"But now, you see, I don't want to. I must get to work."

The summer was grey and cold, the trees were wet, everything in the
garden looked dejected and uninviting, it certainly did make one
long to get to work. The sound of unfamiliar women's voices was
heard downstairs and upstairs, there was the rattle of a sewing
machine in Granny's room, they were working hard at the trousseau.
Of fur coats alone, six were provided for Nadya, and the cheapest
of them, in Granny's words, had cost three hundred roubles! The
fuss irritated Sasha; he stayed in his own room and was cross, but
everyone persuaded him to remain, and he promised not to go before
the first of July.

Time passed quickly. On St. Peter's day Andrey Andreitch went with
Nadya after dinner to Moscow Street to look once more at the house
which had been taken and made ready for the young couple some time
before. It was a house of two storeys, but so far only the upper
floor had been furnished. There was in the hall a shining floor
painted and parqueted, there were Viennese chairs, a piano, a violin
stand; there was a smell of paint. On the wall hung a big oil
painting in a gold frame--a naked lady and beside her a purple
vase with a broken handle.

"An exquisite picture," said Andrey Andreitch, and he gave a
respectful sigh. "It's the work of the artist Shismatchevsky."

Then there was the drawing-room with the round table, and a sofa
and easy chairs upholstered in bright blue. Above the sofa was a
big photograph of Father Andrey wearing a priest's velvet cap and
decorations. Then they went into the dining-room in which there was