with her--all except Pigasov. Without
waiting for the end of Rudin's long speech, he quietly took his hat and
as he went out whispered viciously to Pandalevsky who was standing near
the door:

'No! Fools are more to my taste.'

No one, however, tried to detain him or even noticed his absence.

The servants brought in supper, and half an hour later, all had taken
leave and separated. Darya Mihailovna begged Rudin to remain the night.
Alexandra Pavlovna, as she went home in the carriage with her brother,
several times fell to exclaiming and marvelling at the extraordinary
cleverness of Rudin. Volintsev agreed with her, though he observed that
he sometimes expressed himself somewhat obscurely--that is to say, not
altogether intelligibly, he added,--wishing, no doubt, to make his own
thought clear, but his face was gloomy, and his eyes, fixed on a corner
of the carriage, seemed even more melancholy than usual.

Pandalevsky went to bed, and as he took off his daintily embroidered
braces, he said aloud 'A very smart fellow!' and suddenly, looking
harshly at his page, ordered him out of the room. Bassistoff did not
sleep the whole night and did not undress--he was writing till morning
a letter to a comrade of his in Moscow; and Natalya, too, though she
undressed and lay down in her bed, had not an instant's sleep and never
closed her eyes. With her head propped on her arm, she gazed fixedly
into the darkness; her veins were throbbing feverishly and her bosom
often heaved with a deep sigh.

IV

The next morning Rudin had only just finished dressing when a servant
came to him with an invitation from Darya Mihailovna to come to her
boudoir and drink tea with her. Rudin found her alone. She greeted him
very cordially, inquired whether he had passed a good night, poured him
out a cup of tea with her own hands, asked him whether there was sugar
enough in it, offered him a cigarette, and twice again repeated that she
was surprised that she had not met him long before. Rudin was about to
take a seat some distance away; but Darya Mihailovna motioned him to an
easy chair, which stood near her lounge, and bending a little towards
him began to question him about his family, his plans and intentions.
Darya Mihailovna spoke carelessly and listened with an air of
indifference; but it was perfectly evident to Rudin that she was laying
herself out to please him, even to flatter him. It was not for nothing
that she had arranged t