e to see something of one another. I have put up
at the Cossack corporal's house. There is such a girl there. Ustenka! I
tell you she's just charming.'

And more and more French and Russian words came pouring forth from that
world which Olenin thought he had left for ever. The general opinion
about Beletski was that he was a nice, good-natured fellow. Perhaps he
really was; but in spite of his pretty, good-natured face, Olenin
thought him extremely unpleasant. He seemed just to exhale that
filthiness which Olenin had forsworn. What vexed him most was that he
could not--had not the strength--abruptly to repulse this man who came
from that world: as if that old world he used to belong to had an
irresistible claim on him. Olenin felt angry with Beletski and with
himself, yet against his wish he introduced French phrases into his own
conversation, was interested in the Commander-in-Chief and in their
Moscow acquaintances, and because in this Cossack village he and
Beletski both spoke French, he spoke contemptuously of their fellow
officers and of the Cossacks, and was friendly with Beletski, promising
to visit him and inviting him to drop in to see him. Olenin however did
not himself go to see Beletski. Vanyusha for his part approved of
Beletski, remarking that he was a real gentleman.

Beletski at once adopted the customary life of a rich officer in a
Cossack village. Before Olenin's eyes, in one month he came to be like
an old resident of the village; he made the old men drunk, arranged
evening parties, and himself went to parties arranged by the
girls--bragged of his conquests, and even got so far that, for some
unknown reason, the women and girls began calling him grandad, and the
Cossacks, to whom a man who loved wine and women was clearly
understandable, got used to him and even liked him better than they did
Olenin, who was a puzzle to them.

Chapter XXIV

It was five in the morning. Vanyusha was in the porch heating the
samovar, and using the leg of a long boot instead of bellows. Olenin
had already ridden off to bathe in the Terek. (He had recently invented
a new amusement: to swim his horse in the river.) His landlady was in
her outhouse, and the dense smoke of the kindling fire rose from the
chimney. The girl was milking the buffalo cow in the shed. 'Can't keep
quiet, the damned thing!' came her impatient voice, followed by the
rhythmical sound of milking.

From the street in front of the house hors