some preserves?
Schurotchka, get him a jar of strawberries. Thou dost not want it? Well,
then sit as thou art; but as for smoking--thou must not: I cannot bear
thy tobacco, and, moreover, it makes Matros sneeze."

Lavretzky made haste to assert that he did not care to smoke.

"Hast thou been down-stairs?"--went on the old woman:--"whom didst thou
see there? Is Panshin still on hand, as usual? And didst thou see Liza?
No? She intended to come hither.... Yes, there she is; speak of an
angel...."

Liza entered the room and, on perceiving Lavretzky, she blushed.

"I have run in to see you for a minute, Marfa Timofeevna," she
began....

"Why for a minute?"--returned the old woman. "What makes all you young
girls such restless creatures? Thou seest, that I have a visitor: chatter
to him, entertain him."

Liza seated herself on the edge of a chair, raised her eyes to
Lavretzky,--and felt that it was impossible not to give him to
understand how her interview with Panshin had ended. But how was that to
be done? She felt both ashamed and awkward. She had not been acquainted
with him long, with that man who both went rarely to church and bore with
so much indifference the death of his wife,--and here she was already
imparting her secrets to him.... He took an interest in her, it is true;
she, herself, trusted him, and felt attracted to him; but, nevertheless,
she felt ashamed, as though a stranger had entered her pure, virgin
chamber.

Marfa Timofeevna came to her assistance.

"If thou wilt not entertain him,"--she began, "who will entertain him,
poor fellow? I am too old for him, he is too clever for me, and for
Nastasya Karpovna he is too old, you must give her nothing but very
young men."

"How can I entertain Feodor Ivanitch?"--said Liza.--"If he likes, I
will play something for him on the piano,"--she added, irresolutely.

"Very good indeed: that's my clever girl,"--replied Marfa
Timofeevna,--"Go down-stairs, my dear people; when you are through, come
back; for I have been left the 'fool,' and I feel insulted, and want to
win back."

Liza rose: Lavretzky followed her. As they were descending the
staircase, Liza halted.

"They tell the truth,"--she began:--"when they say that the hearts of men
are full of contradictions. Your example ought to frighten me, to render
me distrustful of marriage for love, but I...."

"You have refused him?"--interrupted Lavretzky.

"No; but I have not accepted him. I told him ev