"You must tell her to-night, Marfa Va.s.silievna. We have come too near to one another that if we were suddenly separated.... Should you like that, Marfa Va.s.silievna? If you like I will go away for good."

She wept and seized his hand in panic, when he drew back a step.

"You love me, you love me," he cried.

"Does your mother know what you are saying to me?"

"Not yet."

"Ought you to say it then? Is it honourable?"

"I shall tell her to-morrow."

"What if she will not give her blessing?"

"I won't obey."

"But I will. I will take no step without your Mother's and Grandmother's consent," she said, turning to go.

"As far as I am concerned, I am sure of my Mother's consent. I will hurry now to Kolchino, and my Mother will send you her consent to-morrow.

Marfa Va.s.silievna, give me your hand."

"What will Grandmother say? If she does not forgive me I shall die of shame," she said, and she hurried into the house.

"Heavens, what will Grandmother say?" she wondered, shutting herself up in her room, and shaking with fever. How should she tell her grandmother, and should she tell Veroshka first. She decided in favour of her grandmother, and when the house was quiet slipped to her room like a mouse.

The two talked low to one another for a long time. Tatiana Markovna made the sign of the cross over her darling many times, until she fell asleep on her shoulder. Then she carefully laid the girl's head on the pillow, rose, and prayed with many tears. But more heartily than for Marfinka's happiness she prayed for Vera, with her grey head bowed before the cross.

CHAPTER XVII

Vikentev kept his word, and on the very next day brought his mother to Tatiana Markovna, he himself taking refuge in his office, where he sat on pins and needles.

His mother, still a young woman, not much over forty, as gay and full of life as he himself was, had plenty of practical sense. They kept up between themselves a constant comic war of words; they were for ever disputing about trifles, but when it came to serious matters, she proclaimed her authority to him with quite another voice and another manner. And though he indeed usually began by protesting, he submitted to her will, if her request was reasonable. An unseen harmony underlay their visible strife.

That night, after Marfinka had left him, Vikentev had hurried to Kolchino. He rushed to his mother, threw his arms round her and kissed her. When, nearly smothered by his embrace, she thrust him from her, he fell on his knees and said solemnly: "Mother, strike me if you will, but listen. The supreme moment of my life has arrived. I have...."

"Gone mad," she supplied, looking him up and down.

"I am going to be married," he said, almost inaudibly.

"What? Mavra, Anton, Ivan, Kusma! Come here, quick!"

Mavra alone responded to the call.

"Call everybody. Nikolai Andreevich has gone mad."

"I am not joking, and I must have an answer tomorrow."

"I will have you locked up," she said, seriously disturbed at last.

Far into the night the servants heard heated arguments, the voices of the disputants now rising almost to a shout, then laughter, then outbursts of anger from the mistress, a gay retort from him, then dead silence, the sign of restored tranquillity. Vikentev had won the victory, which was indeed a foregone conclusion, for while Vikentev and Marfinka were still uncertain of their feelings, Tatiana Markovna and Marfa Egorovna had long before realised what was coming, and both, although they kept their own counsel, had weighed and considered the matter, and had concluded that the marriage was a suitable one.

"What will Tatiana Markovna say?" cried Marfa Egorovna to her son the next morning as the horses were being put in. "If she does not agree, I will never forgive you for the disgrace it will bring on us, do you hear?"

She herself, in a silk dress and a lace mantle, with yellow gloves and a coquettish fan, might have been a fiancee. When Tatiana Markovna was informed of the arrival of Madame Vikentev, she had her shown into the reception room. Before she herself changed her dress to receive her, Va.s.silissa had to peer through the doorway to see what kind of toilette the guest had made. Then Tatiana Markovna donned a rustling silk dress with a silver sheen, over which she wore her Turkish shawl; she even tried to put on a pair of diamond earrings, but gave up the attempt impatiently, telling herself that the holes in her ears had grown together. Then she sent word to Vera and Marfinka to change their dresses. In pa.s.sing she told Va.s.silissa to set out the best table linen, and the old silver and gla.s.s for the breakfast and the dinner table. The cook was ordered to serve chocolate in addition to the usual dishes, and sweets and champagne were ordered. With folded hands, adorned for the occasion with old and costly rings, she stepped solemnly into the reception room. But when she caught sight of her guest's pleasant face she all but forget the importance of the moment, but pulled herself together in time, and resumed her serious aspect.

Marfa Egorovna rose in friendly haste to meet her hostess, and began: "What ideas my mad boy has!" but restrained herself when she saw Madame Berezhkov's att.i.tude. They exchanged ceremonious greetings. Tatiana Markovna asked the visitor to sit on the divan, and seated herself stiffly beside her.

"What is the weather like?" she asked. "Had you a windy crossing over the Volga?"

"There was no wind."

"Did you come by the ferry?"

"In the boat. The caleche was brought over on the ferry."

"Yakob, Egorovna, Petrushka? Where are you? Why don't you come when you are called? Take out the horses, give them fodder, and see that the coachman is well looked after."

The servants, who had rushed in to answer the summons, hurried out. Of course the horses had been taken out while Tatiana Markovna was dressing, and the coachman was already sitting in the servants' room, doing full justice to the beer set before him.

"No, no, Tatiana Markovna," protested the visitor, "I have come for half an hour on business."

"Do you think you will be allowed to go?" asked Tatiana Markovna in a voice that permitted no reply. "You have come a long way from over the Volga. Is this the first year of our acquaintance? Do you want to insult me?"

"Ah, Tatiana Markovna, I am so grateful to you, so grateful! You are just like a relative, and how you have spoilt my Nikolai!"

"I feel sometimes as if he were my own son," burst from Tatiana Markovna, whose dignity could hold out no longer against these friendly advances.

"Yes, you are so kind to him, Tatiana Markovna, that, presuming on your kindness, he has taken it into his head...."

"Well?"

"He begged me to come over to see you, and he asks for the hand of Marfa Va.s.silievna. Marfa Va.s.silievna agrees; she loves Nikolai."

"Because Marfinka took upon herself to answer his declaration she is now shut up in her room, in her petticoat, without shoes," lied her aunt.

Then in order to lay full stress on the importance of the moment, she added: "I have given orders not to admit your son, so that he may not play with a poor girl's affections."

It was impossible for Marfa Egorovna not to recognise the provocation of these remarks.

"If I had foreseen this," she said angrily, "I would have given him a different answer. He a.s.sured me--and I was so willing to believe him--of your affection for him, and for me. Pardon my mission, Tatiana Markovna, and pray let that poor child out of her room. The blame rests with my boy only, and he shall be punished. Have the kindness to order my carriage."

She placed her hand on the bell, but Tatiana Markovna detained her.

"Your horses are taken out. You will stay with me, Marfa Egorovna, to-day, to-morrow, all the week."