Page:The Novels of Ivan Turgenev (volume X).djvu/153

Rh sale. ... I could fancy him with clumsy coarseness and violent stammering, trying to imitate the manners of the waiters at Véfour's, mincing, flattering, wheedling. . . and a feeling of loathing gained possession of me. . . . 'No,'I thought, 'here Alice has no need to be jealous. . . .' Meanwhile I perceived that we had gradually begun to descend. . . . Paris was rising to meet us with all its din and odour. . ..

'Stop,' I said to Alice. 'Are you not stifled and oppressed here?' 'You asked me to bring you here yourself.'

'I am to blame, I take back my word. Take me away, Alice, I beseech you. To be sure, here is Prince Kulmametov hobbling along the boulevard; and his friend. Serge Varaksin, waves his hand to him, shouting: "Ivan Stepanitch, allons souper, make haste, zhay angazha Rigol-bouche itself!" Take me away from these furnished apartments and maisons dorées, from the Jockey Club and the Figaro, from close-shaven military heads and varnished barracks, from sergents-de-ville with Napoleonic beards, and from glasses of muddy absinthe, from gamblers playing dominoes at the cafes, and gamblers on the Bourse, from red ribbons in button-holes, from M. de Four, inventor of 'matrimonial specialities,' and the gratuitous