ile.

"Yes, Princess, I recognised you," said the doctor, taking off his
hat again.

"Oh, thank you; I was afraid that you, too, had forgotten your
princess. People only remember their enemies, but they forget their
friends. Have you, too, come to pray?"

"I am the doctor here, and I have to spend the night at the monastery
every Saturday."

"Well, how are you?" said the princess, sighing. "I hear that you
have lost your wife. What a calamity!"

"Yes, Princess, for me it is a great calamity."

"There's nothing for it! We must bear our troubles with resignation.
Not one hair of a man's head is lost without the Divine Will."

"Yes, Princess."

To the princess's friendly, gentle smile and her sighs the doctor
responded coldly and dryly: "Yes, Princess." And the expression of
his face was cold and dry.

"What else can I say to him?" she wondered.

"How long it is since we met!" she said. "Five years! How much water
has flowed under the bridge, how many changes in that time; it quite
frightens one to think of it! You know, I am married. . . . I am
not a countess now, but a princess. And by now I am separated from
my husband too."

"Yes, I heard so."

"God has sent me many trials. No doubt you have heard, too, that I
am almost ruined. My Dubovki, Sofyino, and Kiryakovo have all been
sold for my unhappy husband's debts. And I have only Baranovo and
Mihaltsevo left. It's terrible to look back: how many changes and
misfortunes of all kinds, how many mistakes!"

"Yes, Princess, many mistakes."

The princess was a little disconcerted. She knew her mistakes; they
were all of such a private character that no one but she could think
or speak of them. She could not resist asking:

"What mistakes are you thinking about?"

"You referred to them, so you know them . . ." answered the doctor,
and he smiled. "Why talk about them!"

"No; tell me, doctor. I shall be very grateful to you. And please
don't stand on ceremony with me. I love to hear the truth."

"I am not your judge, Princess."

"Not my judge! What a tone you take! You must know something about
me. Tell me!"

"If you really wish it, very well. Only I regret to say I'm not
clever at talking, and people can't always understand me."

The doctor thought a moment and began:

"A lot of mistakes; but the most important of them, in my opinion,
was the general spirit that prevailed on all your estates. You see,
I don't know how to express myself. I mean chie