d her. He would listen to her for
hours at a time with a quiet smile on his face, scarcely saying a word
himself. And yet we know, equally certainly, that during this period he
several times set off, suddenly, to the Epanchins', not concealing
the fact from Nastasia Philipovna, and driving the latter to absolute
despair. We know also that he was not received at the Epanchins' so long
as they remained at Pavlofsk, and that he was not allowed an interview
with Aglaya;--but next day he would set off once more on the same
errand, apparently quite oblivious of the fact of yesterday's visit
having been a failure,--and, of course, meeting with another refusal.
We know, too, that exactly an hour after Aglaya had fled from Nastasia
Philipovna's house on that fateful evening, the prince was at the
Epanchins',--and that his appearance there had been the cause of the
greatest consternation and dismay; for Aglaya had not been home, and the
family only discovered then, for the first time, that the two of them
had been to Nastasia's house together.

It was said that Elizabetha Prokofievna and her daughters had there and
then denounced the prince in the strongest terms, and had refused
any further acquaintance and friendship with him; their rage and
denunciations being redoubled when Varia Ardalionovna suddenly arrived
and stated that Aglaya had been at her house in a terrible state of mind
for the last hour, and that she refused to come home.

This last item of news, which disturbed Lizabetha Prokofievna more than
anything else, was perfectly true. On leaving Nastasia's, Aglaya had
felt that she would rather die than face her people, and had therefore
gone straight to Nina Alexandrovna's. On receiving the news, Lizabetha
and her daughters and the general all rushed off to Aglaya, followed
by Prince Lef Nicolaievitch--undeterred by his recent dismissal; but
through Varia he was refused a sight of Aglaya here also. The end of the
episode was that when Aglaya saw her mother and sisters crying over her
and not uttering a word of reproach, she had flung herself into their
arms and gone straight home with them.

It was said that Gania managed to make a fool of himself even on this
occasion; for, finding himself alone with Aglaya for a minute or two
when Varia had gone to the Epanchins', he had thought it a fitting
opportunity to make a declaration of his love, and on hearing this
Aglaya, in spite of her state of mind at the time, had sudd