llowing her?"

"Because it is proper that I should," Nekhludoff said dryly, as
though desiring to change the subject.

But he immediately felt ashamed of his coldness to his sister. "Why
should I not tell her what I think?" he thought; "and let Agrippina
Petrovna also know it," he said to himself, looking at the old
servant.

The presence of Agrippina Petrovna only encouraged him to repeat his
decision to his sister.

"You are speaking of my intention to marry Katiusha. You see, I have
decided to do it, but she firmly and decidedly refused me," he said,
and his voice trembled, as it always did when he spoke of it. "She
does not desire my sacrifice, and in her position she sacrifices very
much, and I could not accept her sacrifice, even if it were only
momentary. That is why I am following her, and I will be near her, and
will endeavor to relieve her condition as far as I am able."

Natalia Ivanovna was silent. Agrippina Petrovna looked inquiringly at
Natalia Ivanovna, shaking her head. At that moment the procession
started again from the ladies' room. The same handsome Phillip and the
porter were bearing the Princess. She stopped the bearers, beckoned
Nekhludoff to her side, and in a piteously languid manner extended her
white, ring-bedecked hand, with horror anticipating the hard pressure
of his.

"_Epouvantable!_" she said of the heat. "It is unbearable. _Ce climat
me tue._" And having said a few words of the horrors of the Russian
climate, and invited Nekhludoff to visit them, she gave a sign to the
bearers. "Don't fail to come, now," she added, turning her long face
to Nekhludoff.

Nekhludoff went out on the platform. The procession turned to the
right, toward the first-class coaches. Nekhludoff, with a porter who
carried his baggage, and Tarass, with his bags, turned to the left.

"That is my comrade," Nekhludoff said to his sister, pointing to
Tarass, whose story he had told her before.

"What, are you taking the third class?" asked Natalia Ivanovna, when
Nekhludoff stopped before a third-class car and the porter, with
Tarass, entered it.

"Yes, I will have it more convenient then. Tarass is with me. Another
thing," he added. "I have not yet given the Kusminskoie land to the
peasants. So that, in case of my death, your children will inherit
it."

"Dmitri, don't talk that way," said Natalia Ivanovna.

"And if I do give it away, then all I have to tell you is that the
remainder will be theirs, for I