“I trust you had a favourable journey,” he inquired officially of Pulcheria Alexandrovna.
“Oh, very, Pyotr Petrovitch.”
“I am gratified to hear it. And Avdotya Romanovna is not over-fatigued either?”
“I am young and strong, I don’t get tired, but it was a great strain for mother,” answered Dounia.
“That’s unavoidable! our national railways are of terrible length. ‘Mother Russia,’ as they say, is a vast country... In spite of all my desire to do so, I was unable to meet you yesterday. But I trust all passed off without inconvenience?”
“Oh, no, Pyotr Petrovitch, it was all terribly disheartening,” Pulcheria Alexandrovna hastened to declare with peculiar intonation,