Alexis, then to the guests, then to Jupiter, then to Venus. The
matter was explained to him.

He promised to do what he could towards favoring the world with a
second generation of the beauty, grace, intellect, and nobility of
character which had already won his regard. He thought, however,
that their gifts were unnecessary, since the model was already in
existence, and nothing more could be done than to IMITATE it.

(Here there was another meaning bow towards Prince Alexis,--a bow
in which Jupiter and Venus joined. This was the great point of the
evening, in the opinion of Simon Petrovitch. He peeped through a
hole in one of the clouds, and, seeing the delight of Prince Alexis
and the congratulations of his friends, immediately took a large
glass of Cognac).

The Graces were then summoned, and after them the Muses--all in
hoops, powder, and paint. Their songs had the same burden,--
intense admiration of the father, and good-will for the son,
underlaid with a delicate doubt. The close was a chorus of all the
deities and semi-deities in praise of the old Prince, with the
accompaniment of fireworks. Apollo rose through the air like a
frog, with his blue legs and yellow arms wide apart; Jupiter's
chariot rolled off; Venus bowed herself back against a mouldy
cloud; and the Muses came forward in a bunch, with a wreath of
laurel, which they placed upon the venerated head.

Sasha was dispatched to bring the poet, that he might receive his
well-earned praise and reward. But alas for Simon Petrovitch? His
legs had already doubled under him. He was awarded fifty rubles