rried this curious trouble with him
through many a long day, nor cast it wholly off till the world had
changed for him.

On the day after New Year's Ivan returned drearily to the Corps, where,
after a week of aimless dejection, that institute, following its
invariable custom, brought him an unlooked-for blow. It was in the form
of a small packet, bearing the Petersburg mark, which, on opening, he
found to contain a little pearl-studded bracelet, and a note that ran as
follows:

"MY DEAR IVAN MIKHAILOVITCH,--The mother-superior of the Catherine
Institute has forwarded to me a gift and a note designed by you for
your cousin Nathalie.

"I very much regret that you should have made such a mistake as to
think that little girls either receive jewelry from any persons
other than their parents, or, indeed, at my daughter's age, receive
it at all. Nor do the pupils of the Institute accept communications
from any persons but those whose names are upon a list prepared by
the parents of the inmate.

"Wishing you the compliments of the season, and health under the
blessing of your patron saint, accept, my dear nephew, the
considerations of my sincere regard.

"CAROLINE IVANOVNA DRAVIKINE."

Ivan read this short missive till he had it by rote. At each repetition
it struck him as more cutting, more cruel, more unjust. His aunt had
certainly intended a rebuke; but she hardly realized either the
over-sensitiveness of Ivan's nature or the extent of his boyish feeling
for his cousin, whom he concluded to be responsible, by some
unfathomable pique, for his humiliating discomfiture.

As a matter of actual fact, Nathalie had never received either letter or
gift. She, like Ivan, had left her school during Christmas week to spend
the festival with her father and mother. It was not till two days after
the departure of Mademoiselle Dravikine from the institute that the
packet and the letter from Moscow had been placed in the hands of the
mother-superior. That worthy woman, examining the list of her pupil's
correspondents, found upon it but one person from Moscow--Madame la
Princesse Gregoriev, lately deceased, whose name she now took the
opportunity of erasing from the authorized list. This done, it remained
for her to ponder upon the subsequent conclusion of this very unusual
incident. Undoubtedly something must be done, if not with the letter