“Oh, oh, oh!” shouted Belétski. “Only come, and I’ll see that you aren’t. Will you? On your word?”
“I would come, but really I don’t understand what we shall do; what part we shall play!”
“Please, I beg of you. You will come?”
“Yes, perhaps I’ll come,” said Olénin.
“Really now! Charming women such as one sees nowhere else, and to live like a monk! What an idea! Why spoil your life and not make use of what is at hand? Have you heard that our company is ordered to Vozdvízhensk?”
“Hardly. I was told the 8th Company would be sent there,” said Olénin.
“No. I have had a letter from the adjutant there. He writes that the Prince himself will take part in the campaign. I am very glad I shall see something of him. I’m beginning to get tired of this place.”
“I hear we shall start on a raid soon.”
“I have not heard of it; but I have heard that Krinovítsin has received the Order of St. Anna for a raid. He expected a lieutenancy,” said Belétski laughing. “He was let in! He has set off for headquarters.”
It was growing dusk and Olénin began thinking about the party. The invitation he had received worried him. He felt inclined to go, but what might take place there seemed strange, absurd, and even rather alarming. He knew that neither Cossack men nor older women, nor anyone besides the girls, were to be there. What was going to happen? How was he to behave? What would they talk about? What connexion was there between him and those wild Cossack girls? Belétski had told him of such curious, cynical, and yet rigid relations. It seemed strange to think that he would be there in the same hut with Maryánka and perhaps might have to talk to her. It seemed to him impossible when he remembered her majestic bearing. But Belétski spoke of it as if it were all perfectly simple. “Is it possible that Belétski will treat Maryánka in the same way? That is interesting,” thought he. “No, better not go. It’s all so horrid, so vulgar, and above all—it leads to nothing!” But again he was worried by the question of what would take place; and besides he felt as if bound by a promise. He went out without having made up his mind one way or the other, but he walked as far as Belétski’s, and went in there.