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began questioning him about political affairs and news. He seemed to listen attentively to what Prince Vasรญli said, but kept glancing at Princess Mรกrya.

โ€œAnd so they are writing from Potsdam already?โ€ he said, repeating Prince Vasรญliโ€™s last words. Then rising, he suddenly went up to his daughter.

โ€œIs it for visitors youโ€™ve got yourself up like that, eh?โ€ said he. โ€œFine, very fine! You have done up your hair in this new way for the visitors, and before the visitors I tell you that in future you are never to dare to change your way of dress without my consent.โ€

โ€œIt was my fault, mon pรจre,โ€ interceded the little princess, with a blush.

โ€œYou must do as you please,โ€ said Prince Bolkรณnski, bowing to his daughter-in-law, โ€œbut she need not make a fool of herself, sheโ€™s plain enough as it is.โ€

And he sat down again, paying no more attention to his daughter, who was reduced to tears.

โ€œOn the contrary, that coiffure suits the princess very well,โ€ said Prince Vasรญli.

โ€œNow you, young prince, whatโ€™s your name?โ€ said Prince Bolkรณnski, turning to Anatole, โ€œcome here, let us talk and get acquainted.โ€

โ€œNow the fun begins,โ€ thought Anatole, sitting down with a smile beside the old prince.

โ€œWell, my dear boy, I hear youโ€™ve been educated abroad, not taught to read and write by the deacon, like your father and me. Now tell me, my dear boy, are you serving in the Horse Guards?โ€ asked the old man, scrutinizing Anatole closely and intently.

โ€œNo, I have been transferred to the line,โ€ said Anatole, hardly able to restrain his laughter.

โ€œAh! Thatโ€™s a good thing. So, my dear boy, you wish to serve the Tsar and the country? It is wartime. Such a fine fellow must serve. Well, are you off to the front?โ€

โ€œNo, Prince, our regiment has gone to the front, but I am attachedโ โ€Šโ โ€ฆ what is it I am attached to, Papa?โ€ said Anatole, turning to his father with a laugh.

โ€œA splendid soldier, splendid! โ€˜What am I attached to!โ€™ Ha, ha, ha!โ€ laughed Prince Bolkรณnski, and Anatole laughed still louder. Suddenly Prince Bolkรณnski frowned.

โ€œYou may go,โ€ he said to Anatole.

Anatole returned smiling to the ladies.

โ€œAnd so youโ€™ve had him educated abroad, Prince Vasรญli, havenโ€™t you?โ€ said the old prince to Prince Vasรญli.

โ€œI have done my best for him, and I can assure you the education there is much better than ours.โ€

โ€œYes, everything is different nowadays, everything is changed. The ladโ€™s a fine fellow, a fine fellow! Well, come with me now.โ€ He took Prince Vasรญliโ€™s arm and led him to his study. As soon as they were alone together, Prince Vasรญli announced his hopes and wishes to the old prince.

โ€œWell, do you think I shall prevent her, that I canโ€™t part from her?โ€ said the old prince angrily. โ€œWhat an idea! Iโ€™m ready for it tomorrow! Only let me tell you, I want to know my son-in-law better. You know my principlesโ โ€”everything aboveboard! I will ask her tomorrow in your presence; if she is willing, then he can stay on. He can stay and Iโ€™ll see.โ€ The old prince snorted. โ€œLet her marry, itโ€™s all the same to me!โ€ he screamed in the same piercing tone as when parting from his son.

โ€œI will tell you frankly,โ€ said Prince Vasรญli in the tone of a crafty man convinced of the futility of being cunning with so keen-sighted a companion. โ€œYou know, you see right through people. Anatole is no genius, but he is an honest, goodhearted lad; an excellent son or kinsman.โ€

โ€œAll right, all right, weโ€™ll see!โ€

As always happens when women lead lonely lives for any length of time without male society, on Anatoleโ€™s appearance all the three women of Prince Nikolรกy Andrรฉevichโ€™s household felt that their life had not been real till then. Their powers of reasoning, feeling, and observing immediately increased tenfold, and their life, which seemed to have been passed in darkness, was suddenly lit up by a new brightness, full of significance.

Princess Mรกrya grew quite unconscious of her face and coiffure. The handsome open face of the man who might perhaps be her husband absorbed all her attention. He seemed to her kind, brave, determined, manly, and magnanimous. She felt convinced of that. Thousands of dreams of a future family life continually rose in her imagination. She drove them away and tried to conceal them.

โ€œBut am I not too cold with him?โ€ thought the princess. โ€œI try to be reserved because in the depth of my soul I feel too near to him already, but then he cannot know what I think of him and may imagine that I do not like him.โ€

And Princess Mรกrya tried, but could not manage, to be cordial to her new guest. โ€œPoor girl, sheโ€™s devilish ugly!โ€ thought Anatole.

Mademoiselle Bourienne, also roused to great excitement by Anatoleโ€™s arrival, thought in another way. Of course, she, a handsome young woman without any definite position, without relations or even a country, did not intend to devote her life to serving Prince Nikolรกy Andrรฉevich, to reading aloud to him and being friends with Princess Mรกrya. Mademoiselle Bourienne had long been waiting for a Russian prince who, able to appreciate at a glance her superiority to the plain, badly dressed, ungainly Russian princesses, would fall in love with her and carry her off; and here at last was a Russian prince. Mademoiselle Bourienne knew a story, heard from her aunt but finished in her own way, which she liked to repeat to herself. It was the story of a girl who had been seduced, and to whom her poor mother (sa pauvre mรจre) appeared, and reproached her for yielding to a man without being married. Mademoiselle Bourienne was often touched to tears as in imagination she told this story to him, her seducer. And now he, a real Russian prince, had appeared. He would carry her away and then sa pauvre mรจre would appear and he would marry her. So her future shaped itself in Mademoiselle Bourienneโ€™s head at

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