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from you, Nikki
dear, since you can so readily afford it."
    "Damn!" Nikki
exploded sullenly. "I didn't renege on the wager. I just think you should
choose another woman."
    "Sorry, Nikki, you
said it was my choice, and there is my choice," Illyich said, and pointed
theatrically toward the small figure on the opposite bank, completely oblivious
of the attention she was attracting, unaware that her virtue was a subject of
interest and debate among complete strangers.
    When Nikki recognized that
argument was pointless, with his characteristic charm he graciously conceded
Illy-ich's point.
    "Daresay, I might as
well be off to commence the chase. There's no time like the present, et cetera,
et cetera." He smiled, already half amused and anticipating the
flirtation. For Nikki, obstacles existed only to be swept aside. He brushed
away impediments that would bring lesser men to their knees and more sensible
and prudent men to a cautious standstill.
    "Nikki,
reconsider," his young cousin Aleksei interjected uneasily, "it's not
right. Your father, depend on it, would find it totally unacceptable. Suppose
he does catch wind of it."
    "With any luck, Father
won't find out," Nikki responded calmly to his cousin's objections.
"The lady scarcely would be inclined to bandy the news about, and we all
are capable of holding our tongues."
    Once Nikki's mind was made
up, he could be unusually obstinate to change and, after all, he did have fifty
thousand roubles riding on the outcome. Even though he didn't personally need
the money, it would indulge his pet project of embellishing his cavalry troop.
The magnificence of his troop outshone all others, and outfitting the men and
horses in such extravagant adornments gave him a great deal of pride, but the
personal expense was astronomical. He contemplated the new tack that could be
purchased with the fifty thousand roubles. Some dark blue leather bridles
ornamented with silver had caught his eye just a week or so ago at Neimeyers.
Besides, after a few moments Nikki had convinced himself that the confrontation
wasn't so insuperable as first imagined. His growing excitement over the unique
and piquant diversion was enough to allay any slight misgivings he might still
harbor.
    Once a decision was made,
Nikki faced all prospects undaunted. He looked on the world as available for
his pleasure alone, and therefore his inclinations, however extraordinary, must
be satisfied.
    Nikki stood gazing across
the small river with a cold, calculating look. Half musing, half aloud, he
quietly murmured, "Now, this calls for a nice judgment, this art of
seduction. You must be plain but not too plain, be adept at murmuring fulsomely
expressed endearments with a delicate sincerity, and you must smile politely as
you pretend to take what is, in fact, willingly given. It goes without saying
that one cannot be overhampered by scruples."
    "That may all be very
fine in the society in which you move, Nikki," Cernov retorted,
"where everyone knows the rules of amorous jousting and seldom departs
from the proscribed formula, but in the case of Forseus's wife, I think you'll
be dealing with a female unfamiliar with those 'niceties.' "
    "I am credibly
informed," Illyich stated with cheerful maliciousness, "that she's
untainted by scandal."
    "So
far,
she's been untainted by scandal," Nikki remarked humorlessly, and with a
careless gesture of farewell walked toward the river.
    Thus these elegant, bored,
restless young blades became involved in this peccadillo to breathe some
freshness and vitality into their boredom. The nascent industrial energy of the
age had doubled their already princely revenues without efforts of their own.
They were, in the words of a contemporary chronicler, "dulled by luxury,
enervated by ease, staled by amusement."
    As for the object of this
chase, the pursued, the diversion to the restless young birds of paradise,
Alisa, the young wife of the old merchant Forseus, was an innocent. She wasn't
an innocent to