"You, uncle?" said Alexandr astonished.
" Yes, you will see some day. Write: n
" ¥{e read? in tiyn languages whatpvpr flpp^rc w^rfrhy nf
note in all branches af human knowledge, Joves art, has an
excel lent collection of picture s nf the F urnish srhnn\— that
i£hls rlOBby—o/ten.goes to the f ^^ fy ^ l hi? f u * ; ° n(\j j n_a fuss and fidget, and does not sigh and moan, thinking that this is childish, that one must control oneself, not obtrude
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one's emotions on any one, because nobody cares about them. He does not speak a strange tongue either and he advises me not to, and so do I advise you. Good-bye, write to me rather less often and don't waste time for nothing. Your friend so and so. Now, the day of the month."
" How can I send such a letter ? " said Alexandr, "' write rather less often'—write that to the man who came over a hundred and sixty miles on purpose to say a last good-bye to me! 'I advise you so, and so, and so': he is just as clever as I am, he came out second."
" No matter, send it all the same, perhaps he will learn something from it; it will lead him to several new reflections ; though you have taken your degrees, your education is only just beginning."
" I cannot make up my mind, uncle, to "
" I never interfere in what doesn't concern me, but you yourself asked me to do something for you; well, as you like; I only give you my opinion."
"Forgive me, uncle; I will obey you," said Alexandr, and at once sealed up the letter.
Having sealed up one, he began to look for the other, to Sophia. He looked on the table—not there; under the table—not there either; in the desk—it was not there.
" What are you looking for? " said his uncle. " I am looking for another letter—to Sophia." And his uncle too began to look about. " Where can it be ? " said Piotr Ivanitch, " I hope I did not throw it in the fire."
" Uncle ! what have you done ? you actually lighted your cigar with it!" said Alexandr in great distress, picking up the charred fragments of the letter.
" Is it possible?" cried his uncle, " how did I do that? I did not notice it; only imagine my having burnt such a precious thing. However, do you know what? from one point of view it is positively a good thing."
" Oh, uncle ! good God! not from any point of view can it be a good thing," said Alexandr in despair.
" I assure you it was a good thing; you will not have time to write to her by this post, and by the next you will certainly be in a different mood, you will be busy with your
new work; you will not be at the same stage and in this way you will commit one folly the less."
" What will she think of me ? "
" Why what she likes,,' And I think it will be a gain to her. I suppose you are not going to marry her? She will think you have forgotten her. She will forget you herself and will have the less reason to blush before her future husband, when she assures him that she has never loved any one but him."
" You are a strange man, uncle ! for you there is no such thing as constancy, no sacred vows. Life is so sweet, so full of charm, of subtlety, it is like a smooth, resplendent lake."
" Where yellow flowers grow, I suppose! M put in his uncle.
"Like a lake," continued Alexandr, "it is full of something mysterious, alluring, hiding within it so much."
" Mud, my dear boy." j " W&y do you bring in mud, uncle, why do you destroy and put an end to all pleasure, hope, bliss—why do you look at the dark side ? "
" I look at reality, and I advise you to do the same ;• you will not be taken in then. According to your notions life is sweet in the provinces, where they know nothing about it— there they are not men, but angels: Zayeshaloff for instance —a noble fellow; your auntie—a sublime sensitive spirit, and Sophia, I fancy, is just such a silly creature as your auntie.
" No more, uncle !" said Alexandr driven to fury.
" And still more such idealists as you: they go blindfold through life, groping afteFmicrianging love and friendship. For the hundredth time I say, it was a pity for you to come!"
" Will she assure her husband that she has never loved any one ? " said Alexandr almost to himself.
" Why ! you are back at the same subject again!"
" No, I am convinced that she will straightway with noble frankness give him ray letters and "
" And keepsakes?" said Piotr Ivanitcb.
" Yes, and the tokens of our affection, and will say: Here this was he who first touched the chords of my heart; about whose name they first vibrated."
His uncle's brows began to contract and his eyes opened wide. Alexandr stopped.
" Why did you cease to touch her chords then ? Well my dear boy, your Sophia certainly is a fool, if she commits any folly of that kind ; I suppose she has a mother, or somebody who can prevent her? God knows what she will make her husband suspect; I daresay, the marriage will even be broken off, and why ? because you gathered some yellow flowers together. . . . No, things are not done like that. Well, since you can write in Russian, we will go tomorrow to the office of the department; I have already spoken of you to an old fellow-clerk of mine, now the chief of the department; he told me there was a vacancy; we must not lose time. What is that you are pulling out of that pile of papers ? "
" My university notes. Allow me to read you a few pages from the lectures of Ivan Semenitch about the Art of Greece."
He was already beginning to turn over the pages in haste.
" Oh, please, spare me !" said Piotr Ivanitch frowning. " But what is that ? "
" My dissertations. I should like to show them to my chief; especially one scheme here which I elaborated."
" Ah ! one of those schemes which have been carried out a thousand years ago, or which is impossible and useless to carry out at all; you will never write anything worth having in that way, and you will waste time.
"What? after having heard so many lectures."
" They are of use to you for a time, but now you must see, read, learn and do what you are told."
" How will the chief understand my qualifications ? "