Page 1491 - ANNA KARENINA

Anna Karenina

out, for fear of dropping into it ourselves. You know
Prince Tchetchensky?’ inquired the prince; and Levin saw
by his face that he was just going to relate something
funny.

‘No, I don’t know him.’
‘You don’t say so! Well, Prince Tchetchensky is a well-
known figure. No matter, though. He’s always playing
billiards here. Only three years ago he was not a shlupik
and kept up his spirits and even used to call other people
shlupiks. But one day he turns up, and our porter...you
know Vassily? Why, that fat one; he’s famous for his bon
mots. And so Prince Tchetchensky asks him, ‘Come,
Vassily, who’s here? Any shlupiks here yet?’ And he says,
‘You’re the third.’ Yes, my dear boy, that he did!’
Talking and greeting the friends they met, Levin and
the prince walked through all the rooms: the great room
where tables had already been set, and the usual partners
were playing for small stakes; the divan room, where they
were playing chess, and Sergey Ivanovitch was sitting
talking to somebody; the billiard room, where, about a
sofa in a recess, there was a lively party drinking
champagne—Gagin was one of them. They peeped into
the ‘infernal regions,’ where a good many men were
crowding round one table, at which Yashvin was sitting.

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