“Do not grieve, my pretty one,” said the nurse, kissing her feeble hand. “If you are to marry the negro, you will have your own way in everything. Nowadays it is not as it was in the olden times: husbands no longer keep their wives under lock and key; they say the negro is rich; your house will be like a full cup—you will lead a merry life.”
“Poor Valerian!” said Natasha, but so softly that the nurse could only guess what she said, as she did not hear the words.
“That is just it, miss,” said she, mysteriously lowering her voice; “if you thought less of the archer’s orphan you would not rave about him in your illness, and your father would not be angry.”
“What!” said the alarmed Natasha: “I have raved about Valerian? And my father heard it? And my father is angry?”
“That is just the misfortune,” replied the nurse. “Now if you were to ask him not to marry you to the negro he would think that Valerian was the cause. There is nothing to be done; submit to the will of your parents, for what is to be will be.”
Natasha did not reply. The thought that the secret of her heart was known to her father, produced a powerful effect upon her imagination. One hope alone remained, the hope to die before the completion of the odious marriage. This thought consoled her. Weak and sad at heart she resigned herself to her fate.
CHAPTER VII
In the house of Gavril Afanassievitch, to the right vestibule, was a narrow room with one window. There stood a simple bed covered with a woollen counter. In front of the bed was a small deal table, on which a candle was burning, and some sheets of music lay. On the wall hung an old blue uniform and its contemporary, a three-cornered hat; above it, fastened by three nails hung a rude picture representing Charles XII. on horseback. The notes of a flute resounded through this humble mansion. The captive dancing-master, its lonely occupant in night-cap and nankeen dressing-gown, was relieving the dulness of a winter’s evening, by playing some old Swedish marches. After devoting two whole hours to this exercise, the Swede took his flute to pieces, placed it in a box and began to undress....