made a gesture of abnegation.
' We had better talk about you,', he said; ' you seem to be following in my footsteps.'
' I couldn't do better, uncle,' added Alexandr.
' Yes,' Piotr continued. ' At a little over thirty .... a
T
councillor, a good official salary, while by unofficial work you are making a large income. And now, in due course, you are to marry a wealthy .... Yes, the Adouevs are making their mark. You are following in my steps except for the back-ache.'
' But I sometimes suffer with it already/' said Alexandr, rubbing his spine.
' It's all excellent, of course, except the spinal trouble,' continued Piotr Ivanitch. ' I did not think, I confess, that anything much could be made of you when you came up here. You were always occupying your brain with spiritual questions, flying off to the clouds. But that's all over now, and thank God for it 1 I would say to you: Continue to follow in my footsteps, except '
' Except in what, uncle ? '
' Oh, I should have liked to give you some advice in regard to your future wife.'
' What is it ? That's curious.'
' But no,' said Piotr Ivanitch, after a short pause. ' I am afraid of making things worse. Act as you feel yourself; perhaps you will guess. Let us rather talk of your marriage They say yourjlancie has a dowry of two hundred thousand —really!'
' Yes; her father gives her two hundred thousand, and she has a hundred left her from her mother.'
' Then that's three hundred!' exclaimed Piotr Ivanitch, almost with awe.
' And moreover, he said to-day that he would give us his five hundred serfs, now to be at our full disposal, on condition of our allowing him seven thousand a year. He will live with us.'
Piotr jumped up from his chair with an alacrity not like him.
' Stop, stop !' he said. ' You are making me dizzy. What did you tell me ? Say it again. How much ? '
'Five hundred serfs and three hundred thousand in money,' Alexandr repeated.
'You are not joking !'
'A likely joke, uncle!'
' And the property ... is not mortgaged ? ' asked Piotr Ivanitch softly, not moving from his place.
'No.'
