Letters from beyond

The mentoring tone of Matilda confused the poor thing even more. The secular lioness, the prima ballerina, in whose arms the royal persons trembled, who had countless men in bed and rolled up with this luggage to the centennial milestone, had a magical effect on the fragile girl with a chiseled Irish nose.

Kshesinskaya felt this and reveled in her superiority. Slipping out of the power of the bored Josephine, Matilda was amused by the fact that her old age took precedence over Monica's youth.

Having had enough of this and appeased by the prettiness of the guest, Kshesinskaya decided to loosen up and loudly announced:

— I have a present for you. And very worthy too.

So saying, she drove off to her bedroom and returned from there holding a pendant with a huge sparkling diamond stone in her hands.

— Robert, take this and put it around her pretty neck.

Robert couldn't move at first, in amazement, but then he took the gift and began to put it on. A magnificent pendant sparkled brightly on the girl's neck. The purest diamond began to diligently refract white light into all the colors of the rainbow, exposing its new owner in a rainbow halo.

Exclamations of congratulations and enthusiasm were heard around, thereby embarrassing the birthday girl, and finally driving her into the paint.

Most of all, Kshesinskaya admired the effect of her gift. She immediately remembered the memory of the moment when this pendant was dressed around her young neck.

— She never gave me such a luxurious gift, — Josephine said through her teeth, with a forced smile on her face.

Boundless female envy. A woman always has something to envy of another woman, whether it be her own sister or her closest friend. For this reason, in nature there is no such thing as a strong female friendship.

At that moment, Josephine herself was the embodiment of female envy. She literally burned through the eyes of the fragile Monica. In this look there was a terrible mix of boundless envy, hatred and a momentary desire to destroy the newly-minted competitor, and it turned out that they intended to protect Monica from Kshesinskaya, but in fact she came under fire from Josephine.

Robert, realizing the delicate position of his companion, gently hugged her and kissed her diamond neck.

— But that's not all, — Kshesinskaya did not let up and added, — there are also earrings in the kit.

So saying, she put diamond earrings on the birthday girl's ears. However, it turned out that Monica's earlobes had not yet been pierced.

— Yes, she’s still a virgin, — Josephine said with irony, or with a mockery, — her ears are not full of holes yet.

The resulting embarrassment decided to straighten out Kshesinskaya.

— But nothing. This is quite fixable. Don't worry girl. Tomorrow you will go to this address and everything will be arranged for you in the best. For now, hide the earrings. Put it on when there are holes in your ears.

— To the health of the birthday girl! — Robert declared enthusiastically.

The call was unanimously accepted.

— Well, now she definitely won’t get sick, — Josephine hissed caustically.

— To the health of our virtue, Madame Kshesinskaya, — continued Robert.

A routine interview, through the efforts of the former prima, turned into a real birthday celebration. Matilda felt this and sincerely rejoiced.

Now she had a new fun — Monica. Having dined on excellent Irish stew, they began to have dessert and wine glasses of cognac appeared on the table. Everyone drank, without exception.

Josephine, despite Marek's displeasure, freely allowed the servants to pour Kshesinskaya. But Matilda did not take her eyes off Monica. She endlessly whispered something in the guest's ear. Josephine watched them jealously. Finally, she was rather tired of it and she decided to defuse the situation with a spicy anecdote.

— And let me tell you how one day Matilda was able to break Petipa's ban in a very original way and, to the delight of the heir, flutter onto the stage.

— Well, why do you want to spoil the holiday of this innocent person with your depraved story? — Matilda protested.

— And you often tell it yourself, — Josephine insisted, who really wanted to annoy both Kshesinskaya and Monica.

— Listen. There was a premiere of a new interpretation of the ballet "Swan Lake" after the death of Tchaikovsky. The Mariinsky Theater was full of spectators. In the royal box sat the august family with the heir to Nika, who immediately felt sad when he realized that Kshesinskaya would not perform. It was clear that the premiere would not succeed without our Mali. However, Petipa was adamant and then Matilda went to the trick. Backstage, she lowered her leggings from her partner, who in a minute was supposed to jump onto the stage and throw the soloist up. Then an ersatz blowjob was filigreely produced, as a result of which, during the support, the partner, of course, buckled his legs and he dropped the soloist onto the stage with a roar. Petipa had no choice but to release on stage instead of the injured ballerina Kshesinskaya. Nicky's heir rejoiced with happiness, not even suspecting at what cost he got such a spectacle.

Everyone except Matilda was delighted with the story. The latter seemed to have missed the story.

At the peak of drunken fun, Josephine could not stand it and asked what she so stubbornly kept in the depths of her soul.

— Well, since today Malya decided to start giving away her jewelry, isn't it time for her to tell about the whereabouts of the others? After all, the hour is not even, and she will take this secret with her forever.

This was said bluntly, straight on the forehead, without any hint, and this time it was impossible for Kshesinskaya to escape the answer.

Matilda paused and said:

— Yes, I am really rich and this wealth allowed me to live with dignity until old age. Everything that remains after me I have documented with a notary and everyone will receive according to their merits. But first I want to read to you these lines from the Bible.

She opened the holy book in the place already prepared and began to read in the ominous voice of the vestal, which made those present immediately uncomfortable.

— Your gold and silver have corroded, and their rust will be a testimony against you and will eat your flesh like fire: you have stored up treasures for yourselves in the last days.

After reading these lines, Kshesinskaya slammed the Bible shut and silently drove off to her bedroom.

Robert had already gone to bed, but Monica still could not stop looking at Kshesinskaya's gift. It was embarrassing for her to do this at a party, and there was no suitable mirror, but now in the hotel room she was left to herself and looked at her diamond image for a long time.

Having seen enough of the pendant, she put the earrings to her ears and admired them for a long time.

“How primitive women are. How easy it is to replace their spiritual world with material goods.”

With such thoughts, Robert, tired of waiting for his partner, disappointedly turned on his side and fell asleep.

The first thing he saw when he woke up was the same Monica admiring herself in front of the mirror. The diamond pendant presented the day before hung around her neck, but now, along with the pendant, the included earrings flaunted on her ears. Monica managed to go early in the morning to the address indicated by Kshesinskaya and pierce her ears.

Unaware that a pair of male eyes loaded with morning lust were watching her, she took off her nightgown and twirled around in her panties, admiring her own body and the jewelry she had been given. From this, Robert's unsatisfied flesh, which had been fairly refreshed during the night, began to inflame.

A woman admiring herself in front of a mirror is a dangerous phenomenon. Moreover, it doesn’t matter who she is: a socialite or a gray mouse, a beauty or a fearful person, it doesn’t matter at all. Everyone is equal in front of the mirror, because they are subjected to the same magical process — self-affirmation and self-praise.

In Pushkin's famous fairy tale, the stepmother looks in the mirror and says, “Tell the mirror, tell the whole truth. Who in the world is sweeter, more beautiful and whiter than everyone? And the stupid mirror agrees with her — "you are more beautiful, no doubt."

In this fairy tale one to one, as in ordinary life.

Despite the fact that the mirror reflects the real appearance, women see only what they want to see — their beauty! And it doesn't matter if there is one or not, the process of self-affirmation works wonders.

"But I'm just beautiful!" — this is the main conclusion that they come to, standing in front of a mirror.

And God forbid, if a husband, friend, partner or just a male is hanging around. A woman who has asserted herself in the mirror looks at him with contempt and says:

“Well, is this nonentity worthy of me?”

Just such a process was now taking place with the naked Monika standing in front of the mirror in all its glory.

Meanwhile, Robert cautiously approached from behind and pressed his whole body, grabbed her elastic breasts.

— Carefully! You will break the chain of the pendant! — Monica yelled indignantly.

— To hell with the pendant. You are beautiful even without diamonds! — answered Robert and began to kiss her on the neck.

This time, Monica grabbed her ears, and Robert realized that the wounds from the puncture would not allow him to continue the morning sex.

Monica's eyes changed. After talking with Kshesinskaya and under the influence of her gifts, there was no trace left of the former cute gray mouse. Now standing in front of Robert was a young woman who already knew the value of her charm.

Bad news in the big city spreads slowly but inexorably. All day, Robert and Monica, without leaving their Paris hotel room, being under the fresh impressions of communicating with Kshesinskaya, wrote an extensive article, and when they went out to go to dinner, they were overtaken by the news of her death.

— She died last night. Asleep with a happy smile and did not wake up, — Marek reported to Robert.

He looked reproachfully at the doctor.

— Did you prick her with something?

— Well, as usual, — Marek replied, looking away.

There were a lot of people at Kshesinskaya's funeral, mostly representatives of the Russian emigration of the first wave. They talked about her talent, about the outgoing old era.

Josephine and Marek stood with mournful faces, and if the doctor sometimes expressed true sadness, then a spark of joy slipped in Josephine's eyes.

After the death of Kshesinskaya, Robert realized that his reportage was becoming even more relevant, and he and Monika began to draw it up faster.

But two days after the funeral of Matilda, another terrible news spread around the city. During the night, Dr. Marek died suddenly of a heart attack. Robert was friendly with him and went straight to the police station to find out the details. Here, as a journalist, he was provided with detailed information.

Dr. Marek never complained about his heart. However, on that day, he and Josephine made love, and so intensely that at the peak of pleasure the doctor's heart could not stand it and froze forever.

The police let Robert read the conclusion of the forensic expert — no signs of violent death and poisoning were found. The conclusion was unequivocal — heart failure.

It is very possible that during sex- games, blindfolding her partner, she injected him at the peak of pleasure with an exorbitant dose of a heart drug that the doctor always had at hand.

Only Robert came to terms with the death of Marek, as the next day he read in the morning newspapers: on the Paris-Nice highway, a well-known emigrant in Polish circles, Josephine Kshesinskaya, died in a car accident. The probable cause of the accident is a malfunction of the car's braking system.

This news has already alarmed Robert in earnest. Campaigners are dying one by one, as if they are being pursued by evil fate. And now, for some reason, the brakes of Josephine's car failed, when for some reason she rushed to Nice. But just a week ago they gathered in Kshesinskaya's house and, not suspecting anything, had fun talking and talking.

At another time, Robert would have launched an immediate journalistic investigation into these strange deaths, but now he was not up to it. Now his intuition told him that his life was in danger.

With such gloomy thoughts, Robert returned to the hotel and in his hearts threw the newspaper on the bed, where Monica still lay asleep.

— Of the entire campaign, only you and I remained. We need to urgently leave this city, — said Robert.

But Monica didn't seem to agree with that decision. The expression of disappointment on her face spoke of it.

— Something is wrong? — Robert was surprised.

At that moment there was a knock on the door and a messenger boy entered the room.

— Parcel for Mademoiselle Monica.

— From whom?

— It's all there.

Robert gave the messenger a tip, and Monica immediately began to open the package.

— Perfume Dior! — the girl exclaimed, — this is from him.

— From whom?

— From that guy I met when I went to an ear piercing salon.

Robert looked at his companion in surprise.

So that's it! Has she already got a boyfriend? However, she quickly learned the lessons of Madame Kshesinskaya.

— He made an appointment for me today at the Maxim restaurant, on Royal Street.

Robert looked at Monica in amazement.

— Okay, you admire the gift, and I'll go to the post office and at the same time book tickets for tomorrow's flight. We're leaving, you understand? So finish all your personal business today.

From the post office, Robert sent the finished report by air mail to America so that the article would be printed in the magazine before he returned.

— Mr Jackson! Please stay a minute longer, — said the postal worker, — we have a letter for you.

— Letter? From whom?

— From Mrs. Matilda Kshesinskaya.

Robert was taken aback. Did he get a letter from the other world? He quickly opened the envelope. It really was from Kshesinskaya.

"Dear Robert! If you are reading these leter, then you are the only survivor of our entire campaign …"

What does "only" mean? Robert whispered and went cold.

"Monica"! — Like lightning flashed through his mind.

Without reading the letter to the end, Robert rushed towards the hotel. Even from a distance, he was horrified to notice a crowd of people just under the windows of their room, which was located on the third floor. There was a huge pool of blood on the sidewalk.