requirement was that its members should be elegant, generous, bold, gay, unblushingly given over to every passion, and scornful of all the rest.
Only for the first moment was Vronsky bewildered under the impressions which he had brought back from Moscow, of an entirely different world. But soon, and as naturally as one puts on old slippers, he got into the spirit of his former gay and jovial life.
The coffee was never served; it boiled over, spattered them all, and wet a costly table-cloth and the baroness's dress; but it served the end that was desired, for it gave rise to many jests and merry peals of laughter.
"Well, now, good-by, for you will never get dressed, and I shall have on my conscience the worst crime that a decent man can commit, — that of not taking a bath. .... So you advise me to put the knife to his throat?"
"By all means, and in such a way that your little hand will come near his lips. He will kiss your little hand, and all will end to everybody's satisfaction," said Vronsky.
"This evening at the Théâtre Français," and she took her departure with her rustling train.
Kamerovsky likewise arose, but Vronsky, without waiting for him to go, shook hands with him, and went to his dressing-room. While he was taking his bath, Petritsky sketched for him in a few lines his situation, and how it had changed during Vronsky's absence, — no money at all; his father declaring that he would not give him any more, or pay a single debt. One tailor determined to have him arrested, and a second no less determined. His colonel insisted that, if these scandals continued, he should leave the regiment. The baroness was as annoying to him as a bitter radish, principally because she was always wanting to squander money; "but she is a daisy, a charmer," he assured Vronsky, "in the strict Oriental style, —your servant Rebecca kind, you know." He had been having a quarrel with Berkoshef, and he wanted to send him his seconds, but he imagined nothing would come of it. As for the rest, everything was getting along particularly jolly.
