covered her mouth with her hands or her pocket-handkerchief when she
wanted to laugh. Lubotshka, again, loved to have grown-up men to talk
to, and said that some day she meant to marry a hussar, but Katenka
always pretended that all men were horrid, and that she never meant to
marry any one of them, while as soon as a male visitor addressed her she
changed completely, as though she were nervous of something. Likewise,
Lubotshka was continually at loggerheads with Mimi because the latter
wanted her to have her stays so tight that she could not breathe or eat
or drink in comfort, while Katenka, on the contrary, would often insert
her finger into her waistband to show how loose it was, and always ate
very little. Lubotshka liked to draw heads; Katenka only flowers and
butterflies. The former could play Field's concertos and Beethoven's
sonatas excellently, whereas the latter indulged in variations and
waltzes, retarded the time, and used the pedals continuously--not to
mention the fact that, before she began, she invariably struck three
chords in arpeggio.

Nevertheless, in those days I thought Katenka much the grander person of
the two, and liked her the best.




XXII. PAPA

Papa had been in a particularly good humour ever since Woloda had passed
into the University, and came much oftener to dine with Grandmamma.
However, I knew from Nicola that he had won a great deal lately.
Occasionally, he would come and sit with us in the evening before going
to the club. He used to sit down to the piano and bid us group ourselves