“Fedor says that Cousin Tanya was a great success," she said, "and Cousin Nikolai danced with her four times! Is that really true?” Countess Maria agreed that it was true, and added that several gentlemen had danced with Tanya more than once. When the child had gone to her lessons, her mother said to Tanya, "I expect there'll be some gossip, but you mustn't mind it if you happen to overhear anything. Some people have nothing better to do, and a newcomer must always be discussed and dissected, you know. Anything Nikolai Ilyich does attracts the gossips' attention in any case – he's very eligible and unattainable, you see. I've never known him to dance so often with one partner before, but I expect he was just making sure you were seen to be on the floor. That's so important at a first ball. Girls who sit by the wall for very long at first never seem to get many partners afterwards." “I think he was concerned about a misunderstanding we had to begin with," Tanya said, and explained about the staircase and Prince Ruschev's intervention.
