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18 resist pulling her daughter's hair, only once, and not violently.

"Nu! I will not lay my finger on you if you will only behave to-morrow. Sleep to-night, you fool! Don't you dare to weep! Look out, if I see to-morrow morning that you are pale, or that your eyes are red with crying. I have let things go so far; I shall not stand it any longer. I shall not take pity on your pretty little face. If you lose this chance, I will teach you how to act."

"I ceased to weep long, long ago; you know it."

"That is all right [to-to-zhe]; but try to be a little more sociable with him."

"Yes, I will speak with him to-morrow."

"That's all right [to-to]; it's time you came to your senses. Fear God, and have pity on your mother, you shameless thing!"

Ten minutes passed.

"Viérotchka, don't be angry with me. I scold you because I love you; I want to be good to you. You have no idea how dear children are to their mothers. I brought you forth with pain. Viérotchka, be grateful, be obedient; you yourself will see that it is for your own good. Behave as I tell you. To-morrow he will offer himself."

"Mámenka, you are mistaken. He has no thought of offering himself. Mámenka, if you had heard what they said!"

"I know. If they were not talking about a wedding, then it was about something else. Da! let 'em try it; they'll find they've got the wrong ones to deal with. We'll bend him into a ram's horn. I'll bring him into church in a bag; I'll drag him around the chancel by the whiskers, and he will be glad of it. Nu! but I have said enough. A young girl should not know about these things; it's the mother's business. But a young girl must be obedient; she don't know anything yet. Now will you speak with him as I tell you?"

"Yes, I will speak with him."

"And you, Pavel Konstantinuitch, what are you sitting up for like a stump! Tell her yourself that you, as her father, command her to obey her mother, and that her mother will certainly teach her no evil."

"Marya Alekséyevna, you are a clever woman, but this is rather a dangerous step; if you don't look out, you will carry things too far."

"Durak [fool]! that's nice kind of talk; and in