punch to be sent out to him. > “I was rude to him just now,” he repeated with a sinking, softened voice. Kalganov did not want to drink, and at first did not care for the girls’ singing; but after he had drunk a couple of glasses of champagne he became extraordinarily lively, strolling about the room, laughing and praising the music and the songs, admiring everyone and everything. * Maximov, blissfully drunk, never left his side. * Grushenka, too, was beginning to get drunk. Pointing to Kalganov, she
“What a dear, charming boy he is!”
And Mitya, delighted, ran to kiss Kalganov and Maximov. Oh, great were his hopes! She had said nothing yet, and seemed, indeed, purposely to refrain from speaking. But she looked at him from time to time with caressing and passionate eyes. At last she suddenly gripped his hand and drew him vigorously to her. She was sitting at the moment in the low chair by the door.
“How was it you came just now, eh? Have you walked in! … I was frightened. So you wanted to give me up to him, did you? Did you really want to?”
“I didn’t want to spoil your happiness!” Mitya faltered blissfully. But she did not need his answer.
“Well, go and enjoy yourself …” she sent him away once more. “Don’t cry, I’ll call you back again.”
He would run away, and she listened to the singing and looked at the dancing, though her eyes followed him wherever he went. But in another quarter of an hour she would call him once more and again he would run back to her.
“Come, sit beside me, tell me, how