man himself, just as
though he saw nothing and didn't care. This made Liza furious. The young
man soon went away (he was in a great hurry to get somewhere) and
Liza took to picking quarrels with Nikolay Vsyevolodovitch at every
opportunity. She noticed that he used sometimes to talk to Dasha; and,
well, she got in such a frantic state that even my life wasn't worth
living, my dear. The doctors have forbidden my being irritated, and I
was so sick of their lake they make such a fuss about, it simply gave me
toothache, I had such rheumatism. It's stated in print that the Lake of
Geneva does give people the toothache. It's a feature of the place. Then
Nikolay Vsyevolodovitch suddenly got a letter from the countess and he
left us at once. He packed up in one day. They parted in a friendly way,
and Liza became very cheerful and frivolous, and laughed a great deal
seeing him off; only that was all put on. When he had gone she became
very thoughtful, and she gave up speaking of him altogether and wouldn't
let me mention his name. And I should advise you, dear Varvara Petrovna,
not to approach the subject with Liza, you'll only do harm. But if you
hold your tongue she'll begin to talk of it herself, and then you'll
learn more. I believe they'll come together again, if only Nikolay
Vsyevolodovitch doesn't put off coming, as he promised."

"I'll write to him at once. If that's how it was, there was nothing in
the quarrel; all nonsense! And I know Darya too well. It's nonsense!"

"I'm sorry for what I said about Dashenka, I did wrong. Their
conversations were quite ordinary and they talked out loud, too. But it
all upset me so much at the time, my dear. And Liza, I saw, got on with
her again as affectionately as before...."

That very day Varvara Petrovna wrote to Nikolay, and begged him to come,
if only one month, earlier than the date he had fixed. But yet she still
felt that there was something unexplained and obscure in the matter.
She pondered over it all the evening and all night. Praskovya's opinion
seemed to her too innocent and sentimental. "Praskovya has always
been too sentimental from the old schooldays upwards," she reflected.
"Nicolas is not the man to run away from a girl's taunts. There's some
other reason for it, if there really has been a breach between them.
That officer's here though, they've brought him with them. As a relation
he lives in their house. And, as for Darya, Praskovya was in too much
haste to apo