It was late—that is, according to country customs—when the lady awoke again. Her husband was snoring more loudly than ever. She recollected that he had come home at four o’clock, and not wishing to awaken him, got up alone, and put on her slippers, which her husband had had sent for her from St. Petersburg, and a white dressing-gown which fell about her like the waters of a fountain. Then she passed into her dressing-room, and after washing in water as fresh as herself, went to her toilet table. She looked at herself twice in the glass, and thought she looked very pretty that morning. This circumstance, a very insignificant one apparently, caused her to stay two hours longer than usual before her glass. She dressed herself very tastefully and went into the garden.
The weather was splendid: it was one of the finest days of the summer. The sun, which had almost reached the meridian, shed its most ardent rays; but a pleasant coolness reigned under the leafy arcades; and the flowers, warmed by the sun, exhaled their sweetest perfume. The pretty mistress of the house had quite forgotten that it was noon at least, and that her husband was still asleep. Already she heard the snores of two coachmen and a groom, who were taking their siesta in the stable, after having dined copiously. But she was still sitting in a bower from which the deserted high road could be seen, when all at once her attention was caught by a light cloud of dust rising in the distance. After looking at it for some moments, she ended by making out several vehicles, closely following one another. First came a light calash, with two places, in which was the general, wearing his large and glittering epaulettes, with the colonel. This was followed by another with four places, containing the captain, the aide-de-camp and two lieutenants. Further on, came the celebrated regimental vehicle, the present owner of which was the major, and behind that another in which were packed five officers, one on his comrade’s knees, the procession being closed by three more on three fine bays.
“Are they coming here?” thought the mistress of the house. “Good heavens, yes! they are leaving the main road.”
She gave a cry, clasped her hands, and ran straight across the flowerbeds to her bedroom, where her husband was still sleeping soundly.
“Get up! get up! get up at once,” she cried, pulling him by the arm.
“What—what’s the matter?” murmured Tchertokoutski, stretching his limbs without opening his eyes.
“Get up, get up. Visitors have come, do you hear? visitors.”
“Visitors, what visitors?” After saying these words he uttered a little plaintive grunt like that of a sucking calf: “M-m-m. Let me kiss you.”
“My dear, get up at once, for heaven’s sake. The general has come with all his officers. Ah! goodness, you have got a thistle in your moustache.”
“The general! Has he come already? But why the deuce did not they wake me? And the dinner, is the dinner ready?”
“What dinner?”
“But haven’t I ordered a dinner?”
“A dinner! You got home at four o’clock in the morning and you did not answer a single word to all my questions. I did not wake you, since you had so little sleep.”
Tchertokoutski, his eyes staring out of his head, remained motionless for some moments as though a thunderbolt had struck him. All at once he jumped out of bed in his shirt.
“Idiot that I am,” he exclaimed, clasping his hand to his forehead; “I had invited them to dinner. What is to be done? are they far off?”
“They will be here in a moment.”
“My dear, hide yourself. Ho there, somebody. Hi there, you girl. Come here, you fool; what are you afraid of? The officers are coming here; tell them I am not at home, that I went out early this morning, that I am not coming back. Do you understand? Go and repeat it to all the servants. Be off, quick.”
Having uttered these words, he hurriedly slipped on his dressing-gown, and ran off to shut himself up in the coach-house, which he thought the safest hiding-place. But he fancied that he might be noticed in the corner in which he had taken refuge.
“This will be better,” said he to himself, letting down the steps of the nearest vehicle, which happened to be the calash. He jumped inside, closed the door, and, as a further precaution, covered himself with the leather apron. There he remained, wrapped in his dressing-gown, in a doubled-up position.
During this time the equipages had drawn up before the porch. The general got out of his carriage and shook himself, followed by the colonel, arranging the feathers in his hat. After him came the stout major, his sabre under his arm, and the slim lieutenants, whilst the mounted officers also alighted.
“The master is not at home,” said a servant appearing at the top of a flight of steps.
“What! not at home; but he is coming home for dinner, is he not?”
“No, he is not; he has gone out for the day and will not be back till this time tomorrow.”
“Bless me,” said the general; “but what the deuce—”
“What a joke,” said the colonel laughing.
“No, no, such things are inconceivable,” said the general angrily. “If he could not receive us, why did he invite us?”
“I cannot understand, your excellency, how it is possible to act in such a manner,” observed a young officer.
“What?” said the general, who always made an officer under the rank of captain repeat his remarks twice over.
“I wondered, your excellency, how anyone could do such a thing.”
“Quite so; if anything has happened he ought to have let us know.”
“There is nothing to be done, your excellency, we had better go back home,” said the colonel.
“Certainly, there is nothing to be done. However, we can see the calash without him; probably he has not taken it with
