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"I know the will was made, but I also know that it is invalid;

and you, mon cousin, seem to consider me a perfect fool," said

the princess with the expression women assume when they suppose

they are saying something witty and stinging.

"My dear Princess Catherine Semenovna," began Prince Vasili

impatiently, "I came here not to wrangle with you, but to talk

about your interests as with a kinswoman, a good, kind, true

relation. And I tell you for the tenth time that if the letter to

the Emperor and the will in Pierre's favor are among the count's

papers, then, my dear girl, you and your sisters are not

heiresses! If you don't believe me, then believe an expert. I

have just been talking to Dmitri Onufrich" (the family solicitor)

"and he says the same."

At this a sudden change evidently took place in the princess'

ideas; her thin lips grew white, though her eyes did not change,

and her voice when she began to speak passed through such

transitions as she herself evidently did not expect.