Page 244 (1/2)

Soher Russian nobility were

asseent Princes and counts,

generals and diploand laughing with each other

They were all very gay on this evening, as the regent had herself set

the example With the most unconstrained cheerfulness, radiant with joy,

did she wander through the roo all who and

cherished letter of her lover, and at its lightest rustling she seemed

to feel the imayety and her joyous smiles People, perhaps, knew not this secret, but

they saw its effects, and, as the all-powerful regent deigned this day

to be cheerful and s, it was natural for this host of slavish

nobility, who breathe nothing but the air of the court, to adopt for

this evening'slips and faces bea with joy were to

be seen; all breathed pleasure and enjoyhed;

it seemed as if all care and sorrow had fled frohts of life They had, with submissive

hus and

enhed, while every one knew or suspected

that they were standing on a volcano, whose overwhelht

be expected at any ned the most perfect

innocence and unconstraint The ladies scrutinized each other's