In the brightly lighted corridor there was no one but the box-opener and two attendants with fur cloaks on their arms listening at the doors.

Through the closed doors came the sounds of the discreet _staccato_ accompaniment of the orchestra, and a single female voice rendering distinctly a musical phrase.

The door opened to let the box-opener slip through, and the phrase drawing to the end reached Vronsky's hearing clearly.

But the doors were closed again at once, and Vronsky did not hear the end of the phrase and the cadence of the accompaniment, though he knew from the thunder of applause that it was over.

When he entered the hall, brilliantly lighted with chandeliers and gas jets, the noise was still going on.