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 with his lips as if someone could see this smile of his and be deceived by it. "There is no explanation! Torment, death Wherefore?"

Thus a fortnight passed away. During this fortnight happened an event which Ivan Il'ich and his wife had long wished for. Petrishchev made a formal proposal for the hand of his daughter. This happened in the evening. Next day Praskov'ya Thedorovna went to her husband, meaning to tell him about the offer of Theodor Petrishchev, but that same night a change for the worse had taken place in the condition of Ivan Il'ich. Praskov'ya Thedorovna found him on the same sofa, but in a new position. He was lying on his back groaning, and gazing in front of him with a fixed, vacant look.

She began to speak about his medicine. He turned his look upon her. She did not finish what she had begun to say, such anger, especially against herself, was expressed in that look.

"For Christ's sake let me die in peace," he said.

She would have gone away, but at that moment her daughter also came in and asked him how he was. He looked at his daughter as he had looked at his wife, and in answer to her question about his health drily said to her that he would very soon relieve them all of his existence. They were both silent, sat down for a little, and then went away.

"How are we to blame?" said Liza to her mother.