Summary

Chapter 5 resumes the following Thursday. Zinaida visits her old governess after dinner. Stepan realizes that Orlov does not want Zinaida home for when the guests come. When Kukushkin arrives, he congratulates Orlov on his conquest. He and the rest of the guests go to Orlov’s bedroom and tease him about all the womanly things to be found there. As for Pekarsky, he has trouble understanding why Orlov and Zinaida would make their affair public. Orlov tells him to read Turgenev, whom he claims suggested the idea that a man should share an apartment with his lover. Orlov explains that he never wanted this to happen in the first place. He complains that she is throwing his life into disorder. Kukushkin jokes about wooing Zinaida himself. Orlov’s friends do their best to convince him to get her a separate apartment. They manage...