station the streets struck her as very wide and the houses very
small and squat; there were no people about, she met no one but the
German piano-tuner in a rusty greatcoat. And all the houses looked
as though they were covered with dust. Granny, who seemed to have
grown quite old, but was as fat and plain as ever, flung her arms
round Nadya and cried for a long time with her face on Nadya's
shoulder, unable to tear herself away. Nina Ivanovna looked much
older and plainer and seemed shrivelled up, but was still tightly
laced, and still had diamonds flashing on her fingers.

"My darling," she said, trembling all over, "my darling!"

Then they sat down and cried without speaking. It was evident that
both mother and grandmother realized that the past was lost and
gone, never to return; they had now no position in society, no
prestige as before, no right to invite visitors; so it is when in
the midst of an easy careless life the police suddenly burst in at
night and made a search, and it turns out that the head of the
family has embezzled money or committed forgery--and goodbye then
to the easy careless life for ever!

Nadya went upstairs and saw the same bed, the same windows with
naïve white curtains, and outside the windows the same garden, gay
and noisy, bathed in sunshine. She touched the table, sat down and
sank into thought. And she had a good dinner and drank tea with
delicious rich cream; but something was missing, there was a sense
of emptiness in the rooms and the ceilings were so low. In the
evening she went to bed, covered herself up and for some reason it
seemed to her to be funny lying in this snug, very soft bed.