पृष्ठ 676 / 1294

"She! Would you believe it, she talks of the silliest trifles

and--man is a strange creature--it makes me angry. The first time

she came in (I was tired you know: the funeral service, the

funeral ceremony, the lunch afterwards. At last I was left alone

in my study. I lighted a cigar and began to think), she came in

at the door. 'You've been so busy to-day, Arkady Ivanovitch, you

have forgotten to wind the dining-room clock,' she said. All

those seven years I've wound that clock every week, and if I

forgot it she would always remind me. The next day I set off on

my way here. I got out at the station at daybreak; I'd been

asleep, tired out, with my eyes half open, I was drinking some

coffee. I looked up and there was suddenly Marfa Petrovna sitting

beside me with a pack of cards in her hands. 'Shall I tell your

fortune for the journey, Arkady Ivanovitch?' She was a great hand

at telling fortunes. I shall never forgive myself for not asking

her to.