Madame
Kalitine's chair, and he refused to give up his post to any one. The
apparition of visitors at Vasilievskoe--a sight for so many years
unknown there--both troubled and cheered the old man. It was a
pleasure for him to see that his master was acquainted with persons of
some standing in society.

Anton was not the only person who was agitated that day. Lemm was
excited too. He had put on a shortish snuff-colored coat with pointed
tails, and had tied his cravat tight, he coughed incessantly, and made
way for every one with kindly and affable mien. As for Lavretsky,
he remarked with satisfaction that he remained on the same friendly
footing with Liza as before. As soon as she arrived she cordially held
out her hand to him.

After dinner, Lemm took a small roll of music-paper out of the
tail-pocket of his coat, into which he had been constantly putting his
hand, and silently, with compressed lips, placed it upon the piano.
It contained a romance, which he had written the day before to some
old-fashioned German words, in which mention was made of the stars.
Liza immediately sat down to the piano, and interpreted the romance.
Unfortunately the music turned out to be confused and unpleasantly
constrained. It was evident that the composer had attempted to express
some deep and passionate idea, but no result had been attained. The
attempt remained an attempt, and nothing more. Both Lavretsky and Liza
felt this, and Lemm was conscious of it too. Without saying a word, he
put his romance back into his pocket; and, in reply to Liza's proposal
to play it over again, he merely shook his head, and said, in a tone
of meaning, "For the present--_basta_!" then bent his head, stooped
his shoulders, and left the room.

Towards evening they all went out together to fish. In the little lake
at the end of the garden there were numbers of carp and groundling.
Madame Kalitine had an arm-chair set in the shade for her, near the
edge of the water, and a carpet was spread out under her feet. Anton,
as an old fisherman of great experience, offered her his services.
Zealously did he fasten on the worms, slap them with his hand, and
spit upon them, and then fling the line into the water himself,
gracefully bending forwards the whole of his body. Maria Dmitrievna
had already that day spoken about him to Fedor Ivanovich, using the
following phrase of Institute-French:--"_Il n'y a plus maintenant de
ces gens comme ca autre fois_."

Lemm and