"Permit me then," he said, "since we have not yet grown up and have not yet started to build of stone, to remain a pessimist."
Gronski gazed for a while into the depths of the garden like a man who was pondering over something and then said:
"Pessimism--pessimism! We hear that incessantly nowadays. But in the meanwhile if there exists anything more stupid than optimism, which often passes for folly, it is particularly pessimism, which desires to pose as reason."
Dolhanski smiled a trifle biliously and, turning to the ladies, said, pointing to Gronski:
"Do not take this ill of him, ladies. It often happens for him in moments of abstraction to utter impertinences. He is a good--even intelligent--man, but has the unbearable habit of turning over everything, examining it from all sides, pondering over it, and soliloquizing."
But Marynia suddenly flushed with indignation in defence of her friend and, shaking the teapot which at that moment she held in her hand, began to speak with great ardor:
"That is just right, that is just sensible; that is what everybody ought to do--"
Dolhanski pretended to be awe-stricken and, bowing his head, cried:
"I am vanquished; I retreat and surrender arms."
Gronski, laughing, kissed her hand, while she, abashed at her own vehemence and covered with blushes, began to ask: