thing there.'
' All right, all right!' muttered Agrafena, incredulously, ' but inside you—ugh !'
' All I'd almost f fr r &flttflP 1 ' sa 'd Y 5 vs fl v i joking from his pock et a greasy pack of cards. ' Fo r a keej)sake^'Xgrafen|i IvanQyjiajZLyflu ) you, know you cc^TTnoJ^get any here.' *
She stretched QuLher- haad.
' Give it to me, Yevsay Ivanitch!' screamed Proshka out o f the crow d.
r ouj_ Til j?e damned frefore I^ive it to you,'' and h? put the-€a*ds into bin pooket.
' But givfijLhfimJp me, stupid!' said^Agrafiena^
' No ^Agrafena Ivano vn^ 'yfiTTmay do as you like , but I
™ nnV ffiy*y™ 1 fV )frn; ypn^'^JLlifiZ^!^^'^''XS>od-bye!' Without looking round he waved his Tiand and slowly moved off to the carriage which he looked as if he could have carried off on his shoulders—Alexandr, coachman and horses and all.
' Cursed fellow!' said Agrafena, looking after him and wiping away her falling tears with a corner of her apron.
At the forest a halt was made. While Anna Pavlovna was sobbing and saying good-by to her son, Anton Ivanitch patted one of the horses on the neck, then took him by the nose and shook him backwards and forwards, with which the horse seemed rather displeased, snorting and showing his teeth.
li Tighten the girth on the off-horse,' said he to the coachman, ' you see the pad is on one side.'
The coachman looked at the pad and seeing that it was in its place did not get off the box but only straightened the breach a little with his whip.
' Well, it's time to start, God be with you !' said Anton Ivanitch. ' Leave off tormenting yourself, Anna Pavlovna ! And you take your seat, Alexandr Fedoritch; you must reach Shishkov in daylight. Farewell, farewell! God give you happiness, rank, honours, all things good and happy, every kind of wealth and blessing! Now, in God's name, whip up the horses, but see you drive quietly along the slope!'' he added turning to the coachman.
Alexandr took his seat in the carriage dissolved in tears, but Yevsay went up to his mistress, knelt down at her feet and kissed her hand. She gave him a five-rouble note.
' See, Yevsay, remember, be a good servant and I will
^ marry you to Agrafena, but if not ' She could say no
more. Yevsay got on to the box. The coachman wearied with the long delay, seemed to revive; he grasped his hat, set it straight on his head and took the reins ; the horses set off at first at a slight trot. He whipped the trace horses in turn one after the other, with a bound they began to draw and the troika flew along the road to the forest. The crowd of escorting friends stood silent and motionless till the carriage had passed altogether out of sight.
Anton Ivanitch was the first to recover himself.
' Well, now we must go home,' he said.
Alexandr looked back from the carriage as long as anything was to be seen, then fell with his face hidden in the cushions.
' Do not leave me in my trouble, Anton Ivanitch,' said Anna Pavlovna; ' dine here.'
' Very good, ma'am, I am ready; if you like I will sup here too.'
' Yes, and you might stay the night as well.'
' How can that be ? the funeral is to-morrow.'
' Ah yes; well, I must not keep you. Remember me to Fedosia Petrovna; tell her that I grieve from my heart for her affliction, and I should have visited her myself, but God has sent, tell her, sorrow upon me—I have just parted with my son.'
' I will tell her, I will tell her, I will not forget.'
' Ah, Sashenka, my darling!' she murmured looking round. 'There is nothing to be seen of him, he is gone.'
Madame Adouev sat the whole day silent, and ate no dinner or supper. Anton Ivanitch talked and dined and supped to make up for her.
'Where is he now, my darling? ' was all she could utter from time to time.
'By now he must be at Nefaeva. No, what am I saying?—he is not yet at Nefaeva, but not far off; there he will drink tea,' answered Anton Ivanitch.
' No, he never takes tea at this time.'
And so Anna Pavlovna in spirit travelled with him. Afterwards, when according to her calculations he must have reached Petersburg, she divided her time between praying, telling fortunes on cards and talking to Maria Karpovna.
And he ?
We shall meet him again at Petersburg.
CHAPTER II
/iotr Ivanitch Adquev . j>ut frero's uncle, had, like him, w >eeh sent to Petersburg wnen twenty years old by his elder [brother, Alexandr's father, and had lived there uninterruptedly Jbr seventeen years| He had not kept up a correspondence witETiTs relatives after his brother's death, and Anna Pavlovna had seen nothing of him since then, as he had sold his small property not far from her estate.
In Petersburg he passed for a wealthy man, and perhaps not without good grounds; he had an appointment under a certain influential personage, a secretary of special commissions, and had ribbons to wear in his buttonhole; he had a fine suite of rooms in a good street, kept three men and as many horses. He was not old, but what is called 'a man in the prime of life'—between th irty-five an d forty. But he did not care to talk ^Phis age, not from petty vanity, but from a sort of deliberate calculation, as though with an idea of insuring his life on the easiest terms. Any way there was no sign in his manner of concealing his age, of any frivolous pretensions to pleasing the fair sex.
He was a tall, well-made man, with large regular features and a swarthy complexion, a smooth graceful carriage, and dignified but agreeable manners—one of those men who arejjenerally described by the term bel homme.
!is face, too, showed dignity—that is, the power of controlling himself and not allowing his face to be the reflection ^gf his feelings. He was of the opinion that this was improper both for his own sake, and for other people's, and behaved himself in public accordingly. Yet one could not call his face wooden; no, it was only tranquil. Sometimes he showed the traces of fatigue—doubtless from overwork. He was known to be both a man of business and a busy man. He always dressed carefully, even stylishly, but only within the limits of good taste ; his linen was unexceptionable; bis hands were plump and white, with long transparent finger-nails.
- One morning, when he had just waked up and rung his
bell, his man brought him in three letters together with the
tea, and informed him further of the arrival of a young
gentleman, who called himself Alexandr Fedoritch Adouev,
j and him—Piotr Ivanitch—uncle, and had promised to call
L-at-JLW?ly_ e _ o'clock. * Piotr Ivanitch listened tranquilly after
/
his wont to this piece of news, only pricking up his ears, and raising his eyebrows a little.
' Good, you can go,' he said to the servant.
Then he took one letter, and was about to break it open,
when he paused and reflected.
, -'A nephew from the country—what a surprise!' he
muttered;.'and I had hoped they had forgotten me in
those regions. Well, why should I trouble myself about
him ? I will get rid of him.'
He rang again. .' 'Tell that gentleman when he comes, that I set off 'directly I was up for my works, and shall be back in three /months.'
' Yes, sir,' said the servant, ' and what shall I do with the presents ? '
' With what presents ? '
' A man brought them: the mistress, he says, sent them as presents from the country.'
