my mind there is nothing in common between you. You have _faith_, and
he has not; for a man cannot _have faith_ in himself only.

'He did not go away till late; but mamma had time to inform me that
he was pleased with me, and papa is in ecstasies. Did he say, I
wonder, that I was a woman of principle? I was almost telling mamma
that I was very sorry, but I had a husband already. Why is it papa
dislikes you so? Mamma, we could soon manage to bring round.

'Oh, my dear one! I have described this gentleman in such detail to
deaden my heartache. I don't live without you; I am constantly seeing
you, hearing you. I look forward to seeing you--only not at our
house, as you intended--fancy how wretched and ill at ease we should
be!--but you know where I wrote to you--in that wood. Oh, my dear
one! How I love you!'





XXIII


Three weeks after Kurnatovsky's first visit, Anna Vassilyevna, to
Elena's great delight, returned to Moscow, to her large wooden house
near Prechistenka; a house with columns, white lyres and wreaths over
every window, with an attic, offices, a palisade, a huge green court,
a well in the court and a dog's kennel near the well. Anna
Vassilyevna had never left her country villa so early, but this year
with the first autumn chills her face swelled; Nikolai Artemyevitch