uch a husband as
THAT for our Aglaya!"

Of course, the last argument was the chief one. The maternal heart
trembled with indignation to think of such an absurdity, although in
that heart there rose another voice, which said: "And WHY is not the
prince such a husband as you would have desired for Aglaya?" It was this
voice which annoyed Lizabetha Prokofievna more than anything else.

For some reason or other, the sisters liked the idea of the prince. They
did not even consider it very strange; in a word, they might be expected
at any moment to range themselves strongly on his side. But both of them
decided to say nothing either way. It had always been noticed in the
family that the stronger Mrs. Epanchin's opposition was to any project,
the nearer she was, in reality, to giving in.

Alexandra, however, found it difficult to keep absolute silence on
the subject. Long since holding, as she did, the post of "confidential
adviser to mamma," she was now perpetually called in council, and asked
her opinion, and especially her assistance, in order to recollect "how
on earth all this happened?" Why did no one see it? Why did no one say
anything about it? What did all that wretched "poor knight" joke mean?
Why was she, Lizabetha Prokofievna, driven to think, and foresee, and
worry for everybody, while they all sucked their thumbs, and counted the
crows in the garden, and did nothing? At first, Alexandra had been very
careful, and had merely replied that perhaps her father's remark was not
so far out: that, in the eyes of the world, probably the choice of the
prince as a husband for one of the Epanchin girls would be considered a
very wise one. Warming up, however, she added that the prince was by no
means a fool, and never had been; and that as to "place in the world,"
no one knew what the position of a respectable person in Russia would
imply in a few years--whether it would depend on successes in the
government service, on the old system, or what.

To all this her mother replied that Alexandra was a freethinker, and
that all this was due to that "cursed woman's rights question."

Half an hour after this conversation, she went off to town, and thence
to the Kammenny Ostrof, ["Stone Island," a suburb and park of St.
Petersburg] to see Princess Bielokonski, who had just arrived from
Moscow on a short visit. The princess was Aglaya's godmother.

"Old Bielokonski" listened to all the fevered and despairing lamentations
of Liza