when he gets to be rich, the rascal." This was the general signification of Marya Alekséyevna's word for herself; but beside the general signification there was also a special thought: "When I have flattered him a little, I will tell him that we are poor people; that it is hard for me to pay him a silver ruble a lesson."
So many different meanings were in Marya Alekséyevna's words! Dmitri Sergéitch said that he would finish his lesson first, and then it would give him pleasure to play on the piano.
VII.
Marya Alekséyevna's words had many interpretations, and they were not less fecund in results. On the side of the special signification,—that is, as regarded the reduction in the price of the lessons,—Marya Alekséyevna attained greater success than she anticipated: when, after two more lessons, she insinuated that they were poor people, Dmitri Sergéitch at first stuck to his price,—stuck to it strenuously; for a long time he did not yield,—long insisted on his three paper rubles. (It must be remembered that at this time the three-ruble note was worth only seventy kopeks.) Marya Alekséyevna did not expect to beat down his price, but, contrary to all her expectations, succeeded in reducing the price to sixty kopeks a lesson. Apparently the special signification of her words—the hope of beating down the price—contradicted her high opinion of Dmitri Sergéitch (not of Lopukhóf, but of Dmitri Sergéitch) as of a man shrewd in money matters. "What would make a man, who is a keen financier, give in about money on account of our poverty?" And if Dmitri Sergéitch did yield, then, consequently, one would be disappointed in him, and find in him a short-sighted man, and therefore a man to be avoided. Of course she would judge that way in the case of a stranger; but human beings are so created that it is hard for them to judge of their own affairs according to the general rule. A man is extremely apt to make exceptions in his own favor.[1]
- ↑ In the original the following slap at the selfishness and rascality of the average tchinovik is dealt. The language, not the thought, is a trifle obscure. Kollezhsky secretar is the eighth order of the civil tchin, or order of rank corresponding to major in the army. Kollezhsky sovyestnik is the sixth, corresponding to colonel.
"When the kollezhsky sekratar Ivanof assures the kollezhsky sovyestnik Ivan Ivanuitch that he is devoted to him soul and body, Ivan Ivanuitch knows by his own experience that devotion of soul and body cannot be expected of anybody, and all the more he knows that in private life Ivanof cheated his father five times, and made a very large
