goodwill.

I received a strong proof of this about the middle of August. He brought
me to a family festival that takes place at the gathering of the
cabbage, and to which women only are usually admitted; it is, in fact,
their vintage season.

On the day that a family is to gather in their cabbage, which they salt
and lay up for the winter season, the women invite their female friends
and neighbours to come and assist them. On the evening before, they cut
the cabbages from the stem, and pull off the outside leaves and earth
that may be adhering to them. On the grand day, at the house where the
cabbages are collected, the women assemble, dressed in their most
brilliant manner, and armed with a sort of cleaver, with a handle in the
centre, more or less ornamented, according to the person's rank. They
place themselves round a kind of trough containing the cabbages. The old
women give the signal for action; two of the youngest girls take their
places in the middle of the room, and begin to dance a kind of
allemande, while the rest of the women sing national songs, and keep
time in driving their knives into the trough. When the girls are tired
with dancing, two more take their place, always eager to surpass the
former by the grace with which they make their movements. The songs
continue without intermission, and the cabbages are thus cut up in the
midst of a ball, which lasts from morning till night. Meanwhile, the
married women carry on the work, salt the cabbages, and carefully pack
them in barrels. In the evening the whole party sit down to supper,
after which only the men are admitted, but even then they remain apart
from the women. Glasses of wine and punch go round, dancing begins in a
more general manner, and they withdraw at a late hour, to begin the same
amusement at another neighbour's till all the harvest is finished.

Amidst all these young girls Daria always seemed to me the most amiable!
she danced when called upon by her mother; her motions expressed
satisfaction, and her eyes, scarcely refraining from tears, turned
towards the stranger, who alone knew her real situation, though amidst
so many indifferent people who called themselves her friends.

Towards the end of September, Wassili returned from the woods. Daria had
a prospect of several months before her before the return of Aphanassi,
if ever he should return at all; and she gave herself up to her love
with pleasing improvidence.

At this period there