“Let us see, then,” her eyes sparkled; “it must be at a time when Leshkin ees not there. Oh, ’e ees so jealous, that one, you ’ave no idea! The scene ’e make me when I go off to lunch with you. I ’ad not thought for a little minute that you would be ’ere, and when your message come and I telephone ’im to say I cannot meet ’im — Ho! what a temper! It all comes, I think, because ’e ’as red ’air!” and she went off into peals of delighted laughter.
“What about the afternoon?” Simon suggested.
“Why not?” she smiled; “you shall come back with me, and we will make what you call Whoopee!”
She was as infectious in her child-like gaiety as in her fierce enthusiasms, and Simon felt the spirit of adventure stirring in him.
“I’d love to come,” he said, again.
“Let us go, then — now, this moment!” She set down her coffee cup and rose impulsively.
He followed her out of the restaurant, and they secured their furs. Madame Karkoff’s limousine was waiting at the hotel entrance; it was one of the few private cars that Simon had seen during his two days’ stay in Moscow. The fact that the traffic was almost entirely composed of tramcars and occasional carts, and that their car was not once blocked en route, made Simon revise his lunch-time reflections as to the true prosperity of Soviet Russia; the traffic of a city is a very good index to its wealth and commercial activities. Making a mental note to consider the business aspect of the position later, Simon devoted himself to the lovely creature at his side.
Madame Karkoff’s apartment was on the first floor of an old-fashioned block. She explained to him that all the new domestic buildings were composed of large numbers of small flats, modern in every way, with communal kitchens and wash-houses, and crèches for the workers’ children, but that none of these flats were of any size. If one wanted spacious rooms, there was nothing to be had other than the mansions and apartments of the old bourgeoisie.
The outside of the building was depressing, with its peeling paint and rain-streaked walls, but the inside was a revelation.
The great rooms were almost barbaric in their splendour, with no trace of modern decoration. Magnificent tapestries hung from the walls and beautiful lamps in Russian silver filigree from the ceiling; the polished floor was strewn with furs and Persian carpets in glowing reds and purples.