es to an old
man, who had got up from under his long coat and was combing his
hair. The smoke from the gun was white as milk over the green of
the grass.

One of the boys ran up to Levin.

"Uncle, there were ducks here yesterday!" he shouted to him, and
he walked a little way off behind him.

And Levin was doubly pleased, in sight of the boy, who expressed
his approval, at killing three snipe, one after another, straight
off.

Chapter 13

The sportsman's saying, that if the first beast or the first bird
is not missed, the day will be lucky, turned out correct.

At ten o'clock Levin, weary, hungry, and happy after a tramp of
twenty miles, returned to his night's lodging with nineteen head
of fine game and one duck, which he tied to his belt, as it would
not go into the game bag. His companions had long been awake,
and had had time to get hungry and have breakfast.

"Wait a bit, wait a bit, I know there are nineteen," said Levin,
counting a second time over the grouse and snipe, that looked so
much less important now, bent and dry and bloodstained, with
heads crooked aside, than they did when they were flying.

The number was verified, and Stepan Arkadyevitch's envy pleased
Levin. He was pleased too on returning to find the man sent by
Kitty with a note was already there.

"I am perfectly well and happy. If you were uneasy about me, you
can feel easier than ever. I've a new bodyguard, Marya
Vlasyevna,"--this was the midwife, a new and important personage
in Levin's domestic life. "She has come to have a look at me.
She found me perfectly well, and we have kept her till you are
back. All are happy and well, and please, don't be in a hurry to
come back, but, if the sport is good, stay another day."

These two pleasures, his lucky shooting and the letter from his
wife, were so great that two slightly disagreeable incidents
passed lightly over Levin. One was that the chestnut trace
horse, who had been unmistakably overworked on the previous day,
was off his feed and out of sorts. The coachman said he was
"Overdriven yesterday, Konstantin Dmitrievitch. Yes, indeed!
driven ten miles with no sense!"

The other unpleasant incident, which for the first minute
destroyed his good humor, though later he laughed at it a great
deal, was to find that of all the provisions Kitty had provided
in such abundance that one would have thought there was enough
for a week, nothing was left. On his way back, tired