Chapter 40 Section IX

At ten o'clock, Pnin's five-flavored wine and Betty's Scotch whiskey made several guests talk louder and louder, but I didn't notice it.Most of Mrs. Thayer's neck under the little blue star in her left earring was flushed. She sat upright and was talking about two colleagues in her library who had been feuding over trivial matters for a long time to amuse the master.It was just a very common office chore, but she imitated Miss Schrier's high-pitched voice now and Mr. Basso's bass, and Pnin's realization that the party was going well made him gloat. With his head covered, his face covered with one hand, he burst out laughing.Roy Thayer, looking at the schnapps under his grey, porous nose, smiled knowingly by herself, and listened politely to Joan Clements, who was a bit drunk at the time and either put on an alluring wink, or even close her blue eyes with black lashes tightly, and speak out of breath, with um-uh-uh pauses, Either break sentences or build new momentum: "But don't you think that - er - what he's trying to do - er - in almost every novel of his - er - is to express something difficult Is it a situation that can be repeatedly reproduced with confidence?" Betty kept a clear head and took care of everyone's drinks quite expertly.On the other side of the alcove, Clements was sullenly turning the globe endlessly, and Hagen was taking care not to use the tone he was accustomed to on more congenial occasions, telling Mrs. Braulengie to Mrs. Hagen's news about Mrs. Edelson was relayed to Clements and grinning Thomas.Pnin came over with a plate of marzipan.

"What we are talking about, Timofey, your chaste ear cannot hear," Hagen told Pnin, who had always admitted that he had never had a taste for any "lewd anecdote." "But-" Clements wandered over to the ladies.Hagen repeated the anecdote, and Thomas grinned again.Pnin made a Russian "go on with you" gesture of disgust at the storyteller, and added: "I heard such an anecdote in Odessa thirty-five years ago, but even then I didn't understand what was so amusing about it."