she was very much excited, that her heart
was heavier than ever before, that she would spend all the time
till she went away in misery and agonizing thought; but she had
hardly gone upstairs and lain down on her bed when she fell asleep
at once, with traces of tears and a smile on her face, and slept
soundly till evening.

V

A cab had been sent for. Nadya in her hat and overcoat went upstairs
to take one more look at her mother, at all her belongings. She
stood in her own room beside her still warm bed, looked about her,
then went slowly in to her mother. Nina Ivanovna was asleep; it was
quite still in her room. Nadya kissed her mother, smoothed her hair,
stood still for a couple of minutes . . . then walked slowly
downstairs.

It was raining heavily. The cabman with the hood pulled down was
standing at the entrance, drenched with rain.

"There is not room for you, Nadya," said Granny, as the servants
began putting in the luggage. "What an idea to see him off in such
weather! You had better stop at home. Goodness, how it rains!"

Nadya tried to say something, but could not. Then Sasha helped Nadya
in and covered her feet with a rug. Then he sat down beside her.

"Good luck to you! God bless you!" Granny cried from the steps.
"Mind you write to us from Moscow, Sasha!"

"Right. Good-bye, Granny."

"The Queen of Heaven keep you!"

"Oh, what weather!" said Sasha.

It was only now that Nadya began to cry. Now it was clear to her
that she certainly was going, which she had not really believed
when she was saying good-bye to Granny, and when she was looking
at her mother. Good-bye, town! And she suddenly thought of it all:
Andrey, and his father and the new house and the naked lady with
the vase; and it all no longer frightened her, nor weighed upon
her, but was naive and trivial and continually retreated further
away. And when they got into the railway carriage and the train
began to move, all that past which had been so big and serious
shrank up into something tiny, and a vast wide future which till
then had scarcely been noticed began unfolding before her. The rain
pattered on the carriage windows, nothing could be seen but the
green fields, telegraph posts with birds sitting on the wires flitted
by, and joy made her hold her breath; she thought that she was going
to freedom, going to study, and this was just like what used, ages
ago, to be called going off to be a free Cossack.

She laughed and cried and