crushed, and only a two-hour exhortation from her husband enabled her to control herself until her son's departure. When at last he was gone she broke down. Vassily Ivanovitch bent his grey head against her grey head. "There's no hope for it," she moaned. "Only I am left you, unchanged for ever, as you for me." -III.--The Duel- The two friends journeyed as far as X---- together. There Arkady left his companion in order to see Katya. Bazaroff, determined to cure himself of his passion for Madame Odintsov, made the rest of the journey alone, and took up his quarters once more in the house of Nicolai Petrovitch. The fact of Arkady's absence did not tend to improve matters between Pavel Petrovitch and Bazaroff. After a week the aristocrat's antipathy passed all bounds. That night he knocked at Bazaroff's door, and, gaining admittance, begged in his most delicate manner for five minutes' conversation. "I want to hear your views on the subject of duelling," he said. Bazaroff, for once, was taken by surprise. "My view is," he said at last, "that I should not, in practice, allow myself to be insulted without demanding satisfaction." "Your words save me from rather a deplorable necessity. I have made up my mind to fight you." Bazaroff opened his eyes wide. "Me?" "Undoubtedly." "What for, pray?" "I cannot endure you; to my idea your presence here is superfluous, I despise you; and if that is not enough for you..." Pavel Petrovitch's eyes glittered.... Bazaroff's, too, were flashing. "Very good," he assented; "no need of further explanations. You've a whim to try your chivalrous spirit upon me. I might refuse you this pleasure, but--so be it!" The details of the duel were arranged there and then, eight paces and two shots each. The following morning they met at the place agreed upon, and, having marked off the ground, they took up their stations. Bazaroff watched Pavel Petrovitch take careful aim.... "He's aiming straight at my nerves," he thought; "and doesn't he blink down it carefully, the ruffian! Not an agreeable sensation, though! I'm going to look at his watch-chain." Something whizzed sharply by his ear, and at the same instant there was the sound of a shot. Bazaroff, without taking aim, pressed the spring. Pavel Petrovitch gave a slight start, and clutched at his thigh. A stream of blood began to trickle down his white trousers. Bazaroff became the doctor at once, and, flinging aside his pistol, fell on his knees beside his late antagonist, and began with professional skill to attend to his wound. At that moment Nicolai Petrovitch drove up. "What does this mean?" he asked, rushing to the side of his brother. "It is nothing," answered Pavel Petrovitch, faintly. "I had a little dispute with Mr. Bazaroff, and I have had to pay for it a little. I am the only person to blame in all this.... Mr. Bazaroff has behaved most honourably." After that incident Bazaroff's stay in the house any longer was an impossibility. He left the same day, calling at Madame Odintsov's house on his way home to see Arkady. He found his friend engaged to Katya and in the seventh heaven of delight. Madame Odintsov would have had him stay. "Why should you not stay now?" she said. "Stay... it's exciting talking to you... one seems walking on the edge of a precipice. At first one feels timid, but one gains courage as one goes on. Do stay." "Thanks for the suggestion," he retorted, "and for your flattering opinion of my conversational talent. But I think I have already been moving too long in a sphere which is not my own. Flying fishes can hold out for a time in the air, but soon they must splash back into the water; allow me, too, to paddle in my own element." Madame Odintsov looked at Bazaroff. His pale face was twitching with a bitter smile. "This man did love me!" she thought, and she felt pity for him, and held out her hand to him with sympathy. He, too, understood her. "No!" he said, stepping back a pace. "I am a poor man, but I have never taken charity so far. Good-bye and good luck to you." "I am certain we are not seeing each other for the last time," she declared, with an unconscious gesture. "Anything may happen!" answered Bazaroff, and he bowed and went away. -IV.--The Passing of Bazaroff- Bazaroff's old parents were all the more overjoyed at their son's arrival, as it was quite unexpected. His mother was greatly excited and his father, touching his neck with his fingers, turned his head round as though he were trying whether it were properly screwed on, and then, all at once, he opened his wide mouth and went off into a perfectly noiseless chuckle. "I've come to you for six whole weeks, governor," Bazaroff said to him. "I want to work, so please don't hinder me now." But though his father and mother almost effaced themselves, scarcely daring to ask him a question, even to discover what he would like for dinner, the fever of work fell away. It was replaced by dreary boredom or vague restlessness. He began to seek the society of his father and to smoke with him in silence. Now and again he even assisted at some of the medical operations which his father conducted as a charity. Once he pulled a tooth out from a pedlar's head, and Vassily Ivanovitch never ceased boasting about the extraordinary feat. One day in a neighbouring village, the news was brought them that a peasant had died of typhus. Three days later Bazaroff came into his father's room and asked him if he had any caustic to burn a cut in his finger. "What sort of a cut? where is it?" "Here, on my finger. I have been dissecting that peasant who died of typhus fever." Vassily Ivanovitch suddenly turned quite white. All that day he watched his son's face stealthily. On the third day Bazaroff could not touch his food. "Have you no appetite? And your head?" he at last asked, timidly; "does it ache?" "Yes, of course it aches." "Don't be angry, please," continued Vassily Ivanovitch. "Won't you let me feel your pulse?" Bazaroff got up. "I can tell you without feeling my pulse," he said. "I am feverish." "Has there been any shivering?" "Yes, there's been shivering, too; I'll go and lie down." Bazaroff did not get up again all day, and passed the whole night in heavy, half-unconscious slumber. At one o'clock in the morning, opening his eyes with an effort, he saw, by the light of a lamp, his father's pale face bending over him, and told him to go away. The old man begged his pardon, but he quickly came back on tiptoe, and, half hidden by the cupboard door, he gazed persistently at his son. His wife did not go to bed either, and, leaving the study door open a very little, she kept coming up to it to listen "how Enyusha was breathing" and to look at Vassily Ivanovitch. She could see nothing but his motionless bent back, but even that afforded her some faint consolation. In the morning Bazaroff spoke to his father in a slow, drowsy voice. "Governor, I am in a bad way; I've got the infection, and in a few days you will have to bury me." Vassily Ivanovitch staggered back as if someone had aimed a blow at his leg. "God have mercy on you! What do you mean? You have only caught a cold. I've sent for the doctor and you'll soon be cured." "Come, that's humbug. I've got the typhus; you can see it in my arm. You told me you'd sent for the doctor. You did that to comfort yourself... comfort me, too; send a messenger to Madame Odintsov; she's a lady with an estate... Do you know?" (Vassily Ivanovitch nodded.) "Yevgeny Bazaroff, say, sends his greetings, and sends word he is dying. Will you do that?" "Yes, I will do it... But it is an impossible thing for you to die... Think only! Where would divine justice be after that?" "I know nothing about that; only you send the messenger." He turned his face painfully to the wall, while Vassily Ivanovitch went out of the study, and, struggling as far as his wife's bedroom, simply dropped down on to his knees before the holy pictures. "Pray, Arina, pray for us," he murmured. "Our son is dying." Bazaroff got worse every hour. He was in the agonies of high fever. His mother and father watched over him, combing his hair and giving him gulps of tea. The old man was tormented by a special anguish. He wished his son to take the sacrament, though, knowing his attitude towards religion, he dared not ask him. At last he could keep back the words no longer. As in a broken voice he begged his son to see a priest, a strange look came over Bazaroff's face. "I won't refuse if that can be any comfort to you, but I'll wait a little." There was the sound of carriage wheels outside. Vassily Ivanovitch rushed to the door. A lady in a black veil and a black mantle, accompanied by a little German doctor in spectacles, got out of the carriage. "I am Madame Odintsov," said the lady. "Your son is still living? I have a doctor with me." "Benefactress!" cried Vassily Ivanovitch, snatching her hand and placing it convulsively to his lips. "Still living; my Yevgeny is living, and now he will be saved! Wife! wife!... An angel from heaven has come to us." But when the doctor came out from examining his patient he breathed the news that there was no hope, and Vassily Ivanovitch conducted Madame Odintsov to his son's room. As she looked at Bazaroff she felt simply dismayed, with a sort of cold and suffocating dismay; the thought that she would not have felt like that if she had really loved him flashed instantaneously through her brain. "Thanks," said Bazaroff from the bed. "I did not expect this. It's a deed of mercy. So we have seen each other again as you promised.... I loved you! there was no sense in that even before, and less than ever now. Love is a form, and my own form is already breaking up." Madame Odintsov gave an involuntary shudder. "Noble-hearted!" he whispered. "Oh, how young and fresh and pure... in this loathsome room! Well, good-bye.... I thought I wouldn't die; I'd break down so many things. I wouldn't die; why should I? There were problems to solve, and I was a giant! And now all the problem for the giant is how to die decently.... My father will tell you what a man Russia is losing.... That's nonsense, but don't contradict the old man. Whatever toy will comfort a child... you know. And be kind to mother. People like them are not to be found in your great world.... I was needed by Russia.... No, it's clear I wasn't needed. And who is needed?" Bazaroff put his hand to his brow. Madame Odintsov bent down to him. "Yevgeny Vassilyvitch, I am here...." He at once took his hand away and raised himself. "Good-bye," he said, with a sudden force, and his eyes gleamed with their last light. "Good-bye.... Listen.... You know I didn't kiss you then.... Breathe on the dying lamp, and let it go out...." She put her lips on his forehead. "Enough!" he murmured, and dropped back on to the pillow. "Now... darkness...." Madame Odintsov went softly out. "Well?" Vassily Ivanovitch asked her in a whisper. "He has fallen asleep," she answered, hardly audible. But Bazaroff was not fated to awaken. That night he breathed his last. A universal lamentation arose in the house. Vassily Ivanovitch was seized by a sudden frenzy. "I said I should rebel," he shrieked hoarsely, his face inflamed and distorted, shaking his fist in the air, as though threatening someone; "and I rebel, I rebel!" But his wife, all in tears, hung upon his neck, and both fell on their faces together. "Side by side," said one of the servants afterwards, "they drooped their poor heads like lambs at noonday...." * * * * * There is a little grave in the graveyard, surrounded by an iron railing; two young fir-trees have been planted, one at each end. Yevgeny Bazaroff is buried in this tomb. Often from the little village not far off two quite feeble old people come to visit it--a husband and wife. At the iron railing they fall down and remain on their knees, and long and bitterly they weep and yearn and intently they gaze at the dumb stone under which their son is lying.... Can it be that their prayers, their tears are fruitless? Can it be that love, sacred, devoted love, is not all-powerful? Oh, no! however passionate, sinning, and rebellious the heart hidden in the tomb, the flowers growing over it peep serenely at us with their innocent eyes; they tell us not of eternal peace alone, that great peace of "indifferent" nature; they tell us, too, of eternal reconciliation and of life without end. * * * * * A Nest of Nobles "A Nest of Nobles" ("Dvorianskoe Gniezdo"), published in 1858, brought Turgenev a European reputation. Of all his novels, "A Nest of Nobles" is probably the best. It has all the love of detail that is peculiar to the Slavonic mind, a trait which is largely responsible for that feeling of pessimism that pervades the writings of all those who have listened to the "still, sad music of humanity." Yet Turgenev is not typical of that Russian school of novelists of which Tolstoy and Gorki are distinguished examples; rather he belongs to the school of Thackeray, George Eliot, and Dickens. -I.--A Student's Marriage- Fedor Ivanitch Lavretsky came of an ancient noble family. His father, a strangely whimsical man, determined that his son should grow up a Spartan. A gymnastic instructor was his principal teacher, although he also studied natural science, mathematics, and international law. Music, as a pursuit unworthy of a man, was discarded. The female sex he was taught to hold in contempt, and all the gentler arts and emotions were rigorously repressed. The boy was conscious of defects in his education, and from his eighteenth year set himself to remedy them as far as he could. His father died when he was twenty-two, and young Lavretsky determined to go to Moscow, in the hope that diligent study might enable him to regain the ground lost in youth. The whole tendency of his education had been to make him into a shy man: he could not get on with people; with an unquenchable thirst for love in his heart, he had never yet dared to look a woman in the face. Robust, rosy-cheeked, bearded, and taciturn, he produced a strange impression on his companions, who did not suspect that this outwardly austere man was inwardly almost a child. He appeared to them to be a queer kind of pedant; they did not care for him, made no overtures to him, and he avoided them. During the first two years he spent at the University he only became fairly intimate with one student, Mihalevitch by name, for he took lessons in Latin. One day at the theatre he saw in a box in the front tier a young girl leaning her elbow on the velvet of the box. The light of youth and life played in every feature of her lovely dark oval face; subtle intelligence was expressed in the splendid eyes which gazed softly and attentively from under her fine brows, in the swift smile of her sensitive lips, in the very poise of her head, her hands, her neck. Suddenly the door of her box opened, and a man came in--it was Mihalevitch. The appearance of this man, almost his only acquaintance in Moscow, on the society of the girl who had suddenly absorbed his whole attention, struck him as curious and significant. The performance ceased to interest Lavretsky, and at one pathetic part he involuntarily looked at his beauty: she was bending forward, her cheeks glowing. Under the influence of his persistent gaze her eyes slowly turned and rested on him. All night he was haunted by those eyes. The skilfully constructed barriers were broken down at last; he was in a shiver and a fever, and the next day he went to Mihalevitch, from whom he learnt that her name was Barbara Paulovna Korobyin. Mihalevitch offered to introduce him; Lavretsky blushed, muttered something unintelligible, and ran away. For five whole days he struggled with his timidity; on the sixth he got into a new uniform and placed himself at Mihalevitch's disposal. Paul Petrovitch Korobyin was a retired major-general. With the intention of improving his pecuniary position, he devised a new method of speculating with public funds--an excellent method in itself--but he neglected to bribe in the right place. Information was laid against him, and as a result of the subsequent inquiry he was advised to retire from active service. In Moscow he lived the life of a retired general on 2750 roubles a year. His daughter at this time was nineteen years old, and the general found her expenses an ever-increasing tax upon his slender resources. He was therefore glad to throw no obstacle in Lavretsky's way--having discovered that he was wealthy--when, six months after their first meeting, he proposed for his daughter's hand. Barbara Paulovna had much practical sense, and a very great love of comfort, together with a great faculty of obtaining it for herself. What charming travelling knick-knacks appeared from various corners of the luxurious carriage that she had purchased to convey them to Lavretsky's country home! And how delightfully she herself made coffee in the morning! Lavretsky, however, was not disposed to be observant at that time: he was blissful, drunk with happiness; he gave himself up to it like a child; indeed, he was as innocent as a child, this young Hercules. Not in vain was the whole personality of his young wife breathing with fascination; not in vain was her promise to the senses of a mysterious luxury of untold bliss: her fulfilment was richer than her promise. Barbara Paulovna had no mind to establish herself permanently at Lavriky. The idea of staying in that out-of-the-way corner of the steppes never entered her head for an instant. In September she carried her husband off to St. Petersburg, where they passed two winters; the summer they spent at Tsarskoe Selo. They made many acquaintances, went out, and entertained a good deal, and gave the most charming dances and musical evenings. Barbara Paulovna attracted guests as fire attracts moths. Fedor Ivanitch did not altogether like such a frivolous life. He was unwilling to enter the government service, as his wife suggested; still, he remained in St. Petersburg for her pleasure. He soon discovered, however, that no one hindered him from being alone; that it was not for nothing that he had the quietest and most comfortable study in St. Petersburg; that his tender wife was ever ready to aid him to be alone. In the course of time a son was born to them, but the poor child did not live long--it died in the spring, and in the summer Lavretsky took his wife abroad. One summer and autumn they spent in Germany and Switzerland, and for the winter they went to Paris. In Paris Barbara Paulovna made herself a little nest as quickly and as cleverly as in St. Petersburg. She soon drew round herself acquaintances--at first only Russians, afterwards Frenchmen with very excellent manners and fine-sounding names. All of them brought their friends, and -la belle Mme. de Lavretsky- was soon known from Chausée d'Antin to Rue de Lille. Fedor Ivanitch still busied himself with study, and set to work translating a well-known treatise on irrigation. "I am not wasting my time," he thought; "it is all of use; but next winter I must, without fail, return to Russia and get to work." An unexpected incident broke up his plans. -II.--Separation- Lavretsky had the most absolute confidence in his wife's every action and thought. She was always as calm, affectionate, and confidential with him as she had been from the first. It was therefore with a feeling of stupefaction that, going one day into her boudoir during her absence, he picked up from the floor a note that disclosed her infidelity. He read it absent-mindedly, and did not understand what he had read. He read it a second time--his head began to swim, the ground to sway under his feet. He had so blindly believed in her; the possibility of deception, of treason, had never presented itself to his mind. He could not understand. This young Frenchman, almost the most insignificant of all his wife's acquaintances! The fear was borne in upon him that perhaps she had never been worthy of the trust he had reposed in her. To complete it all, he had been hoping in a few months to become a father. All that night he wandered, half-distraught, about the streets of Paris and in the open country beyond. In the morning he went to an hotel and sent the incriminating note to his wife, with the following letter: "The enclosed scraps of paper will explain everything to you. I cannot see you again; I imagine that you, too, would hardly desire an interview with me. I am assigning you fifteen thousand francs a year; I cannot give more. Send your address to the office of the estate. Do what you please. Live where you please. I wish you happiness!" A long letter came back in reply: it put the finishing touch--his last doubts vanished. She did not attempt to defend herself; her only desire was to see him; she besought him not to condemn her irrevocably. Three days later Lavretsky left Paris. For a time he followed his wife's movements, as chronicled in Paris society papers. He learnt that a daughter had been born to him. Finally a tragi-comic story was reported with acclamation in all the papers; his wife played an unenviable part in it. Barbara Paulovna had become a notoriety. He ceased to follow her movements. Scepticism, half formed already by the experiences of his life and by his education, took complete possession of his heart, and he became indifferent to everything. Four years passed by till he felt himself able to return to his own country and to meet his own people. He went to the town of O----, where lived his cousin, Marya Dmitrievna Kalitin, with her two daughters, Elizabeth and Helena, and her aunt, Marfa Timofyevna Petrov. -III.--A New Friendship- Lavretsky stayed a few days in O---- before going to take up his residence, as he proposed doing, at Vassilyevskoe, a small estate of his some twenty miles distant. Mounting the steps of Kalitin's house to say good-bye before departing, he met Elizabeth coming down. "Where are you going?" he asked. "To service. It is Sunday." "Why do you go to church?" Lisa looked at him in silent amazement. "I beg your pardon; I did not mean to say that. I have come to say good-bye to you; I am starting for my village in an hour." "Well, mind you don't forget us," said Lisa, and went down the steps. "And don't forget me. And listen," he added; "you are going to church; while you are there, pray for me too." Lisa stopped short and turned to face him. "Certainly," she said, looking straight at him; "I will pray for you too. Good-bye." In the drawing-room he found Marya Dmitrievna alone. She began to gossip about a young man whom he had met the previous day, Vladimir Nikolaitch Panshin. "I will tell you a secret, my dear cousin: he is simply crazy about my Lisa. Well, he is of good family, has a capital position, and is a clever fellow; and if it is God's will, I for my part shall be well pleased." She launched into a description of her cares and anxieties and maternal sentiments. Lavretsky listened in silence, turning his hat in his hands. Finally he rose, took his leave, and went upstairs to say good-bye to Marfa Timofyevna. "Tell me, please," he began; "Marya Dmitrievna has just been talking to me about this--what's his name?--Panshin? What sort of man is he?" "What a chatterbox she is, Lord save us! She told you, I suppose, as a secret that he has turned up as a suitor, and so far, there's nothing to tell, thank God! But already she's gossipping about him." "Why thank God?" "Because I don't like the fine young gentleman; and so what is there to be glad of in it? "Well, shall we see you again soon?" the old lady asked, as he rose to depart. "Very likely, aunt; it's not so far, you know." "Well, go, then, and God be with you. And Lisa's not going to marry Panshin; don't you trouble yourself--that's not the sort of husband she deserves." * * * * * Lavretsky lived alone at Vassilyevskoe, and often rode into O------ to see his cousins. He saw a good deal of Lisa's music-master, an old German named Christopher Theodor Lemm, and, finding much in common with him, invited him to stay for a few days. "Maestro," said Lavretsky one morning at breakfast, "you will soon have to compose a triumphal cantata." "On what occasion?" "On the nuptials of M. Panshin and Lisa. It seems to me things are in a fair way with them already." "That will never be," cried Lemm. "Why?" "Because it is impossible." "What, then, do you find amiss with the match?" "Everything is amiss, everything. At the age of nineteen Lisavetta is a girl of high principles, serious, of lofty feelings, and he--he is a dilettante, in a word." "But suppose she loves him?" "No, she does not love him; that is to say, she is very pure in heart, and does not know herself what it means--love. Mme. de Kalitin tells her that he is a fine young man, and she obeys because she is quite a child. She can only love what is beautiful, and he is not--that is, his soul is not beautiful...." It sometimes happens that two people who are acquainted but not on intimate terms all of a sudden grow more intimate in a few minutes. This was exactly what came to pass with Lavretsky and Lisa. "So he is like that," was her thought as she turned a friendly glance at him. "So you are like that," he, too, was thinking. And thus he was not very much surprised when she began to speak to him about his wife. "You will forgive me--I ought not to dare to speak of it to you... but how could you... why did you separate from her?" Lavretsky shuddered. He looked at Lisa and sat down beside her. "My child," he began, "do not touch on that woman; your hands are tender, but it will hurt me just the same." "I know," Lisa continued as though she had not heard. "I know she has been to blame. I don't want to defend her; but what God has joined, how can you put asunder? You must forgive, if you wish to be forgiven." "She is perfectly contented with her position, I assure you. But her name ought never to be uttered by you. You are too pure. You are not capable of understanding such a creature." "Then, if she is like that, why did you marry her?" Lavretsky got up quickly from his seat. "Why did I marry her? I was young and inexperienced; I was deceived, I was carried away by a beautiful exterior. I knew no women, I knew nothing. God grant that you may make a happier marriage." At that moment Marya Dmitrievna came in. Lavretsky did not again succeed in being alone with Lisa, but he looked at her in such a way that she felt her heart at rest, and a little ashamed and sorry for him. Before he left, he had obtained from his cousin a promise that she would come over to Vassilyevskoe one day with her daughters. When they came Lavretsky made further opportunities to talk with Lisa, while the others were fishing. He led the conversation round to Panshin. "Vladimir Nikolaitch has a good heart," said Lisa, "and he is clever; mother likes him." "And do you like him?" "He is nice; why should I not like him?" "Ah!" A half ironical, half mournful expression crossed his face. "Well, may God grant them happiness," he muttered as though to himself. Lisa flushed. "You are mistaken, Fedor Ivanitch. You are wrong in thinking--but don't you like Vladimir Nikolaitch?" "No, I don't." "Why?" "I think he has no heart." "What makes you think he has no heart?" "I may be mistaken--time will show, however." Lisa grew thoughtful. Lavretsky began to talk to her about his daily life at Vassilyevskoe. He felt a need to talk to her, to share with her everything that was passing in his heart; she listened so sweetly, so attentively. Her few replies and observations seemed to him so intelligent.... -IV.--Love and Duty- Glancing one day at a bundle of French newspapers that had been lying on the table unopened for a fortnight, Lavretsky suddenly came upon a paragraph announcing "Mournful intelligence: That charming, fascinating Moscow lady, Mme. Lavretsky, died suddenly yesterday." He hastened over to O----and communicated the news to Lisa, requesting her to keep it secret for a time. They walked in the garden; Lavretsky discussed his newly won freedom. "Stop!" said Lisa, "don't talk like that. Of what use is your freedom to you? You ought to be thinking of forgiveness." "I forgave her long ago." "You don't understand! You ought to be seeking to be forgiven." "You are right," said Lavretsky after a pause; "what good is my freedom to me?" "When did you get that paper?" said Lisa without heeding his question. "The day after your visit." "And is it possible that you did not shed tears?" "What is there to weep over now? Though, indeed, who knows? I might perhaps have been more grieved a fortnight sooner." "A fortnight?" said Lisa. "But what has happened, then, in the last fortnight?" Lavretsky made no reply, and suddenly Lisa flushed violently. "Yes, yes! you guess why. In the course of this fortnight I have come to know the value of a pure woman's heart. But I am glad I showed you that paper," Lavretsky continued after a pause; "already I have grown used to hiding nothing from you, and I hope that you will repay me with the same confidence...." Lavretsky was not a young man; he could not long delude himself as to the nature of the feeling inspired in him by Lisa. He was brought that day to the final conviction that he loved her. "Have I really nothing better to do," he thought, "at the age of thirty-five, than to put my soul into a woman's keeping again? But Lisa is not like her; she would not demand degrading sacrifices from me; she would not tempt me away from my duties; she would herself incite me to hard, honest work, and we should walk hand in hand towards a noble aim. That's all very fine," he concluded his reflections, "but the worst of it is that she does not in the least wish to walk hand in hand with me. But she doesn't in the least love Panshin either... a poor consolation!" Painful days followed for Fedor Ivanitch. He found himself in a continual fever. Every morning he made for the post and tore open letters and papers; nowhere did he find confirmation or disproof of the fateful news. Late one night he found himself wandering aimlessly around the outskirts of O----. Rambling over the dewy grass he came across a narrow path leading to a little gate which he found open. Wandering in, he found, to his amazement, that he was in the Kalitins' garden. In Lisa's room a candle shone behind the white curtains; all else was dark. The light vanished as he looked. "Sleep well, my sweet girl," he whispered, sitting motionless, his eyes fixed on the darkened window. Suddenly a light appeared in one of the windows of the ground floor, then another. Who could it be? Lavretsky rose... he caught a glimpse of a well-known face. Lisa entered the drawing-room--she drew near the open door, and stood on the threshold, a light, slender figure, all in white. "Lisa!" broke hardly audibly from his lips. She started, and began to gaze into the darkness. "Lisa!" he repeated louder, and came out of the shadow. She raised her head in alarm, and shrank back. "Is it you?" she said. "You here?" "I--I--listen to me," whispered Lavretsky, and seizing her hand he led her to a seat. She followed him unresisting. Her pale face, her fixed eyes, and all her gestures expressed an unutterable bewilderment. Lavretsky stood before her. "I did not mean to come here," he began; "something brought me. I--I love you," he uttered, in involuntary terror. She tried to get up--she could not; she covered her face with her hands. "Lisa!" murmured Lavretsky. "Lisa," he repeated, and fell at her feet. Her shoulders began to heave slightly. "What is it?" he urged, and he heard a subdued sob. His heart stood still... he knew the meaning of those tears. "Can it be that you love me?" he whispered, and caressed her knees. "Get up!" he heard her voice. "Get up, Fedor Ivanitch. What are we doing?" He got up and sat beside her on the seat. "It frightens me; what we are doing?" she repeated. "I love you," he said again. "I am ready to devote my whole life to you." She shuddered again as though something had stung her, and lifted her eyes towards heaven. "All that is in God's hands," she said. "But you love me, Lisa? We shall be happy." She dropped her eyes. He softly drew her to him, and her head sank on to his shoulder--he bent his head a little and touched her pale lips.... On the following day Lavretsky drove over to Vassilyevskoe. The first thing that struck him on entering was the scent of patchouli, always distasteful to him. There were some travelling trunks in the hall. He crossed the threshold of the drawing-room--a lady arose from the sofa, made a step forward, and fell at his feet. He caught his breath... he leaned against the wall for support.... It was Barbara Paulovna! A torrent of words told him that, stricken by remorse, she had determined to break every tie with her sins. A serious illness had given rise to the rumour of her death. She had taken advantage of this to give up everything. Would he not spare her for their little daughter's sake? Lavretsky listened to the flood of eloquence in silence. He did not believe one word of her protestations. His wrath choked him: this blow had fallen so suddenly upon him. * * * * * Lisa bent forward in her chair and covered her face with her hands. "This is how we were to meet again," he brought out at last. It was in Marfa Timofyevna's room that they met once more. Lisa took her hands from her face. "Yes!" she said faintly. "We were quickly punished." "Punished!" said Lavretsky. "What had you done to be punished?" His heart ached with pity and love. "Yes, all is over before it had begun." "We must forget all that," she brought out at last. "It is left for us to do our duty. You, Fedor Ivanitch, must be reconciled with your wife." "Lisa!" "I beg you to do so: by that alone can you expiate..." "Lisa, for God's sake!--to be reconciled to her now!" "I do not ask of you--do not live with her if you cannot. Remember your little girl; do it for my sake." "Very well," Lavretsky muttered between his clenched teeth; "I will do that; in that I shall fulfil my duty. But you--what does your duty consist in?" "That I know myself." Lavretsky started: "You cannot be making up your mind to marry Panshin?" Lisa gave an almost imperceptible smile--"Oh, no!" she said. "Now you see for yourself, Fedor Ivanitch, as I told you before, that happiness does not depend on us, but on God." * * * * * Smoke Considered simply as stories, "Fathers and Sons" and "Smoke" are to all intents and purposes independent of each other, yet in important particulars the latter is a sequel to the first. Once on his arrival at St. Petersburg, Turgenev was met with the words, "Just see what your Nihilists are doing! They have almost gone so far as to burn the city." Thus again he took up the question of social reform, and in "Smoke" ("Dim") he views with apprehension the actions of the so-called "intellectuals," who would make themselves responsible for the shaping of future Russia. Charlatans among the leaders of the new thought, and society dilettantism, both came under his merciless lash. In his opinion the men and ideas in the two camps are no more than smoke--dirty, evil-smelling smoke. The entire atmosphere is gloomy, and throughout is only relieved by the character of Irina, the most exquisite piece of feminine psychology in the whole range of Turgenev's novels. -I.--A Broken Idyll- Early in the fifties there was living in Moscow, in very straitened circumstances, almost in poverty, the numerous family of the Princes Osinin. These were real princes--not Tartar-Georgians, but pure-blooded descendants of Rurik. Time, however, had dealt hardly with them. They had fallen under the ban of the Empire, and retained nothing but their name and the pride of their nobility. The family of Osinins consisted of a husband and wife and five children. It was living near the dog's place, in a one-storied little wooden house with a striped portico looking on to the street, green lions on the gates, and all the other pretensions of nobility, though it could hardly make both ends meet, was constantly in debt at the green-grocer's, and often sitting without firewood or candles in the winter. Though their pride kept them aloof from the society of their neighbours, their straitened circumstances compelled them to receive certain people to whom they were under obligations. Among the number of these was Grigory Mihalovitch Litvinov, a young student of Moscow, the son of a retired official of plebeian extraction, who had once lent the Osinins three hundred roubles. Litvinov called frequently at the house, and fell desperately in love with the eldest daughter, Irina. Irina was only seventeen, and as beautiful as the dawn. Her thick fair hair was mingled with darker tresses; the languid curves of her lovely neck, and her smile--half indifferent, half weary--betrayed the nervous temperament of a delicate girl; but in the lines of those fine, faintly smiling lips there was something wilful and passionate, something dangerous to herself and others. Her dark grey eyes, with shining lashes and bold sweep of eyebrow, had a strange look in them; they seemed looking out intently and thoughtfully--looking out from some unknown depth and distance. Litvinov fell in love with Irina from the moment he saw her (he was only three years older than she was), but for a long while he failed to obtain not only a response, but even a hearing. She treated him with hostility, and the more he showed his love, the greater was her coldness, the more malignant her indifference. She tortured him in this way for two months. Then everything was transformed in one day. Worn out by this cold torture, Litvinov was one night about to depart in despair. Without saying good-bye, he began to look for his hat. "Stay," sounded suddenly in a soft whisper. With throbbing heart he looked round, hardly believing his ears. Before him he saw Irina, transformed. "Stay," she repeated; "don't go. I want to be with you." From that moment of the discovery of her love, Irina was changed. She, who before had been proud and cruel, became at once as docile as a lamb, as soft as silk, and boundlessly kind. "Ah, love me, love me, my sweet, my saviour," she would whisper to him, with her arms about his neck. In this new dream of happiness the days flew, the weeks passed; the future came ever nearer with the glorious hope of their happiness, and then, suddenly, an event occurred which scattered all their dreams and plans like light roadside dust. The Court came to Moscow, and the Osinins, despite their poverty, determined to attend the customary great ball in the Hall of Nobility. At first Irina resolutely refused to go, and Litvinov was called in by the prince to use his persuasion. "Very well, then, I will go," she said, when she had listened to his arguments; "only remember, it is you yourself who desired it." She spoke so strangely that he feared he had offended her. "Irina, darling, you seem to be angry." Irina laughed. "Oh, no! I am not angry. Only, Grisha..." (She fastened her eyes on him, and he thought he had never before seen such an expression in them.) "Perhaps it must be," she added, in an undertone. "But, Irina, you love me, dear?" "I love you," she answered, with almost solemn gravity, and she clasped his hand firmly like a man. She went to the ball in a simple white dress, wearing a bunch of heliotrope, the gift of her lover. When he called the following day, Litvinov heard from the prince of the impression Irina had created; how all the great noblemen from St. Petersburg, and even the Czar himself, had commented upon her beauty. But Irina herself he did not see. She had a bad headache, the prince explained. The following day he was again denied a sight of her, and as he turned once more from the house he saw a great personage drive up in a magnificent carriage. A dread foreboding seized him. Dull stupefaction, and thoughts scurrying like mice, vague terror, and the numbness of expectation and the weight of crushed tears in his heavy-laden breast, on his lips the forced, empty smile, and a meaningless prayer--addressed to no one.... As he walked down the street his servant touched him on the shoulder, handing him a note. He recognised Irina's writing. He tore open the envelope all at once. On a small sheet of notepaper were the following lines: "Forgive me, Grigory Mihalovitch. All is over between us; I am going away to Petersburg. I am dreadfully unhappy, but the thing is done. It seems my fate... but no, I do not want to justify myself. My presentiments have been realised. Forgive me, forget me! I am not worthy of you.--Irina. Be magnanimous: do not try to see me." The blow almost broke Litvinov's heart. A rich cousin of the Princess Osinin, struck by the impression created by the girl at the ball, had taken her to Petersburg, to use her as a pawn in his struggle for power. Utterly crushed, Litvinov threw up the University and went home to his father in the country. He heard of her occasionally, encircled in splendour. Her name was mentioned with curiosity, respect, and envy, and at last came the news of her marriage to General Ratmirov. -II--Temptation- Ten years had passed--ten years during which much had happened to Litvinov. He had served in the Crimea, and, after almost dying of typhus, had been invalided home. Observation had shown him that his father's management of their property was so old-fashioned that it did not yield a tenth of the revenue it might yield in skillful hands. He determined to go abroad to study agriculture and technology, so that he might properly manage the estate. In various parts of Europe, in England as well, he had travelled and studied, and now he found himself at Baden, his work concluded, ready to take up his duties. He was at Baden for two reasons: first, because he was espoused to his cousin, Tatyana Petrovna Shestov, whom he had grown to dearly love, and who had promised to be his comrade and friend "for better or worse," as the English say. And he was at Baden, also, because Tatyana's aunt, Kapitolina Markovna Shestov, an old unmarried lady of fifty-five, a good-natured, honest, eccentric soul--a democrat, sworn opponent of aristocracy and fashionable society--could not resist the temptation of gazing for once on the aristocratic society which sunned itself in such a fashionable place as Baden. While he was expecting the arrival of his betrothed, Litvinov found himself compelled to pass his time in the society of his fellow-countrymen--ardent young Russian Liberals of both sexes, bubbling over with new theories and enthusiasm, and ready to talk for hours together on the political and social regeneration of their native country. As far as possible, he avoided their society, and escaped into the solitudes of the mountains. It was during one of these lonely excursions that, feeling hungry, he made his way to the old castle, and, seating himself at one of the little white-painted tables of the restaurant, ordered a light breakfast. While he was seated there, there was a loud tramping of horses, and a party of young Russian generals--persons of the highest society, of weight and importance--arrived, and with much noise and ostentation summoned the obsequious waiters to attend to their wants. Litvinov made haste to drink off his glass of milk, paid for it, and, putting his hat on, was just making off past the party of generals... "Grigory Mihalovitch," he heard a woman's voice, "don't you recognise me?" He stopped involuntarily. That voice... that voice had too often set his heart beating in the past... He turned round and saw Irina. Litvinov knew her at once, though she had changed since he saw her that last time ten years ago, though she had been transformed from a girl into a woman. "Irina Pavlovna," he uttered, irresolutely. "You know me? How glad I am! how glad--" She stopped, blushing. "Let me introduce you to my husband." One of the young generals, Ratmirov by name, almost the most elegant of all, got up from his seat at the introduction, and bowed with a dandified air. Litvinov would have escaped, but Irina insisted on his sitting down. For a time he had to listen to the empty, meaningless talk of the company, hardly able to say a word to Irina. At last his clean plebeian pride revolted. He rose to his feet, somehow took leave of Irina and her husband, and walked rapidly away, trying to brace and soothe his nerves by violent exercise. "Oh, Tatyana, Tatyana!" he cried passionately to himself. "You are my guardian angel! you only my good genius! I love you only, and will love you for ever, and I will not go to see her. Forget her altogether! Let her amuse herself with her generals." , - 1 ' . 2 . . 3 4 " ' , " . " , 5 , . " 6 7 8 - . - - - 9 10 11 - - - - . 12 . , 13 , 14 , 15 . 16 17 ' 18 . ' 19 . ' , , 20 , ' 21 . 22 23 " , " . 24 , , . 25 26 " , " , " , , 27 . " 28 29 " . 30 . " 31 32 . " ? " 33 34 " . " 35 36 " , ? " 37 38 " ; , 39 ; . . . " 40 41 ' . . . . ' , , . 42 43 " , " ; " . ' 44 . 45 , - - ! " 46 47 , 48 . , 49 , , . 50 . . . . " ' 51 , " ; " ' , 52 ! , ! ' 53 - . " 54 55 , 56 . , , . 57 , . 58 . 59 , , , 60 , 61 . . 62 63 " ? " , . 64 65 " , " , . " 66 . , . 67 . . . . . 68 . " 69 70 ' 71 . , ' 72 . 73 . 74 . 75 76 " ? " . " . . . ' 77 . . . . 78 , . . " 79 80 " , " , " 81 . 82 . 83 , 84 ; , , . " 85 86 . 87 . " ! " , 88 , . 89 90 , , . " ! " , . " 91 , . - 92 . " 93 94 " , " 95 , . 96 97 " ! " , . 98 99 100 - . - - - 101 102 103 ' ' 104 , . 105 , , 106 , , 107 , 108 . 109 110 " ' , , " . 111 " , ' . " 112 113 , 114 , 115 , . 116 . 117 . 118 . 119 ' , 120 . 121 122 , 123 . 124 ' 125 . 126 127 " ? ? " 128 129 " , . 130 . " 131 132 . 133 ' . 134 . 135 136 " ? ? " , ; " 137 ? " 138 139 " , . " 140 141 " ' , , " . " ' 142 ? " 143 144 . " , " . " 145 . " 146 147 " ? " 148 149 " , ' , ; ' . " 150 151 , 152 , - . ' , 153 , , , ' 154 , . 155 , , , 156 , . 157 , , , 158 " " 159 . , 160 . 161 162 , . 163 164 " , ; ' , 165 . " 166 167 168 . 169 170 " ! ? . 171 ' ' . " 172 173 " , ' . ' ; . 174 ' . . . . 175 , ; ; ' 176 . . . ? " ( . ) " 177 , , , . 178 ? " 179 180 " , . . . . . . 181 ! ? " 182 183 " ; . " 184 185 , 186 , , ' , 187 . 188 189 " , , , " . " . " 190 191 . . 192 , 193 . . 194 , , 195 , . 196 . , 197 ' . 198 199 " ' , ' 200 . " 201 202 . 203 . , 204 , 205 . 206 207 " , " . " ? 208 . " 209 210 " ! " , 211 . " ; , 212 ! ! ! . . . 213 . " 214 215 216 , 217 ' . 218 , ; 219 220 . 221 222 " , " . " . ' 223 . . . . . 224 ! , 225 . , . " 226 227 . 228 229 " - ! " . " , . . . 230 ! , - . . . . ' ; ' 231 . ' ; ? 232 , ! 233 . . . . 234 . . . . ' , ' . 235 . . . . . 236 . . . . 237 . . . . , ' ' . ? " 238 239 . . 240 " , . . . . " 241 . 242 243 " - , " , , 244 . " - . . . . . . . . ' 245 . . . . , . . . . " 246 247 . 248 249 " ! " , . " . . . 250 . . . . " 251 252 . " ? " 253 . " , " , . 254 . . 255 . 256 . 257 258 " , " , 259 , , ; 260 " , ! " 261 262 , , , 263 . " , " , 264 " . . . . " 265 266 * * * * * 267 268 , ; 269 - , . 270 . 271 - - . 272 , 273 274 . . . . , 275 ? , , , 276 - ? 277 278 , ! , , 279 , 280 ; , 281 " " ; , , 282 . 283 284 * * * * * 285 286 287 288 289 290 291 292 " " ( " " ) , , 293 . , " 294 " . 295 , 296 297 298 " , . " 299 300 ; 301 , , . 302 303 304 - . - - ' - 305 306 307 . , 308 , 309 . , 310 , , . , 311 , . 312 , 313 . , 314 315 . - , 316 , 317 . 318 319 : 320 ; 321 , . , 322 - , , , 323 , 324 . 325 ; , , 326 . 327 , , 328 . 329 330 331 . 332 ; 333 334 , 335 , , , . 336 337 , - - 338 . , 339 , 340 , . 341 , 342 : , . 343 344 . 345 346 . 347 ; , 348 , 349 . ; 350 , , . 351 ; 352 ' . 353 354 - . 355 , 356 - - - - 357 . , 358 359 . 360 . 361 362 , 363 - . 364 ' - - 365 - - , 366 , ' . 367 368 , 369 , . 370 - 371 ' 372 ! 373 ! , , 374 : , ; 375 ; , , 376 . 377 ; 378 : 379 . 380 381 382 . - - - 383 . 384 . , ; 385 . , 386 , , 387 . 388 . 389 390 . 391 , ; , 392 . . , 393 , ; 394 . 395 ; . 396 397 , 398 - - , 399 . 400 , . 401 402 403 . . 404 - - , 405 - . 406 , - . - 407 ' . 408 409 , 410 - . " 411 , " ; " ; , 412 , . " 413 . 414 415 416 - . - - - 417 418 419 ' 420 . , , 421 . 422 , , 423 . 424 - , . 425 - - , 426 . 427 428 ; , 429 , . 430 . , 431 ' ! 432 . 433 , . 434 435 , - , 436 . 437 , : 438 439 " . 440 ; , , 441 . ; 442 . . 443 . . ! " 444 445 : - - 446 . ; 447 ; . 448 449 . ' 450 , . 451 . - 452 ; 453 . . 454 . , 455 , , 456 . 457 458 459 . - - - - , 460 , , , 461 , , . 462 463 464 - . - - - 465 466 467 - - - - 468 , , , 469 . ' 470 - , . 471 472 " ? " . 473 474 " . . " 475 476 " ? " 477 478 . 479 480 " ; . 481 - ; . " 482 483 " , ' , " , . 484 485 " ' . , " ; " ; 486 , . " 487 488 . " , " , 489 ; " . - . " 490 491 - . 492 , 493 . 494 495 " , : 496 . , , , 497 ; ' , 498 . " 499 . , 500 . , , 501 - . 502 503 " , , " ; " 504 - - ' ? - - ? ? " 505 506 " , ! , , 507 , , ' 508 , ! ' . " 509 510 " ? " 511 512 " ' ; 513 ? 514 515 " , ? " , 516 . 517 518 " , ; ' , . " 519 520 " , , , . ' 521 ; ' - - ' 522 . " 523 524 * * * * * 525 526 , - - - - - - 527 . ' - , 528 , , 529 , . 530 531 " , " , " 532 . " 533 534 " ? " 535 536 " . . 537 . " 538 539 " , " . 540 541 " ? " 542 543 " . " 544 545 " , , ? " 546 547 " , . 548 , , , - - 549 , . " 550 551 " ? " 552 553 " , ; , , 554 - - . . 555 , . 556 , - - , 557 . . . . " 558 559 560 . 561 . " 562 , " . " 563 , " , , . 564 . 565 566 " - - . . . 567 . . . ? " 568 569 . . " 570 , " , " ; , 571 . " 572 573 " , " . " 574 . ' ; , 575 ? , . " 576 577 " , . 578 . . 579 . " 580 581 " , , ? " 582 583 . " ? 584 ; , 585 . , . 586 . " 587 588 . 589 , 590 , . 591 , 592 . 593 594 , 595 . . 596 597 " , " , " ; 598 . " 599 600 " ? " 601 602 " ; ? " 603 604 " ! " , . " , 605 , " . 606 607 . " , . 608 - - ' ? " 609 610 " , ' . " 611 612 " ? " 613 614 " . " 615 616 " ? " 617 618 " - - , . " 619 620 . 621 . , 622 ; , 623 . 624 . . . . 625 626 627 - . - - - 628 629 630 631 , 632 " : , 633 , . , . " 634 635 - - - - , 636 . ; 637 . 638 639 " ! " , " ' . 640 ? . " 641 642 " . " 643 644 " ' ! . " 645 646 " , " ; " 647 ? " 648 649 " ? " . 650 651 " . " 652 653 " ? " 654 655 " ? , , ? 656 . " 657 658 " ? " . " , , 659 ? " 660 661 , . 662 663 " , ! . 664 ' . 665 , " ; " 666 , 667 . . . . " 668 669 ; 670 . 671 . 672 673 " , " , " 674 - , ' ? 675 ; ; 676 ; 677 , , . 678 ' , " , " 679 . 680 ' . . . ! " 681 682 . 683 . 684 ; 685 . 686 687 688 - - - - . 689 . , , 690 , ' . ' 691 ; . 692 . 693 694 " , , " , , 695 . 696 , . ? 697 . . . - . 698 - - - , , 699 , , . 700 701 " ! " . , 702 . " ! " , 703 . 704 705 , . " ? " . 706 " ? " 707 708 " - - - - , " , 709 . . , 710 , . 711 . " , " ; 712 " . - - , " , 713 . - - ; 714 . 715 716 " ! " . " , " , . 717 . 718 719 " ? " , . 720 . . . . " 721 ? " , . 722 723 " ! " . " , . 724 ? " 725 726 . 727 728 " ; ? " . 729 730 " , " . " 731 . " 732 733 , 734 . 735 736 " ' , " . 737 738 " , ? . " 739 740 . , 741 - - . . . . 742 743 . 744 , 745 . . 746 - - - , 747 , . . . . 748 . . . . ! 749 750 , , 751 . 752 . 753 . ' ? 754 755 . 756 . : 757 . 758 759 * * * * * 760 761 . 762 763 " , " . 764 ' . 765 . " ! " . " . " 766 767 " ! " . " ? " 768 . " , . " 769 770 " , " . " 771 . , , . " 772 773 " ! " 774 775 " : . . . " 776 777 " , ' ! - - ! " 778 779 " - - . 780 ; . " 781 782 " , " ; " 783 ; . - - 784 ? " 785 786 " . " 787 788 : " ? " 789 790 - - " , ! " . 791 792 " , , , 793 , . " 794 795 * * * * * 796 797 798 799 800 801 802 803 , " " " " 804 , 805 . 806 . , 807 , " ! 808 . " 809 , " " ( " " ) 810 - 811 " , " 812 . 813 , , 814 . 815 - - , - . 816 , 817 , 818 ' . 819 820 821 - . - - - 822 823 824 , 825 , , 826 . - - - , - 827 . , , . 828 , 829 . 830 831 . 832 ' , - 833 , 834 , , 835 , - ' , 836 . 837 , 838 839 . 840 , , 841 , 842 . , 843 , . 844 845 , . 846 ; 847 , - - , - - 848 ; , 849 , 850 . , 851 , ; 852 - - 853 . 854 ( ) , 855 , . 856 , , 857 , . 858 . . 859 860 , 861 . - , . " , " 862 . 863 , . , . 864 " , " ; " ' . . " 865 866 , . , 867 , , 868 , . 869 870 " , , , , , " , 871 . 872 873 , ; 874 , 875 , , 876 . , 877 , , 878 . , 879 . 880 881 " , , , " , 882 ; " , . " 883 884 . 885 886 " , , . " 887 888 . 889 890 " , ! . , . . . " ( , 891 . ) 892 " , " , . 893 894 " , , , ? " 895 896 " , " , , 897 . 898 899 , 900 , . , 901 ; 902 . , , 903 . . 904 , . 905 , 906 . 907 . , , 908 , 909 - , , , 910 - - . . . . 911 912 , 913 . ' . 914 . 915 : 916 917 " , . ; 918 . , . 919 . . . , . 920 . , ! 921 . - - . : . " 922 923 ' . 924 , , 925 , . 926 , 927 . , 928 . , , , 929 . 930 931 932 - - - - 933 934 935 - - 936 . , , 937 , . 938 ' - 939 . 940 , 941 . , 942 , , 943 , , . 944 945 : , 946 , , , 947 " , " 948 . , , ' , 949 , - , 950 - , , - - , 951 - - 952 953 . 954 955 , 956 957 - - - , 958 , 959 960 . , , 961 . 962 , , , , 963 - 964 , . , 965 , 966 - - , 967 - - , 968 . 969 , , , , 970 . . . 971 972 " , " ' , " ' 973 ? " 974 975 . . . . 976 . . . . 977 978 , 979 , 980 . 981 982 " , " , . 983 984 " ? ! - - " , . " 985 . " 986 987 , , 988 , , 989 . , 990 . , 991 , . 992 . , 993 , , 994 . 995 996 " , , ! " . " 997 ! ! , 998 , . ! 999 . " 1000