“If you go beyond the line of official receptions, official statements of production and official balls - beyond the line of everyone and everything in the circle of which you moved in your honorable life - you, in due time, will cross the border line where the last straw disappears white blood and black blood comes into its own in a wide flow. It’s easier to talk with a newly minted duchess, still under the impression of a solemn moment, than with a border resident: just in case you break a custom or offend in some way...” Translation: E. Kiselev