well, everything afterwards…So you see how it is. I have never said all this to any one, and I never shall. I only say it to you.”

The governor’s wife pressed his elbow gratefully.

“Do you know Sophie, my cousin? I love her; I have promised to marry her, and I am going to marry her…So you see it’s no use talking of such a thing,” Nikolay concluded lamely, flushing crimson.

“My dearest boy, how can you talk so? Why, Sophie hasn’t a farthing, and you told me yourself that your papa’s affairs are terribly straitened. And your maman? It would kill her—for one thing. Then Sophie, if she is a girl of any heart, what a life it would be for her! Your mother in despair, your position ruined…No, my dear, Sophie and you ought to realise that.”

Nikolay did not speak. It was comforting to him to hear these arguments.

“All the same, ma tante, it cannot be,” he said, with a sigh, after a brief silence. “And besides would the princess accept me? And again she is in mourning; can such a thing be thought of?”

“Why, do you suppose I am going to marry you out of hand on the spot? There are ways of doing everything,” said the governor’s wife.

“What a match-maker you are, ma tante…” said Nikolay, kissing her plump little hand.


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