Shubin frowned.

'That's all very well for Germans; I want to love for myself; I want
to be first.'

'To be first,' repeated Bersenyev. 'But it seems to me that to put
one's-self in the second place is the whole significance of our life.'

'If all men were to act as you advise,' commented Shubin with a
plaintive expression, 'none on earth would eat pine-apples; every
one would be offering them to other people.'

'That's as much as to say, pine-apples are not necessary; but you
need not be alarmed; there will always be plenty of people who like
them enough to take the bread out of other men's mouths to get them.'

Both friends were silent a little.

'I met Insarov again the other day,' began Bersenyev. 'I invited him
to stay with me; I really must introduce him to you--and to the
Stahovs.'

'Who is Insarov? Ah, to be sure, isn't it that Servian or Bulgarian
you were telling me about? The patriot? Now isn't it he who's at the
bottom of all these philosophical ideas?'

'Perhaps.'

'Is he an exceptional individual?'