"She is extremely young," she thought, "in spite of her widowhood, but
I like her, and I know we shall be friends."
Just then they arrived at her house in the Serguiefskaia. It had not
appeared to Tamara that they were approaching any particularly
fashionable quarter. A fine habitation seemed the neighbor of quite a
humble one, and here there was even a shop a few doors down, and except
for the very tall windows there was nothing exceptionally imposing on
the outside. But when they entered the first hall and the gaily-
liveried suisse and two footmen had removed their furs, and the
Princess' snow boots, then Tamara perceived she was indeed in a
glorious home.
Princess Ard?cheff's house was, and is, perhaps the most stately in all
Petersburg.
As they ascended the enormous staircase dividing on the first landing,
and reaching the surrounding galleries above in two sweeps, a grave
major-domo and more footmen met them, and opened wide the doors of a
lofty room. It was full of fine pictures and objets d'art, and though
the furniture dated from the time of Alexander II., and even a little
earlier--when a flood of frightful taste pervaded all Europe--still the
stuffs and the colors were beautiful and rich, and time had softened
their crudity into a harmonious whole.
Be the decorations of a house what they will, it is the mistress of it
who gives the rooms their soul.
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