onsensical things! And that is because what is
necessary is not done at all. What need was there for instance, for
us to make a match for this Byelikov, whom one could not even imagine
married? The headmaster's wife, the inspector's wife, and all our
high-school ladies, grew livelier and even better-looking, as though
they had suddenly found a new object in life. The headmaster's wife
would take a box at the theatre, and we beheld sitting in her box
Varinka, with such a fan, beaming and happy, and beside her Byelikov,
a little bent figure, looking as though he had been extracted from his
house by pincers. I would give an evening party, and the ladies would
insist on my inviting Byelikov and Varinka. In short, the machine was
set in motion. It appeared that Varinka was not averse to matrimony. She
had not a very cheerful life with her brother; they could do nothing but
quarrel and scold one another from morning till night. Here is a scene,
for instance. Kovalenko would be coming along the street, a tall, sturdy
young ruffian, in an embroidered shirt, his love-locks falling on his
forehead under his cap, in one hand a bundle of books, in the other
a thick knotted stick, followed by his sister, also with books in her
hand.

"'But you haven't read it, Mihalik!' she would be arguing loudly. 'I
tell you, I swear you have not read it at all!'

"'And I tell you I have read it,' cries Kovalenko, thumping his stick
on the pavement.

"'Oh, my goodness, Mihalik! why are you so cross? We are arguing about
principles.'

"'I tell you that I have read it!' Kovalenko would shout, more loudly
than ever.

"And at home, if there was an outsider present, there was sure to be a
skirmish. Such a life must have been wearisome, and of course she must
have longed for a home of her own. Besides, there was her age to be
considered; there was no time left to pick and choose; it was a case of
marrying anybody, even a Greek master. And, indeed, most of our young
ladies don't mind whom they marry so long as they do get married.
However that may be, Varinka began to show an unmistakable partiality
for Byelikov.

"And Byelikov? He used to visit Kovalenko just as he did us. He would
arrive, sit down, and remain silent. He would sit quiet, and Varinka
would sing to him 'The Winds do Blow,' or would look pensively at him
with her dark eyes, or would suddenly go off into a peal--'Ha-ha-ha!'

"Suggestion plays a great part in love affairs, and still