I said I had been at Bessy's house.
Then she said: "Now, tell me, my darling, why do you run after these great people? Don't you see that they are only making fun of you?"
Something like a cold ague fit ran down my back.
Hadn't I myself seen and heard them laugh at me, and didn't know it? and here was my mother who had neither seen nor heard it, and yet she knew it!
Not another word did I say, but I went on with my letter ... "that I will come to Pest at once to-morrow morning, and take the place of juratus offered by you."
I then showed my mother both letters, whereupon she rewarded me with that blessed smile of hers which has made her face so unforgettable to me.
She immediately packed up my belongings and placed in my hand what little money she had put by, so that I might not want for anything in the expensive capital. I wanted to write to Bessy with an apology for my sudden departure.
"Don't go scribbling to them," said my mother; "I'll go myself to-morrow to her ladyship and tell her what has happened."
The following afternoon I was sitting on the steamer, and in three days I arrived at Pest.... And for this sudden change of fortune I had to thank my Menshikov alone.