But as time went on, he saw more and more distinctly that however

natural the position now seemed to him, he would not long be

allowed to remain in it. He felt that besides the blessed

spiritual force controlling his soul, there was another, a brutal

force, as powerful, or more powerful, which controlled his life,

and that this force would not allow him that humble peace he

longed for. He felt that everyone was looking at him with

inquiring wonder, that he was not understood, and that something

was expected of him. Above all, he felt the instability and

unnaturalness of his relations with his wife.

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When the softening effect of the near approach of death had

passed away, Alexey Alexandrovitch began to notice that Anna was

afraid of him, ill at ease with him, and could not look him

straight in the face. She seemed to be wanting, and not daring,

to tell him something; and as though foreseeing their present

relations could not continue, she seemed to be expecting

something from him.

Towards the end of February it happened that Anna's baby

daughter, who had been named Anna too, fell ill. Alexey

Alexandrovitch was in the nursery in the morning, and leaving

orders for the doctor to be sent for, he went to his office. On

finishing his work, he returned home at four. Going into the

hall he saw a handsome groom, in a braided livery and a bear fur

cape, holding a white fur cloak.

"Who is here?" asked Alexey Alexandrovitch.

"Princess Elizaveta Federovna Tverskaya," the groom answered, and

it seemed to Alexey Alexandrovitch that he grinned.

During all this difficult time Alexey Alexandrovitch had noticed

that his worldly acquaintances, especially women, took a peculiar

interest in him and his wife. All these acquaintances he

observed with difficulty concealing their mirth at something; the

same mirth that he had perceived in the lawyer's eyes, and just

now in the eyes of this groom. Everyone seemed, somehow, hugely

delighted, as though they had just been at a wedding. When they

met him, with ill-disguised enjoyment they inquired after his

wife's health. The presence of Princess Tverskaya was unpleasant

to Alexey Alexandrovitch from the memories associated with her,

and also because he disliked her, and he went straight to the

nursery. In the day nursery Seryozha, leaning on the table with

his legs on a chair, was drawing and chatting away merrily. The

English governess, who had during Anna's illness replaced the

French one, was sitting near the boy knitting a shawl. She

hurriedly got up, curtseyed, and pulled Seryozha.

Alexey Alexandrovitch stroked his son's hair, answered the

governess's inquiries about his wife, and asked what the doctor

had said of the baby.




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