originator of the plan, and Zaremba, his able co-adjutor, made brief
speeches. There were one or two impromptu replies; a little discreet
cheering; the customary toasts to the Czar and the persons and the
subject in hand; and then Ivan, carried out of his usual shyness,
proposed the health of the sister Conservatoire of St. Petersburg, which
was loyally drank. Afterwards, the same young professor, who had
unconsciously been the cause of the abandonment of the proposed concert
after the banquet--owing to Nicholas' unreasonable anger at the
rejection of his symphony--himself triumphantly saved the situation and
snatched the evening from the bonds of awkwardness already tightening
upon the guests, who knew that music in some form there must be, but had
no idea of how to compass it.

The present musical idol of the hour was Glinka; and Ivan, whose piano
practice had always been kept up, went quietly to the big Erard which
stood lonesomely upon the platform at the end of the hall, opened it,
seated himself, and dashed into the brilliant overture to "Russlan and
Ludmilla": playing with such verve and spirit that, ere he finished,
every man in the room had gone to augment the group around the
instrument, and Ivan had his audience worked up to any pitch of
appreciation.

Refusing every demand for an encore, Ivan rose, in the midst of a little
babel of "_Bis!_" and, taking the _virtuoso_ of the world by the arm,
led him to the piano. Well repaid, it seemed, in that moment, for the
disappointment he had lately had to endure. For every face about him was
alive with friendliness and admiration for him and his tact.

Rubinstein played well, that night; for it was one of those rare
occasions when he let himself go for his friends; and such technique and
feeling as he could display will scarcely be known in the world again.
When this was over, and nine-tenths of the company had gone, a chosen
few made their way to Nicholas' apartment, where they sat down to a
convivial little supper, at which, before them all--Kashkine, Balakirev,
Laroche, Serov, Siloti, Darjomizky, and, lastly, Monsieur Gounod, who
had not been present at the earlier festivities, Anton Rubinstein lifted
his glass on high and proposed the health of his young friend Gregoriev,
in terms before which Ivan would gladly have fled, had it not been for
the shouts of approbation and affection that held him immovable,
red-faced, choking, quite unable to reply.

*