Page:Sologub Sweet Scented Name.djvu/184

 "Aborigines," they were called contemptuously by Professor Roggenfeldt's grandson, the schoolboy Eddy, who was an unwearied seeker after fossils.

But Madame Roggenfeldt, a grey-haired old lady, with a sweet attractive face of great former beauty, said:

"The Esthonians here are so cultured. They play Molière in their public hall, they have a choir and a band, and many of them have pianos. Their children sing and play very nicely, and on holidays they look quite like young ladies."

In this idyllic place one beautiful summer's day Madame Roggenfeldt was celebrating her birthday. Everything was very gay. The families of her son and daughter had all come, and the grandchildren had presented her with flowers and congratulated her prettily. Guests had come in from town, and they expected to have music and singing in the evening.

After luncheon, about three o'clock in the afternoon, there was dancing in the meadow that lay between the cliff of Très-joli and the wood on the sea-shore. The local band had been invited to play.