First Love by Ivan Sergeyevich Turgenev Chapter 8 Page 7

After dinner I went myself to the Zasyekins’. In the drawing-room I found only the old princess. On seeing me she scratched her head under her cap with a knitting-needle, and suddenly asked me, could I copy a petition for her.

‘With pleasure,’ I replied, sitting down on the edge of a chair.

‘Only mind and make the letters bigger,’ observed the princess, handing me a dirty sheet of paper; ‘and couldn’t you do it to-day, my good sir?’

‘Certainly, I will copy it to-day.’

The door of the next room was just opened, and in the crack I saw the face of Zina�da, pale and pensive, her hair flung carelessly back; she stared at me with big chilly eyes, and softly closed the door.