endure Kalitin, and directly her niece married him, she removed to her little property, where for ten whole years she lived in a smoky peasants' hut. Marya Dmitrievna was a little afraid of her. A little sharp-nosed woman with black hair and keen eyes even in her old age, Marfa Timofyevna walked briskly, held herself upright and spoke quickly and clearly in a sharp ringing voice. She always wore a white cap and a white dressing-jacket.
'What's the matter with you?' she asked Marya Dmitrievna suddenly. 'What are you sighing about, pray?'
'Nothing,' answered the latter. 'What exquisite clouds!'
'You feel sorry for them, eh?'
Marya Dmitrievna made no reply.
'Why is it Gedeonovsky does not come?' observed Marfa Timofyevna, moving her knitting needles quickly. (She was knitting a large woolen scarf.) 'He would have sighed with you—or at least he'd have had some fib to tell you.'
'How hard you always are on him! Sergei Petrovitch is a worthy man.'
'Worthy!' repeated the old lady scornfully.
'And how devoted he was to my poor husband!' observed Marya Dmitrievna; 'even now he cannot speak of him without emotion.'
'And no wonder! It was he who picked him out of the gutter,' muttered Marfa Timofyevna, and her knitting needles moved faster than ever.
'He looks so meek and mild,' she began again, 'with his grey head, but he no sooner opens his mouth than out comes a lie or a slander. And to think of his having the rank of a councillor! To be sure, though, he's only a village priest's son.'
'Every one has faults, auntie; that is his weak point, no doubt. Sergei Petrovitch has had no education: of course he does not speak French, still, say what you like, he is an agreeable man.'
'Yes, he is always ready to kiss your hands. He does not speak French—that's no great loss. I am not over strong in the French lingo myself. It would be better if he could not speak at all; he would not tell lies then. But here he is—speak of the devil,' added Marfa Timofyevna looking into the street. 'Here comes your agreeable man striding along. What a lanky creature he is, just like a stork!'
Marya Dmitrievna began to arrange her curls. Marfa Timofyevna looked at her ironically.
'What's that, not a grey hair surely? You must speak to your Palashka, what can she be thinking about?'
'Really, auntie, you are always so...' muttered Marya Dmitrievna in a tone of vexation, drumming on the arm of her chair with her finger-tips.
'Sergei Petrovitch Gedeonovsky!' was announced in a shrill piping voice, by a rosy-cheeked little page who made his appearance at the door.
Chapter II
A tall man entered, wearing a tidy overcoat, rather short trousers, grey doeskin gloves, and two neckties—a black one outside, and a white one below it. There was an air of decorum and propriety in everything about him, from his prosperous countenance and smoothly brushed hair, to his low-heeled, noiseless boots. He bowed first to the lady of the house, then to Marfa Timofyevna, and slowly drawing off his gloves, he advanced to take Marya Dmitrievna's hand. After kissing it respectfully twice he seated himself with deliberation in an arm-chair, and rubbing the very tips of his fingers together, he observed with a smile—
'And is Elisaveta Mihalovna quite well?'
'Yes,' replied Marya Dmitrievna, 'she's in the garden.'
'And Elena Mihalovna?'
'Lenotchka's in the garden too. Is there no news?'
'There is indeed!' replied the visitor, slowly blinking his eyes and pursing up his mouth. 'Hm!... yes, indeed, there is a piece of news, and very surprising news too. Lavretsky—Fedor Ivanitch is here.'
'Fedya!' cried Marfa Timofyevna. 'Are you sure you are not romancing, my good man?'
'No, indeed, I saw him myself.'
'Well, that does not prove it.'
'Fedor Ivanitch looked much more robust,' continued Gedeonovsky, affecting not to have heard Marfa Timofyevna's last remark. 'Fedor Ivanitch is broader and has quite a colour.'
'He looked more robust,' said Marya Dmitrievna, dwelling on each syllable. 'I should have thought he had little enough to make him look robust.'
'Yes, indeed,' observed Gedeonovsky; 'any other man in Fedor Ivanitch's position would have hesitated to appear in society.'
'Why so, pray?' interposed Marfa Timofyevna. 'What nonsense are you talking! The man's come back to his home—where would you have him go? And has he been to blame, I should like to know!'
'The husband is always to blame, madam, I venture to assure you, when a wife misconducts herself.'
'You say that, my good sir, because you have never been married yourself.' Gedeonovsky listened with a forced smile.
'If I may be so inquisitive,' he asked, after a short pause, 'for whom is that pretty scarf intended?'
Marfa Timofyevna gave him a sharp look.
'It's intended,' she replied, 'for a man who does not talk scandal, nor play the hypocrite, nor tell lies, if there's such a man to be found in the world. I know Fedya well; he was only to blame in being too good to his wife. To be sure, he married for love, and no good ever comes of those love-matches,' added the old lady, with a sidelong glance at Marya Dmitrievna, as she got up from her place. 'And now, my good sir, you may attack any one you like, even me if you choose; I'm going. I will not hinder you.' And Marfa Timofyevna walked away.
'That's always how she is,' said Marya Dmitrievna, following her aunt with her eyes.
'We must remember your aunt's age...there's no help for it,' replied Gedeonovsky. 'She spoke of a man not playing the hypocrite. But who is not hypocritical nowadays? It's the age we live in. One of my friends, a most worthy man, and, I assure you, a man of no mean position, used to say, that nowadays the very hens can't pick up a grain of corn without hypocrisy—they always approach it from one side. But when I look at you, dear lady—your character is so truly angelic; let me kiss your little snow-white hand!'
Marya Dmitrievna with a faint smile held out her plump hand to him with the little finger held apart from the rest. He pressed his lips to it, and she drew her chair nearer to him, and bending a little towards him, asked in an undertone—
'So you saw him? Was he really—all right—quite well and cheerful?'
'Yes, he was well and cheerful,' replied Gedeonovsky in a whisper.
'You haven't heard where his wife is now?'
'She was lately in Paris; now, they say, she has gone away to Italy.'
'It is terrible, indeed—Fedya's position; I wonder how he can bear it. Every one, of course, has trouble; but he, one may say, has been made the talk of all Europe.'
Gedeonovsky sighed.
'Yes, indeed, yes, indeed. They do say, you know that she associates with artists and musicians, and as the saying is, with strange creatures of all kinds. She has lost all sense of shame completely.'
'I am deeply, deeply grieved.' said Marya Dmitrievna. 'On account of our relationship. You know, Sergei Petrovitch, he's my cousin many times removed.'
'Of course, of course. Don't I know everything that concerns your family? I should hope so, indeed.'
'Will he come to see us—what do you think?'
'One would suppose so; though, they say, he is intending to go home to his country place.'
Mary Dmitrievna lifted her eyes to heaven.
'Ah, Sergei Petrovitch, Sergei Petrovitch, when I think how careful we women ought to be in our conduct!'
