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tain of material at the back the real body of the woman, so small and
slender, so naked in front, and so hidden behind and below, really came
to an end.
Betsy made haste to introduce her to Anna.
“Only fancy, we all but ran over two soldiers,” she began telling
them at once, using her eyes, smiling and twitching away her tail, which
she flung back at one stroke all on one side. “I drove here with Vaska....
Ah, to be sure, you don’t know each other.” And mentioning his sur-
name she introduced the young man, and reddening a little, broke into
a ringing laugh at her mistake—that is at her having called him Vaska
to a stranger. Vaska bowed once more to Anna, but he said nothing to
her. He addressed Sappho: “You’ve lost your bet. We got here first.
Pay up,” said he, smiling.
Sappho laughed still more festively.
“Not just now,” said she.
“Oh, all right, I’ll have it later.”
“Very well, very well. Oh, yes.” She turned suddenly to Princess
Betsy: “I am a nice person...I positively forgot it... I’ve brought you a
visitor. And here he comes.” The unexpected young visitor, whom
Sappho had invited, and whom she had forgotten, was, however, a
personage of such consequence that, in spite of his youth, both the
ladies rose on his entrance.
He was a new admirer of Sappho’s. He now dogged her footsteps,
like Vaska.
Soon after Prince Kaluzhsky arrived, and Liza Merkalova with
Stremov. Liza Merkalova was a thin brunette, with an Oriental, lan-
guid type of face, and—as everyone used to say—exquisite enigmatic
eyes. The tone of her dark dress (Anna immediately observed and
appreciated the fact) was in perfect harmony with her style of beauty.
Liza was as soft and enervated as Sappho was smart and abrupt.
But to Anna’s taste Liza was far more attractive. Betsy had said to
Anna that she had adopted the pose of an innocent child, but when
Anna saw her, she felt that this was not the truth. She really was both
innocent and corrupt, but a sweet and passive woman. It is true that
her tone was the same as Sappho’s; that like Sappho, she had two men,
one young and one old, tacked onto her, and devouring her with their
eyes. But there was something in her higher than what surrounded
her. There was in her the glow of the real diamond among glass imita-
tions. This glow shone out in her exquisite, truly enigmatic eyes. The
weary, and at the same time passionate, glance of those eyes, encircled
by dark rings, impressed one by its perfect sincerity. Everyone looking
into those eyes fancied he knew her wholly, and knowing her, could not
but love her. At the sight of Anna, her whole face lighted up at once
with a smile of delight.
“Ah, how glad I am to see you!” she said, going up to her. “Yester-
day at the races all I wanted was to get to you, but you’d gone away. I
did so want to see you, yesterday especially.
Wasn’t it awful?” she said, looking at Anna with eyes that seemed
to lay bare all her soul.
“Yes; I had no idea it would be so thrilling,” said Anna, blushing.
The company got up at this moment to go into the garden.
“I’m not going,” said Liza, smiling and settling herself close to Anna.
“You won’t go either, will you? Who wants to play croquet?”
“Oh, I like it,” said Anna.
“There, how do you manage never to be bored by things? It’s
delightful to look at you. You’re alive, but I’m bored.”
“How can you be bored? Why, you live in the liveliest set in
Petersburg,” said Anna.