The Continental Classics, Volume XVIII | Page 3

beauty, but she still preserved the habits of her youth, dressed in
strict accordance with the fashion of seventy years before, and made as

long and as careful a toilette as she would have done sixty years
previously. Near the window, at an embroidery frame, sat a young lady,
her ward.
"Good-morning, grandmamma," said a young officer, entering the
room. "_Bonjour_, Mademoiselle Lise. Grandmamma, I want to ask
you something."
"What is it, Paul?"
"I want you to let me introduce one of my friends to you, and to allow
me to bring him to the ball on Friday."
"Bring him direct to the ball and introduce him to me there. Were you
at B----'s yesterday?"
"Yes; everything went off very pleasantly, and dancing was kept up
until five o'clock. How charming Eletskaia was!"
"But, my dear, what is there charming about her? Isn't she like her
grandmother, the Princess Daria Petrovna? By the way, she must be
very old, the Princess Daria Petrovna?"
"How do you mean, old?" cried Tomsky, thoughtlessly, "she died seven
years ago."
The young lady raised her head, and made a sign to the young officer.
He then remembered that the old Countess was never to be informed of
the death of her contemporaries, and he bit his lips. But the old
Countess heard the news with the greatest indifference.
"Dead!" said she, "and I did not know it. We were appointed maids of
honor at the same time, and when we were presented to the Empress--"
And the Countess for the hundredth time related to her grandson one of
her anecdotes.
"Come, Paul," said she, when she had finished her story, "help me to
get up. Lizanka,[2] where is my snuffbox?"

And the Countess with her three maids went behind a screen to finish
her toilette. Tomsky was left alone with the young lady.
"Who is the gentleman you wish to introduce to the Countess?" asked
Lizaveta Ivanovna in a whisper.
"Naroumoff. Do you know him?"
"No. Is he a soldier or a civilian?"
"A soldier."
"Is he in the Engineers?"
"No, in the Cavalry. What made you think that he was in the
Engineers?"
The young lady smiled, but made no reply.
"Paul," cried the Countess from behind the screen, "send me some new
novel, only pray don't let it be one of the present day style."
"What do you mean, grandmother?"
"That is, a novel, in which the hero strangles neither his father nor his
mother, and in which there are no drowned bodies. I have a great horror
of drowned persons."
"There are no such novels nowadays. Would you like a Russian one?"
"Are there any Russian novels? Send me one, my dear, pray send me
one!"
"Good-by, grandmother. I am in a hurry.... Good-by, Lizaveta Ivanovna.
What made you think that Naroumoff was in the Engineers?"
And Tomsky left the boudoir.
Lizaveta Ivanovna was left alone. She laid aside her work, and began to

look out of the window. A few moments afterwards, at a corner house
on the other side of the street, a young officer appeared. A deep flush
covered her cheeks; she took up her work again, and bent her head
down over the frame. At the same moment the Countess returned,
completely dressed.
"Order the carriage, Lizaveta," said she, "we will go out for a drive."
Lizaveta rose from the frame, and began to arrange her work.
"What is the matter with you, my child, are you deaf?" cried the
Countess. "Order the carriage to be got ready at once."
"I will do so this moment," replied the young lady, hastening into the
anteroom.
A servant entered and gave the Countess some books from Prince Paul
Alexandrovitch.
"Tell him that I am much obliged to him," said the Countess. "Lizaveta!
Lizaveta! where are you running to?"
"I am going to dress."
"There is plenty of time, my dear. Sit down here. Open the first volume
and read to me aloud."
Her companion took the book and read a few lines.
"Louder," said the Countess. "What is the matter with you, my child?
Have you lost your voice? Wait--Give me that footstool--a little
nearer--that will do!"
Lizaveta read two more pages. The Countess yawned.
"Put the book down," said she, "what a lot of nonsense! Send it back to
Prince Paul with my thanks.... But where is the carriage?"
"The carriage is ready," said Lizaveta, looking out into the street.

"How is it that you are not dressed?" said the Countess. "I must always
wait for you. It is intolerable, my dear!"
Liza hastened to her room. She had not been there two minutes before
the Countess began to ring with all her might. The three waiting-maids
came running in at one door, and the valet at another.
"How is it