"Mamma will be very glad,"--replied Liza:--"she has heard of your arrival." "Your name is Elizaveta, I believe?"--said Lavretzky, as he mounted the steps of the porch. "Yes." "I remember you well; you had a face, at that time, such as one does not forget; I used to bring you bonbons then." Liza blushed and thought, "What a strange man he is!" Lavretzky paused for a minute in the anteroom. Liza entered the drawing-room, where Panshin's voice and laughter were resounding; he had imparted some gossip of the town to Marya Dmitrievna and Gedeonovsky, who had already returned from the garden, and was himself laughing loudly at what he had narrated. At the name of Lavretzky, Marya Dmitrievna started in utter trepidation, turned pale, and advanced to meet him. "How do you do, how do you do, my dear _cousin_!"--she exclaimed, in a drawling and almost tearful voice:--"how glad I am to see you!" "How do you do, my kind cousin,"--returned Lavretzky; and shook her proffered hand in a friendly way:--"how does the Lord show mercy on you?" "Sit down, sit down, my dear Feodor Ivanitch. Akh, how delighted I am! Permit me, in the first place, to present to you my daughter Liza...." "I have already introduced myself to Lizaveta Mikhailovna,"--Lavretzky interrupted her. "Monsieur Panshin.... Sergyei Petrovitch Gedeonovsky.... But pray sit down! I look at you, and I simply cannot believe my eyes. How is your health?" "As you see, I am blooming. And you, cousin,--I don't want to cast the evil eye on you--you have not grown thin during these eight years." "Just think, what a long time it is since we saw each other,"--remarked Marya Dmitrievna, dreamily.--"Whence come you now? Where have you left ... that is, I meant to say"--she hastily caught herself up--"I meant to say, are you to be with us long?" "I have just come from Berlin,"--returned Lavretzky,--"and to-morrow I set out for my estate--probably to remain there a long time." "Of course, you will live at Lavriki?" "No, not at Lavriki, but I have a tiny village about twenty-five versts from here; I am going there." "The village which you inherited from Glafira Petrovna?" "The same." "Good gracious, Feodor Ivanitch! You have a splendid house at Lavriki!" Lavretzky scowled slightly. "Yes ... but in that little estate there is a small wing; and, for the present, I need nothing more. That place is the most convenient for me just now." Marya Dmitrievna again became so perturbed, that she even straightened herself up, and flung her hands apart. Panshin came to her assistance, and entered into conversation with Lavretzky. Marya Dmitrievna recovered her composure, leaned back in her chair, and only interjected a word from time to time; but, all the while, she gazed so compassionately at her visitor, she sighed so significantly, and shook her head so mournfully, that the latter, at last, could endure it no longer, and asked her, quite sharply: was she well?