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 age to sit down and read it. Her emotion almost brought on an attack of asthma, to which she was subject. At last, when she felt calmer, she opened the following note written in French:—

Everything about this note exasperated the Countess Lidia Ivanovna, its tenor, the allusions to Karenin's magnanimity, and the especially free and easy tone which pervaded it.

"Say that there is no reply," said the Countess Lidia Ivanovna, and, hurriedly opening her buvard, she wrote to Alekseï Aleksandrovitch that she hoped to meet him about one o'clock at the birthday reception at the Palace.

"I must consult with you in regard to a sad and serious affair; we will decide at the Palace when I can see you. The best plan would be at my house, where I will have your tea ready. It is absolutely necessary. He imposes the cross, but He gives also the strength," she added, that she might somewhat prepare him. "The Countess Lidia Ivanovna wrote Alekseï Aleksandrovitch two or three times a day; she liked this way of communication with him, as it had the elegance and mystery which were lacking in ordinary personal intercourse.