itch. 'Can you be infected with
prejudice?'

'Why, I said nothing----' Anna Vassilyevna was beginning.

'No, you said, ah!--However that may be, I have thought it well to
acquaint you with my way of thinking; and I venture to think--I venture
to hope Mr. Kurnatovsky will be received _a bras ouverts_. He is no
Montenegrin vagrant.'

'Of course; I need only call Vanka the cook and order a few extra
dishes.'

'You are aware that I will not enter into that,' said Nikolai
Artemyevitch; and he got up, put on his hat, and whistling (he had heard
some one say that whistling was only permissible in a country villa and
a riding court) went out for a stroll in the garden. Shubin watched him
out of the little window of his lodge, and in silence put out his tongue
at him.

At ten minutes to four, a hackney-carriage drove up to the steps of the
Stahovs's villa, and a man, still young, of prepossessing appearance,
simply and elegantly dressed, stepped out of it and sent up his name.
This was Yegor Andreyevitch Kurnatovsky.

This was what, among other things, Elena wrote next day to Insarov:

'Congratulate me, dear Dmitri, I have a suitor. He dined with us
yesterday: papa made his acquaintance at the English club, I fancy, and
invited him. Of course he did not come yesterday as a suitor. But good
mamma, to whom papa had made known his hopes, whispered in my ear
what this guest was. His name is Yegor Andreyevitch Kurnatovsky; he
is upper-secretary to the Senate. I will first describe to you his
appearance. He is of medium height, shorter than you, and a good figure;
his features are regular, he is close-cropped, and wears large whiskers.
His eyes are rather small (like yours), brown, and quick; he has a flat
wide mouth; in his eyes and on his lips there is a perpetual sort of
official smile; it seems to be always on duty there. He behaves very
simply and speaks precisely, and everything about him is precise; he
moves, laughs, and eats as though he were doing a duty. "How carefully
she has studied him!" you are thinking, perhaps, at this minute. Yes;
so as to be able to describe him to you. And besides, who wouldn't study
her suitor! There's something of iron in him--and dull and empty at the
same time--and honest; they say he is really very honest. You, too,
are made of iron; but not like this man. At dinner he sat next me, and
facing us sat Shubin. At first the conversation turned on commercial
undertakings; they say he is ver