A Hero of Our Time

igrams on the subject of myself-rather caustic, but at the same time very flattering. She finds it exceedingly strange that I, who am accustomed to good s

and others-and I almost always succeed. I have always hated entertaining guests: now my house is full every

was rewarded with a glance in which the most delightful fury sparkled. About dinnertime, I ordered my Circassian horse, covered with that very rug, purposely to be led past her windows. Werner was with the princesses at the time, and told me that t

at once, and there is hardly a sign of a limp. He has found an opportunity of entering into conversation with Princess Ligovski and of paying Prin

to make the Ligovskis' acquain

sit

at the waters! All the best society

even other society than that of Pya

it is rather awkward to go and visit them without being invited, although that i

know how to avail yourself of your advantageous position... Why, that soldier'

i smiled c

nsense!"

ued, "that Princess Mary i

to the ears

r with which Archimedes was t

tending to be angry. "In the first pla

y those whom th

would be extremely ridiculous if I were to cherish the slightest hope... With you, now, for instance, it is a different matter!

poken to you alr

glance? He was with you when'... she blushed, and did not like to mention the day, remembering her own delightful little exploit. 'You need not tell me what day it was,' I answered;

peaking of a woman with whom they are barely acquainted, call her

serious air

riosity, your conversation ought never to satisfy it completely; you should alarm her every minute; ten times, in public, she will slight people's opinion for you and will call that a sacrifice, and, in order to requite herself for it, she will torment you. Afterwards she will simply say that she cannot endure you. If you do not acquire authority over her, even her first kiss will not give you the rig

ith his fist and fell to walk

ger, a silver ring with black enamel of local workmanship. It struck me as suspicious... I began to examine it, and what do you think I saw? The name Mary was engraved on the inside in small letters, and in a line with the name

f a thunderstorm; the summit of Mount Mashuk was smoking like a just extinguished torch; grey wisps of cloud were coiling and creeping like snakes around it, arrested in th

am I so certain of it? Is there not many a woman with a mole on her cheek?" Reflecting in such wise I came right up to the grotto. I looked in and I saw that a woman, wearing a straw hat and wrapped in a black shawl,

xclaimed in

ed and tu

you were he

ins at the sound of that dear voice. She gazed into my face with her deep, calm ey

each other for a l

we have both cha

you love me

ried!"...

wever, that reason also exi

d away from mine an

ove your secon

swer and turne

e very j

mained

and, I suppose, rich-which is the

nd despair was depicted upon her counten

musing to torture me? I ought to hate you. Since we have k

ed over to me, and let he

very reason that you have loved me; jo

ime. At length our lips drew closer and became blent in a fervent,

e, which it is impossible to repeat, and impossible even to retain in memory. The mean

ied him for the sake of her son. He is rich, and suffers from attacks of rheumatism. I did not allow myself even a single scoff at his expense.

y visits the Princess. I have given her my promise to make the Ligovskis' acquaintance, and to pay court to Princess Mary in

feels the urgent necessity of violently and passionately loving somebody. Now my only wish is to be loved, and tha

ver her will and heart, without in the least endeavouring to do so. Why is this? Is it because I never esteem anything highly, and she has been continually afraid to

e women who possess strength of character.

m will which I was never able to vanquish... We parted as enemies-and then,

consumption, or that disease which is called "fievre lente"-a quite

all her former unconcern, and I will not deceive her: she is the only woman in the world whom it would never be within my power to deceive. I know that we shall soon have to part again, and perchance

g. Oh, how I rejoiced in that emotion! Can it be that youth is about to come back to me, with its salutary tempests, or is this only the farewell glance, the last gift-in memory of itself?

ze the misty outlines of objects which every minute grow clearer and clearer. Whatever griefs oppress my heart, whatever disquietudes torture my thoughts-all are dispersed in a moment; my soul becomes at ease; the fatigue of the body vanquishes the distu

mself. And, indeed, so far as regards that noble, warlike garb, I am a perfect dandy. I have not a single piece of gold lace too much; my weapon is costly, but simply wrought; the fur on my cap is neither too long nor too short; my leggings and shoes are matched with all possible accuracy; my tunic is white; my Circassian jacket, dark-brown. I have long s

n bushes and descends into little ravines, through which flow noisy brooks beneath the shade of tall grasses. All around, in an amphitheatre, rise the blue masses of Mount Beshtau and the Zmeiny, Zhelezny and Lysy Mountains. 26 Descending into one of those ravines, I halted to

daylight; for that reason, doubtless, Grushnitski had slung a sabre and a pair of

om the expression of their faces that the conversation was of a sentimental turn. At length they approached the slope

ll your life in the Cauca

of people, because they are richer than I, will look upon me with contempt, w

"... said Prince

was a picture of de

nder the bullets of the savages, and if Heaven were every year to

I was. I struck my horse with the whi

ien!"... exclaimed Pr

deceive her, I replied in

je ne suis pas plus dange

my answer struck her as insolent? I should like the latter hypoth

cliffs, the spurs of Mount Mashuk, upon the summit of which an ominous cloud was lying. The moon was rising in the east; in the distance, the snow-clad mountains glistened like a fringe of silver. The calls of the sentries min

.. I felt the necessity of pouring forth my thou

a doing now?

much to press her h

d irregular steps... Grushni

ve you co

he said very importantly.

e does not know that you are a cadet. She thin

s that to me!"...

only say

th 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 i

n... But do you not

ve not yet the r

self, "evidently he

will be difficult for you to make their acquaintance now, and

ed inw

me now is my own," I said, wi

hough, you

will be at Princess Ligovs

hall

addresses to Princess Mary,

s willing to s

t when she will be bored by y

hing... Look here, let us go to the restaurant instead, there is car

you will

nt h