anufacture in
general. Solomin, as usual, replied very briefly. As soon as he began
speaking, Mariana fixed her eyes upon him. Kollomietzev, who was sitting
beside her, turned to her with various compliments (he had been asked
not to start a dispute), but she did not listen to him; and indeed he
pronounced all his pleasantries in a half-hearted manner, merely to
satisfy his own conscience. He realised that there was something between
himself and this young girl that could not be crossed.

As for Nejdanov, something even worse had come to pass between him and
the master of the house. For Sipiagin, Nejdanov had become simply a
piece of furniture, or an empty space that he quite ignored. These new
relations had taken place so quickly and unmistakably that when Nejdanov
pronounced a few words in answer to a remark of Anna Zaharovna's,
Sipiagin looked round in amazement, as if wondering where the sound came
from.

Sipiagin evidently possessed some of the characteristics for which
certain of the great Russian bureaucrats are celebrated for.

After the fish, Valentina Mihailovna, who had been lavishing all her
charms on Solomin, said to her husband in English that she noticed their
visitor did not drink wine and might perhaps like some beer. Sipiagin
called aloud for ale, while Solomin calmly turned towards Valentina
Mihailovna, saying, "You may not be aware, madame, that I spent over two
years in England and can understand and speak English. I only mentioned
it in case you should wish to say anything private before me." Valentina
Mihailovna laughed and assured him that this precaution was altogether
unnecessary, since he would hear nothing but good of himself; inwardly
she thought Solomin's action rather strange, but delicate in its own
way.

At this point Kollomietzev could no longer contain himself. "And so
you've been in England," he began, "and no doubt studied the manners and
customs there. Do you think them worth imitating?"

"Some yes, others no."

"Brief but not clear," Kollomietzev remarked, trying not to notice the
signs Sipiagin was making to him. "You were speaking of the nobility
this morning... No doubt you've had the opportunity of studying the
English landed gentry, as they call them there."

"No, I had no such opportunity. I moved in quite a different sphere. But
I formed my own ideas about these gentlemen."

"Well, do you think that such a landed gentry is impossible among us? Or
that we ought not