'I will wait for the officer's visit till ten o'clock,' he reflected
next morning, as he dressed,' and then let him come and look for me!'
But Germans rise early: it had not yet struck nine when the waiter
informed Sanin that the Herr Seconde Lieutenant von Richter wished
to see him. Sanin made haste to put on his coat, and told him to ask
him up. Herr Richter turned out, contrary to Sanin's expectation, to
be a very young man, almost a boy. He tried to give an expression of
dignity to his beardless face, but did not succeed at all: he could
not even conceal his embarrassment, and as he sat down on a chair, he
tripped over his sword, and almost fell. Stammering and hesitating, he
announced to Sanin in bad French that he had come with a message from
his friend, Baron von Doenhof; that this message was to demand from
Herr von Sanin an apology for the insulting expressions used by him
on the previous day; and in case of refusal on the part of Herr von
Sanin, Baron von Doenhof would ask for satisfaction. Sanin replied that
he did not mean to apologise, but was ready to give him satisfaction.
Then Herr von Richter, still with the same hesitation, asked with
whom, at what time and place, should he arrange the necessary
preliminaries. Sanin answered that he might come to him in two hours'
time, and that meanwhile, he, Sanin, would try and find a second.
('Who the devil is there I can have for a second?' he was thinking to
himself meantime.) Herr von Richter got up and began to take leave
... but at the doorway he stopped, as though stung by a prick of
conscience, and turning to Sanin observed that his friend, Baron von
Doenhof, could not but recognise ... that he had been ... to a certain
extent, to blame himself in the incident of the previous day, and
would, therefore, be satisfied with slight apologies ('_des exghizes
lecheres_.') To this Sanin replied that he did not intend to make any
apology whatever, either slight or considerable, since he did not