“That’s all.”
“That can’t be the subject of a whole poem,” he observed pompously, “but I will make use of your idea for a lyrical fragment.”
“In the romantic style?” queried Malevsky.
“Of course, in the romantic style—Byronic.”
“Well, to my mind, Hugo beats Byron,” the young count observed negligently; “he’s more interesting.”
“Hugo is a writer of the first class,” replied Meidanov; “and my friend, Tonkosheev, in his Spanish romance, El Trovador …”
“Ah! is that the book with the question-marks turned upside down?” Zinaïda interrupted.
“Yes. That’s the custom with the Spanish. I was about to observe that Tonkosheev …”
“Come! you’re going to argue about classicism and romanticism again,” Zinaïda interrupted him a second time.” We’d much better play…
“Forfeits?” put in Lushin.