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 agitation, she went to the nursery, and spent the whole evening with her son, put him to bed herself, made the sign of the cross over him, and tucked the quilt about him. She was glad that she had not gone out, and that she had spent such a happy evening. It was so quiet and restful, and now she saw clearly that all that had seemed so important during her railway journey was only one of the ordinary insignificant events of social life,—that she had nothing of which to be ashamed, either in her own eyes, or in the eyes of others. She sat down in front of the fireplace with her English novel, and waited for her husband. At half-past ten exactly his ring was heard at the door, and he came into the room.

"Here you are, at last," she said, giving him her hand. He kissed her hand, and sat down near her.

"Your journey, I see, was on the whole very successful," said he.

"Yes, very," she replied; and she began to relate all the details from the beginning—her journey with the Countess Vronskaya, her arrival, the accident at the station, the pity which she had felt, first for her brother, and afterwards for Dolly.

"I do not see how it is possible to pardon such a man, even though he is your brother," said Alekseï Aleksandrovitch, severely.

Anna smiled. She appreciated that he said this to show that not even kinship could bend him from the strictness of his honest judgment. She knew this trait in her husband's character, and liked it.

"I am glad that all ended so satisfactorily, and that you have come home again," he continued. "Well! what do they say there about the new measures that I introduced in the council?"

Anna had heard nothing said about this new measure, and she was confused because she had so easily forgotten something which to him was so important.

"Here, on the contrary, it has made a great sensation," said he, with a self-satisfied smile.

She saw that Alekseï Aleksandrovitch wanted to tell