'Wait a little, my darling, I cannot bear yet to see the man who has
come between us. We shall have time before you go.'

'Before we go,' repeated Elena mournfully.

Nikolai Artemyevitch had consented 'not to make a scandal,' but Anna
Vassilyevna did not tell her daughter what a price he had put on his
consent. She did not tell her that she had promised to pay all his
debts, and had given him a thousand roubles down on the spot.
Moreover, he had declared decisively to Anna Vassilyevna that he had
no wish to meet Insarov, whom he persisted in calling 'the Montenegrin
vagrant,' and when he got to the club, he began, quite without
occasion, talking of Elena's marriage, to his partner at cards, a
retired general of engineers. 'You have heard,' he observed with a
show of carelessness, 'my daughter, through the higher education, has
gone and married a student.' The general looked at him through his
spectacles, muttered, 'H'm!' and asked him what stakes would he play
for.




XXXII


The day of departure drew near. November was already over; the latest
date for starting had come. Insarov had long ago made his
preparations, and was burning with anxiety to get out of Moscow as
soon as possible. And the doctor was urging him on. 'You need a warm
climate,' he told him; 'you will not get well here.' Elena, too, was