Chapter 4 - Page 2

Woloda had been
inseparable from Dubkoff, while at the same time the pair of them
had cooled greatly towards Dimitri. Their chief amusements (so I
gathered from conversations overheard) were continual drinking of
champagne, sledge-driving past the windows of a lady with whom
both of them appeared to be in love, and dancing with her--not at
children's parties, either, but at real balls! It was this last
fact which, despite our love for one another, placed a vast gulf
between Woloda and myself. We felt that the distance between a
boy still taking lessons under a tutor and a man who danced at
real, grown-up balls was too great to allow of their exchanging
mutual ideas. Katenka, too, seemed grown-up now, and read
innumerable novels; so that the idea that she would some day be
getting married no longer seemed to me a joke. Yet, though she
and Woloda were thus grown-up, they never made friends with one
another, but, on the contrary, seemed to cherish a mutual
contempt. In general, when Katenka was at home alone, nothing but
novels amused her, and they but slightly; but as soon as ever a
visitor of the opposite sex called, she at once grew lively and
amiable, and used her eyes for saying things which I could not
then understand. It was only later, when she one day informed me
in conversation that the only thing a girl was allowed to indulge
in was coquetry--coquetry of the eyes, I mean--that I understood
those strange contortions of her features which to every one else
had seemed a matter for no surprise at all. Lubotshka also had
begun to wear what was almost a long dress--a dress which almost
concealed her goose-shaped feet; yet she still remained as ready
a weeper as ever. She dreamed now of marrying, not a hussar, but
a singer or an instrumentalist, and accordingly applied herself
to her music with greater diligence than ever. St. Jerome, who
knew that he was going to remain with us only until my
examinations were over, and so had obtained for himself a new
post in the family of some count or another, now looked with
contempt upon the members of our household. He stayed indoors
very little, took to smoking cigarettes (then all the rage), and
was for ever whistling lively tunes on the edge of a card. Mimi
daily grew more and more despondent, as though, now that we were
beginning to grow up, she looked for nothing good from any one or
anything.

When, on the day of which I am speaking, I went in to luncheon I
found only Mimi, Katenka, Lubotshka, and St. Jerome in the
dining-room. Papa was away, and Woloda in his own room, doing
some preparation work for his examinations in company with a
party of his comrades: wherefore he had requested that lunch
should be sent to him there. Of late,