VII.


"You won't remember me," he said, as he took off his hat, "but I
recognized you, though it is seven years since I saw you last. You
were a child then. I am Lavretsky. Is your mamma at home? Can I see
her?"

"Mamma will be so glad," replied Liza. "She has heard of your
arrival."

"Your name is Elizaveta, isn't it?" asked Lavretsky, as he mounted the
steps leading up to the house.

"Yes."

"I remember you perfectly. Yours was even in those days one of the
faces which one does not forget. I used to bring you sweetmeats then."

Liza blushed a little, and thought to herself, "What an odd man!"
Lavretsky stopped for a minute in the hall.

Liza entered the drawing-room, in which Panshine's voice and laugh
were making themselves heard. He was communicating some piece of town
gossip to Maria Dmitrievna and Gedeonovsky, both of whom had by this
time returned from the garden, and he was laughly loudly at his own