But all these well laid out plans and manoeuvres did not produce the desired effect upon Tchichikoff. He even did not notice the circle they had been forming round him, but endeavoured to raise himself on tip-toes and look out if he could discover what had become of the fair blondine; he also tried his fortune in discovering by sitting down and looking across shoulders and heads. At last he was successful, and discovered her, sitting close by her mother's side, upon whose head a plume fixed to a kind of Turkish turban, was balancing most majestically.
It seemed now, as if Tchichikoff wanted to take them by assault; was it sudden gratification at having found what he had been searching for that acted upon him, or did some careless person push him from behind, but he literally rushed madly forward, heeding no one. The Public Contractor received such a push from him, that the poor man shook, and nearly lost his equilibrium, which might have caused the downfall of a whole range of guests; the Postmaster also stepped back a few paces and kept looking after him with the utmost astonishment, mingled with a smile full of irony, he took no notice of either of them, but rushed quickly forward; he saw but the fair blondine in the distance, who was just putting her white and long kid gloves on, no doubt in preparation for the following dance.
As he passed along, he cast a hasty glance upon four couples who were delighting, as it seemed, in a mazurka; the gentleman's heels dashed noisily against the floor; a cavalry colonel was dancing with body and soul, and hands and feet, and making such pas as no one perhaps ever executed even in a dream. Tchichikoff glided cleverly through the mazurka and between the high-heels of the dancers, and advanced straight towards the place where the Lord-Lieutenant's lady was sitting with her daughter beside her. However, he approached them rather timidly, not pacing it so easily as before, nor tripping gallantly and fashionably; he even seemed confused, and a decided embarrassment was undeniably perceptible in all his movements.
It is impossible for us to affirm whether sensations of love had really taken possession, or had been awakened in the bosom of our hero, because it is a matter of some doubt whether gentlemen of his description, namely: not so very stout, and yet not too thin, are still susceptible of the impressions of love; but with all that, there was in his case something so very unusual indeed—a feeling for which he could not account for to himself. It seemed to him, and as he confessed it at a later period, that the whole ball, with all its noisy conversation and boisterous music, seemed for a few minutes to have been removed to some considerable distance from him; the violins and comets-a-piston seemed to be played behind a mountain, and, in fact, all appeared to be covered with a dim mist, not unlike that seen in an unartistic production of an extensive field in a Dutch landscape; and in the midst of this misty and carelessly painted field, appeared prominently, and distinctly, and beautifully finished the fine features of the enchanting blondine.
Her oval pretty face, her graceful and svelt stature, of which only a young girl that has just left the imperial institution may boast, after a short sojourn in the world of fashion, her white, almost too simple, muslin dress, encircling easily and freely her lovely form, which was defined in a peculiarly regular outline. It seemed to him that she resembled a pretty little puppet or plaything artistically carved in ivory; she shone alone, and appeared luminous and bright in the midst of this dismal and impenetrable crowd.
[CHAPTER XV.]
Such seems to be the course of life in this world, and therefore it appears also that Tchichikoff, for a few minutes of his existence, suddenly became a poet, but the appellation of poet seems to be rather a strong term; at any rate, he felt within himself the sudden sensations of a lively youth, if not those of a dashing hussar. Perceiving an unoccupied chair near the two ladies he immediately sat down in it. His conversation was not very lively in the beginning, but after a while he felt more at home, and began to feel even a peculiar confidence gradually taking possession of him.
Here, and to our great discomfiture, we must observe that sedate people and persons occupying high positions in life, are generally rather heavy in their conversation with ladies; but, as masters past in this adroitness, we must proclaim our young officers, beginning from a comet, but not passing, on any account, the rank of colonel. How they manage to be so amiable and gallant, heaven only knows; they do not seem to speak very scientifically, nevertheless, you see their fair listeners laugh most heartily and move about their seats; as for the civil men of the Empire, heaven also knows, what they have to say for themselves; no doubt they extol the vastness of the Russias and the importance of their functions as public servants, or utter some complimentary phrases, which, though not devoid of imagination, smell horribly of books; if a civilian has positively the good fortune to say anything amusing, he is sure to laugh at it much more heartily than any one else.
We have made these observations on the two distinct avocations of men in Russia, in order to show on which side lies the preference, and that our readers should understand at once, why the fair blonde began to yawn during her conversation with our hero. Our hero, however, did not notice the circumstance at all, and continued to relate a thousand pleasing incidents, which he had repeated in many other places before now, and under the same circumstances; namely, in the government of Simbirsk, in the family of Lady Sophia Bespetchna, whilst paying his attentions to her daughter Adelaide; in the house of Fodor Fedorovitch Perekrojeff in the government of Rizan; at the country seat of Phrole Vassilievitch Pobedonosnoi, in the government of Pensa; in the government of Viatka, during his sojourn with Colonel Peter Varsonovitch, where he also had paid considerable attention to the fair sex.