Sanine watched this little scene and smiled.
Instantly Ivanoff felt ashamed that even for a moment he should have wavered.
“Come on!” he said. “Deuce take the lot of them!”
They walked past Riasantzeff who scowled at them as they went towards the gate. At some distance Sanine noticed another group of young men whom he did not know and who stood, like a flock of sheep, with their heads close together. In their midst stood Schafroff, talking and gesticulating, but he became silent on seeing Sanine. The others all turned to look at the last-named. Their faces expressed honest indignation and a certain shy curiosity.
“They’re plotting against you,” said Ivanoff, somewhat amazed to see the baleful look in Sanine’s eyes. Red as a lobster, Schafroff came forward, blinking his eyelids, and approached Sanine, who turned round sharply on his heel, as though he were ready to knock the first man down.
Schafroff probably perceived this, for he turned pale, and stopped at a respectful distance. The students and girls followed close at his heels like a flock of sheep behind a bell-wether.
“What else do you want?” asked Sanine, without raising his voice.
“We want nothing,” replied Schafroff in confusion, “but all my fellow- comrades wish me to express their displeasure at—”
“Much I care about your displeasure!” hissed Sanine through his clenched teeth. “You asked me to say something about the deceased, and after I had said what I thought, you come and express to me your displeasure! Very good of you, I’m sure! If you weren’t a pack of silly, sentimental boys, I would show you that I was right, and that Svarogitsch’s life was an absolutely foolish one, for he worried himself about all sorts of useless things and died a fool’s death, but you—well, you’re all of you too dense and too narrow-minded for words! To the deuce with the lot of you! Be off, I say!”
So saying, he walked straight on, forcing the crowd to make way for him.
“Don’t push, please!” croaked Schafroff, feebly protesting.
“Well of all the insolent …” cried some one, but he did not finish his phrase.
“How is it you frighten people like that?” asked Ivanoff, as they walked down the street. “You’re a perfect terror!”
“If such young fellows with their mad ideas about liberty were always to come bothering you,” replied Sanine, “I expect that you would treat them in a much rougher way. Let them all go to hell!”