of a glowing face and strangely brilliant eyes gazing at her from the mirror. "Yes, it is I." And she suddenly seemed to feel his kisses; and she shivered, and shrugged her shoulders. Then she put her hand to her lips, and kissed it. "It must be that I am going out of my mind; "and she fled to her room, which Annushka was putting in order.
"Annushka," she said, as she stood before the maid, not knowing what to say.
"Will you go to Darya Aleksandrovna's?" said the maid, as if reading her thoughts.
"To Darya Aleksandrovna's? Yes, I will go there. Fifteen minutes to go, fifteen to come back. He ought to be here." She looked at her watch. "Oh! how could he leave me in such a condition? How can he live, and not be at peace with me?" She went to the window, and looked out into the street; perhaps she had made a mistake in calculating, and she began over again to count the minutes since he left.
Just as she was about going to consult the great clock, so as to verify hers, a carriage stopped before the door. It was the count's calash, but no one came up-stairs, and she heard voices in the vestibule. It was the messenger, who came back in the calash. She hurried down to him.
"They were too late for the count. He had gone to the Nizhegorodsky railway station."
"What is the matter? what is it?" she asked, addressing the ruddy, jolly Mikhaïl, who handed her back the note. Oh, yes; he did not receive it, she remembered.
"Go with this note to the Countess Vronsky's in the country, you understand? and bring an answer back to me immediately!"
"But what shall I do?" she thought "Yes, I will go to see Dolly, to be sure, or else I shall go out of my mind. Ah! I might telegraph!" And she wrote the following despatch:—
I absolutely must speak to you. Come back immediately.
Having sent the telegram, she went and dressed; and then, with her hat on, she again looked at the stout,
