steps entered the drawing-room, where, as usual, she found lunch ready, and Serozha and the governess waiting for her. Serozha, all in white, was standing near a table under the mirror, with the expression of concentrated attention which she knew so well, and in which he resembled his father. Bending over, he was busy with some flowers which he had brought in.
The governess had a very stern expression. Serozha, as soon as he saw his mother, uttered a sharp cry, which was a frequent custom of his,—"Ah, mamma!" Then he stopped, undecided whether to throw down the flowers and run to his mother, and let the flowers go, or to finish his bouquet and take it to her.
The governess bowed, and began a long and circumstantial account of the naughtiness that Serozha had committed; but Anna did not hear her. She was thinking whether she should take her with them.
"No, I will not," she decided; "I will go alone with my son."
"Yes, that was very naughty," said Anna; and, taking the boy by the shoulder, she looked with a gentle, not angry, face at the confused but happy boy, and kissed him. "Leave him with me," said she to the wondering governess; and, not letting go his arm, she sat down at the table where the coffee was waiting.
"Mamma .... I .... I .... did n't ...." stammered Serozha, trying to judge by his mother's expression what fate was in store for him for having pilfered the peach.
"Serozha," she said, as soon as the governess had left the room, "that was naughty. You will not do it again, will you?.... Do you love me?"
She felt that the tears were standing in her eyes. "Why can I not love him?" she asked herself, studying the boy's frightened and yet happy face. "And can he join with his father to punish me? Will he not have pity on me?"
The tears began to course down her face; and, in order to hide them, she rose up quickly, and hastened, almost ran, to the terrace.
Clear, cool weather had succeeded the stormy rains
