The party was very successful and quite like other parties he had seen.
Everything was similar: the ladies' subtle talk, the cards, the general raising his voice at the card table, and the samovar and the tea cakes; only one thing was lacking that he had always seen at the evening parties he wished to imitate.
They had not yet had a loud conversation among the men and a dispute about something important and clever.
Now the general had begun such a discussion and so Berg drew Pierre to it.