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"Oh, no!" she answered, getting up after him and accompanying him

across the room to his study. "What are you reading now?" she

asked.

"Just now I'm reading Duc de Lille, Poesie des Enfers," he

answered. "A very remarkable book."

Anna smiled, as people smile at the weaknesses of those they

love, and, putting her hand under his, she escorted him to the

door of the study. She knew his habit, that had grown into a

necessity, of reading in the evening. She knew, too, that in

spite of his official duties, which swallowed up almost the whole

of his time, he considered it his duty to keep up with everything

of note that appeared in the intellectual world. She knew, too,

that he was really interested in books dealing with politics,

philosophy, and theology, that art was utterly foreign to his

nature; but, in spite of this, or rather, in consequence of it,

Alexey Alexandrovitch never passed over anything in the world of

art, but made it his duty to read everything.