, he inevitably played a secondary, passive role. The
initiative, in the form of tenderness, caressing, always had to come
from Liubka (she had remained Liubka, after all, and Lichonin had
somehow entirely forgotten that he himself had read her real
name--Irene--in the passport).

She, who had so recently given her body up impassively--or, on the
contrary, with an imitation of burning passion--to tens of people in a
day, to hundreds in a month, had become attached to Lichonin with all
her feminine being, loving and jealous; had grown attached to him with
body, feeling, thoughts. The prince was funny and entertaining to her,
and the expansive Soloviev interestingly amusing; toward the crushing
authoritativeness of Simanovsky she felt a supernatural terror; but
Lichonin was for her at the same time a sovereign, and a divinity; and,
which is the most horrible of all, her property and bodily joy.

It has long ago been observed, that a man who has lived his fill, has
been worn out, gnawed and chewed by the jaws of amatory passions, will
never again love with a strong and only love, simultaneously
self-denying, pure, and passionate. But for a woman there are neither
laws nor limitations in this respect. This observation was especially
confirmed in Liubka. She was ready to crawl before Lichonin with
delight, to serve him as a slave; but, at the same time, desired that
he belong to her more than a table, than a little dog, than a night
blouse. And he always proved wanting, always failing before the
onslaught of this sudden love, which from a modest little stream had so
rapidly turned into a river and had over-flowed its banks. And not
infrequently he thought to himself, with bitterness and a sneer:

"Every evening I play the role of the beauteous Joseph; still, he at
least managed to tear himself away, leaving his underwear in the hands
of the ardent lady; but when will I at last get free of my yoke?"

And a secret enmity for Liubka was already gnawing him. All the more
and more frequently various crafty plans of liberation came into his
head. And some of them were to such an extent dishonest, that, after a
few hours, or the next day, Lichonin squirmed inwardly from shame,
recalling them.

"I am falling, morally and mentally!" he would at times think with
horror. "It's not in vain that I read somewhere, or heard from some
one, that the connection of a cultured man with a woman of little
intellect will never elevate her to