Ivan Turgenev

felt all through my being a sort of intense blissfulness that verged on imbecility.

I was as happy as a fish in water, and I could have stayed in that room for ever, have never left that place.

rosy face and prominent eyes.

had entered upon speculations and ruined himself utterly.

It seemed to me I had known her a long while and had never known anything nor lived at all till I met her… .

the sunshine, streaming in through the blind, shed a soft light over her fluffy golden curls, her innocent neck, her sloping shoulders, and tender untroubled bosom.

I would gladly, I felt, have kissed every fold of that dress and apron.

I could have bowed down in adoration to those shoes… .

I started, I was struck dumb… .

The two works by Turgenev contained in the present volume are characteristic in their concern with social and political questions, and in the prominence in both of them of heroes who fail in action.