d."

"An exemplary young man, one may say," observed Gedeonovsky.

Varvara Pavlovna began suddenly playing a noisy waltz of Strauss,
opening with such a loud and rapid trill that Gedeonovsky was quite
startled. In the very middle of the waltz she suddenly passed into a
pathetic motive, and finished up with an air from "Lucia" Fra poco...
She reflected that lively music was not in keeping with her position.
The air from "Lucia," with emphasis on the sentimental passages, moved
Marya Dmitrievna greatly.

"What soul!" she observed in an undertone to Gedeonovsky.

"A sylphide!" repeated Gedeonovsky, raising his eyes towards heaven.

The dinner hour arrived. Marfa Timofyevna came down from up-stairs, when
the soup was already on the table. She treated Varvara Pavlovna very
drily, replied in half-sentences to her civilities, and did not look at
her. Varvara Pavlovna soon realised that there was nothing to be got
out of this old lady, and gave up trying to talk to her. To make up
for this, Marya Dmitrievna became still more cordial to her guest; her
aunt's discourtesy irritated her. Marfa Timofyevna, however, did not
only avoid looking at Varvara Pavlovna; she did not look at Lisa either,
though her eyes seemed literally blazing. She sat as though she were
of stone, yellow and pale, her lips compressed, and ate nothing. Lisa
seemed calm; and in reality, her heart was more at rest, a strange
apathy, the apathy of the condemned had come upon her. At dinner Varvara
Pavlovna spoke little; she seemed to have grown timid again, and her
countenance was overspread with an expression of modest melancholy.
Gedeonovsky alone enlivened the conversation with his tales, though he
constantly looked timorously towards Marfa Timofyevna and coughed--he
was always overtaken by a fit of coughing when he was going to tell a
lie in her presence--but she did not hinder him by any interruption.
After dinner it seemed that Varvara Pavlovna was quite devoted to
preference; at this Marya Dmitrievna was so delighted that she felt
quite overcome, and thought to herself, "Really, what a fool Fedor
Ivanitch must be; not able to appreciate a woman like this!"

She sat down to play cards together with her and Gedeonovsky, and Marfa
Timofyevna led Lisa away up-stairs with her, saying that she looked
shocking, and that she must certainly have a headache.

"Yes, she has an awful headache," observed Marya Dmitrievna, turning to
Varvara Pavlovna and rolling