"Do you think I don't know this woman, this Lilliput queen, and her intrigues? Rather, you may be sure of that," Raisa went on to say. "She fondly imagines she's a somebody; yes, she does! Her father was a thieving notary." "I must beg you, in my presence, to express yourself in a more decent manner in regard to my friends," interrupted Romashov sharply. Then and there a painful scene occurred. Raisa stormed and broke out in a torrent of aspersions on Shurochka. The fury within her had now the mastery; her artificial smiles were banished, and she even tried to drown the music by her snuffly voice. Romashov, conscious of his impotence to try to put in a word in defence of the grossly insulted Shurochka, was distracted with shame and wrath. In addition to this were the intolerable din of the band and the disagreeable attention of the bystanders, which his partner's unbridled fury was beginning to attract. "Yes, her father was a common thief; she has nothing to stick her nose in the air about and she ought, to be sure, to be very careful not to give herself airs!" shrieked Raisa. "And for a thing like that to dare to look down on us! We know something else about her, too!" "I implore you!" whispered Romashov. "Don't make any mistake about it; both you and she shall feel my claws. In the first place, I shall open her husband's eyes--the eyes of that fool Nikoläiev, who has, for the third time, been 'ploughed' in his exam. But what else can one expect from a fool like that, who does not know what is going on under his nose? And it is certainly no longer any secret who the lover is." "_Mazurka générale! Promenade!_" howled Bobetinski, who at that moment was strutting through the room with the pomp of an archangel. The floor rocked under the heavy tramping of the dancers, and the muslin curtains and coloured lamps moved in unison with the notes of the mazurka. "Why cannot we part as friends?" Romashov asked in a shy tone. He felt within himself that this woman not only caused him indescribable disgust, but also aroused in his heart a cowardice he could not subdue, and which filled him with self-contempt. "You no longer love me; let us part good friends." "Ha! ha! You're frightened; you're trying to cut my claws. No, my fine fellow. I am not one of those who are thrown aside with impunity. It is I, mind you, who throw aside one who causes me disgust and loathing--not the other way about. And as for your baseness----" "That's enough; let's end all this talk," said Romashov, interrupting her in a hollow voice and with clenched teeth. "Five minutes' _entr'acte_. _Cavaliers, occupez vos dames!_" shouted Bobetinski.