were capable (after dinner) of grappling with the tortuous stairs, followed them.
On the upper floor was the dancing-room, brilliantly illuminated with wax candles, where were now assembled the flower of the belles and the pick of the stately matrons of the Lithuanian capital—a goodly company who reached the ballroom by the opposite staircase.
Heinrich, swallowing his wrath, and oblivious of the pangs of hunger, also hastened up to the dancing-room, which was now quite full of ladies.
The girls were standing, the more mature women were sitting, according to custom.
Heinrich also found the idol of his heart among the girls. Six years before she was a growing little lassie, now she was a damsel in full bloom. In those days they had dearly loved each other, and had sworn that they would belong to none else. There stood the beautiful and charming Tatiana in front of her mamma. She was wearing the Russian national costume, with an apron embroidered with pearls and a coif adorned with precious stones. She was the daughter of a Russian chinovnik[20] whose father had been sent from St. Petersburg to keep the Poles in order.