xclaimed.

VIII

NEJDANOV awoke early and, without waiting for a servant, dressed and
went out into the garden. It was very large and beautiful this garden,
and well kept. Hired labourers were scraping the paths with their
spades, through the bright green shrubs a glimpse of kerchiefs could
be seen on the heads of the peasant girls armed with rakes. Nejdanov
wandered down to the pond; the early morning mist had already lifted,
only a few curves in its banks still remained in obscurity. The sun, not
yet far above the horizon, threw a rosy light over the steely silkiness
of its broad surface. Five carpenters were busy about the raft, a
newly-painted boat was lightly rocking from side to side, creating a
gentle ripple over the water. The men rarely spoke, and then in somewhat
preoccupied tones. Everything was submerged in the morning stillness,
and everyone was occupied with the morning work; the whole gave one a
feeling of order and regularity of everyday life. Suddenly, at the other
end of the avenue, Nejdanov got a vision of the very incarnation of
order and regularity--Sipiagin himself.

He wore a brown coat, something like a dressing gown, and a checkered
cap; he was leaning on an English bamboo cane, and his newly-shaven face
shone with satisfaction; he was on the round of inspecting his estate.
Sipiagin greeted Nejdanov kindly.

"Ah!" he exclaimed, "I see you are one of the early birds!" (He
evidently wanted to express his approval by this old saying, which was
a little out of place, of the fact that Nejdanov, like himself, did not
like lying in bed long.) "At eight o'clock we all take tea in the dining
room, and we usually breakfast at twelve. I should like you to give
Kolia his first lesson in Russian grammar at ten o'clock, and a lesson
in history at two. I don't want him to have any lessons tomorrow, as it
will be his name-day, but I would like you to begin today."

Nejdanov bowed his head, and Sipiagin took leave of him in the French
fashion, quickly lifting his hand several times to his lips and nose,
and walked away, whistling and waving his cane energetically, not at all
like an important official and state dignitary, but like a jolly Russian
country gentleman.

Until eight o'clock Nejdanov stayed in the garden, enjoying the shadows
cast by the old trees, the fresh air, the singing of the birds, until
the sound of a gong called him to the house. On his entrance he found
the whole company already