a motto was added to the family arms:  in recto virtus . . .  In reality, Glafira’s power suffered no diminution; the giving out and buying of stores still depended on her.  The Alsatian steward, brought from abroad, tried to fight it out with her and lost his place, in spite of the master’s protection.  As for the management of the house, and the administration of the estate, Glafira Petrovna had undertaken these duties also; in spite of Ivan Petrovitch’s intention,—­more than once expressed—­to breathe new life into this chaos, everything remained as before; only the rent was in some places raised, the mistress was more strict, and the peasants were forbidden to apply direct to Ivan Petrovitch.  The patriot had already a great contempt for his fellow-countrymen.  Ivan Petrovitch’s system was applied in its full force only to Fedya; his education really underwent a “radical reformation;” his father devoted himself exclusively to it.

Chapter XI

Until Ivan Petrovitch’s return from abroad, Fedya was, as already related, in the hands of Glafira Petrovna.  He was not eight years old when his mother died; he did not see her every day, and loved her passionately; the memory of her, of her pale and gentle face, of her dejected looks and timid caresses, was imprinted on his heart for ever; but he vaguely understood her position in the house; he felt that between him and her there existed a barrier which she dared not and could not break down.  He was shy of his father, and, indeed, Ivan Petrovitch on his side never caressed him; his grandfather sometimes patted him on the head and gave him his hand to kiss, but he thought him and called him a little fool.  After the death of Malanya Sergyevna, his aunt finally got him under her control.  Fedya was afraid of her:  he was afraid of her bright sharp eyes and her harsh voice; he dared not utter a sound in her presence; often, when he only moved a little in his chair, she would! hiss out at once:  “What are you doing? sit still.”  On Sundays, after mass, he was allowed to play, that is to say, he was given a thick book, a mysterious book, the work of a certain Maimovitch-Ambodik, entitled “Symbols and Emblems.”  This book was a medley of about a thousand mostly very enigmatical pictures, and as many enigmatical interpretations of them in five languages.  Cupid—­naked and very puffy in the body—­played a leading part in these illustrations.  In one of them, under the heading, “Saffron and the Rainbow,” the interpretation appended was:  “Of this, the influence is vast;” opposite another, entitled “A heron, flying with a violet in his beak,” stood the inscription:  “To thee they are all known.”  “Cupid and the bear licking his fur” was inscribed, “Little by little.”  Fedya used to ponder over these pictures; he knew them all to the minutest details; some of them, always the same ones, used to set him dreaming, and afforded him food for meditation; he! knew no other amusements.