flew out again at the other. The king spoke and said that this bird is
like man in the world; it flew in from darkness and out again into
darkness, and was not long in the warmth and light. . . . "King,"
replies the oldest of the warriors, "even in the dark the bird is not
lost, but finds her nest." Even so our life is short and worthless;
but all that is great is accomplished through men. The consciousness
of being the instrument of these higher powers ought to outweigh all
other joys for man; even in death he finds his life, his nest.'

Rudin stopped and dropped his eyes with a smile of involuntary
embarrassment.

'_Vous etes un poete_,' was Darya Mihailovna's comment in an undertone.
And all were inwardly agreeing with her--all except Pigasov. Without
waiting for the end of Rudin's long speech, he quietly took his hat
and as he went out whispered viciously to Pandalevsky who was standing
near the door:

'No! Fools are more to my taste.'

No one, however, tried to detain him or even noticed his absence.

The servants brought in supper, and half an hour later, all had taken
leave and separated. Darya Mihailovna begged Rudin to remain the
night. Alexandra Pavlovna, as she went home in the carriage with her
brother, several times fell to exclaiming and marvelling at the
extraordinary cleverness of Rudin. Volintsev agreed with her, though
he observed that he sometimes expressed himself somewhat
obscurely--that is to say, not altogether intelligibly, he
added,--wishing, no doubt, to make his own thought clear, but his face