第244章

第244章“butyoudidnotcaretoprofitbyit，prince，”saidsperansky，showingwithasmilethathewishedtoconcludewithcivilityanargumentembarrassingforhiscompanion.“ifyouwilldomethehonourtocallonwednesday，thenishallhaveseenmagnitsky，andshallhavesomethingtotellyouthatmayinterestyou，andbesidesishallhavethepleasureofmoreconversationwithyou.”closinghiseyes，hebowed，andtryingtoescapeunnoticed，hewentoutofthedrawing-roomwithoutsayinggood-bye，àlafran？aise.

chpater6

duringthefirstpartofhisstayinpetersburg，princeandreyfoundallthehabitsofthoughthehadformedinhissolitarylifecompletelyobscuredbythetriflingcareswhichengrossedhiminpetersburg.

intheeveningonreturninghomehenoteddowninhismemorandum-bookfourorfiveunavoidablevisitsorappointmentsforfixedhours.themechanismoflife，thearrangementofhisday，soastobeintimeeverywhere，absorbedthegreaterpartofhisvitalenergy.hedidnothing，thoughtofnothingeven，andhadnotimetothink，butonlytalked，andtalkedessfully，ofwhathehadhadtimetothinkaboutinthepastinthecountry.

hesometimesnoticedwithdissatisfactionthatithappenedtohimtorepeatthesameremarksonthesamedaytodifferentaudiences.buthewassobusyforwholedaystogetherthathehadnotimetoreflectthathewasthinkingofnothing.justasattheirfirstmeetingatkotchubey’s，speranskyhadalongandconfidentialtalkwithprinceandreyonwednesdayathisownhome，wherehereceivedbolkonskyaloneandmadeagreatimpressiononhim.

princeandreyregardedtheimmensemassofmenascontemptibleandworthlesscreatures，andhehadsuchalongingtofindinsomeothermanthelivingpatternofthatperfectionafterwhichhestrovehimself，thathewasreadytobelievethatinsperanskyhehadfoundthisidealofaperfectlyrationalandvirtuousman.hadsperanskybelongedtothesameworldasprinceandrey，hadhebeenofthesamebreedingandmoraltraditions，bolkonskywouldsoonhavedetectedtheweak，human，unheroicsidesofhischaracter；butthislogicalturnofmindwasstrangetohimandinspiredhimwiththemorerespectfromhisnotfullyunderstandingit.besidesthis，speransky，eitherbecauseheappreciatedprinceandrey’sabilitiesorbecausehethoughtitaswelltosecurehisadherence，showedoffhiscalm，impartialsagacitybeforeprinceandrey，andflatteredhimwiththatdelicateflatterythatgoeshandinhandwithconceit，andconsistsinatacitassumptionthatone’scompanionandoneselfaretheonlypeoplecapableofunderstandingallthefollyoftherestoftheworldandthesagacityandprofundityoftheirownideas.

inthecourseoftheirlongconversationonwednesdayeveningsperanskysaidmorethanonce：“amonguseverythingthatisoutofthecommonrutoftraditionislookedat，”…orwithasmile：“butwewantthewolvestobewellfedandthesheeptobeunhurt.”…or：“theycan’tgraspthat”…andalwayswithanexpressionthatsaid.“we，youandi，weunderstandwhattheyareandwhoweare.”