n distinguish one from another; again he
stared persistently at his own feet. But when, at last, an artist who
had just come to town, with a drink-sodden countenance, extremely long
hair, and a bit of glass under his puckered brow, seated himself at the
piano, and bringing down his hands on the keys and his feet on the
pedals, with a flourish, began to bang out a fantasia by Liszt on a
Wagnerian theme, Aratoff could stand it no longer, and slipped away,
bearing in his soul a confused and oppressive impression, athwart which,
nevertheless, there pierced something which he did not understand, but
which was significant and even agitating.

III

Kupfer came on the following day to dinner; but he did not enlarge upon
the preceding evening, he did not even reproach Aratoff for his hasty
flight, and merely expressed regret that he had not waited for supper,
at which champagne had been served! (of Nizhegorod[54] fabrication, we
may remark in parenthesis).

Kupfer probably understood that he had made a mistake in trying to
rouse his friend, and that Aratoff was a man who positively was not
adapted to that sort of society and manner of life. On his side, Aratoff
also did not allude to the Princess or to the night before. Platonida
Ivanovna did not know whether to rejoice at the failure of this first
attempt or to regret it. She decided, at last, that Yasha's health might
suffer from such expeditions, and regained her complacency. Kupfer went
away directly after dinner, and did not show himself again for a whole
week. And that not because he was sulking at Aratoff for the failure of
his introduction,--the good-natured fellow was incapable of such a
thing,--but he had, evidently, found some occupation which engrossed all
his time, all his thoughts;--for thereafter he rarely came to the
Aratoffs', wore an abstracted aspect, and soon vanished.... Aratoff
continued to live on as before; but some hitch, if we may so express
ourselves, had secured lodgment in his soul. He still recalled something
or other, without himself being quite aware what it was precisely,--and
that "something" referred to the evening which he had spent at the
Princess's house. Nevertheless, he had not the slightest desire to
return to it; and society, a section of which he had inspected in her
house, repelled him more than ever. Thus passed six weeks.

And lo! one morning, Kupfer again presented himself to him, this time
with a somewhat embarrassed vi