haping itself! Two years ago I was still a
student, I was living in cheap furnished rooms, without money,
without relations, and, as I fancied then, with nothing to look
forward to. Now I am a teacher in the high school in one of the
best provincial towns, with a secure income, loved, spoiled. It is
for my sake, I thought, this crowd is collected, for my sake three
candelabra have been lighted, the deacon is booming, the choir is
doing its best; and it's for my sake that this young creature, whom
I soon shall call my wife, is so young, so elegant, and so joyful.
I recalled our first meetings, our rides into the country, my
declaration of love and the weather, which, as though expressly,
was so exquisitely fine all the summer; and the happiness which at
one time in my old rooms seemed to me possible only in novels and
stories, I was now experiencing in reality--I was now, as it were,
holding it in my hands.

"After the ceremony they all crowded in disorder round Masha and
me, expressed their genuine pleasure, congratulated us and wished
us joy. The brigadier-general, an old man of seventy, confined
himself to congratulating Masha, and said to her in a squeaky, aged
voice, so loud that it could be heard all over the church:

"'I hope that even after you are married you may remain the rose
you are now, my dear.'

"The officers, the director, and all the teachers smiled from
politeness, and I was conscious of an agreeable artificial smile
on my face, too. Dear Ippolit Ippolititch, the teacher of history
and geography, who always says what every one has heard before,
pressed my hand warmly and said with feeling:

"'Hitherto you have been unmarried and have lived alone, and now
you are married and no longer single.'

"From the church we went to a two-storied house which I am receiving
as part of the dowry. Besides that house Masha is bringing me twenty
thousand roubles, as well as a piece of waste land with a shanty
on it, where I am told there are numbers of hens and ducks which
are not looked after and are turning wild. When I got home from the
church, I stretched myself at full length on the low sofa in my new
study and began to smoke; I felt snug, cosy, and comfortable, as I
never had in my life before. And meanwhile the wedding party were
shouting 'Hurrah!' while a wretched band in the hall played flourishes
and all sorts of trash. Varya, Masha's sister, ran into the study
with a wineglass in her hand, and with a