Until eight o'clock Nejdanov stayed in the garden, enjoying the
shadows cast by the old trees, the fresh air, the singing of the
birds, until the sound of a gong called him to the house. On his
entrance he found the whole company already assembled in the
dining room. Valentina Mihailovna greeted him in a friendly
manner; she seemed to him marvellously beautiful in her morning
gown. Mariana looked stern and serious as usual.

Exactly at ten o'clock Nejdanov gave Kolia his first lesson
before Valentina Mihailovna, who had asked him if she might he
present, and sat very quietly the whole time. Kolia proved an
intelligent boy; after the inevitable moments of incertitude and
discomfort, the lesson went off very well, and Valentina
Mihailovna was evidently satisfied with Nejdanov, and spoke to
him several times kindly. He tried to hold aloof a little--but
not too much so. Valentina Mihailovna was also present at the
second lesson, this time on Russian history. She announced, with
a smile, that in this subject she needed instruction almost as
much as Kolia. She conducted herself just as quietly as she had
done at the first lesson.

Between two and five o'clock Nejdanov stayed in his own room
writing letters to his St. Petersburg friends. He was neither
bored nor in despair; his overstrained nerves had calmed down
somewhat. However, they were set on edge again at dinner,
although Kollomietzev was not present, and the kind attention of
host and hostess remained unchanged; but it was this very
attention that made Nejdanov angry. To make matters worse, the
old maiden lady, Anna Zaharovna, was obviously antagonistic,
Mariana continued serious, and Kolia rather unceremoniously