give five hundred roubles I will get a nightingale to sing better than
that!' But the most impressed of all the party were Bassistoff and
Natalya. Scarcely a breath escaped Bassistoff; he sat the whole time
with open mouth and round eyes and listened--listened as he had never
listened to any one in his life--while Natalya's face was suffused by
a crimson flush, and her eyes, fastened unwaveringly on Rudin, were
both dimmed and shining.

'What splendid eyes he has!' Volintsev whispered to her.

'Yes, they are.'

'It's only a pity his hands are so big and red.'

Natalya made no reply.

Tea was brought in. The conversation became more general, but still by
the sudden unanimity with which every one was silent, directly Rudin
opened his mouth, one could judge of the strength of the impression he
had produced. Darya Mihailovna suddenly felt inclined to tease
Pigasov. She went up to him and said in an undertone, 'Why don't you
speak instead of doing nothing but smile sarcastically? Make an
effort, challenge him again,' and without waiting for him to answer,
she beckoned to Rudin.

'There's one thing more you don't know about him,' she said to him,
with a gesture towards Pigasov,--'he is a terrible hater of women, he
is always attacking them; pray, show him the true path.'

Rudin involuntarily looked down upon Pigasov; he was a head and