The Torrents Of Spring

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XIV We must, however, say a few words about Sanin himself. In the first place, he was very, very good-looking. A handsome, graceful figure, agreeable, rather unformed features, kindly bluish eyes, golden hair, a clear white and red skin, and, above all, that peculiar, naïvely-cheerful, confiding, open, at the first glance, somewhat foolish expression, by which in former days one could recognise directly the children of steady-going, noble families, ‘sons of their fathers’, fine young landowners, born and reared in our open, half-wild country parts, – a hesitating gait, a voice with a lisp, a smile like a child’s the minute you looked at him … lastly, freshness, health, softness, softness, softness, – there you have the whole of Sanin. And secondly, he was not stupid and had picked up a fair amount of knowledge. Fresh he had remained, for all his foreign tour; the disturbing emotions in which the greater part of the young people of that day were tempest-tossed were very little known to him. Of late years, in response to the assiduous search for ‘new types’, young men have begun to appear in our literature, determined at all hazards to be ‘fresh’… as fresh as Flensburg oysters, when they reach Petersburg… . Sanin was not like them. Since we have had recourse already to simile, he rather recalled a young, leafy, freshly-grafted apple-tree in one of our fertile orchards – or better still, a well-groomed, sleek, sturdylimbed, tender young ‘three-year-old’ in some old-fashioned seignorial stud stable, a young horse that they have hardly begun to break in to the traces… . Those who came across Sanin in later years, when life had knocked him about a good deal, and the sleekness and plumpness of youth had long vanished, saw in him a totally different man. Next day Sanin was still in bed when Emil, in his best clothes, with a cane in his hand and much pomade on his head, burst into his room, announcing that Herr Klüber would be here directly with the carriage, that the weather promised to be exquisite, that they had everything ready by now, but that mamma was not going, as her head was bad again. He began to hurry Sanin, telling him that there was not a minute to lose… . And Herr Klüber did, in fact, find Sanin still at his toilet. He knocked at the door, came in, bowed with a bend from the waist, expressed his readiness to wait as long as might be desired, and sat down, his hat balanced elegantly on his knees. The handsome shop-manager had got himself up and perfumed himself to excess: his every action was accompanied by a 30
powerful whiff of the most refined aroma. He arrived in a comfortable open carriage – one of the kind called landau – drawn by two tall and powerful but not well-shaped horses. A quarter of an hour later Sanin, Klüber, and Emil, in this same carriage, drew up triumphantly at the steps of the confectioner’s shop. Madame Roselli resolutely refused to join the party; Gemma wanted to stay with her mother; but she simply turned her out. ‘I don’t want any one,’ she declared; ‘I shall go to sleep. I would send Pantaleone with you too, only there would be no one to mind the shop.’ ‘May we take Tartaglia?’ asked Emil. ‘Of course you may.’ Tartaglia immediately scrambled, with delighted struggles, on to the box and sat there, licking himself; it was obviously a thing he was accustomed to. Gemma put on a large straw hat with brown ribbons; the hat was bent down in front, so as to shade almost the whole of her face from the sun. The line of shadow stopped just at her lips; they wore a tender maiden flush, like the petals of a centifoil rose, and her teeth gleamed stealthily – innocently too, as when children smile. Gemma sat facing the horses, with Sanin; Klüber and Emil sat opposite. The pale face of Frau Lenore appeared at the window; Gemma waved her handkerchief to her, and the horses started. 31
Page 1 and 2: The Torrents Of Spring Turgenev, Iv
Page 3 and 4: ‘Years of gladness, Days of joy,
Page 5 and 6: I It was the summer of 1840. Sanin
Page 7 and 8: ‘But meanwhile Emil will die!’
Page 9 and 10: ‘He is saved, mother, he is alive
Page 11 and 12: Roselli pointed to his portrait, pa
Page 13 and 14: much ado and accompanying himself w
Page 15 and 16: illustrissimo maestro Rossini - in
Page 17 and 18: ‘The whole fare!’ Sanin said do
Page 19 and 20: VIII He had not finished dressing,
Page 21 and 22: IX Emil, who had continued to stand
Page 23 and 24: presence of the ladies of the house
Page 25 and 26: XI The bell tinkled at the outer do
Page 27 and 28: XII It appeared that Gemma was not
Page 29: carrying with him the image of the
Page 33 and 34: mirthfulness of the company; he beg
Page 35 and 36: muttered something unintelligible,
Page 37 and 38: embarrassed by his presence - Gemma
Page 39 and 40: and all that’s left is that I am
Page 41 and 42: XVIII An hour later the waiter came
Page 43 and 44: single-triggered and not rifle-barr
Page 45 and 46: to leave off, and for the first tim
Page 47 and 48: XX It was bright starlight when he
Page 49 and 50: XXI It was quite morning when he fe
Page 51 and 52: ‘Your return,’ moaned Emil - an
Page 53 and 54: The old man looked dejectedly at hi
Page 55 and 56: arm with Baron Dönhof. And afterwa
Page 57 and 58: XXIII He slept for some hours witho
Page 59 and 60: you… .’ And Frau Lenore half ro
Page 61 and 62: ‘Oh, come! I have not been expose
Page 63 and 64: ‘Very well,’ said Gemma. ‘If
Page 65 and 66: that I cannot give you any advice
Page 67 and 68: XXVI At eight o’clock next mornin
Page 69 and 70: morning, in one of the public garde
Page 71 and 72: to say, which could compare, in imp
Page 73 and 74: XXVIII Sanin walked along, at one t
Page 75 and 76: ‘But, Gemma,’ cried Sanin, ‘d
Page 77 and 78: XXIX If Gemma had announced that sh
Page 79 and 80: XXX The transition from despair to
Page 81 and 82:
‘Come, that’s nonsense, nonsens
Page 83 and 84:
XXXI Sanin woke up very early. He f
Page 85 and 86:
ordered with intense care a very la
Page 87 and 88:
‘There’s one means,’ Polozov
Page 89 and 90:
argaining with her. I shall tell he
Page 91 and 92:
XXXIII It takes less than an hour i
Page 93 and 94:
flew up another man, also very well
Page 95 and 96:
But Gemma’s image preserved Sanin
Page 97 and 98:
XXXV The free and easy deportment o
Page 99 and 100:
‘I should be satisfied with a few
Page 101 and 102:
XXXVI Long after midnight the lamp
Page 103 and 104:
avenues of the park, now mounting a
Page 105 and 106:
XXXVII Sanin proceeded to expound h
Page 107 and 108:
XXXVIII Oh, what a deep sigh of del
Page 109 and 110:
much as her diamonds; she seemed in
Page 111 and 112:
XXXIX In the year 1840, the theatre
Page 113 and 114:
Maria Nikolaevna suddenly turned to
Page 115 and 116:
‘Yes, Dimitri Pavlovitch,’ she
Page 117 and 118:
XL The play lasted over an hour lon
Page 119 and 120:
faith in its pressure. What sort of
Page 121 and 122:
She seemed so happy that Sanin was
Page 123 and 124:
XLII This track soon changed into a
Page 125 and 126:
and plunged into a rather narrow go
Page 127 and 128:
The same day, two hours later, Sani
Page 129 and 130:
that smile he knows already, the sm
Page 131 and 132:
probably know her husband’s addre
Page 133 and 134:
We will not attempt to describe the
Page 135 and 136:
continues today to seem as fresh an
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