"There you are! Here only a minute and dull already. You stay with us some time, then we'll see, perhaps you won't find it so dull after all," answered Porfiry Vladimirych, his eyes suddenly taking on an oily glitter. "No, there isn't an interesting thing here. What is there? Snow all around, no neighbors. Is there a regiment quartered anywhere near here?" "Yes, there is a regiment and there are neighbors; but, to tell the truth, it doesn't interest me. Yet, if you----" Porfiry Vladimirych looked at her and did not end his sentence, but coughed. Perhaps he had stopped intentionally, wishing to excite her feminine curiosity. At any rate the same faint smile as before glided over her lips. She leaned her elbows on the table and looked at Yevpraksia fixedly. The, girl all flushed, was drying the glasses, casting sly glances at Anninka with her large, heavy eyes. "My new housekeeper--very industrious," said Porfiry Vladimirych. Anninka nodded slightly and began to purr softly: _"Ah, ah! que j'aime--que j'aime--que j'aime--les mili-mili-mili-taires!"_ and her hips quivered as she sang. Silence set in, during which Yudushka, his eyes meekly lowered, sipped his tea from a glass. "My, it's dull!" said Anninka, yawning again. "It's dull, and it's dull! You never get tired of saying that. You wait a while, stay here a bit longer. We'll order the sleigh set to rights, and you'll ride to your heart's content." "Uncle, why didn't you become a hussar?" "Because, my friend, every man has his station ordained by the Lord. Some are to become hussars, others functionaries, others merchants; some are----" "Oh, yes, and so on, and so forth. Who can keep track of it all? And God ordained all that, did He?" "Why, yes, my friend, God. And it is not proper to scoff. Do you know what the Scriptures say? 'Without the will of God----'" "Is it about the hair? Yes, I know that, too. But the trouble is, everybody wears false hair now, and I don't think that was foreseen. By the way, uncle, look what wonderful braids I have! Don't you think they're fine?" Porfiry Vladimirych came nearer, for some reason, on tiptoe, and fingered her braids for some time. And Yevpraksia, without relaxing her hold on the saucer filled with tea and holding a bit of toast between her teeth, leaned forward and said, "False, I suppose?" "Oh, no, my own. Some day I'll let my hair down for you, uncle." "Yes, your hair is fine," said Yudushka, his lips parting in a repulsive smile. Then he recalled that one must turn his back on such temptations and added, "Oh, you hoyden! Always thinking about braids and trains, but you'd never think of inquiring about the main thing, the real thing?" "Oh, about grandmother? She is dead, isn't she?"