from that time, by the way, that I began to hate our estimable public—­damnation take them!  Well, to continue.  All at once the public became agitated; a whisper ran through the crowd,... a smile came on their faces, their shoulders began to move.  ’They must have seen me,’ I thought.  A likely idea!  I looked, and my singer, with a train of young scamps, was making her way through the crowd.  The eyes of the crowd were hurriedly following this procession.  A whisper began in a thousand voices:  ‘That’s so-and-so....  Charming!  Bewitching!’ Then it was they noticed me....  A couple of young milksops, local amateurs of the scenic art, I presume, looked at me, exchanged glances, and whispered:  ‘That’s her lover!’ How do you like that?  And an unprepossessing individual in a top-hat, with a chin that badly needed shaving, hung round me, shifting from one foot to the other, then turned to me with the words: 

“’Do you know who that lady is, walking on the other bank?  That’s so-and-so....  Her voice is beneath all criticism, but she has a most perfect mastery of it!...’

“‘Can you tell me,’ I asked the unprepossessing individual, ’who built this bridge?’

“‘I really don’t know,’ answered the individual; some engineer, I expect.’

“‘And who built the cathedral in your town?’ I asked again.

“‘I really can’t tell you.’

“Then I asked him who was considered the best teacher in K., who the best architect, and to all my questions the unprepossessing individual answered that he did not know.

“‘And tell me, please,’ I asked in conclusion, with whom is that singer living?’

“‘With some engineer called Krikunov.’

“Well, how do you like that, sir?  But to proceed.  There are no minnesingers or bards nowadays, and celebrity is created almost exclusively by the newspapers.  The day after the dedication of the bridge, I greedily snatched up the local Messenger, and looked for myself in it.  I spent a long time running my eyes over all the four pages, and at last there it was—­hurrah!  I began reading:  ’Yesterday in beautiful weather, before a vast concourse of people, in the presence of His Excellency the Governor of the province, so-and-so, and other dignitaries, the ceremony of the dedication of the newly constructed bridge took place,’ and so on....  Towards the end:  Our talented actress so-and-so, the favorite of the K. public, was present at the dedication looking very beautiful.  I need not say that her arrival created a sensation.  The star was wearing...’ and so on.  They might have given me one word!  Half a word.  Petty as it seems, I actually cried with vexation!

“I consoled myself with the reflection that the provinces are stupid, and one could expect nothing of them and for celebrity one must go to the intellectual centers—­to Petersburg and to Moscow.  And as it happened, at that very time there was a work of mine in Petersburg which I had sent in for a competition.  The date on which the result was to be declared was at hand.