“I made up my mind that the best thing to do was to complain to maman.  And I did complain, mentioning incidentally how Sasha had kissed Zinotchka.  I was stupid, and did not know what would follow, or I should have kept the secret to myself. . . .  After hearing my story maman flushed with indignation and said: 

“’It is not your business to speak about that, you are still very young. . . .  But, what an example for children.’

“My maman was not only virtuous but diplomatic.  To avoid a scandal she did not get rid of Zinotchka at once, but set to work gradually, systematically, to pave the way for her departure, as one does with well-bred but intolerable people.  I remember that when Zinotchka did leave us the last glance she cast at the house was directed at the window at which I was sitting, and I assure you, I remember that glance to this day.

“Zinotchka soon afterwards became my brother’s wife.  She is the Zinaida Nikolaevna whom you know.  The next time I met her I was already an ensign.  In spite of all her efforts she could not recognize the hated Petya in the ensign with his moustache, but still she did not treat me quite like a relation. . . .  And even now, in spite of my good-humoured baldness, meek corpulence, and unassuming air, she still looks askance at me, and feels put out when I go to see my brother.  Hatred it seems can no more be forgotten than love. . . .

“Tchoo!  I hear the cock crowing!  Good-night.  Milord!  Lie down!”

BAD WEATHER

BIG raindrops were pattering on the dark windows.  It was one of those disgusting summer holiday rains which, when they have begun, last a long time—­for weeks, till the frozen holiday maker grows used to it, and sinks into complete apathy.  It was cold; there was a feeling of raw, unpleasant dampness.  The mother-in-law of a lawyer, called Kvashin, and his wife, Nadyezhda Filippovna, dressed in waterproofs and shawls, were sitting over the dinner table in the dining-room.  It was written on the countenance of the elder lady that she was, thank God, well-fed, well-clothed and in good health, that she had married her only daughter to a good man, and now could play her game of patience with an easy conscience; her daughter, a rather short, plump, fair young woman of twenty, with a gentle anaemic face, was reading a book with her elbows on the table; judging from her eyes she was not so much reading as thinking her own thoughts, which were not in the book.  Neither of them spoke.  There was the sound of the pattering rain, and from the kitchen they could hear the prolonged yawns of the cook.

Kvashin himself was not at home.  On rainy days he did not come to the summer villa, but stayed in town; damp, rainy weather affected his bronchitis and prevented him from working.  He was of the opinion that the sight of the grey sky and the tears of rain on the windows deprived one of energy and induced the spleen.  In the town, where there was greater comfort, bad weather was scarcely noticed.