It is thus that Tchichikoff entertained the ladies, or rather, and
better, it is thus that the ladies entertained and surrounded him
on all sides with their chit-chat, interspersing it with endless
insinuations and fine allegories, which were left for him to guess
and interpret to the best of his intelligence, which, however, caused
the perspiration to appear in large drops on his forehead; he was so
captivated by their amiability that he had entirely forgotten to pay
his tribute of respect in the first instance to the lady of the house.
He only bethought himself of his forgetfulness, when her ladyship had
been already standing for a few moments before him.
Her Excellency, the wife of the Lord-Lieutenant, said in a more than
flattering tone of voice, and with a graceful movement of the head;
"Ah, Pavel Ivanovitch, at last I have the pleasure to meet you!"
I cannot exactly remember the words her Excellency spoke on that
occasion, but they were full of that peculiar affability, which is used
in modern novels, describing the fashions in high circles. Our hero
turned round, and was just on the point of returning the compliment of
her ladyship, and perhaps with as much good taste as any other hero of
a novel, when suddenly raising his eyes, he stopped short, as if from
the effects of an electric stroke.
Before him stood her ladyship, but not alone. She gave her arm to a
charming _blondine_, with fine and regular features, with a round yet
pointed chin, a bewitching oval face, such a head as an artiste would
have chosen as a model for his Madonna, and which faces are indeed very
rare appearances in Russia, where a taste for strongly developed forms
is prevalent in everything, in mountains, in forests, and in steppes,
in faces, in lips and in feet; it was the same fair _blonde_ with whom
he met on his road when leaving Nosdrieff's estate, and when, through
the inadvertence of the coachmen, or the fault of the horses, their
carriages had come into collision, and given so much trouble to the
peasants to separate and bring them in order again. Tchichikoff became
so much confused at seeing her that he could not utter a sensible
phrase, and therefore stammered a few words, Heaven knows what, but
something which a hero of a modern novel would never have ventured.
"You do not know my daughter?" said her Excellency; "she has just left,
her Majesty's institute at St. Petersburg."
He answered, that he had had already the good fortune of making her
acquaintance, accidentally; he then made an attempt to add something
more, but that something more, would not pass his lips. Her ladyship,
addressed a few more words to him, and then left him in leading away
her daughter to the other end of the saloon, to introduce her child
to her other guests; but Tchichikoff continued to remain on the same
spot, as if riveted to it, like a man, who had left his house in the
best humour, and gone into the street with the intention of taking
a pleasant walk, with his eyes disposed to look at everything, but
suddenly stops short and still, recollecting that he has forgotten
something.
No one can look so foolish as a man in such a position; in an instant
his careless thoughts desert his countenance, he tries to remember
what it is he has forgotten; is it perhaps his handkerchief, but no,
his handkerchief is in his pocket; perhaps his purse, but no, it is
also in pocket; it seems to him that he has everything about him, and
yet something whispers secretly, that he has positively forgotten
something. And he will immediately look dull and distractedly upon the
passing crowd around him, at the hurrying equipages, at the glittering
helmets and arms of the passing soldiery, upon the gaily coloured
sign-boards, but all will have lost its former charms for him.
Tchichikoff became at once a stranger to everything that passed around
him. At that particular moment, also, numerous insinuations and
questions full of a charming curiosity were addressed to him by the
fair ladies.
"Are poor mortals of this world permitted to be so curious as to
inquire a little, the subject of your meditations?"
"Where are those happy spots on which your thoughts seem to dwell?"
"Would you tell me the names of the one who has plunged you into these
sweet meditations?"
Tchichikoff replied to all these phrases with the utmost indifference,
and the pleasant phrases fell as it were into the water. He was even
to such a degree uncivil, that he soon after left them and went away
to the other end of the saloon, wishing to see in what direction her
ladyship and daughter had gone. But the ladies seemed not inclined to
part with him so soon; everyone of them resolved inwardly to use the
most powerful means of aggression upon him, so dangerous to our hearts.
It must be observed that some ladies, I wish it to be understood,
that some ladies, only, not all of them, possess a few foibles; if
they are conscious that they have any high perfections about their
persons, be it a fine forehead, a charming mouth, small hands, they
will immediately fancy, that the handsomest part of their person is the
first to attract general attention, and that all around on beholding
it, will exclaim in one outburst of admiration: "Look here, behold,
what a classic Grecian nose she has, or what a marble-like resplendent
forehead!" Whoever of them has fine shoulders, is persuaded at first
starting, that all the young men will feel perfectly bewitched by
her charms, and whisper as she passes them! "heavens, what charming
shoulders that lady has!" but as for her face, hair, nose, forehead,
they will forget to look at all, and if they should happen to do so, it
would be with indifference, as if upon something not forming parts of
the same person.
Such were the thoughts of some ladies. Every lady vowed to be as
charming as possible during the evening and the dancing, and to expose
in all its glory that corporeal perfection, which was perfection
itself. The wife of the Postmaster, as she was valsing round, bent
her head so longingly on one side, that it was really unmistakeably
charming. Another very amiable lady--who had arrived with the intention
of not dancing at all, because the reason was the sudden apparition of
a small pea-like exuberance on her left toe, in consequence of which
she had been obliged to put on a pair of very easy boots--could not
resist the temptation to valse once round in her easy boots, to stop
as it were the foolish pretentions of the Postmaster's wife.
But all these well laid out plans and manoeuvres did not produce the
desired effect upon Tchichikoff. He even did not notice the circle
they had been forming round him, but endeavoured to raise himself on
tip-toes and look out if he could discover what had become of the fair
_blondine_; he also tried his fortune in discovering by sitting down
and looking across shoulders and heads. At last he was successful,
and discovered her, sitting close by her mother's side, upon whose
head a plume fixed to a kind of Turkish turban, was balancing most
majestically.
It seemed now, as if Tchichikoff wanted to take them by assault; was
it sudden gratification at having found what he had been searching for
that acted upon him, or did some careless person push him from behind,
but he literally rushed madly forward, heeding no one. The Public
Contractor received such a push from him, that the poor man shook,
and nearly lost his equilibrium, which might have caused the downfall
of a whole range of guests; the Postmaster also stepped back a few
paces and kept looking after him with the utmost astonishment, mingled
with a smile full of irony, he took no notice of either of them, but
rushed quickly forward; he saw but the fair _blondine_ in the distance,
who was just putting her white and long kid gloves on, no doubt in
preparation for the following dance.
As he passed along, he cast a hasty glance upon four couples who were
delighting, as it seemed, in a mazurka; the gentleman's heels dashed
noisily against the floor; a cavalry colonel was dancing with body
and soul, and hands and feet, and making such _pas_ as no one perhaps
ever executed even in a dream. Tchichikoff glided cleverly through
the mazurka and between the high-heels of the dancers, and advanced
straight towards the place where the Lord-Lieutenant's lady was sitting
with her daughter beside her. However, he approached them rather
timidly, not pacing it so easily as before, nor tripping gallantly and
fashionably; he even seemed confused, and a decided embarrassment was
undeniably perceptible in all his movements.
It is impossible for us to affirm whether sensations of love had
really taken possession, or had been awakened in the bosom of our
hero, because it is a matter of some doubt whether gentlemen of his
description, namely: not so very stout, and yet not too thin, are still
susceptible of the impressions of love; but with all that, there was in
his case something so very unusual indeed--a feeling for which he could
not account for to himself. It seemed to him, and as he confessed it at
a later period, that the whole ball, with all its noisy conversation
and boisterous music, seemed for a few minutes to have been removed to
some considerable distance from him; the violins and comets-a-piston
seemed to be played behind a mountain, and, in fact, all appeared to
be covered with a dim mist, not unlike that seen in an unartistic
production of an extensive field in a Dutch landscape; and in the midst
of this misty and carelessly painted field, appeared prominently,
and distinctly, and beautifully finished the fine features of the
enchanting _blondine_.
Her oval pretty face, her graceful and svelt stature, of which only a
young girl that has just left the imperial institution may boast, after
a short sojourn in the world of fashion, her white, almost too simple,
muslin dress, encircling easily and freely her lovely form, which was
defined in a peculiarly regular outline. It seemed to him that she
resembled a pretty little puppet or plaything artistically carved in
ivory; she shone alone, and appeared luminous and bright in the midst
of this dismal and impenetrable crowd.