, my friend.'

Arkady fell to discussing 'his friend.' He spoke of him in such detail,
and with such enthusiasm, that Madame Odintsov turned towards him and
looked attentively at him. Meanwhile, the mazurka was drawing to a
close. Arkady felt sorry to part from his partner; he had spent nearly
an hour so happily with her! He had, it is true, during the whole time
continually felt as though she were condescending to him, as though he
ought to be grateful to her ... but young hearts are not weighed down
by that feeling.

The music stopped. '_Merci_,' said Madame Odintsov, getting up. 'You
promised to come and see me; bring your friend with you. I shall be
very curious to see the man who has the courage to believe in nothing.'

The Governor came up to Madame Odintsov, announced that supper was
ready, and, with a careworn face, offered her his arm. As she went
away, she turned to give a last smile and bow to Arkady. He bowed low,
looked after her (how graceful her figure seemed to him, draped in the
greyish lustre of the black silk!), and thinking, 'This minute she has
forgotten my existence,' was conscious of an exquisite humility in his
soul.

'Well?' Bazarov questioned him, directly he had gone back to him in the
corner. 'Did you have a good time? A gentleman has just been talking to
me about that lady; he said, "She's--oh, fie! fie!" but I fancy the
fellow was a fool. What do you think, what is she?--oh, fie! fie!'

'I don't quite understand that definition,' answered Arkady.

'Oh, my! What innocence!'

'In that case, I don't understand the gentleman you quote. Madame
Odintsov is very sweet, no doubt, but she behaves so coldly and
severely, that....'

'Still waters ... you know!' put in Bazarov. 'That's just what gives it
piquancy. You like ices, I expect?'

'Perhaps,' muttered Arkady. 'I can't give an opinion about that. She
wishes to make your acquaintance, and has asked me to bring you to see
her.'

'I can imagine how you've described me! But you did very well. Take me.
Whatever she may be--whether she's simply a provincial lioness, or
"advanced" after Kukshina's fashion--any way she's got a pair of
shoulders such as I've not set eyes on for a long while.'

Arkady was wounded by Bazarov's cynicism, but--as often happens--he
reproached his friend not precisely for what he did not like in him ...

'Why are you unwilling to allow freethinking in women?' he said in a
low voice.

'Because, my boy, as far