Full resolution (JPEG) - On this page / på denna sida - Sidor ...
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
Below is the raw OCR text
from the above scanned image.
Do you see an error? Proofread the page now!
Här nedan syns maskintolkade texten från faksimilbilden ovan.
Ser du något fel? Korrekturläs sidan nu!
This page has never been proofread. / Denna sida har aldrig korrekturlästs.
132
SÖNYA KOVALÉVSKY
showed a decided resolve not to release her. This of
course was in direct contravention of all the usages
of society. Moreover his manner with her was
anything but that demanded by society: he took her
hand; when he spoke to her he bent down to her ear.
Aniuta felt awkward, and my mother was beside
herself. At first she tried "delicately" to give
Dostoévsky to understand that his behavior was impolite.
As she passed them, apparently by accident, she called
my sister, and tried to send her off on an errand.
Aniuta tried to rise, but Feödor Mikhåilovitch
detained her with the utmost coolness: " No, stay, Anna
Yasilievna; I have not done talking with you."
At last my mother lost all patience and flared up.
"Excuse me, Feödor Mikhåilovitch, but as the
hostess she must busy herself with other guests also,"
she said very sharply, and led my sister away.
Feödor Mikhåilovitch became thoroughly enraged,
and settling himself in the corner he maintained an
obstinate silence, glaring viciously at all present the
while.
Among the guests was one for whom he conceived
a special hatred at the very first minute. This was
a distant relative of ours on the Schubert side; he
was a young German, an officer in one of the
regiments of the guards. He considered himself a very
brilliant young man; he was handsome, and clever,
and well-educated, and received in the best society
— all this in proper measure, and not in excess. In
his career he had also done what was proper, not with
arrogant swiftness, but solidly, respectably; he had
understood how to please the right people, but
without openly seeking it, and without public
toadying. By right of his relationship he courted his
cousin, when he met her at their aunts’; but he did
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
