great-grandchildren--in deep mourning.

Nobody wept, tears would have been an affectation. The Countess
was so old that her death could have surprised nobody, and her
relatives had long looked upon her as being out of the world. A
famous preacher delivered the funeral sermon. In simple and
touching words he described the peaceful passing away of the
righteous, who had passed long years in calm preparation for a
Christian end. "The angel of death found her," said the orator,
"engaged in pious meditation and waiting for the midnight
bridegroom."

The service concluded amidst profound silence. The relatives went
forward first to take a farewell of the corpse. Then followed the
numerous guests, who had come to render the last homage to her who
for so many years had been a participator in their frivolous
amusements. After these followed the members of the Countess's
household. The last of these an old woman of the same age as the
deceased. Two young women led her forward by the hand. She had
not strength enough to bow down to the ground--she merely shed a
few tears, and kissed the cold hand of the mistress.

Herman now resolved to approach the coffin. He knelt down upon the
cold stones, and remained in that position for some minutes; at
last he arose as pale as the deceased Countess herself; he ascended
the steps of the catafalque and bent over the corpse. . . . At
that moment it seemed to him that the dead woman darted a mocking
look at him and winked with one eye. Hermann started back, took a
false step, and fell to the ground. Several persons hurried
forward and raised him up. At the same moment Lizaveta Ivanovna