and when, while still young in years, she died of consumption, she
entreated Anna Vassilyevna to take him under her care. He was at that
time twenty-one. Anna Vassilyevna carried out her last wish; a small
room in the lodge of the country villa was given up to him.




IV


'Come to dinner, come along,' said the lady of the house in a
plaintive voice, and they all went into the dining-room. 'Sit beside
me, _Zoe_,' added Anna Vassilyevna, 'and you, Helene, take our guest;
and you, _Paul_, please don't be naughty and tease _Zoe_. My head
aches to-day.'

Shubin again turned his eyes up to the ceiling; Zoe responded with a
half-smile. This Zoe, or, to speak more precisely, Zoya Nikitishna
Mueller, was a pretty, fair-haired, half-Russian German girl, with a
little nose rather wide at the end, and tiny red lips. She sang
Russian ballads fairly well and could play various pieces, both lively
and sentimental, very correctly on the piano. She dressed with taste,
but in a rather childish style, and even over-precisely. Anna
Vassilyevna had taken her as a companion for her daughter, and she
kept her almost constantly at her side. Elena did not complain of that;
she was absolutely at a loss what to say to Zoya when she happened to
be left alone with her.

The dinner lasted rather a long time; Bersenyev talked with Elena