“Do you know?” I said to him. “I wager that she does not know that you are a cadet. She thinks you are an officer reduced to the ranks”...
“Maybe so. What is that to me!”... he said absently.
“No, I am only saying so”...
“But, do you know that you have made her terribly angry to-day? She considered it an unheard-of piece of insolence. It was only with difficulty that I was able to convince her that you are so well bred and know society so well that you could not have had any intention of insulting her. She says that you have an impudent glance, and that you have certainly a very high opinion of yourself.”
“She is not mistaken... But do you not want to defend her?”
“I am sorry I have not yet the right to do so”...
“Oho!” I said to myself, “evidently he has hopes already.”
“However, it is the worse for you,” continued Grushnitski; “it will be difficult for you to make their acquaintance now, and what a pity! It is one of the most agreeable houses I know”...
I smiled inwardly.
“The most agreeable house to me now is my own,” I said, with a yawn, and I got up to go.