Page:Dead Souls - A Poem by Nikolay Gogol - vol1.djvu/301

Rh a statue, if only she had a little expression in her face.'

'Ah, how affected she is! Ah, how affected! My goodness, how affected! Who taught her to behave like that I don't know; but I have never seen a girl give herself such airs.'

'My darling, she is like a statue and deathly pale.'

'Oh, don't talk to me, Sofya Ivanovna, she rouges shamelessly.'

'What do you mean, Anna Grigoryevna? she is like chalk, chalk, simply chalk.'

'My dear, I was sitting beside her, the rouge was as thick as my finger and kept peeling off like plaster. The mother has set her an example; she is a coquette and the daughter is worse than the mother!'

'Oh, excuse me, come, I'll swear by anything you like, I'll wager my children, my husband, all my property this minute, if there is a single drop, a grain, a shadow of rouge upon her!'

'Oh, what are you saying, Sofya Ivanovna!' said the lady agreeable in all respects, and she clasped her hands.

'Oh, what a woman you are, Anna Grigoryevna, really! I wonder at you!' said the agreeable lady, and she too clasped her hands.

The reader must not be surprised that the ladies were not agreed about what they had both seen almost at the same moment. There are indeed many things in the world, which have the peculiar property of appearing absolutely white