First Love by Ivan Sergeyevich Turgenev Chapter 16 Page 6

‘To be sure,’ assented Malevsky, ‘why should she have a husband?’

‘Silence!’ cried Meidanov in French, which he spoke very badly.

‘Merci!’ Zina�da said to him. ‘And so the queen hears their speeches, and hears the music, but does not look at one of the guests. Six windows are open from top to bottom, from floor to ceiling, and beyond them is a dark sky with big stars, a dark garden with big trees. The queen gazes out into the garden. Out there among the trees is a fountain; it is white in the darkness, and rises up tall, tall as an apparition. The queen hears, through the talk and the music, the soft splash of its waters. She gazes and thinks: you are all, gentlemen, noble, clever, and rich, you crowd round me, you treasure every word