The prince jumped up as if he had been shot. At the other table sat a small sickly-looking man, who looked straight at the prince in the calmest manner possible. The prince went over to him at once.
“How dare you call me a fool? Who are you?”
The little man regarded him very coolly.
“I,” said he, “am the artist Rozanof. And I called you a fool because, with that money you burnt just to show off, you might have paid for the support of four sick people in the hospital for a whole year.”
Everybody sat and waited for what would happen. The unrestrained character of the prince was well known. Would he at once chastise the little man, or call him out to a duel, or simply order him to be whipped?
But, after a little silence, the prince suddenly turned to the artist with these unexpected words:
“You’re quite right, Mr. Rozanof. I did indeed act as a fool before this crowd. But now if you don’t at once give me your hand, and accept five thousand roubles for the Marinskaya Hospital, I shall be deeply offended.”
And Rozanof answered: “I’ll take the money, and I’ll give you my hand with equal pleasure.”
Then Marya Gavrilovna whispered to the prince, “Ask the artist to come and talk to us, and send away these friends of yours.”
The prince turned politely to Rozanof and begged him to join them, and then he turned to the officers and said, “Be off with you!”