ow that she was so highly educated, for sleeping
too late for the service, and for not coming downstairs to break
the fast, and they all clasped their hands and exclaimed with perfect
sincerity that she was lovely, wonderful; and she believed it,
laughed, kissed them, gave one a rouble, another three or five
according to their position. She liked being downstairs. Wherever
one looked there were shrines, ikons, little lamps, portraits of
ecclesiastical personages--the place smelt of monks; there was a
rattle of knives in the kitchen, and already a smell of something
savoury, exceedingly appetizing, was pervading all the rooms. The
yellow-painted floors shone, and from the doors narrow rugs with
bright blue stripes ran like little paths to the ikon corner, and
the sunshine was simply pouring in at the windows.

In the dining-room some old women, strangers, were sitting; in
Varvarushka's room, too, there were old women, and with them a deaf
and dumb girl, who seemed abashed about something and kept saying,
"Bli, bli! . . ." Two skinny-looking little girls who had been
brought out of the orphanage for Christmas came up to kiss Anna
Akimovna's hand, and stood before her transfixed with admiration
of her splendid dress; she noticed that one of the girls squinted,
and in the midst of her light-hearted holiday mood she felt a sick
pang at her heart at the thought that young men would despise the
girl, and that she would never marry. In the cook Agafya's room,
five huge peasants in new shirts were sitting round the samovar;
these were not workmen from the factory, but relations of the cook.
Seeing Anna Akimovna, all the peasants jumped up from their seats,
and from regard for decorum, ceased munching, though their mouths
were full. The cook Stepan, in a white cap, with a knife in his
hand, came into the room and gave her his greetings; porters in
high felt boots came in, and they, too, offered their greetings.
The water-carrier peeped in with icicles on his beard, but did not
venture to come in.

Anna Akimovna walked through the rooms followed by her retinue--
the aunt, Varvarushka, Nikandrovna, the sewing-maid Marfa Petrovna,
and the downstairs Masha. Varvarushka--a tall, thin, slender
woman, taller than any one in the house, dressed all in black,
smelling of cypress and coffee--crossed herself in each room
before the ikon, bowing down from the waist. And whenever one looked
at her one was reminded that she had already prepa