صفحة 15 من 3800

To each new arrival Anna Pavlovna said, "You have not yet seen my

aunt," or "You do not know my aunt?" and very gravely conducted

him or her to a little old lady, wearing large bows of ribbon in

her cap, who had come sailing in from another room as soon as the

guests began to arrive; and slowly turning her eyes from the

visitor to her aunt, Anna Pavlovna mentioned each one's name and

then left them.

Each visitor performed the ceremony of greeting this old aunt

whom not one of them knew, not one of them wanted to know, and

not one of them cared about; Anna Pavlovna observed these

greetings with mournful and solemn interest and silent approval.

The aunt spoke to each of them in the same words, about their

health and her own, and the health of Her Majesty, "who, thank

God, was better today." And each visitor, though politeness

prevented his showing impatience, left the old woman with a sense

of relief at having performed a vexatious duty and did not return

to her the whole evening.