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Kitty was glad of all this, but she could not be light-hearted.

She could not solve the problem her father had unconsciously set

her by his good-humored view of her friends, and of the life that

had so attracted her. To this doubt there was joined the change

in her relations with the Petrovs, which had been so

conspicuously and unpleasantly marked that morning. Everyone was

good-humored, but Kitty could not feel good-humored, and this

increased her distress. She felt a feeling such as she had known

in childhood, when she had been shut in her room as a punishment,

and had heard her sisters' merry laughter outside.

"Well, but what did you buy this mass of things for?" said the

princess, smiling, and handing her husband a cup of coffee.

"One goes for a walk, one looks in a shop, and they ask you to

buy. 'Erlaucht, Durchlaucht?' Directly they say 'Durchlaucht,' I

can't hold out. I lose ten thalers."

"It's simply from boredom," said the princess.