t how glad I am to see you! I have been dreaming about you the whole
night, the whole night, and I was afraid you must be ill. Ah! if you
only knew how sweet you are! You have come in the nick of time! You will
be my salvation! You are the only person who can save me! There is to be
a most original wedding here tomorrow," she went on, laughing, and tying
her husband's cravat. "A young telegraph clerk at the station, called
Tchikeldyeev, is going to be married. He is a handsome young man
and--well, not stupid, and you know there is something strong, bearlike
in his face... you might paint him as a young Norman. We summer visitors
take a great interest in him, and have promised to be at his wedding....
He is a lonely, timid man, not well off, and of course it would be a
shame not to be sympathetic to him. Fancy! the wedding will be after
the service; then we shall all walk from the church to the bride's
lodgings... you see the wood, the birds singing, patches of sunlight on
the grass, and all of us spots of different colours against the
bright green background--very original, in the style of the French
impressionists. But, Dymov, what am I to go to the church in?" said
Olga Ivanovna, and she looked as though she were going to cry. "I have
nothing here, literally nothing! no dress, no flowers, no gloves... you
must save me. Since you have come, fate itself bids you save me. Take
the keys, my precious, go home and get my pink dress from the wardrobe.
You remember it; it hangs in front.... Then, in the storeroom, on the
floor, on the right side, you will see two cardboard boxes. When you
open the top one you will see tulle, heaps of tulle and rags of all
sorts, and under them flowers. Take out all the flowers carefully, try
not to crush them, darling; I will choose among them later.... And buy
me some gloves."

"Very well," said Dymov; "I will go tomorrow and send them to you."

"Tomorrow?" asked Olga Ivanovna, and she looked at him surprised. "You
won't have time tomorrow. The first train goes tomorrow at nine, and the
wedding's at eleven. No, darling, it must be today; it absolutely
must be today. If you won't be able to come tomorrow, send them by a
messenger. Come, you must run along.... The passenger train will be in
directly; don't miss it, darling."

"Very well."

"Oh, how sorry I am to let you go!" said Olga Ivanovna, and tears came
into her eyes. "And why did I promise that telegraph clerk, like a
silly?"

Dym