the dogs were lying panting in the sun, while others were slinking under
the vehicles to lick the grease from the wheels. The air was filled with
a sort of dusty mist, and the horizon was lilac-grey in colour, though
no clouds were to be seen, A strong wind from the south was raising
volumes of dust from the roads and fields, shaking the poplars and
birch-trees in the garden, and whirling their yellow leaves away. I
myself was sitting at a window and waiting impatiently for these various
preparations to come to an end.
As we sat together by the drawing-room table, to pass the last few
moments en famille, it never occurred to me that a sad moment was
impending. On the contrary, the most trivial thoughts were filling my
brain. Which driver was going to drive the carriage and which the cart?
Which of us would sit with Papa, and which with Karl Ivanitch? Why must
I be kept forever muffled up in a scarf and padded boots?
'Am I so delicate? Am I likely to be frozen?' I thought to myself.
'I wish it would all come to an end, and we could take our seats and
start.'
'To whom shall I give the list of the children's linen?' asked Natalia
Savishna of Mamma as she entered the room with a paper in her hand and
her eyes red with weeping.
'Give it to Nicola, and then return to say good-bye to them,' replied
Mamma. The old woman seemed about to say something more, but suddenly
stopped short, covered her face with her handkerchief, and left the
room. Something seemed to prick at my heart when I saw that gesture of
hers, but impatience to be off soon drowned all other feeling, and
I continued to listen indifferently to Papa and Mamma as they talked
together. They were discussing subjects which evidently interested
neither of them. What must be bought for the house? What would Princess
Sophia or Madame Julie say? Would the roads be good?--and so forth.
Foka entered, and in the same tone and with the same air as though he
were announcing luncheon said, 'The carriages are ready.' I saw Mamma
tremble and turn pale at the announcement, just as though it were
something unexpected.
Next, Foka was ordered to shut all the doors of the room. This amused
me highly. As though we needed to be concealed from some one! When
every one else was seated, Foka took the last remaining chair. Scarcely,
however, had he done so when the door creaked and every one looked that
way. Natalia Savishna entered hastily, and, without raising her eyes,
sat own on the same chair as Foka. I can see them before me now-Foka's
bald head and wrinkled, set face, and, beside him, a bent, kind figure
in a cap from beneath which a few grey hairs were straggling. The pair
settled themselves together on the chair, but neither of them looked
comfortable.
I continued preoccupied and impatient. In fact, the ten minutes during
which we sat there with closed doors seemed to me an hour. At last every
one rose, made the sign of the cross, and began to say good-bye. Papa
embraced Mamma, and kissed her again and again.
'But enough,' he said presently. 'We are not parting for ever.'
'No, but it is-so-so sad!' replied Mamma, her voice trembling with
emotion.
When I heard that faltering voice, and saw those quivering lips and
tear-filled eyes, I forgot everything else in the world. I felt so ill
and miserable that I would gladly have run away rather than bid
her farewell. I felt, too, that when she was embracing Papa she was
embracing us all. She clasped Woloda to her several times, and made the
