"'Alexei, did YOU write these?'

"'Yes,' was my reply. 'And for Christ's sake pardon me for the same.'

"'What a pity that such a fancy should have entered your head! For, you
see, I am engaged already--my uncle is intending to marry me to Doctor
Kliachka, and I am powerless in the matter.'

"The very fact that she could address me with so much sympathy and
kindness struck me dumb. As regards Doctor Kliachka, I may mention that
he was a good-looking, blotchy-faced, heavy-jowled fellow with a
moustache that reached to his shoulders, and lips that were for ever
laughing and vociferating. 'Nothing has either a beginning or an end.
The only thing really existent is pleasure.'

"Nay, even the General could, at times, make sport of the fellow, and
say as he shook with merriment:

"'A doctor-comedian is the sort of man that you are.'

"Now, at the period of which I am speaking I was as straight as a dart,
and had a shock of luxuriant hair over a set of ruddy features. Also, I
was living a life clean in every way, and maintaining a cautious
attitude towards womenfolk, and holding prostitutes in a contempt born
of the fact that I had higher views with regard to my life's destiny.
Lastly, I never indulged in liquor, for I actually disliked it, and
gave way to its influence only in days subsequent to the episode which
I am narrating. Yes, and, last of all, I was in the habit of taking a
bath every Saturday.

"The same evening Kliachka and the rest of the party went out to the
theatre (for, naturally, the General had horses and a carriage of his
own), and I, for my part, went to inform Lukianov of what had happened.

"He said: 'I must congratulate you, and am ready to wager you two
bottles of beer that your affair is as good as settled. In a few
seconds a fresh lot of verses shall be turned out, for poetry
constitutes a species of talisman or charm.'

"And, sure enough, he then and there composed the piece about 'the
wondrous Valentina.' What a tender thing it is, and how full of
understanding! My God, my God!"

And, with a thoughtful shake of his bead, Kalinin raised his boyish
eyes towards the blue patches in the rain-washed sky.

"Duly she found the verses," he continued after a while, and with a
vehemence that seemed wholly independent of his will. "And thereupon
she summoned me to her room.

"'What are we to do about it all?' she inquired.

"She was but half-dressed, and practically the whole of her bosom was
v