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Furst Shtcherbatsky, sammt Gemahlin und Tochter, by the

apartments they took, and from their name and from the friends

they made, were immediately crystallized into a definite place

marked out for them.

There was visiting the watering-place that year a real German

Furstin, in consequence of which the crystallizing process went

on more vigorously than ever. Princess Shtcherbatskaya wished,

above everything, to present her daughter to this German

princess, and the day after their arrival she duly performed this

rite. Kitty made a low and graceful curtsey in the very simple,

that is to say, very elegant frock that had been ordered her from

Paris. The German princess said, "I hope the roses will soon come

back to this pretty little face," and for the Shtcherbatskys

certain definite lines of existence were at once laid down from

which there was no departing. The Shtcherbatskys made the

acquaintance too of the family of an English Lady Somebody, and

of a German countess and her son, wounded in the last war, and of

a learned Swede, and of M. Canut and his sister.