Page:Rudin - a novel (IA rudinnovel00turgrich).pdf/53

RUDIN when she had walked a few steps farther, let it drop on the path. They were not more than two hundred paces from her house. It had been recently built and whitewashed, and looked out hospitably with its wide light windows from the thick foliage of the old limes and maples.

‘So what message do you give me for Darya Mihailovna?’ began Pandalevsky, slightly hurt at the fate of the flower he had given her. ‘Will you come to dinner? She invites your brother too.’

‘Yes; we will come, most certainly. And how is Natasha?’

‘Natalya Alexyevna is well, I am glad to say. But we have already passed the road that turns off to Darya Mihailovna’s. Allow me to bid you good-bye.’

Alexandra Pavlovna stopped. ‘But won’t you come in?’ she said in a hesitating voice.

‘I should like to, indeed, but I am afraid it is late. Darya Mihailovna wishes to hear a new étude of Thalberg’s, so I must practise and have it ready. Besides, I am doubtful, I must confess, whether my visit could afford you any pleasure.’

‘Oh, no! why?’ 15