‘Yes, yes, events, events, _de vrais événements_. You cannot imagine, Grigory Mihalovitch, _quel succès elle a eu_! The whole court noticed her! Prince Alexandr Fedorovitch said that her place was not here, and that she reminded him of Countess Devonshire. You know ... that ... celebrated.... And old Blazenkrampf declared in the hearing of all, that Irina was _la reine du bal_, and desired to be introduced to her; he was introduced to me too, that’s to say, he told me that he remembered me a hussar, and asked me where I was holding office now. Most entertaining man that Count, and such an _adorateur du beau sexe_! But that’s not all; my princess ... they gave her no peace either: Natalya Nikitishna herself conversed with her ... what more could we have? Irina danced _avec tous les meilleurs cavaliers_; they kept bringing them up to me.... I positively lost count of them. Would you believe it, they were all flocking about us in crowds; in the mazurka they did nothing but seek her out. One foreign diplomatist, hearing she was a Moscow girl, said to the Tsar: ‘_Sire_,’ he said, ‘_décidément c’est Moscou qui est le centre de votre empire!_’ and another diplomatist added: ‘_C’est une vraie révolution, Sire--révélation_ or _révolution_ ... something of that sort. Yes, yes, it was. I tell you it was something extraordinary.’ ‘Well, and Irina Pavlovna herself?’ inquired Litvinov, whose hands and feet had grown cold hearing the prince’s speech, ‘did she enjoy herself, did she seem pleased?’ ‘Of course she enjoyed herself; how could she fail to be pleased? But, as you know, she’s not to be seen through at a glance! Every one was saying to me yesterday: it is really surprising! _jamais on ne dirait que mademoiselle votre fille est a son premier bal_. Count Reisenbach among the rest ... you know him most likely.’ ‘No, I don’t know him at all, and have never heard of him.’ ‘My wife’s cousin.’ ‘I don’t know him.’ ‘A rich man, a chamberlain, living in Petersburg, in the swim of things; in Livonia every one is in his hands. Hitherto he has neglected us ... but there, I don’t bear him ill-will for that. _J’ai l’humeur facile, comme vous savez._ Well, that’s the kind of man he is. He sat near Irina, conversed with her for a quarter of an hour, not more, and said afterwards to my princess: “_Ma cousine_,” he says, “_votre fille est une perle; c’est une perfection_, every one is congratulating me on such a niece....” And afterwards I look round--and he had gone up to a ... a very great personage, and was talking, and kept looking at Irina ... and the personage was looking at her too.’... ‘And so Irina Pavlovna will not appear all day?’ Litvinov asked again. ‘Quite so; her head aches very badly. She told me to greet you from her, and thank you for your flowers, _qu’on a trouvé charmant_. She needs rest.... The princess has gone out on a round of visits ... and I myself ... you see....’