And then she kissed her goddaughter good-night, but just at the door
she paused. "You were not shocked about the Alexandrian dancers, I
hope, child?" she said. "If one knew the truth, they were poor people
who were starving, probably, and Gritzko paid them money and helped
them out of the kindness of his heart--those are the sort of things he
generally does I find when I investigate, so I never pay attention to
what he says."
Tamara, left to herself, gazed into the glowing embers of her wood
fire.
"I wonder--I wonder," she said. But what she wondered she hardly dared
admit--even to herself.