e
uncertainty.

Oblomof's complexion was not florid, not tawny, and not positively
pallid, but was indeterminate,--or seemed to be so, perhaps because it
was flabby; not by reason of age, but by lack of exercise or of fresh
air or of both. His body, to judge by the dull, transparent color of his
neck, by his little plump hands, his drooping shoulders, seemed too
effeminate for a man. His movements, even if by chance he were aroused,
were kept under restraint likewise by a languor and by a laziness that
was not devoid of its own peculiar grace.

If a shadow of an anxious thought arose from his spirit and passed
across his face, his eyes would grow troubled, the wrinkles in his brow
would deepen, a struggle of doubt or pain would seem to begin: but
rarely indeed would this troubled thought crystallize into the form of a
definite idea; still more rarely would it be transformed into a
project.

All anxiety would be dissipated in a sigh and settle down into apathy or
languid dreaming.

How admirably Oblomof's house costume suited his unruffled features and
his effeminate body! He wore a dressing-gown of Persian material--a
regular Oriental _khalat_, without the slightest suggestion of anything
European about it, having no tassels, no velvet, no special shape. It
was ample in size, so that he might have wrapped it twice around him.
The sleeves, in the invariable Asiatic style, grew wider and wider from
the wrist to the shoulder. Although this garment had lost its first
freshness, and in places had exchanged its former natural gloss for
another that was acquired, it still preserved the brilliancy of its
Oriental coloring and its firmness of texture.

The khalat had in Oblomof's eyes a multitude of precious properties: it
was soft and supple; the body was not sensible of its weight; like an
obedient slave, it accommodated itself to every slightest motion.

Oblomof while at home always went without cravat and without waistcoat,
for the simple reason that he liked simplicity and comfort. The slippers
which he wore were long, soft, and wide; when without looking he put
down one foot from the bed to the floor it naturally fell into one of
them.

Oblomof's remaining in bed was not obligatory upon him, as in the case
of a sick man or of one who was anxious to sleep; nor was it accidental,
as in the case of one who was weary; nor was it for mere pleasure, as a
sluggard would have chosen: it was the normal condition of things