FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   62   63   64   65   66   67   68   69   70   71   72   73   74   75   76   77   78   79   80   81   82   83   84   85   86  
87   88   89   90   91   92   93   94   95   96   97   98   99   100   101   102   103   104   105   106   107   108   109   110   111   >>   >|  
ain pressing her to take another; he also declared that he longed to lay his head on her knee; she would on no account permit him 'such a liberty.' Elena seemed the most serious of the party, but in her heart there was a wonderful sense of peace, such as she had not known for long. She felt filled with boundless goodwill and kindness, and wanted to keep not only Insarov, but Bersenyev too, always at her side.... Andrei Petrovitch dimly understood what this meant, and secretly he sighed. The hours flew by; the evening was coming on. Anna Vassilyevna suddenly took alarm. 'Ah, my dear friends, how late it is!' she cried. 'All good things must have an end; it's time to go home.' She began bustling about, and they all hastened to get up and walk towards the castle, where the carriages were. As they walked past the lakes, they stopped to admire Tsaritsino for the last time. The landscape on all sides was glowing with the vivid hues of early evening; the sky was red, the leaves were flashing with changing colours as they stirred in the rising wind; the distant waters shone in liquid gold; the reddish turrets and arbours scattered about the garden stood out sharply against the dark green of the trees. 'Farewell, Tsaritsino, we shall not forget to-day's excursion!' observed Anna Vassilyevna.... But at that instant, and as though in confirmation of her words, a strange incident occurred, which certainly was not likely to be forgotten. This was what happened. Anna Vassilyevna had hardly sent her farewell greeting to Tsaritsino, when suddenly, a few paces from her, behind a high bush of lilac, were heard confused exclamations, shouts, and laughter; and a whole mob of disorderly men, the same devotees of song who had so energetically applauded Zoya, burst out on the path. These musical gentlemen seemed excessively elevated. They stopped at the sight of the ladies; but one of them, a man of immense height, with a bull neck and a bull's goggle eyes, separated from his companions, and, bowing clumsily and staggering unsteadily in his gait, approached Anna Vassilyevna, who was petrified with alarm. '_Bonzhoor, madame_,' he said thickly, 'how are you?' Anna Vassilyevna started back. 'Why wouldn't you,' continued the giant in vile Russian, 'sing again when our party shouted _bis_, and bravo?' 'Yes, why?' came from the ranks of his comrades. Insarov was about to step forward, but Shubin stopped him, and himself screened Anna
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   62   63   64   65   66   67   68   69   70   71   72   73   74   75   76   77   78   79   80   81   82   83   84   85   86  
87   88   89   90   91   92   93   94   95   96   97   98   99   100   101   102   103   104   105   106   107   108   109   110   111   >>   >|  



Top keywords:

Vassilyevna

 

Tsaritsino

 

stopped

 
Insarov
 
suddenly
 

evening

 
forward
 

Shubin

 

devotees

 

laughter


disorderly
 

shouts

 

exclamations

 

comrades

 

greeting

 
confused
 

observed

 

excursion

 

instant

 
forget

Farewell

 
screened
 

confirmation

 

forgotten

 

happened

 

incident

 

strange

 
occurred
 

farewell

 

clumsily


staggering

 

unsteadily

 

bowing

 

companions

 

goggle

 

Russian

 

separated

 

approached

 

petrified

 

wouldn


started

 

continued

 

thickly

 

Bonzhoor

 

madame

 

height

 
musical
 

gentlemen

 

energetically

 

applauded