CHAPTER XXII

NEXT morning, having received orders from
the supreme authority to betake myself to
the N---- Fortress, I called upon Princess Ligov-
ski to say good-bye.

She was surprised when, in answer to her ques-
tion, whether I had not anything of special im-
portance to tell her, I said I had come to wish her
good-bye, and so on.

"But I must have a very serious talk with you."

I sat down in silence.

It was clear that she did not know how to
begin; her face grew livid, she tapped the table
with her plump fingers; at length, in a broken
voice, she said:

"Listen, Monsieur Pechorin, I think that you
are a gentleman."

I bowed.

"Nay, I am sure of it," she continued, "al-
though your behaviour is somewhat equivocal,
but you may have reasons which I do not know;