“Shall you be long in Moscow? You’re busy with the district council, though, aren’t you, and can’t be away for long?”

“No, princess, I’m no longer a member of the council,” he said. “I have come up for a few days.”

“There’s something the matter with him,” thought Countess Nordston, glancing at his stern, serious face. “He isn’t in his old argumentative mood. But I’ll draw him out. I do love making a fool of him before Kitty, and I’ll do it.”

“Konstantin Dmitrievitch,” she said to him, “do explain to me, please, what’s the meaning of it. You know all about such things. At home in our village of Kaluga all the peasants and all the women have drunk up all they possessed, and now they can’t