he began to develop the expectation
that this day something important, something decisive, was to happen to
him.

His attack of yesterday had been a slight one. Excepting some little
heaviness in the head and pain in the limbs, he did not feel any
particular effects. His brain worked all right, though his soul was
heavy within him.

He rose late, and immediately upon waking remembered all about the
previous evening; he also remembered, though not quite so clearly, how,
half an hour after his fit, he had been carried home.

He soon heard that a messenger from the Epanchins' had already been to
inquire after him. At half-past eleven another arrived; and this pleased
him.

Vera Lebedeff was one of the first to come to see him and offer her
services. No sooner did she catch sight of him than she burst into
tears; but when he tried to soothe her she began to laugh. He was quite
struck by the girl's deep sympathy for him; he seized her hand and
kissed it. Vera flushed crimson.

"Oh, don't, don't!" she exclaimed in alarm, snatching her hand away. She
went hastily out of the room in a state of strange confusion.

Lebedeff also came to see the prince, in a great hurry to get away to
the "deceased," as he called General Ivolgin, who was alive still, but
very ill. Colia also turned up, and begged the prince for pity's sake to
tell him all he knew about his father which had been concealed from him
till now. He said he had found out nearly everything since yesterday;
the poor boy was in a state of deep affliction. With all the sympathy
which he could bring into play, the prince told Colia the whole story
without reserve, detailing the facts as clearly as he could. The
tale struck Colia like a thunderbolt. He could not speak. He listened
silently, and cried softly to himself the while. The prince perceived
that this was an impression which would last for the whole of the boy's
life. He made haste to explain his view of the matter, and pointed out
that the old man's approaching death was probably brought on by horror
at the thought of his action; and that it was not everyone who was
capable of such a feeling.

Colia's eyes flashed as he listened.

"Gania and Varia and Ptitsin are a worthless lot! I shall not quarrel
with them; but from this moment our feet shall not travel the same road.
Oh, prince, I have felt much that is quite new to me since yesterday!
It is a lesson for me. I shall now consider my mother as entirely my