the woman you love; but it is a desperate undertaking, and rarely
crowned with success. For in real life ruffians are surprisingly
unwilling to play this complaisant role.

Finding himself falling in love with Elena, Insarov determines to go
away like Lancelot, without saying farewell. Elena, however, meets him
in a thunderstorm--not so sinister a storm as the Aeneas adventure in
"Torrents of Spring"-and says "I am braver than you. I was going to
you." She is actually forced into a declaration of love. This is an
exceedingly difficult scene for a novelist, but not too difficult for
Turgenev, who has made it beautiful and sweet. Love, which will ruin
Bazarov, ennobles and stimulates Insarov; for the strong man has found
his mate. She will leave father and mother for his sake, and cleave
unto him. And, notwithstanding the anger and disgust of her parents
she leaves Russia forever with her husband.

All Turgenev's stories are tales of frustration. Rudin is destroyed by
his own temperament. The heroes of "A House of Gentlefolk" and
"Torrents of Spring" are ruined by the malign machinations of satanic
women. Bazarov is snuffed out by a capriciously evil destiny.
Insarov's splendid mind and noble aspirations accomplish nothing,
because his lungs are weak. He falls back on the sofa, and Elena,
thinking he has fainted, calls for help. A grotesque little Italian
doctor, with wig and spectacles, quietly remarks, "Signora, the
foreign gentleman is dead--of aneurism in combination with disease of
the lungs."

This novel caused great excitement in Russia, and the title, "On the
Eve," was a subject for vehement discussion everywhere. What did
Turgenev mean? On the eve of what? Turgenev made no answer; but over