nds, ecstatically preparing
herself to listen to a conversation in French. Varvara Petrovna stared
at her almost in dismay.

We all sat in silence, waiting to see how it would end. Shatov did not
lift up his head, and Stepan Trofimovitch was overwhelmed with confusion
as though it were all his fault; the perspiration stood out on his
temples. I glanced at Liza (she was sitting in the corner almost beside
Shatov). Her eyes darted keenly from Varvara Petrovna to the cripple and
back again; her lips were drawn into a smile, but not a pleasant
one. Varvara Petrovna saw that smile. Meanwhile Marya Timofyevna was
absolutely transported. With evident enjoyment and without a trace
of embarrassment she stared at Varvara Petrovna's beautiful
drawing-room--the furniture, the carpets, the pictures on the walls, the
old-fashioned painted ceiling, the great bronze crucifix in the corner,
the china lamp, the albums, the objects on the table.

"And you're here, too, Shatushka!" she cried suddenly. "Only fancy, I
saw you a long time ago, but I thought it couldn't be you! How could you
come here!" And she laughed gaily.

"You know this woman?" said Varvara Petrovna, turning to him at once.

"I know her," muttered Shatov. He seemed about to move from his chair,
but remained sitting.

"What do you know of her? Make haste, please!"

"Oh, well..." he stammered with an incongruous smile. "You see for
yourself...."

"What do I see? Come now, say something!"

"She lives in the same house as I do... with her brother... an officer."

"Well?"

Shatov stammered again.

"It's not worth talking about..." he muttered, and relapsed into
determined silence. He positively flushed with determination.

"Of course one can expect nothing else from you," said Varvara Petrovna
indignantly. It was clear to her now that they all knew something and,
at the same time, that they were all scared, that they were evading her
questions, and anxious to keep something from her.

The footman came in and brought her, on a little silver tray, the cup of
coffee she had so specially ordered, but at a sign from her moved with
it at once towards Marya Timofyevna.

"You were very cold just now, my dear; make haste and drink it and get
warm."

_"Merci."_

Marya Timofyevna took the cup and at once went off into a giggle
at having said _merci_ to the footman. But meeting Varvara Petrovna's
reproving eyes, she was overcome with shyness and put the cup on the
ta