"Yes, you're right," said Sarudine, growing interested in his turn, as
he twirled his moustache complacently.
"Take off her corset, and the smartest Petersburg woman becomes--Oh! by
the way, have you heard the latest?" said Volochine, interrupting
himself.
"No, I dare say not," replied Sarudine, leaning forward, eagerly.
"Well," said the other, "it's an awfully good story about a Parisian
cocotte." Then, with much wealth of detail, Volochine proceeded to
relate a spicy anecdote that pleased his companion vastly.
"Yes," said Volochine in conclusion, as he rolled his eyes, "shape's
everything in a woman. If she hasn't got that, well, for me she simply
doesn't exist."
Sarudine thought of Lida's beauty, and he shrank from discussing it
with Volochine. However, after a pause, he observed with much
affectation: "Every one to his taste. What I like most in a woman; is the back; that
sinuous line, don't you know...."
"Yes," drawled Volochine nervously.
"Some women, especially very young ones, have got ..."
The orderly now entered treading clumsily in his heavy boots. He had
come to light the lamp, and during the process of striking matches and
jingling the glass shade, Sarudine and Volochine were silent.
As the flame of the lamp rose, only their glittering eyes and the
glowing cigarette-ends could be seen. When the soldier had gone out,
they returned to their subject, the word "Woman" forming the theme of
talk that became at times grotesque in its obscenity. Sarudine's
instinctive longing to boast, and to eclipse Volochine led him at last
to speak of the splendid woman who had yielded to his charms, and
gradually to reveal his own secret lasciviousness. Before the eyes of
Volochine, Lida was exhibited as in a state of nudity, her physical
attributes and her passion all being displayed as though she were some
animal for sale at a fair. By their filthy thoughts she was touched and
polluted and held up to ridicule. Their love of woman knew no gratitude
for the enjoyment given to them; they merely strove to humiliate and
insult the sex, to inflict upon it indescribable pain.
The smoke-laden atmosphere of the room had become stifling. Their
bodies at fever heat, exhaled an unwholesome odour, as their eyes
gleamed and their voices sounded shrill and rabid as those of wild
beasts.
Beyond the window lay the calm, clear moonlit night. Bur for them the
world with all its wealth of colour and sound had vanished; all that
their eyes beheld was a vision of woman in her nude loveliness. Soon
their imagination became so heated that they felt a burning desire to
see Lida, whom now they had dubbed Lidka, by way of being familiar.
Sarudine had the horses harnessed, and they drove to a house situated
on the outskirts of the town.