Anastasiya nodded to Nikolai as he held the door open. So he was a gentleman.
She had not missed the flash of concern in his eyes - a panicked flutter of wings behind grey irises. But what was it that rattled him? The last thing he had spoken about was to do with the socialists, their intentions and what they brought to the people. Unless he has more to do with them than he let slip? Anastasiya brushed off the silly notion. She has heard and learned all about these 'new thinkers', as they called themselves, and perceiving something only through words written and spoken often gave one a very skewed idea of what said thing was in actuality. In her mind Anastasiya envisioned these people to be irrational idealists, easy to be told apart from the likes of herself or any sane person in the flesh. Easy to be told apart from a well-mannered young gentleman, one from a good family and with good education. To think that they were anything alike, it was ludicrous.
Anastasiya chose not to dwell on that note.
"I'm sure you have noticed the extensive amount of portraits here," She started, turning to Nikolai with a faint smile as she gestured to the walls. "These were all painted by my uncle Igor. He had a passion for.. painting his subjects in the nude. As you can see a large number of projects here were for elder men - he is living in France now, where his talents are more suited."
She stopped and pushed open the heavy oaken door to her right. "Our library. Nowhere near as grand as that of your university, I'm sure, but it does hold many editions no longer available to the world." The room was a comforting one, all earth tones and lit by warm orange lights. Woodwork everywhere, holding rows of books and gleaming dully around bearskins and crackling in the fireplace. "You are welcome to browse them whenever you like - you are staying at least for the night, I hope? It must have been a long journey for you and your family."
Anastasiya turned to face the man, looking up at him slightly now that they stood closer. He was the taller of the two - Anastasiya's eyes came to rest on his cheeks, if she were to look straight ahead. "Do you ride, Nikolai? I want to show you the stables."