As soon as we reached the verandah, each of the ladies, except Dimitri’s sister Varenika — who also had been regarding me attentively8 out of her large, dark-grey eyes — said a few words to me before resuming her occupation, while Varenika herself began to read aloud from a book which she held on her lap and steadied with her finger.
The Princess Maria Ivanovna was a tall, well-built woman of forty. To judge by the curls of half-grey hair which descended9 below her cap one might have taken her for more, but as soon as ever one observed the fresh, extraordinarily10 tender, and almost wrinkleless face, as well as, most of all, the lively, cheerful sparkle of the large eyes, one involuntarily took her for less. Her eyes were black and very frank, her lips thin and slightly severe, her nose regular and slightly inclined to the left, and her hands ringless, large, and almost like those of a man, but with finely tapering11 fingers. She wore a dark-blue dress fastened to the throat and sitting closely to her firm, still youthful waist — a waist which she evidently pinched. Lastly, she held herself very upright, and was knitting a garment of some kind. As soon as I stepped on to the verandah she took me by the hand, drew me to her as though wishing to scrutinise me more closely, and said, as she gazed at me with the same cold, candid12 glance as her son’s, that she had long known me by report from Dimitri, and that therefore, in order to make my acquaintance thoroughly13, she had invited me to stay these twenty-four hours in her house.
“Do just as you please here,” she said, “and stand on no ceremony whatever with us, even as we shall stand on none with you. Pray walk, read, listen, or sleep as the mood may take you.”
Sophia Ivanovna was an old maid and the Princess’s younger sister, though she looked the elder of the two. She had that exceedingly overstuffed appearance which old maids always present who are short of stature14 but wear corsets. It seemed as though her healthiness had shifted upwards15 to the point of choking her, her short, fat hands would not meet below her projecting bust16, and the line of her waist was scarcely visible at all.
Notwithstanding that the Princess Maria Ivanovna had black hair and eyes, while Sophia Ivanovna had white hair and large, vivacious17, tranquilly18 blue eyes (a rare combination), there was a great likeness19 between the two sisters, for they had the same expression, nose, and lips. The only difference was that Sophia’s nose and lips were a trifle coarser than Maria’s, and that, when she smiled, those features inclined towards the right, whereas Maria’s inclined towards the left. Sophia, to judge by her dress and coiffure, was still youthful at heart, and would never have displayed grey curls, even if she had possessed20 them. Yet at first her glance and bearing towards me seemed very proud, and made me nervous, whereas I at once felt at home with the Princess. Perhaps it was only Sophia’s stoutness21 and a certain resemblance to portraits of Catherine the Great that gave her, in my eyes, a haughty22 aspect, but at all events I felt quite intimidated23 when she looked at me intently and said, “Friends of our friends are our friends also.” I became reassured24 and changed my opinion about her only when, after saying those words, she opened her mouth and sighed deeply. It may be that she owed her habit of sighing after every few words — with a great distention of the mouth and a slight drooping25 of her large blue eyes — to her stoutness, yet it was none the less one which expressed so much good-humour that I at once lost all fear of her, and found her actually attractive. Her eyes were charming, her voice pleasant and musical, and even the flowing lines of her fullness seemed to my youthful vision not wholly lacking in beauty.
I had imagined that Lubov Sergievna, as my friend’s friend, would at once say something friendly and familiar to me; yet, after gazing at me fixedly26 for a while, as though in doubt whether the remark she was about to make to me would not be too friendly, she at length asked me what faculty27 I was in. After that she stared at me as before, in evident hesitation28 as to whether or not to say something civil and familiar, until, remarking her perplexity, I besought29 her with a look to speak freely. Yet all she then said was, “They tell me the Universities pay very little attention to science now,” and turned away to call her little dog.
All that evening she spoke30 only in disjointed fragments of this kind — fragments which had no connection either with the point or with one another; yet I had such faith in Dimitri, and he so often kept looking from her to me with an expression which mutely asked me, “Now, what do you think of that?” that, though I entirely31 failed to persuade myself that in Lubov Sergievna there was anything to speak of, I could not bear to express the thought, even to myself.
As for the last member of the family, Varenika, she was a well- developed girl of sixteen. The only good features in her were a pair of dark-grey eyes — which, in their expression of gaiety mingled32 with quiet attention, greatly resembled those of her aunt — a long coil of flaxen hair, and extremely delicate, beautiful hands.
“I expect, Monsieur Nicolas, you find it wearisome to hear a story begun from the middle?” said Sophia Ivanovna with her good- natured sigh as she turned over some pieces of clothing which she was sewing. The reading aloud had ceased for the moment because Dimitri had left the room on some errand or another.
“Or perhaps you have read Rob Roy before?” she added.
At that period I thought it incumbent33 upon me, in virtue34 of my student’s uniform, to reply in a very “clever and original” manner to every question put to me by people whom I did not know very well, and regarded such short, clear answers as “Yes,” “No,” “I like it,” or “I do not care for it,” as things to be ashamed of. Accordingly, looking down at my new and fashionably-cut trousers and the glittering buttons of my tunic35, I replied that I had never read Rob Roy, but that it interested me greatly to hear it, since I preferred to read books from the middle rather than from the beginning.
“It is twice as interesting,” I added with a self-satisfied smirk36; “for then one can guess what has gone before as well as what is to come after.”
The Princess smiled what I thought was a forced smile, but one which I discovered later to be her only one.
“Well, perhaps that is true,” she said. “But tell me, Nicolas (you will not be offended if I drop the Monsieur)— tell me, are you going to be in town long? When do you go away?”
“I do not know quite. Perhaps to-morrow, or perhaps not for some while yet,” I replied for some reason or another, though I knew perfectly37 well that in reality we were to go to-morrow.
“I wish you could stop longer, both for your own sake and for Dimitri’s,” she said in a meditative38 manner. “At your age friendship is a weak thing.”
I felt that every one was looking at me, and waiting to see what I should say — though certainly Varenika made a pretence39 of looking at her aunt’s work. I felt, in fact, as though I were being put through an examination, and that it behoved me to figure in it as well as possible.
“Yes, to ME Dimitri’s friendship is most useful,” I replied, “but to HIM mine cannot be of any use at all, since he is a thousand times better than I.” (Dimitri could not hear what I said, or I should have feared his detecting the insincerity of my words.)
Again the Princess smiled her unnatural40, yet characteristically natural, smile.
“Just listen to him!” she said. “But it is YOU who are the little monster of perfection.”
“‘Monster of perfection,’” I thought to myself. “That is splendid. I must make a note of it.”
“Yet, to dismiss yourself, he has been extraordinarily clever in that quarter,” she went on in a lower tone (which pleased me somehow) as she indicated Lubov Sergievna with her eyes, “since he has discovered in our poor little Auntie” (such was the pet name which they gave Lubov) “all sorts of perfections which I, who have known her and her little dog for twenty years, had never yet suspected. “Varenika, go and tell them to bring me a glass of water,” she added, letting her eyes wander again. Probably she had bethought her that it was too soon, or not entirely necessary, to let me into all the family secrets. “Yet no — let HIM go, for he has nothing to do, while you are reading. Pray go to the door, my friend,” she said to me, “and walk about fifteen steps down the passage. Then halt and call out pretty loudly, “Peter, bring Maria Ivanovna a glass of iced water”— and she smiled her curious smile once more.
“I expect she wants to say something about me in my absence,” I thought to myself as I left the room. “I expect she wants to remark that she can see very clearly that I am a very, very clever young man.”
Hardly had I taken a dozen steps when I was overtaken by Sophia Ivanovna, who, though fat and short of breath, trod with surprising lightness and agility41.
“Merci, mon cher,” she said. “I will go and tell them myself.”
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2
ascend
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| vi.渐渐上升，升高；vt.攀登，登上 | |
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3
crooked
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| adj.弯曲的；不诚实的，狡猾的，不正当的 | |
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4
wigs
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| n.假发，法官帽( wig的名词复数 ) | |
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contrive
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| vt.谋划，策划；设法做到；设计，想出 | |
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6
comely
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| adj.漂亮的，合宜的 | |
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7
expressive
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| adj.表现的，表达…的，富于表情的 | |
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8
attentively
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| adv.聚精会神地；周到地；谛；凝神 | |
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9
descended
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| a.为...后裔的，出身于...的 | |
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10
extraordinarily
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| adv.格外地；极端地 | |
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11
tapering
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| adj.尖端细的 | |
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candid
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| adj.公正的，正直的；坦率的 | |
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13
thoroughly
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| adv.完全地，彻底地，十足地 | |
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14
stature
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| n.（高度）水平，（高度）境界，身高，身材 | |
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upwards
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| adv.向上，在更高处...以上 | |
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16
bust
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| vt.打破；vi.爆裂；n.半身像；胸部 | |
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17
vivacious
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| adj.活泼的，快活的 | |
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18
tranquilly
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| adv. 宁静地 | |
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19
likeness
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| n.相像，相似（之处） | |
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20
possessed
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| adj.疯狂的；拥有的，占有的 | |
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21
stoutness
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| 坚固，刚毅 | |
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22
haughty
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| adj.傲慢的，高傲的 | |
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23
intimidated
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| v.恐吓；威胁adj.害怕的；受到威胁的 | |
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24
reassured
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| adj.使消除疑虑的；使放心的v.再保证，恢复信心( reassure的过去式和过去分词) | |
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25
drooping
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| adj. 下垂的，无力的 动词droop的现在分词 | |
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26
fixedly
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| adv.固定地；不屈地，坚定不移地 | |
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faculty
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| n.才能；学院，系；(学院或系的)全体教学人员 | |
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hesitation
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| n.犹豫，踌躇 | |
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29
besought
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| v.恳求，乞求（某事物）( beseech的过去式和过去分词 )；(beseech的过去式与过去分词) | |
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30
spoke
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| n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说 | |
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31
entirely
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| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
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32
mingled
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| 混合，混入( mingle的过去式和过去分词 )； 混进，与…交往[联系] | |
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33
incumbent
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| adj.成为责任的，有义务的；现任的，在职的 | |
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34
virtue
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| n.德行，美德；贞操；优点；功效，效力 | |
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35
tunic
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| n.束腰外衣 | |
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36
smirk
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| n.得意地笑；v.傻笑；假笑着说 | |
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37
perfectly
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| adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地 | |
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38
meditative
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| adj.沉思的，冥想的 | |
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pretence
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| n.假装，作假；借口，口实；虚伪；虚饰 | |
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40
unnatural
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| adj.不自然的；反常的 | |
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41
agility
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| n.敏捷，活泼 | |
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