other immediately and the struggle of each for the soul of the hero,
shows Turgenev at his best. It is remarkable, too, how clearly the
reader sees the heart of the man, so obscure to himself; and how
evident it is that in the very midst of his passion for Irina, his
love for Tanya remains. Irina is a firework, Tanya a star; and even
the biggest skyrockets, that illuminate all the firmament, do not for
long conceal the stars.

Turgenev thoroughly relieved his mind in "Smoke;" and in the novel
that followed it, "Torrents of Spring," he omitted politics and
"movements" altogether, and confined himself to human nature in its
eternal aspect. For this very reason the book attracted little
attention in Russia, and is usually dismissed in one sentence by the
critics. But it is a work of great power; it sings the requiem of lost
youth, a minor melody often played by Turgenev; it gives us a curious
picture of an Italian family living in Germany, and it contains the
portrait of an absolutely devilish but unforgettable woman. We have a
sincere and highly interesting analysis of the Russian, the German,
and the Italian temperament; not shown in their respective political
prejudices, but in the very heart of their emotional life. Once more
the Russian hero is placed between God and Satan; and this time Satan
conquers. Love, however, survives the burnt-out fires of passion; but
it survives only as a vain regret--it survives as youth survives, only
as an unspeakably precious memory. . . . The three most sinister women
that Turgenev has ever drawn are Varvara Pavlovna, in "A House of
Gentlefolk;" Irina, in "Smoke;" and Maria Nikolaevna, in "Torrents of
Spring." All three are wealthy and love luxury; all three are
professional wreckers of the lives of men. The evil that they do rises
from absolute selfishness, rather than from deliberate sensuality. Not
one of them could have been saved by any environment, or by any