"I know, I know, what you want to ask," said Piotr Andreitch; "don't
fret yourself, she shall stay with us, and I will forgive Vanka for her
sake."

With an effort Anna Pavlovna took her husband's hand and pressed it to
her lips. The same evening she breathed her last.

Piotr Andreitch kept his word. He informed his son that for the sake of
his mother's dying hours, and for the sake of the little Fedor, he sent
him his blessing and was keeping Malanya Sergyevna in his house. Two
rooms on the ground floor were devoted to her; he presented her to his
most honoured guests, the one-eyed brigadier Skurchin, and his wife, and
bestowed on her two waiting-maids and a page for errands. Marfa
Timofyevna took leave of her; she detested Glafira, and in the course of
one day had fallen out with her three times.

It was a painful and embarrassing position at first for poor Malanya,
but, after a while, she learnt to bear it, and grew used to her
father-in-law. He, too, grew accustomed to her, and even fond of her,
though he scarcely ever spoke to her, and a certain involuntary contempt
was perceptible even in his signs of affection to her. Malanya Sergyevna
had most to put up with from her sister-in-law. Even during her mother's
lifetime, Glafira had succeeded by degrees in getting the whole
household into her hands; every one from her father downwards, submitted
to her rule; not a piece of sugar was given out without her sanction;
she would rather have died than shared her authority with another
mistress--and with such a mistress! Her brother's marriage had incensed
her even more than Piotr Andreitch; she set herself to give the upstart
a lesson, and Malanya Sergyevna from the very first hour was her slave.
And, indeed, how was she to contend against the masterful, haughty