He was not stupid; and my Eugene,
while rating low the heart in him,
liked both the spirit of his judgments
4 and his sane talk of this and that.
He would frequent him
with pleasure, and therefore was not at all
surprised at morn
8 when he saw him;
the latter, after the first greeting, interrupting
the started conversation,
with eyes atwinkle, to Onegin
12 handed a billet from the poet.
Onegin went up to the window
and read it to himself.
IX
It was a pleasant, gentlemanly,
brief challenge or carteclass="underline"
politely, with cold clearness, to a duel
4 Lenski called out his friend.
Onegin, on a first impulsion
to the envoy of such an errand
turning, without superfluous words
8 said he was “always ready.”
Zaretski got up without explanations —
did not want to stay longer,
having at home a lot of things to do —
12 and forthwith left; but Eugene,
alone remaining with his soul,
felt ill-contented with himself.
X
And serve him right: on strict examination,
he, having called his own self to a secret court,
accused himself of much:
4 first, it had been already wrong of him
to make fun of a timid, tender love
so casually yesternight;
and secondly: why, let a poet
8 indulge in nonsense! At eighteen
'tis pardonable. Eugene,
loving the youth with all his heart,
ought to have shown himself to be
12 no bandyball of prejudices,
no fiery boy, no scrapper, but a man
of honor and of sense.
XI
He might have manifested feelings
instead of bristling like a beast;
he ought to have disarmed
4 the youthful heart. “But now
too late; the time has flown away....
Moreover,” he reflects, “in this affair
an old duelist has intervened;
8 he's wicked, he's a gossip, he talks glibly....
Of course, contempt should be the price
of his droll sallies; but the whisper,
the snickering of fools...”
12 And here it is — public opinion!38 Honor's mainspring, our idol!
And here is what the world turns on!
XII
The poet, with impatient enmity
boiling, awaits at home the answer.
And here the answer solemnly
4 by the grandiloquent neighbor is brought.
Now, what a boon 'tis for the jealous one!
He had kept fearing that the scamp
might joke his way out somehow,
8 a trick devising and his breast
averting from the pistol.
The doubts are now resolved:
tomorrow to the mill they must
12 drive before daybreak,
at one another raise the cock,
and at the thigh or at the temple aim.
XIII
Having decided to detest
the coquette, boiling Lenski did not wish
to see before the duel Olga.
4 The sun, his watch he kept consulting;
at last he gave it up —
and found himself at the fair neighbors'.
He thought he would embarrass Ólinka,
8 confound her by his coming;
but nothing of the sort: just as before
to welcome the poor songster
Olinka skipped down from the porch,
12 akin to giddy hope,
spry, carefree, gay — in fact, exactly
the same as she had been.
XIV
“Why did you vanish yesternight so early?”
was Olinka's first question.
In Lenski all the senses clouded,
4 and silently he hung his head.
Jealousy and vexation disappeared
before this clarity of glance,
before this soft simplicity,
8 before this sprightly soul!...
He gazes with sweet tenderness;
he sees: he is still loved!
Already, by remorse beset,
12 he is prepared to beg her pardon,
he quivers, can't find words:
he's happy, he is almost well....