"A row of tent stretchers for everyone together in the hall!"
Tamara made no answer, she contrived to move on directly he spoke, and
her reply now was to the general company, as it had been all day.
If she had looked back then she would have seen a gleam in his eyes
which boded no peace. She thought she was doing everything for the
best, but each rebuff was adding fuel to that wild fire in his blood.
By the end of the day, after walks through the Treasury and museums,
and what not, and never having been able to speak to Tamara, his temper
was at boiling point. But he controlled it, and his face wore a mask,
which disarmed even the Princess' fears.
Their dinner was very gay, and the Russians asked Lord Courtray what
had impressed him most.
"I like the story of Ivan the Terrible putting his jolly old alpenstock
through the fellow's foot on the stairs when he came with the letter,"
Jack said. "Sensible sort of thing to do. Kept the messenger in place."
Meanwhile Tamara was conversing in a lower voice with Stephen Strong.
"The more you stay in this country, the more it fascinates you," he
said. "And you feel you have got back to some of the fierce primitive
passions of nature. Here, in Moscow, the whole earth must be stained
with wild orgies and blood, and yet they are full of poetry and
romance. Even Ivan the Terrible had his religious side, and every
creature of them believes in the saints and the priests.
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