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Stepan Arkadyevitch saw Matvey wanted to make a joke and attract

attention to himself. Tearing open the telegram, he read it

through, guessing at the words, misspelt as they always are in

telegrams, and his face brightened.

"Matvey, my sister Anna Arkadyevna will be here tomorrow," he

said, checking for a minute the sleek, plump hand of the barber,

cutting a pink path through his long, curly whiskers.

"Thank God!" said Matvey, showing by this response that he, like

his master, realized the significance of this arrival-that is,

that Anna Arkadyevna, the sister he was so fond of, might bring

about a reconciliation between husband and wife.

"Alone, or with her husband?" inquired Matvey.

Stepan Arkadyevitch could not answer, as the barber was at work

on his upper lip, and he raised one finger. Matvey nodded at the

looking-glass.

"Alone. Is the room to be got ready upstairs?"

"Inform Darya Alexandrovna: where she orders."

"Darya Alexandrovna?" Matvey repeated, as though in doubt.