Page:The Novels of Ivan Turgenev (volume V).djvu/143

 went to one of the best hotels in Baden and asked for Madame Ratmirov. The porter first inquired their names, and then answered at once that  'die Frau Fürstin ist zu Hause,'  and went himself to conduct them up the staircase and knock at the door of the apartment and announce them.  'Die Frau Fürstin'  received them promptly: she was alone, her husband had gone off to Carlsruhe for an interview with a great official, an influential personage who was passing through that town. Irina was sitting at a small table, embroidering on canvas when Potugin and Litvinov crossed the threshold. She quickly flung her embroidery aside, pushed away the little table and got up; an expression of genuine pleasure overspread her face. She wore a morning dress, high at the neck; the superb lines of her shoulders and arms could be seen through the thin stuff; her carelessly-coiled hair had come loose and fell low on her slender neck. Irina