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The prince communicated his good humor to his own family and his

friends, and even to the German landlord in whose rooms the

Shtcherbatskys were staying.

On coming back with Kitty from the springs, the prince, who had

asked the colonel, and Marya Yevgenyevna, and Varenka all to come

and have coffee with them, gave orders for a table and chairs to

be taken into the garden under the chestnut tree, and lunch to be

laid there. The landlord and the servants, too, grew brisker

under the influence of his good spirits. They knew his

open-handedness; and half an hour later the invalid doctor from

Hamburg, who lived on the top floor, looked enviously out of the

window at the merry party of healthy Russians assembled under the

chestnut tree. In the trembling circles of shadow cast by the

leaves, at a table, covered with a white cloth, and set with

coffeepot, bread-and-butter, cheese, and cold game, sat the

princess in a high cap with lilac ribbons, distributing cups and

bread-and-butter. At the other end sat the prince, eating

heartily, and talking loudly and merrily.