"I think I should have stayed there all night if I had not suddenly heard loud shouts in the next room.
"'Lili, Lili, here's Lili! Vive Lili!'
"I looked up and saw Papa coming in. It was he whom they called 'Lili,' obviously derived from his Christian name, Vassily.
"He, too, was in the highest spirits. On each arm was a girl, handsome enough to make me feel thoroughly jealous.
"He was far too busy to see me. I lost no time in making preparations to go, but it proved a terrible business getting Mlle. Jauffre away. She was exceedingly loth to leave her negro. In the taxi she sang at the top of her voice:
'Caroline, Caroline,
Put on your shiny black shoes.'
"Then, without warning, she leaned out of the window and began to weep vigorously, complaining that I had not shown her sufficient respect.
"Papa had a bill from Doucet for thirty-eight thousand six hundred francs. He did not demur, and I gathered that his daughter's requirements had as a matter of fact been less formidable than those of other ladies—a thought which disgusted me not a little.
* * * * * *
"When we got back to Russia, we found another letter from the Czar, telling Papa that the Kaiser's arrival at St. Petersburg was fixed for May 15th, so that we ought to make our arrangements at once.