Here it is necessary to go back a little.Valentina Mihailovna was the daughter of a general who had been neither over-wise nor over-industrious in his life.He had received only one star and a buckle as a reward for fifty years' service.She was a Little Russian, intriguing and sly, endowed, like many of her countrywomen, with a very simple and even stupid exterior, from which she knew how to extract the maximum of advantage.Valentina Mihailovna's parents were not rich, but they had managed to educate her at the Smolny Convent, where, although considered a republican, she was always in the foreground and very well treated on account of her excellent behaviour and industriousness.On leaving the convent she settled with her mother (her brother had gone into the country, and her father, the general with the star and buckle, had died) in a very clean, but extremely chilly, apartment, in which you could see your own breath as you talked.Valentina Mihailovna used to make fun of it and declare it was like being in church.She was very brave in bearing with all the discomforts of a poor, pinched existence, having a wonderfully sweet temper.With her mother's help, she managed both to keep up and make new connections and acquaintances, and was even spoken of in the highest circles as a very nice well-bred girl.She had several suitors, had fixed upon Sipiagin from them all, and had very quickly and ingeniously made him fall in love with her.
However, he was soon convinced that he could not have made a better choice.She was intelligent, rather good than ill-natured, at bottom cold and indifferent, but unable to endure the idea that anyone should be indifferent to her.
Valentina Mihailovna was possessed of that peculiar charm, the characteristic of all "charming" egoists, in which there is neither poetry nor real sensitiveness, but which is often full of superficial gentleness, sympathy, sometimes even tenderness.But these charming egoists must not be thwarted.They are very domineering and cannot endure independence in others.Women like Madame Sipiagina excite and disturb people of inexperienced and passionate natures, but are fond of a quiet and peaceful life themselves.Virtue comes easy to them, they are placid of temperament, but a constant desire to command, to attract, and to please gives them mobility and brilliance.They have an iron will, and a good deal of their fascination is due to this will.
It is difficult for a man to hold his ground when the mysterious sparks of tenderness begin to kindle, as if involuntarily, in one of these unstirred creatures; he waits for the hour to come when the ice will melt, but the rays only play over the transparent surface, and never does he see it melt or its smoothness disturbed!
