ut for a long
time did not take in a word he said.

Excepting Ivan Fedorovitch, who had not as yet returned from town, the
whole family was present. Prince S. was there; and they all intended to
go out to hear the band very soon.

Colia arrived presently and joined the circle. "So he is received as
usual, after all," thought the prince.

The Epanchins' country-house was a charming building, built after the
model of a Swiss chalet, and covered with creepers. It was surrounded on
all sides by a flower garden, and the family sat, as a rule, on the open
verandah as at the prince's house.

The subject under discussion did not appear to be very popular with the
assembly, and some would have been delighted to change it; but Evgenie
would not stop holding forth, and the prince's arrival seemed to spur
him on to still further oratorical efforts.

Lizabetha Prokofievna frowned, but had not as yet grasped the subject,
which seemed to have arisen out of a heated argument. Aglaya sat apart,
almost in the corner, listening in stubborn silence.

"Excuse me," continued Evgenie Pavlovitch hotly, "I don't say a word
against liberalism. Liberalism is not a sin, it is a necessary part of
a great whole, which whole would collapse and fall to pieces without
it. Liberalism has just as much right to exist as has the most moral
conservatism; but I am attacking RUSSIAN liberalism; and I attack it for
the simple reason that a Russian liberal is not a Russian liberal, he is
a non-Russian liberal. Show me a real Russian liberal, and I'll kiss him
before you all, with pleasure."

"If he cared to kiss you, that is," said Alexandra, whose cheeks were
red with irritation and excitement.

"Look at that, now," thought the mother to herself, "she does nothing
but sleep and eat for a year at a time, and then suddenly flies out in
the most incomprehensible way!"

The prince observed that Alexandra appeared to be angry with Evgenie,
because he spoke on a serious subject in a frivolous manner, pretending
to be in earnest, but with an under-current of irony.

"I was saying just now, before you came in, prince, that there has
been nothing national up to now, about our liberalism, and nothing the
liberals do, or have done, is in the least degree national. They are
drawn from two classes only, the old landowning class, and clerical
families--"

"How, nothing that they have done is Russian?" asked Prince S.

"It may be Russian, but it is not nationa