daughter," said he, taking off his hat, and holding it in his hand.
"Prince Aleksandr Shcherbatsky!" said Madame Stahl, looking at him with her heavenly eyes, in which Kitty detected a shade of dissatisfaction. "I am very glad to see you; I love your daughter so!"
"Your health is not always good?"
"Oh! I am pretty well used to it now," replied Madame Stahl; and she presented the prince to the Swedish count.
"You have changed very little," said the prince to her, "during the ten or twelve years since I had the honor of seeing you."
"Yes. God gives the cross, and gives also the power to carry it. I often ask myself why my life is so prolonged. .... Not like that," she said crossly, to Varenka, who had not succeeded in putting her plaid over her shoulders to her satisfaction.
"For doing good, without doubt," said the prince, with laughing eyes.
"It is not for us to judge," replied Madame Stahl, observing the gleam of irony in the prince's face.
"I pray you send me that book, dear count. I will thank you a thousand times," said she, turning to the young Swede.
"Ah!" cried the prince, who had just caught sight of the Muscovite colonel standing near; and, bowing to Madame Stahl, he went away with his daughter and the Muscovite colonel, who had joined him.
"This is our aristocracy, prince!" said the colonel, with sarcastic intent, for he also was piqued because Madame Stahl refused to be friendly.
"Always the same," replied the prince.
"Did you know her before her illness, prince,—that is, before she became an invalid?"
"Yes; she became an invalid after I knew her."
"They say that she has not walked for ten years." ....
"She does not walk because one leg is shorter than the other. She is very badly put together. "....
"Papa, it is impossible," cried Kitty.
