"Yes. You look as though you were afraid that I am such a sinner that I could not receive the communion."
The girl was apparently offended by her father's jest at such a solemn moment. She heaved a sigh and, following him, held his hand, which she kissed.
"Who is here?"
"Young Chernýshev. He is in the drawing-room."
"Is mamma up? How is she?"
"Mamma feels better to-day. She is sitting down-stairs."
In the passage room Iván Petróvich was met by nurse Evprakséya, clerk Andréy Ivánovich, and a surveyor, who was living at the house, in order to lay out some land. All of them congratulated Iván Petróvich. In the drawing-room sat Luíza Kárlovna Trugóni, for ten years a friend of the house, an emigrant governess, and a young man of sixteen years, Chernýshev, with his French tutor.
THE DECEMBRISTS