But first we must relate how Nezhdanov had met him at the theatre.
There had been a performance of Ostrovsky's drama, Don't Sit in Another Man's Sledge, on the occasion of a visit of Sadovsky from Moscow. The part of Rusakov was, as is well known, one of the famous actor's favourite parts. In the morning, Nezhdanov had gone to the box-office, where he found a good many people. He had intended to take a ticket for the pit, but at the very instant he went up to the desk, an officer, standing behind him, held out a three-rouble bill right across Nezhdanov, and shouted to the clerk: 'He'─(i.e. Nezhdanov)─'is sure to want change, and I don't, so give me, please, a ticket for the front row, at once. . . . I'm in a hurry!'
'I beg your pardon,' Nezhdanov rejoined sharply, 'I, too, want a ticket for the front row,' and thereupon he flung into the little window three roubles —all the ready money he had. The clerk gave him a ticket, and in the evening Nezhdanov made his appearance in the aristocratic division of the Alexandrinsky Theatre.
He was shabbily dressed, had muddy boots and no gloves; he felt ill at ease and exasperated at himself for feeling so. Next him on the right was sitting a general, studded with stars; on the left the same elegantly dressed
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