Then they began to talk in French, and I could not understand them. Says the prince, “Was your father commander in the corps of cadets?” They played two or three games then I notice the prince puts up the cue, and says, “Would you mind telling me your name?” He was used to it he chalked and chalked his hand, tucked up his sleeve he goes and sits down when he pockets the ball, even though he is such a little man. Whenever he hit the ball, he always glanced around, and reddened. He sort of sidled up to the table, caught his pocket on the edge, began to chalk his cue, dropped his chalk. He was not exactly flustered, but you couldn’t help seeing that he was not quite at his ease.Įither his clothes were a little too new, or he was embarrassed because everybody was looking at him at any rate, he seemed to have no energy. He may have been courageous in reality but, at all events, he got up, went over to the billiard-table, and did not seem flustered as yet.

He sat there, and looked rather foolish, indeed he did. Well, then, when the big man left, the prince says to the new bárin, “Wouldn’t you like,” says he, “to play a game with me?” “We are playing for money,” says he, “and not for chips.”īut this man puzzled me worse than all the rest. Just yawning, and not even stopping to place the ball,-you see, he was not made of stone,-now just notice what he said. “I’ll go you twenty-five rubles,” says he. They don’t bank down any cash and so I know neither of them’s got any cash, but they are simply playing a bluff game. That’s the kind of a character he is.Īnother time he and the prince plays till two o’clock. Now, just look here! Evenings, he and the prince plays for fifty silver rubles a game and here he only lost a bottle of Makon wine, and got mad. He scolded away, then threw down his cue, and went out. And though he’s so young, he has an air of some distinction.” Oliver sat down next him, so he moved along a little. I see him sit down, modest and quiet, not knowing anybody and the clothes on him are so bran-new, that thinks I, “Either he’s a foreigner,-an Englishman maybe,-or some count just come. So, though you’re only a scorer, you get used to telling folks that is, in a certain way you learn a thing or two. And there’s many that ain’t of much consequence, and there’s a good deal of poor trash. You must know our business brings us into contact with all sorts of people. He was dressed neat but there was something about the man neater still slim, tall, his hair brushed forward in style, and his face fair and ruddy,-well, in a word, a fine young fellow. His dress was neat,-neat as a pin,-checkered tricot pants, stylish little short coat, plush vest, and gold chain and all sorts of trinkets dangling from it. “Now, who can that be?” thinks I to myself. He gazed and gazed, and then sat down on the sofa. I was keeping tally and I look, and see a new bárin comes in at the door.

You don’t get a chance to get a bite of any thing, and you don’t get to bed till two o’clock o’ nights, but you’re always being screamed at to bring the balls. Now, here I was walking up and down around the billiard-table with my stick, keeping tally,-ten and forty-seven, twelve and forty-seven.Įverybody knows it’s our business to score. The big stranger and the prince were playing together. The whiskered bárin was there also the little hussar, Oliver, who was an actor, and there was the pan. It was a pretty good crowd. The prince was there,-the two are always together. There was the big stranger, as our men called him. Pyotr Konchalovsky, The Game of Billiards, Aristarkh Lentulov and Petr Konchalovsky, 1918 by Leo Tolstoy, translated by Nathan Haskell Dole

Sir edward billiards glove