A friendly cry of greeting answered him--not that all those young people were inordinately delighted at the arrival of a distant and almost forgotten relative, but simply because they were ready to rejoice and make a noise over every pleasurable occurrence. They all immediately surrounded Lavretsky. Lenochka, as his old acquaintance, was the first to name herself, assuring him that, if she had had a very little more time, she would most certainly have recognized him; and then she introduced all the rest of the company to him, giving them all, her betrothed included, their familiar forms of name. The whole party then went through the dining-room into the drawing-room. The paper on the walls of both rooms had been altered, but the furniture remained just as it used to be. Lavretsky recognized the piano. Even the embroidery-frame by the window remained exactly as it had been, and in the very same position as of old; and even seemed to have the same unfinished piece of work on it which had been there eight years before. They placed him in a large arm-chair, and sat down gravely around him. Questions, exclamations, anecdotes, followed swiftly one after another. "What a long time it is since we saw you last!" naïvely remarked Lenochka; "and we haven't seen Varvara Pavlovna either." "No wonder!" her brother hastily interrupted her--"I took you away to St. Petersburg; but Fedor Ivanovich has lived all the time on his estate." "Yes, and mamma too is dead, since then." "And Marfa Timofeevna," said Shurochka. "And Nastasia Corpovna," continued Lenochka, "and Monsieur Lemm." "What? is Lemm dead too?" asked Lavretsky. "Yes," answered young Kalitine. "He went away from here to Odessa. Some one is said to have persuaded him to go there, and there he died." "You don't happen to know if he left any music behind?" "I don't know, but I should scarcely think so." A general silence ensued, and each one of the party looked at the others. A shade of sadness swept over all the youthful faces. "But Matros is alive," suddenly cried Lenochka. "And Gedeonovsky is alive," added her brother. The name of Gedeonovsky at once called forth a merry laugh. "Yes, he is still alive; and he tells stories just as he used to do," continued the young Kalitine--"only fancy! this mad-cap here" (pointing to his wife's sister the Institute-girl) "put a quantity of pepper into his snuff-box yesterday." "How he did sneeze!" exclaimed Lenochka--and irrepressible laughter again broke out on all sides. "We had news of Liza the other day," said young Kalitine. And again silence fell upon all the circle. "She is going on well--her health is gradually being restored now." "Is she still in the same convent?" Lavretsky asked, not without an effort. "Yes." "Does she ever write to you?" "No, never. We get news of her from other quarters." A profound silence suddenly ensued. "An angel has noiselessly flown past," they all thought.