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some time to the theoretical study of the subject. After reading several
books on anthropology, education, and didactics, Alexey Alexandrovitch
drew up a plan of education, and engaging the best tutor in Petersburg
to superintend it, he set to work, and the subject continually absorbed
him.
“Yes, but the heart. I see in him his father’s heart, and with such a
heart a child cannot go far wrong,” said Lidia Ivanovna with enthusi-
asm.
“Yes, perhaps.... As for me, I do my duty. It’s all I can do.”
“You’re coming to me,” said Countess Lidia Ivanovna, after a pause;
“we have to speak of a subject painful for you. I would give anything to
have spared you certain memories, but others are not of the same mind.
I have received a letter from HER. SHE is here in Petersburg.”
Alexey Alexandrovitch shuddered at the allusion to his wife, but
immediately his face assumed the deathlike rigidity which expressed
utter helplessness in the matter.
“I was expecting it,” he said.
Countess Lidia Ivanovna looked at him ecstatically, and tears of
rapture at the greatness of his soul came into her eyes.
Chapter 25.
When Alexey Alexandrovitch came into the Countess Lidia
Ivanovna’s snug little boudoir, decorated with old china and hung with
portraits, the lady herself had not yet made her appearance.
She was changing her dress.
A cloth was laid on a round table, and on it stood a china tea service
and a silver spirit-lamp and tea kettle. Alexey Alexandrovitch looked
idly about at the endless familiar portraits which adorned the room,
and sitting down to the table, he opened a New Testament lying upon
it. The rustle of the countess’s silk skirt drew his attention off.
“Well now, we can sit quietly,” said Countess Lidia Ivanovna, slip-
ping hurriedly with an agitated smile between the table and the sofa,
“and talk over our tea.”
After some words of preparation, Countess Lidia Ivanovna, breath-
ing hard and flushing crimson, gave into Alexey Alexandrovitch’s hands
the letter she had received.
After reading the letter, he sat a long while in silence.
“I don’t think I have the right to refuse her,” he said, timidly lifting
his eyes.
“Dear friend, you never see evil in anyone!”
“On the contrary, I see that all is evil. But whether it is just...”
His face showed irresolution, and a seeking for counsel, support,