some rapid lines. One of the tallow spots gave his sketch a new aspect.
He sketched in this new pose, and suddenly remembered the prominent chin and energetic face of the man of whom he bought his cigars, and instantly he gave his design the same kind of a face and prominent chin. He laughed with delight. The figure ceased to be something vague and dead, but became animated, and took a form which could not be bettered. This figure was alive, and was clearly and indubitably delineated. It was possible to correct the sketch in conformity with the demands of this figure; it was possible and even requisite to set the legs in a different way, to make an absolute change in the position of the left arm, to rearrange the hair; but after he had finished these corrections he made no changes in the figure but only cleared away what concealed it. He, as it were, took from it the veils behind which it was not wholly visible. Each new stroke only the more exposed the entire figure in all its energetic power, just as it had suddenly appeared to him in the spot made by the wax. He laughed with delight. He was carefully finishing his design when the two cards were brought him.
"I will come instantly," he replied.
He went to his wife.
"There, come, Sasha, don't be vexed," he said, with a smile tender and timid. "You were wrong; so was I. I will settle matters."
And, having made his peace with her, he put on an olive-green overcoat with velvet collar, took his hat, and went to his studio. His successfully completed sketch was already quite forgotten, now he was delighted and surprised by the visit of these stylish Russians who had come to see him in a carriage.
In the depth of his soul his opinion on the painting which was on his easel at that time was as follows:—
"No one has ever painted another like it." He did not believe that his painting was better than all the Raphaels; but he knew that no one had ever put into a picture what he had tried to put into this one. This
