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"I'm glad, glad, to see you," he said, looking attentively into

her eyes, and then quickly went to his place and sat down. "Sit

down, sit down! Sit down, Michael Ivanovich!"

He indicated a place beside him to his daughter-in-law. A footman

moved the chair for her.

"Ho, ho!" said the old man, casting his eyes on her rounded

figure. "You've been in a hurry. That's bad!"

He laughed in his usual dry, cold, unpleasant way, with his lips

only and not with his eyes.

"You must walk, walk as much as possible, as much as possible,"

he said.

The little princess did not, or did not wish to, hear his words.

She was silent and seemed confused. The prince asked her about

her father, and she began to smile and talk. He asked about

mutual acquaintances, and she became still more animated and

chattered away giving him greetings from various people and

retelling the town gossip.

"Countess Apraksina, poor thing, has lost her husband and she has

cried her eyes out," she said, growing more and more lively.