o even resembled the director
in the face. And in Anna's imagination all these forces blended
together into one, and, in the form of a terrible, huge white bear,
menaced the weak and erring such as her father. And she was afraid
to say anything in opposition to her husband, and gave a forced
smile, and tried to make a show of pleasure when she was coarsely
caressed and defiled by embraces that excited her terror. Only once
Pyotr Leontyitch had the temerity to ask for a loan of fifty roubles
in order to pay some very irksome debt, but what an agony it had
been!

"Very good; I'll give it to you," said Modest Alexeitch after a
moment's thought; "but I warn you I won't help you again till you
give up drinking. Such a failing is disgraceful in a man in the
government service! I must remind you of the well-known fact that
many capable people have been ruined by that passion, though they
might possibly, with temperance, have risen in time to a very high."

And long-winded phrases followed: "inasmuch as . . .", "following
upon which proposition . . .", "in view of the aforesaid contention
. . ."; and Pyotr Leontyitch was in agonies of humiliation and felt
an intense craving for alcohol.

And when the boys came to visit Anna, generally in broken boots and
threadbare trousers, they, too, had to listen to sermons.

"Every man ought to have his duties!" Modest Alexeitch would say
to them.

And he did not give them money. But he did give Anna bracelets,
rings, and brooches, saying that these things would come in useful
for a rainy day. And he often unlocked her drawer and made an
inspection to see whether they were all safe.

II

Meanwhile winter came on. Long before Christmas there was an
announcement in the local papers that the usual winter ball would
take place on the twenty-ninth of December in the Hall of Nobility.
Every evening after cards Modest Alexeitch was excitedly whispering
with his colleagues' wives and glancing at Anna, and then paced up
and down the room for a long while, thinking. At last, late one
evening, he stood still, facing Anna, and said:

"You ought to get yourself a ball dress. Do you understand? Only
please consult Marya Grigoryevna and Natalya Kuzminishna."

And he gave her a hundred roubles. She took the money, but she did
not consult any one when she ordered the ball dress; she spoke to
no one but her father, and tried to imagine how her mother would
have dressed for a ball. Her mother had