to? You've nowhere to go to, you
know," cried Gania, out of the window.

"Come back, father; the neighbours will hear!" cried Varia.

The general stopped, turned round, raised his hands and remarked: "My
curse be upon this house!"

"Which observation should always be made in as theatrical a tone as
possible," muttered Gania, shutting the window with a bang.

The neighbours undoubtedly did hear. Varia rushed out of the room.

No sooner had his sister left him alone, than Gania took the note out of
his pocket, kissed it, and pirouetted around.

III.

As a general rule, old General Ivolgin's paroxysms ended in smoke. He
had before this experienced fits of sudden fury, but not very often,
because he was really a man of peaceful and kindly disposition. He had
tried hundreds of times to overcome the dissolute habits which he had
contracted of late years. He would suddenly remember that he was "a
father," would be reconciled with his wife, and shed genuine tears.
His feeling for Nina Alexandrovna amounted almost to adoration; she had
pardoned so much in silence, and loved him still in spite of the state
of degradation into which he had fallen. But the general's struggles
with his own weakness never lasted very long. He was, in his way, an
impetuous man, and a quiet life of repentance in the bosom of his family
soon became insupportable to him. In the end he rebelled, and flew into
rages which he regretted, perhaps, even as he gave way to them, but
which were beyond his control. He picked quarrels with everyone,
began to hold forth eloquently, exacted unlimited respect, and at last
disappeared from the house, and sometimes did not return for a long
time. He had given up interfering in the affairs of his family for
two years now, and knew nothing about them but what he gathered from
hearsay.

But on this occasion there was something more serious than usual.
Everyone seemed to know something, but to be afraid to talk about it.

The general had turned up in the bosom of his family two or three days
before, but not, as usual, with the olive branch of peace in his hand,
not in the garb of penitence--in which he was usually clad on such
occasions--but, on the contrary, in an uncommonly bad temper. He had
arrived in a quarrelsome mood, pitching into everyone he came across,
and talking about all sorts and kinds of subjects in the most unexpected
manner, so that it was impossible to discover what it was that was
really putt