It seems to Lopukhóf that you are a wonderful girl. So it is; but it is not wonderful that it seems to him so, because he has fallen in love with you! And there is nothing wonderful in the fact that he loves you; it is quite possible to love you; and if he loves you, then it must seem to him that you are wonderful.
VI
During the time of the first quadrille Marya Alekséyevna was continually dogging her daughter and the tutor; but during the second quadrille she did not show herself near them, but was busy in her capacity as hostess in the preparation of the supper. After her preparations were made she asked for the tutor, but the tutor was gone.
Two days later the tutor came to give his lesson. The samovar (tea-urn) was placed on the table, and Matrióna came to call Feódor. While he was giving the boy his lesson, he was interrupted by Marya Alekséyevna entering the room. The tutor preferred to remain in his place, because it was not his custom to drink tea with them, and besides, he was going to look over Feódor’s copybook; but Marya Alekséyevna asked him to come in because she wanted to have a talk with him; so he went and sat down at the tea-table.
Marya Alekséyevna began to ask him about Feódor’s capacity, about the best gymnasium for him, and whether it would not be better to place the boy in the gymnasium boardinghouse. These questions were very natural, but were they not made too soon? During this conversation she so sincerely and politely begged the tutor to take tea with them, that Lopukhóf concluded to break his rule; he took the glass. Viérotchka did not make her appearance for some time. At last she came in; she and the tutor bowed to each other as though there were nothing between them, and Marya Alekséyevna continued to speak about Feódor; then abruptly she turned the conversation to the tutor himself. She asked him who he was, what he was, what relations he had, whether they were rich, how he lived, and how he intended to live. The tutor answered laconically and indefinitely, that he had relatives, that they lived in the provinces, that they were not very well-to-do, that he supported himself by giving lessons, that he intended to practise medicine in Petersburg; in a word, Marya Alekséyevna gained very little information from what he said. Determining to break through his reserve, Marya Alekséyevna went at the matter more directly.
“Now you say that you intend to practise medicine here, and, thank God, the city doctors are able to make a living! Have you thought yet of setting up a family?—I mean, have you found a girl yet?”
What does she mean? The tutor had almost forgotten about his ideal bride, and he had it on his lips to say, “I have no one in view as yet”; but he suddenly remembered. Akh! of course she overheard! It put him into a ridiculous dilemma. What a piece of work I made of it! Why did I make up such an allegory when it wasn’t in the least necessary? Nu vot! go to! they say that it’s dangerous to take part in a propaganda; now here, how my propaganda influenced Viéra Pavlovna, though her heart is pure and disposed to no ill. Nu! she must have overheard and understood; but what business is that of mine? “Yes, I have a girl in view!”
“Are you engaged to her yet?”
“I am.”
“Are you formally engaged, or is it only a tacit understanding between you?”
“We are formally engaged.”
Poor Marya Alekséyevna! She had caught the words, “my bride,” “your bride,” “I love her very much,” “she is a beauty,” and her solicitude lest the tutor were flirting with her daughter was allayed; and so during the second quadrille she was able entirely to put her mind on the care of preparing the supper. But she wanted to hear the details of this reassuring story more circumstantially and particularly. She kept on with her cross-examination. All people like such reassuring conversation; at all events it satisfies curiosity, and one likes to know everything. The tutor gave satisfactory answers, though, according to his wont, they were very brief.
“Is your bride pretty?”
“Uncommonly.”
“Has she a dowry?”
“A very large one.”
“How large?”
“Very large!”
“As much as a hundred thousand?”
“Much more than that.”
“How much more?”
“There’s no use telling that; it is large enough.”
“In cash?”
“Some of it in money.”
“Some of it in estates also?”
“Yes; there’s landed property.”
“Soon?”
“Soon.”
“You mean you are going to be married soon?”
“Yes.”
“That is right, Dmitri Sergéitch; get married before she comes into her property, and so get rid of the crowd of men that’ll be after her money.”
“Perfectly right.”
“How it is that God sent you such good luck, while other men have no such luck at all?”
“It’s so; but almost nobody knows that she is such an heiress.”
“And you found out?”
“I did.”
“How was it you did?”
“To tell the truth, I had long been on the lookout for such a chance, and at last I found it.”
“And you haven’t made any mistake?”
“Certainly not; I’ve seen the documents.”
“Seen ’em yourself?”
“I, myself. That was the first step I took.”
“Was that the way you set about it?”
“Of course; a man who is in his right mind does not take any risks without proofs.”
“That’s true, Dmitri Sergéitch; no one does. What good luck! It must have been in answer to your parents’ prayers.”
“It must be so.”
Marya Alekséyevna had taken a fancy to the tutor from the time when she found that he did not drink up her tea. It was apparent from everything that he was a man of solid character, with a firm basis of sense; he had little to say—so much the better, he was not empty-headed, and whatever he said was to the point—especially in regard to money; but since the
