tall birches and poplars that lay bathed in the
moonlight; there must have been a dance in the place. Summer visitors
and townspeople, who used to come out here by train in fine weather
for a breath of fresh air, were parading up and down on the platform.
Among them was the wealthy owner of all the summer villas--a tall,
stout, dark man called Artynov. He had prominent eyes and looked
like an Armenian. He wore a strange costume; his shirt was unbuttoned,
showing his chest; he wore high boots with spurs, and a black cloak
hung from his shoulders and dragged on the ground like a train. Two
boar-hounds followed him with their sharp noses to the ground.

Tears were still shining in Anna's eyes, but she was not thinking
now of her mother, nor of money, nor of her marriage; but shaking
hands with schoolboys and officers she knew, she laughed gaily and
said quickly:

"How do you do? How are you?"

She went out on to the platform between the carriages into the
moonlight, and stood so that they could all see her in her new
splendid dress and hat.

"Why are we stopping here?" she asked.

"This is a junction. They are waiting for the mail train to pass."

Seeing that Artynov was looking at her, she screwed up her eyes
coquettishly and began talking aloud in French; and because her
voice sounded so pleasant, and because she heard music and the moon
was reflected in the pond, and because Artynov, the notorious Don
Juan and spoiled child of fortune, was looking at her eagerly and
with curiosity, and because every one was in good spirits--she
suddenly felt joyful, and when the train started and the officers
of her acquaintance saluted her, she was humming the polka the
strains of which reached her from the military band playing beyond
the trees; and she returned to her compartment feeling as though
it had been proved to her at the station that she would certainly
be happy in spite of everything.

The happy pair spent two days at the monastery, then went back to
town. They lived in a rent-free flat. When Modest Alexevitch had
gone to the office, Anna played the piano, or shed tears of depression,
or lay down on a couch and read novels or looked through fashion
papers. At dinner Modest Alexevitch ate a great deal and talked
about politics, about appointments, transfers, and promotions in
the service, about the necessity of hard work, and said that, family
life not being a pleasure but a duty, if you took care of the kopecks
t