Pagina 221 van 3800

Pierre could not make out what it was all about, and still less

what "watching over his interests" meant, but he decided that all

these things had to be. From the passage they went into a large,

dimly lit room adjoining the count's reception room. It was one

of those sumptuous but cold apartments known to Pierre only from

the front approach, but even in this room there now stood an

empty bath, and water had been spilled on the carpet. They were

met by a deacon with a censer and by a servant who passed out on

tiptoe without heeding them. They went into the reception room

familiar to Pierre, with two Italian windows opening into the

conservatory, with its large bust and full length portrait of

Catherine the Great. The same people were still sitting here in

almost the same positions as before, whispering to one another.