Matrèna, for instance, as much as five
hundred roubles (eighty pounds sterling).'

"The footman re-appeared, and announced
to me that I was waited for. He introduced
me into the saloon. There, seated in an
armchair, was a very little bilious-complexioned
woman, winking both her eyes as rapidly as
the second-hand on the face of a time-piece.
I approached; without further preliminary,
she bluntly asked me what I wanted. You
can fancy that, without pretending to be
susceptible, I thought it apropos to begin by
telling the lady that I was happy to see her,
and delighted to make her honourable
acquaintance. — 'You are under a mistake,' she
said. 'I am not the mistress of this estate;
I am related to the lady. Say what you
want.' — 'Excuse my telling you that I require
to speak to my honourable neighbour
herself.'— 'Maria Illinichna does not receive any
one to-day; she is indisposed. What is it
that you want?'— 'Come, there is no help
for it,' I thought to myself, and so I
mentioned Matrèna, and explained the object of
my visit. — 'Matrèna! the girl Matrèna!'
muttered the old winkeress. 'Who can this
Matrèna be?'— 'She is Matrèna Fedoravna,
the daughter of Fédor Koulikof.'— 'Ah!
Matrèna, fat Koulik's daughter! And how
did you happen to get acquainted with the
girl?'— 'By a chance accident.'— 'And is she
aware of your intention to buy her?'— 'Yes,
madame.'— 'Good! I'll settle her business.
To think of the creature!' said the lady,
turning from saffron to chocolate, after a
silence of no good omen.

"I was completely aghast, not having
suspected that my proposition could in any way
have brought the poor girl into any trouble.
'Matrèna is not at all to blame,' I said. 'I
am ready to pay any reasonable sum, which I
shall be greatly obliged if you will have the
goodness to fix.' The tufts of curly hairs
which ornamented the old lady's face bristled
up; she puffed and puffed, and then said, in
a harsh voice, 'Dear me! this is something
surprising! As if we stood in great need of
your money! I will give it her, — I will give
it her! We will cure her of this pretty piece
of madness,— we know the receipt for that
complaint!' (The old lady coughed with
spite, and changed from chocolate to café au
lait.) 'She isn't comfortable with us, the
creature! Little she-devil, take yourself off;
you shall pay for it. God forgive me, if there
is any sin in doing so!'

"I confess that, at these words, I had the
weakness to take fire. 'Why should you be
so enraged against a poor girl? Can you tell
me in what respect she has been to blame?'—
The old lady crossed herself, and said, 'Ah!
good God, do I; this girl does not belong to
you, not to you, sir. You have no business
to meddle in the matter. Maria lllinichna
can manage her own affairs; but you think
proper to interfere. However, I shall make
it my business to remind Matrèna to whom
she owes obedience,— whose hands and feet
she is bound to kiss.'

"At that moment I should have been very
glad to twist the old fury's cap hind part in
front; but I recollected Matrèna's position,
and my arms remained nailed fast to my sides.
I was so completely balked that I did not
know what I was about. I said at random,
'Put whatever price you please on Matrèna.'
— 'And pray what do you want with her?'
— 'She has taken my fancy, madame; and
she pleases me still. Put yourself a little in
my position. Permit me to have the honour
of kissing your hand.' And in fact, would
you believe that I kissed the hand of this
cursed old witch?— 'Well,' muttered the old
woman, 'I will state the affair to Maria
Illinichna, and she will decide upon it. You can
come here again the day after to-morrow.'

"I returned home in a state of great agitation.
I could not help thinking that I had
begun the business badly, and that I ought
not, in any case, to have betrayed the motive
by which I was urged. I said to myself, 'It is
too late to pretend to be indifferent now.'
Two days afterwards, I made my second
appearance at the lady's house. This time, I
was introduced into her cabinet, which was
luxuriously furnished and carpeted. She was
there, in her own proper person, stretched
almost at full length, on some sort of
marvellously mechanical arm-chair, with her
head reposing upon a cushion. The old lady,
the relation who had received me at my former
visit, was present, and there was, besides,
a kind of young lady with white eyebrows and
eyelashes, and a mouth on one side, in a high
green dress, as verdant as a meadow; I took
her to be a humble companion. The lady
begged me to be seated. I sat down. She
asked me how old I was, where I had served
in the army, and what were my future
prospects. She spoke with a certain tone of
hauteur and superiority. I gave answers to
her triple question.

"She took her pocket-handkerchief and
fanned her face with it, as if she were brushing
away some offensive vapour; then she
said, dropping out her words one by one,
'Katerina Karpovna, the lady present, has
reported to me the intentions you have
entertained. She has made me a report of the
circumstances, at the same time that she is
fully aware that I never depart from a
principle I have laid down; I never allow my
people to enter the service of other persons,
no matter who they may be. In my eyes,
that would be a most improper proceeding,
quite inconsistent with a well-managed
establishment; it would be disorderly and
immoral. I have arranged everything for the
best, as is proper in such unpleasant cases;
it is quite unnecessary, therefore, sir, for you
to give yourself any further trouble in the
matter.'— 'Trouble! I beg your pardon,
madame, but I do not exactly understand your
meaning; do you mean to say that Matrèna's