Page:Dead Souls - A Poem by Nikolay Gogol - vol1.djvu/292

280 lady agreeable in all respects heard of the arrival of the simply agreeable lady, she ran out into the hall. The ladies grasped each other's hands, kissed each other and screamed as schoolgirls scream on meeting again after a holiday, before their mothers have managed to explain to them that one is poorer and of a lower rank than another. The kiss was a noisy one, for the dogs began barking again, and were flicked with a handkerchief for doing so, and both of the ladies went off into the drawing-room, which was, of course, pale blue, with a sofa, an oval table and even a little screen with ivy climbing up it; shaggy Adèle and tall Potpourri on his slender legs ran in after them growling. 'This way, this way, sit in this corner!' said the lady of the house, installing her friend in the corner of the sofa. 'That's right, that's right, and here is a cushion for you.' Saying this, she stuffed a cushion in behind her, on which there was a knight worked in wool, as such figures always are worked on canvas, with a nose looking like a ladder and lips forming a square. 'How glad I am that it's you. … I heard some one drive up and I wondered who it could be so early. Parasha said, "It's the vice-president's lady," and I said, "There, here's that silly creature come to bore me again," and I was on the point of telling them to say I was not at home.'

The visitor was meaning to communicate her piece of news without delay, but an exclamation uttered at that instant by the lady agreeable in all respects gave another turn to the conversation.