undistinguished officer in the whole brigade!" At first, on going
into the room and sitting down to the table, he could not fix his
attention on any one face or object. The faces, the dresses, the
cut-glass decanters of brandy, the steam from the glasses, the
moulded cornices--all blended in one general impression that
inspired in Ryabovitch alarm and a desire to hide his head. Like a
lecturer making his first appearance before the public, he saw
everything that was before his eyes, but apparently only had a dim
understanding of it (among physiologists this condition, when the
subject sees but does not understand, is called psychical blindness).
After a little while, growing accustomed to his surroundings,
Ryabovitch saw clearly and began to observe. As a shy man, unused
to society, what struck him first was that in which he had always
been deficient--namely, the extraordinary boldness of his new
acquaintances. Von Rabbek, his wife, two elderly ladies, a young
lady in a lilac dress, and the young man with the red whiskers, who
was, it appeared, a younger son of Von Rabbek, very cleverly, as
though they had rehearsed it beforehand, took seats between the
officers, and at once got up a heated discussion in which the
visitors could not help taking part. The lilac young lady hotly
asserted that the artillery had a much better time than the cavalry
and the infantry, while Von Rabbek and the elderly ladies maintained
the opposite. A brisk interchange of talk followed. Ryabovitch
watched the lilac young lady who argued so hotly about what was
unfamiliar and utterly uninteresting to her, and watched artificial
smiles come and go on her face.

Von Rabbek and his family skilfully drew the officers into the
discussion, and meanwhile kept a sharp lookout over their glasses
and mouths, to see whether all of them were drinking, whether all
had enough sugar, why some one was not eating cakes or not drinking
brandy. And the longer Ryabovitch watched and listened, the more
he was attracted by this insincere but splendidly disciplined family.

After tea the officers went into the drawing-room. Lieutenant
Lobytko's instinct had not deceived him. There were a great number
of girls and young married ladies. The "setter" lieutenant was soon
standing by a very young, fair girl in a black dress, and, bending
down to her jauntily, as though leaning on an unseen sword, smiled
and shrugged his shoulders coquettishly. He probably talked very
in