The immense scale of everything in the Winter Palace
added to the effect, and the innumerable rooms, some of them of
gigantic size, rather gained in dignity by being sparsely tenanted, for
only 1,500 people were asked to the "Palmiers." There was nothing like
it anywhere else in Europe, and no one now living will ever look on so
brilliant a scene, set in so vast a _cadre_. There was really a marked
contrast between the two consecutive evenings Kennedy and I had spent
together.
One of the ladies of the British Embassy in Petrograd inquired of a
Court official what the cost of a "Bal des Palmiers" amounted to. The
chamberlain replied that for 1,500 people the cost would be about
9,000 pounds, working out at 6 pounds per head. This included a special
train all the way from Nice with growing and cut flowers, and another
special train from the Crimea with fruit. A very expensive item was the
carriage by road from Tsarskoe Selo of one hundred specially grown
large palm trees in specially constructed frost-proof vans; there was
also the heavy cost of the supper and wine, which for the "Bals des
Palmiers" was provided on a far more sumptuous scale than at the
ordinary Court entertainments and balls.
Ichabod! Ichabod!
Certain names carry their own responsibilities; for instance, when a
town proudly proclaimed itself the "City of Good Airs" it should live
up to its title.
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