Page:Chernyshevsky.whatistobedone.djvu/329

Rh and more emphatically), except the fact that he was entirely to blame for the arising of this vain suffering, he behaved like a hero."

" tell me, O sapient reader, why Rakhmétof was introduced, who has now vanished, and will not appear again in my story? I have already told thee that this figure has no part in my story—"

"That is not true," says the sapient reader, interrupting me. "Rakhmétof is an important character, for he brought a note from which—"

"Thou art very poor, my dear sir, in æsthetical judgments, of which thou art so fond," say I, interrupting him in my turn. "At this rate, according to your opinion, then Masha, also, is an important character, is she not? At the very beginning of the story, she, also, brought a letter, which startled Viéra Pavlovna. And is Rachel also an important character? for she advanced the money, without which Viéra Pavlovna would not have been able to leave. And is Professor N. an important character, because he recommended Viéra Pavlovna to Mrs. B., without which there would not have been any scene on returning from the Konno-Gvardéïsky Boulevard? Possibly the Konno-Gvardéïsky Boulevard is an active character also. How is it? Because without it there wouldn't have been any stage for the interview while returning from it. And the Gorokhovaïa Street would certainly be the most important main character, because without it there would be no houses standing on it, and so Storeshnikof's house would not be there; consequently there would be no manager of it, and the manager would not have any daughter, and then there would be no story at all. Well [nu], let us grant that, according to your opinion, all of these are active characters,—the Konno-Gvardéïsky Boulevard, and Masha, and Rachel, and the Gorokhovaïa Street. But only half a dozen words are said about them, or even less, because their action is of such a nature that they are not worth more than