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At the other end sat the count, with the hussar colonel on his

left and Shinshin and the other male visitors on his right.

Midway down the long table on one side sat the grown-up young

people: Vera beside Berg, and Pierre beside Boris; and on the

other side, the children, tutors, and governesses. From behind

the crystal decanters and fruit vases, the count kept glancing at

his wife and her tall cap with its light-blue ribbons, and busily

filled his neighbors' glasses, not neglecting his own. The

countess in turn, without omitting her duties as hostess, threw

significant glances from behind the pineapples at her husband

whose face and bald head seemed by their redness to contrast more

than usual with his gray hair.