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256 But even these eyes could see nothing; but still the "visitor" whispered, "Is it impossible to find something here, even though there is nothing to be seen, as I myself perceive? but still we will try to see"; and the eyes tried to peer, and though they saw nothing, yet the very fact that the eyes tried to see was sufficient for them to observe that there was something peculiar.

Here, for instance, Viéra Pavlovna is going with her husband and Kirsánof to their regular weekly evening, which happens to be at the Mertsálofs'. Why doesn't Kirsánof waltz at this unceremonious party, when even Lopukhóf waltzes, because a general rule has been made: If you are an old man of threescore years and ten, and have found your way hither, then you must play the fool, together with the others; for here nobody looks at anybody else, everybody has one and the same idea about it,—"the more noise, the more stir, the better"; and that is equivalent to saying, the more enjoyment for all. Then, why does not Kirsánof waltz? Well, he has begun to waltz; but why did it take him several minutes to make up his mind? Was it worth while to spend several minutes in thinking whether to begin or not to begin such a very important matter? If he had not waltzed, the thing would have been half revealed here. If he had waltzed, but had not waltzed with Viéra Pavlovna, the thing would have been completely revealed here. But he was too clever an artist in his part. He did not want to waltz with Viéra Pavlovna, but he soon perceived that this would be noticed, and so, after a short hesitation, which apparently bore no relation to Viéra Pavlovna or anybody else in the world, he asked her to dance. There remained in her memory a slight, a very slight, wonderment, which in itself she would have not noticed, notwithstanding the whisper of the "visitor-songstress," had not the "visitor" whispered a numberless quantity of just such little, insignificant questions.

Why, for instance, after they returned from the Mertsálofs', when they make an appointment to go to the opera, "I Puratani," on the next evening, and when Viéra Pavlovna said to her husband, "Mílenki, you don't like this opera, you will be bored. I will go with Aleksandr Matvéitch, for he likes all the operas; and I believe that if you or I had written an opera, he would like it!" why didn't Kirsánof uphold Viéra Pavlovna's suggestion, and say, "Really, Dmitri, I am not going to get a ticket for you"; why was this? The