"And who are the people who live under the magnetic equator?" asked the countess, with curiosity.
"For example, parents and their children should dwell there."
The young girl's face was covered with a vivid blush; her beautiful eyes shot a battery of lightning glances at Ivan, who remained quite unmoved under this battery.
"We must talk more of this," she said, with sudden dignity.
Ivan bowed before the haughty beauty, who turned and left him to the company of her aunt or of his own sex. He preferred the latter.
Meantime, the lecture being over, a rush had been made to the refreshments. The army of outsiders were the first in the field. If they were of little account elsewhere, they took first place at the buffet, and here the citizen showed distinctly his origin.
Ivan mixed with the company, and conducted himself as one accustomed to such society, and quite at his ease in it, and he was well received. The men were very civil towards him; every man under forty used the friendly "thou" in addressing him; he was made one of themselves. It didn't matter much, as he was said to be leaving Pesth the next day, and would be lost in the depths of Mesopotamia. Some one said he came from Africa. They tried teasing him a bit, all in a friendly way, and were pleased to find this pedant was an excellent fellow, who took the joke in good part, laughed heartily at a well-delivered thrust, and returned it with a sly hit, which never offended any one's feelings.
"He is one of us," they said. "This man is up to everything; he is a capital fellow. We must give him a good time."
"Is it true that you don't drink wine?" asked the Marquis Salista of Ivan.
"Once a year."