e,
rumours were in circulation about her; no one had known her husband--and
in no one city had she lived for any length of time. She had neither
children nor property; but she lived on a lavish scale,--on credit or
otherwise. She held a salon, as the saying is, and received a decidedly
mixed company--chiefly composed of young men. Her whole establishment,
beginning with her own toilette, furniture, and table, and ending with
her equipage and staff of servants, bore a certain stamp of inferiority,
artificiality, transitoriness ... but neither the Princess herself nor
her guests, apparently, demanded anything better. The Princess was
reputed to be fond of music and literature, to be a patroness of actors
and artists; and she really did take an interest in these "questions,"
even to an enthusiastic degree--and even to a pitch of rapture which was
not altogether simulated. She indubitably did possess the aesthetic
chord. Moreover, she was very accessible, amiable, devoid of
pretensions, of affectation, and--a fact which many did not suspect--in
reality extremely kind, tender-hearted and obliging.... Rare qualities,
and therefore all the more precious, precisely in individuals of that
stamp.

"A frivolous woman!" one clever person said concerning her, "and she
will infallibly get into paradise! For she forgives everything--and
everything will be forgiven her!"--It was also said concerning her that
when she disappeared from any town, she always left behind her as many
creditors as persons whom she had loaded with benefits. A soft heart can
be pressed in any direction you like.

Kupfer, as was to be expected, was a visitor at her house, and became
very intimate with her ... altogether too intimate, so malicious tongues
asserted. But he always spoke of her not only in a friendly manner, but
also with respect; he lauded her as a woman of gold--interpret that as
you please!--and was a firm believer in her love for art, and in her
comprehension of art!--So then, one day after dinner, at the Aratoffs',
after having discussed the Princess and her evening gatherings, he began
to urge Yakoff to break in upon his life of an anchorite for once, and
permit him, Kupfer, to introduce him to his friend. At first Yakoff
would not hear to anything of the sort.

"Why, what idea hast thou got into thy head?" exclaimed Kupfer at last.
"What sort of a presentation is in question? I shall simply take thee,
just as thou art now sitting there, in