the wonderful,
_wonderful_ Kamtchatkans in "_Noe s'embarque sur l'Arche_"--a feast of
beauty--a riot of colour--a mass of inner meanings. Who am I, dearest,
that I should try to word-paint it? Being an opera-ballet, there
are two Noahs, a singing one and a dancing one. While that glorious
Golliookin, the singing Noah, is giving the marvellous Flood Music in
a gallery over the stage, our dear wonderful Ternitenky, the dancing
Noah, is going into the Ark in a series of the most delicious _pas
seuls_. Then his dance of Astonishment and Alarm as he sees the waters
rising--and afterwards his dance of Joy and Thankfulness at finding
himself quite dry! The _Pas de Six_ of Noah's Sons and their Wives!
And the _ensemble_ dancing of the Animals! My dearest, you positively
must and shall leave your solitudes and come and see the Kamtchatkans
in Scriptural opera-ballet! Only second to _Noe_ is _La Femme de Lot_,
with dear Sarkavina, in clouds of white, doing a sensational whirling
dance as she turns into the Pillar, while that amazing soprano,
Scriemalona, sings the mysterious Salt Music. Bishops quite _swarm_ at
these performances. They say they consider it their _duty_ to go, and
that they never _really_ understood the true character of NOAH till
they saw Ternitenky's beautiful flying leap into the Ark, or quite
grasped the personality of LOT'S Wife before seeing Sarkavina's
Pillar-of-Salt dance.

On _Noe_ and _Lot_ nights it's correct to carry a little darling Old
Testament, bound in velvet or satin to match or contrast with
one's toilette, and generally with jewels on the cover; and the
Old Testament is quite often mentioned at dinner just now, people
pretending they've been reading it, and so on. _A propos_, Mrs.
Golding-Newman, one of the latest climbers, excused herself for being
late at dinner somewhere the other night by saying, "I was
reading Deuteronomy and didn't notice how the time was going." The
Bullyon-Boundermere woman was present and, determined to trump her
rival's trick, chipped in with, "Oh, _isn't_ Deuteronomy _charming_?
But I think of _all_ the books of the Old Testament my favourite is In
Memoriam!"

The Cloak, my Daphne, which is one of the most interesting arrivals
in town this summer, is, _a mon avis_, something quite _more_ than
a garment--it is a great big test of all that a woman most prides
herself on! You may see a thousand women with cloaks on, but how many
will be _really wearing_ them! As one