long as it was not home.  He sent instructions to his steward on the subject of his wife’s allowance, and at the same time told him to take all control of his property out of General Korobyin’s hands at once, without waiting for him to draw up an account, and to make arrangements for his Excellency’s departure from Lavriky; he could picture vividly the confusion, the vain airs of self-importance of the dispossessed general, and in the midst of all his sorrow, he felt a kind of spiteful satisfaction.  At the same time he asked Glafira Petrovna by letter to return to Lavriky, and drew up a deed authorising her to take possession; Glafira Petrovna did not return to Lavriky, and printed in the newspapers that the deed was cancelled, which was perfectly unnecessary on her part.  Lavretsky kept out of sight in a small Italian town, but for a long time he could not help following his wife’s movements.  From the newspapers he learned that she had gone from Paris to Baden as she had arranged; her name soon appeared in an article written by the same M. Jules.  In this article there was a kind of sympathetic condolence apparent under the habitual playfulness; there was a deep sense of disgust in the soul of Fedor Ivanitch as he read this article.  Afterwards he learned that a daughter had been born to him; two months later he received a notification from his steward that Varvara Pavlovna had asked for the first quarter’s allowance.  Then worse and worse rumors began to reach him; at last, a tragic-comic story was reported with acclamations in all the papers.  His wife played an unenviable part in it.  It was the finishing stroke; Varvara Pavlovna had become a “notoriety.”

Lavretsky ceased to follow her movements; but he could not quickly gain mastery over himself.  Sometimes he was overcome by such a longing for his wife that he would have given up everything, he thought, even, perhaps . . . could have forgiven her, only to hear her caressing voice again, to feel again her hand in his.  Time, however, did not pass in vain.  He was not born to be a victim; his healthy nature reasserted its rights.  Much became clear to him; even the blow that had fallen on him no longer seemed to him to have been quite unforeseen; he understood his wife,—­we can only fully understand those who are near to us, when we are separated from them.  He could take up his interests, could work again, though with nothing like his former zeal; scepticism, half-formed already by the experiences of his life, and by his education, took complete possession of his heart.  He became indifferent to everything.  Four years passed by, and he felt himself strong enough to return to his country, to meet his own people.  Without stopping at Petersburg or at Moscow he came to the town of O-----, where we parted from him, and whither we will now ask the indulgent reader to return with us.

Chapter XVII

The morning after the day we have described, at ten o’clock, Lavretsky was mounting the steps of the Kalitins’ house.  He was met by Lisa coming out in her hat and gloves.