“I am not so much indifferent on that subject as I am waiting in suspense,” said Stepan Arkadyevitch, with his most deprecating smile. “I hardly think that the time for such questions has come yet for me.”

Alexey Alexandrovitch and Lidia Ivanovna looked at each other.

“We can never tell whether the time has come for us or not,” said Alexey Alexandrovitch severely. “We ought not to think whether we are ready or not ready. God’s grace is not guided by human considerations: sometimes it comes not to those that strive for it, and comes to those that are unprepared, like Saul.”

“No, I believe it won’t be just yet,” said Lidia Ivanovna, who had been meanwhile watching the movements of the