ttainment of an object of universal human interest is infinitely
loftier than the corporeal enjoyments of the passing moment, that the
fete in its essence is only the proclamation of a great idea, and so we
ought to be content with the most frugal German ball simply as a symbol,
that is, if we can't dispense with this detestable ball altogether,"
so great was the aversion she suddenly conceived for it. But she was
pacified at last. It was then that "the literary quadrille" and the
other aesthetic items were invented and proposed as substitutes for the
corporeal enjoyments. It was then that Karmazinov finally consented to
read _Merci_ (until then he had only tantalised them by his hesitation) and
so eradicate the very idea of victuals from the minds of our incontinent
public. So the ball was once more to be a magnificent function, though
in a different style. And not to be too ethereal it was decided that tea
with lemon and round biscuits should be served at the beginning of the
ball, and later on "orchade" and lemonade and at the end even ices--but
nothing else. For those who always and everywhere are hungry and, still
more, thirsty, they might open a buffet in the farthest of the suite of
rooms and put it in charge of Prohorovitch, the head cook of the club,
who would, subject to the strict supervision of the committee, serve
whatever was wanted, at a fixed charge, and a notice should be put up
on the door of the hall that refreshments were extra. But on the morning
they decided not to open the buffet at all for fear of disturbing the
reading, though the buffet would have been five rooms off the White Hall
in which Karmazinov had consented to read _Merci._

It is remarkable that the committee, and even the most practical people
in it, attached enormous consequence to this reading. As for people
of poetical tendencies, the marshal's wife, for instance, informed
Karmazinov that after the reading she would immediately order a marble
slab to be put up in the wall of the White Hall with an inscription
in gold letters, that on such a day and year, here, in this place, the
great writer of Russia and of Europe had read _Merci_ on laying aside his
pen, and so had for the first time taken leave of the Russian public
represented by the leading citizens of our town, and that this
inscription would be read by all at the ball, that is, only five hours
after _Merci_ had been read. I know for a fact that Karmazinov it was who
insisted