more, but as soon as ever one observed the
fresh, extraordinarily tender, and almost wrinkleless face, as well
as, most of all, the lively, cheerful sparkle of the large eyes, one
involuntarily took her for less. Her eyes were black and very frank, her
lips thin and slightly severe, her nose regular and slightly inclined to
the left, and her hands ringless, large, and almost like those of a man,
but with finely tapering fingers. She wore a dark-blue dress fastened
to the throat and sitting closely to her firm, still youthful waist--a
waist which she evidently pinched. Lastly, she held herself very
upright, and was knitting a garment of some kind. As soon as I stepped
on to the verandah she took me by the hand, drew me to her as though
wishing to scrutinise me more closely, and said, as she gazed at me with
the same cold, candid glance as her son's, that she had long known me
by report from Dimitri, and that therefore, in order to make my
acquaintance thoroughly, she had invited me to stay these twenty-four
hours in her house.

"Do just as you please here," she said, "and stand on no ceremony
whatever with us, even as we shall stand on none with you. Pray walk,
read, listen, or sleep as the mood may take you."

Sophia Ivanovna was an old maid and the Princess's younger sister,
though she looked the elder of the two. She had that exceedingly
overstuffed appearance which old maids always present who are short
of stature but wear corsets. It seemed as though her healthiness had
shifted upwards to the point of choking her, her short, fat hands
would not meet below her projecting bust, and the line of her waist was
scarcely visible at all.

Notwithstanding that the Princess Maria Ivanovna had black hair and
eyes, while Sophia Ivanovna had white hair and large, vivacious,
tranquilly blue eyes (a rare combination), there was a great likeness
between the two sisters, for they had the same expression, nose, and
lips. The only difference was that Sophia's nose and lips were a trifle
coarser than Maria's, and that, when she smiled, those features inclined
towards the right, whereas Maria's inclined towards the left. Sophia, to
judge by her dress and coiffure, was still youthful at heart, and would
never have displayed grey curls, even if she had possessed them. Yet at
first her glance and bearing towards me seemed very proud, and made me
nervous, whereas I at once felt at home with the Princess. Perhaps it
was only Sophia's sto