"Brutes like that are always lucky," he thought to himself, "What the
devil does it all mean? Lida and he?"
At supper, Maria Ivanovna seemed in a bad temper. Tanaroff as usual
said nothing. He thought what a fine thing it would be if he were
Sarudine, and had such a sweetheart as Lida to love him. He would have
loved her in quite a different way, though. Sarudine did not know how
to appreciate his good fortune. Lida was pale and silent, looking at no
one. Sarudine was gay, and on the alert, like a wild beast that scents
its prey. Sanine yawned as usual, ate, drank a good deal of brandy and
apparently seemed longing to go to sleep. But when supper was over, he
declared his intention of walking home with Sarudine. It was near
midnight, and the moon shone high overhead. Almost in silence the two
walked towards the officer's quarters. All the way Sanine kept looking
furtively at Sarudine, wondering if he should, or should not, strike
him in the face.
"Hm! Yes!" he suddenly began, as they got close to the house, "there
are all sorts of blackguards in this world!"
"What do you mean by that?" asked Sarudine, raising his eyebrows.
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