uest and of a dependant. He
was very polite and obliging, full of sensibility and secretly given to
sensuality, he had a pleasant voice, played well on the piano, and had
the habit of gazing intently into the eyes of any one he was speaking
to. He dressed very neatly, and wore his clothes a very long time,
shaved his broad chin carefully, and arranged his hair curl by curl.

Alexandra Pavlovna heard his speech to the end and turned to her
brother.

'I keep meeting people to-day; I have just been talking to Lezhnyov.'

'Oh, Lezhnyov! was he driving somewhere?'

'Yes, and fancy; he was in a racing droshky, and dressed in a kind of
linen sack, all covered with dust.... What a queer creature he is!'

'Perhaps so; but he's a capital fellow.'

'Who? Mr. Lezhnyov?' inquired Pandalevsky, as though he were surprised.

'Yes, Mihailo Mihailitch Lezhnyov,' replied Volintsev. 'Well, good-bye;
it's time I was off to the field; they are sowing your buckwheat. Mr.
Pandalevsky will escort you home.' And Volintsev rode off at a trot.

'With the greatest of pleasure!' cried Konstantin Diomiditch, offering
Alexandra Pavlovna his arm.

She took it and they both turned along the path to her house.

Walking with Alexandra Pavlovna on his arm seemed to afford Konstantin
Diomiditch great delight; he moved with little steps, smiling, and his
Oriental eyes were even be-dimmed by a slight moisture, though this
indeed was no rare occurrence with them; it did not mean much for
Konstantin Diomiditch to be moved and dissolve into tears. And who would
not have been pleased to have on his arm a pretty, young and graceful
woman? Of Alexandra Pavlovna the whole of her district was unanimous
in declaring that she was charming, and the district was not wrong. Her
straight, ever so slightly tilted nose would have been enough alone
to drive any man out of his senses, to say nothing of her velvety dark
eyes, her golden brown hair, the dimples in her smoothly curved cheeks,
and her other beauties. But best of all was the sweet expression of her
face; confiding, good and gentle, it touched and attracted at the same
time. Alexandra Pavlovna had the glance and the smile of a child; other
ladies found her a little simple.... Could one wish for anything more?

'Darya Mihailovna sent you to me, did you say?' she asked Pandalevsky.

'Yes; she sent me,' he answered, pronouncing the letter _s_ like the
English _th_. 'She particularly wishes and told me to be