was seized with a fatal illness. A few days
before her end, when she could no longer leave her bed, she declared to her
husband, in the presence of the priest, that she wished to see and bid
farewell to her daughter-in-law, and to bestow her blessing on her
grandchild. The afflicted old man soothed her, and immediately sent his own
equipage for his daughter-in-law, for the first time calling her Malanya
Sergyeevna.[3] She came with her son and with Marfa Timofeevna, who
would not let her go alone on any terms, and would not have allowed her to
be affronted. Half dead with terror, Malanya entered Piotr Andreitch's
study. The nurse carried Fedya after her. Piotr Andreitch gazed at her
in silence; she approached to kiss his hand; her quivering lips hardly met
in a noiseless kiss.

"Well, new-ground, undried noblewoman,"--he said at last:--"how do you
do; let us go to the mistress."

He rose and bent over Fedya; the baby smiled, and stretched out his
little, white arms. The old man was completely upset.

"Okh," he said,--"thou orphan! Thou hast plead thy father's cause with
me; I will not abandon thee, my birdling!"

As soon as Malanya Sergyeevna entered the bedchamber of Anna Pavlovna,
she knelt down near the door. Anna Pavlovna beckoned her to the bed,
embraced her, blessed her son; then, turning her countenance, ravaged by
disease, to her husband, she tried to speak....

"I know, I know what entreaty thou desirest to make,"--said Piotr
Andreitch:--"do not worry: she shall stay with us, and I will pardon
Vanka for her sake."

Anna Pavlovna, with an effort, grasped her husband's hand, and pressed
it to her lips. On that same evening she died.

Piotr Andreitch kept his word. He informed his son, that, for the sake
of his mother's dying hour, for the sake of baby Feodor, he restored to
him his blessing, and would keep Malanya Sergyeevna in his own house.
Two rooms were set apart for her use in the entresol, he introduced her
to his most respected visitor, one-eyed Brigadier Skuryokhin, and to his
wife; he presented her with two maids and a page-boy for errands. Marfa
Timofeevna bade her farewell; she detested Glafira, and quarrelled with
her thrice in the course of one day.

At first the poor woman found her situation painful and awkward; but
afterward, she learned to bear things patiently, and became accustomed to
her father-in-law. He, also, became accustomed to her, he even grew to
love her, although he almost ne