"Tolstoy, Leo - Albert" - читать интересную книгу автора (Tolstoy Leo)

Albert

by Leo Tolstoy (1858)

Translated by Louise and Aylmer Maude

Distributed by The Tolstoy Library

http://users.aol.com/Tolstoy28/tolstoy.htm

I

Five wealthy young men had come, after two in the morning, to amuse
themselves at a small Petersburg party.

Much champagne had been drunk, most of the men were very young, the girls
were pretty, the piano and violin indefatigably played one polka after
another, and dancing and noise went on unceasingly: yet for some reason it
was dull and awkward, and, as often happens, everybody felt that it was all
unnecessary and was not the thing.

Several times they tried to get things going, but forced merriment was
worse even than boredom.

One of the five young men, more dissatisfied than the others with himself,
with the others, and with the whole evening, rose with a feeling of
disgust, found his had, and went out quietly, intending to go home.

There was no one in the ante-room, but in the adjoining room he heard two
voices disputing. The young man stopped to listen.

"You can't, there are guests there," said a woman's voice.

"Let me in, please. I'm all right!" a man's weak voice entreated.

"No, I won't let you in without Madame's permission," said the woman.
"Where are you going? Ah! What a man you are!"

The door burst open and a strange figure of a man appeared on the
threshold. The servant on seeing a visitor no longer protested, and the
strange figure, bowing timidly, entered the room, swaying on his bent legs.
He was of medium height, with a narrow, stooping back, and long tangled
hair. He wore a short overcoat, and narrow torn trousers over a pair of
rough uncleaned boots. A necktie, twisted into a cord, was fastened round
his long white neck. A dirty shirt showed from under his coat and hung over
his thin hands. Yet despite the extreme emaciation of his body, his face
was white and delicate, and freshness and colour played on his cheeks above
his scanty black beard and whiskers. His unkempt hair, thrown back,
revealed a rather low and extremely clear forehead. His dark languid eyes
looked softly, imploringly, and yet with dignity, before him. Their