Petersburg churches.
A peace fell on her soul, and just as the gipsies' music had been of
the devil, so this seemed to come from heaven itself. She felt calmed
and happier when they came out.
After an early lunch they saw from the hotel windows three troikas
drawn up. Two of them Gritzko's, and one belonging to Prince
Solentzeff Zasiekin, who had also a country place in the neighbourhood.
The two, which had come a day or so before from Milasl?v, were indeed
wonderful turn-outs. The Prince prided himself upon his horses, which
were renowned throughout Europe.
The graceful shaped sleighs, with the drivers in their quaint liveries
standing up to drive, always unconsciously suggest that their origin
must have been some chariot from Rome.
Gritzko's colors were a rich greenish-blue, while the reins and velvet
caps and belts of the drivers were a dull cerise; the caps were braided
with silver, while they and the coats and the blue velvet rugs were
lined and bordered with sable. One set of horses was coal black, and
the others a dark gray. Everything seemed in keeping with the
buildings, and the semi-Byzantine scene with its Oriental note of
picturesque grace.
"Which will you choose to go in, Madame?" Gritzko asked. "Shall you be
drawn by the blacks or the grays?"
"I would prefer the blacks," Tamara replied. "I always love black
horses, and these are such beautiful ones.
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