taken an oath never to open them again. When he went
to his room, Lavretsky took up to bed with him a whole bundle of French
newspapers, which had been lying for more than fortnight on his table
unopened. He began indifferently to tear open the wrappings, and glanced
hastily over the columns of the newspapers--in which, however, there was
nothing new. He was just about to throw them down--and all at once he
leaped out of bed as if he had been stung. In an article in one of the
papers, M. Jules, with whom we are already familiar, communicated to
his readers a "mournful intelligence, that charming, fascinating Moscow
lady," he wrote, "one of the queens of fashion, who adorned Parisian
salons, Madame de Lavretsky, had died almost suddenly, and this
intelligence, unhappily only too well-founded, had only just reached
him, M. Jules. He was," so he continued, "he might say a friend of the
deceased."

Lavretsky dressed, went out into the garden, and till morning he walked
up and down the same path.

Chapter XXVIII

The next morning, over their tea, Lemm asked Lavretsky to let him have
the horses to return to town. "It's time for me to set to work, that is,
to my lessons," observed the old man. "Besides, I am only wasting time
here." Lavretsky did not reply at once; he seemed abstracted. "Very
good," he said at last; "I will come with you myself." Unaided by the
servants, Lemm, groaning and wrathful, packed his small box and tore up
and burnt a few sheets of music-paper. The horses were harnessed. As he
came out of his own room, Lavretsky put the paper he had read last night
in his pocket. During the whole course of the journey both Lemm and
Lavretsky spoke little to one another; each was occupied with his own
thoughts, and each was glad not to be disturbed by the other; and they
parted rather coolly; which is often the way, however, with friends in
Russia. Lavretsky conducted the old man to his little house; the latter
got out, took his trunk and without holding out his hand to his friend
(he was holding his trunk in both arms before his breast), without
even looking at him, he said to him in Russian, "good-bye!" "Good-bye,"
repeated Lavretsky, and bade the coachman drive to his lodging. He had
taken rooms in the town of O-----... After writing a few letters and
hastily dining, Lavretsky went to the Kalitins'. In their drawing-room
he found only Panshin, who informed him that Marya Dmitrievna would
be in directly, and