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RUDIN hurrying to him straight across country through the wet grass.

‘Natalya Alexyevna, you’ll get your feet wet!’ said her maid Masha, scarcely able to keep up with her.

Natalya did not hear and ran on without looking round.

‘Ah, supposing they’ve seen us!’ cried Masha; ‘indeed it’s surprising how we got out of the house and ma’mselle may wake up. It’s a mercy it’s not far. Ah, the gentleman’s waiting already,’ she added, suddenly catching sight of Rudin’s majestic figure, standing out picturesquely on the bank; ‘but what does he want to stand on that mound for—he ought to have kept in the hollow.’

Natalya stopped.

‘Wait here, Masha, by the pines,’ she said, and went on to the pond.

Rudin went up to her; he stopped short in amazement. He had never seen such an expression on her face before. Her brows were contracted, her lips set, her eyes looked sternly straight before her.

‘Dmitri Nikolaitch,’ she began, ‘we have no 166