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After tea, the company went into the sitting room and Princess

Mary was asked to play on the clavichord. Anatole, laughing and

in high spirits, came and leaned on his elbows, facing her and

beside Mademoiselle Bourienne. Princess Mary felt his look with a

painfully joyous emotion. Her favorite sonata bore her into a

most intimately poetic world and the look she felt upon her made

that world still more poetic. But Anatole's expression, though

his eyes were fixed on her, referred not to her but to the

movements of Mademoiselle Bourienne's little foot, which he was

then touching with his own under the clavichord. Mademoiselle

Bourienne was also looking at Princess Mary, and in her lovely

eyes there was a look of fearful joy and hope that was also new

to the princess.