The passenger train which was to carry away Nekhludoff was to start in two hours. Nekhludoff at first thought of utilizing these two hours in visiting his sister, but after the impressions of the morning he felt so excited and exhausted that he seated himself on a sofa in the saloon for first-class passengers. But he unexpectedly felt so drowsy that he turned on his side, placed his palm under his cheek, and immediately fell asleep.
He was awakened by a servant in dress-coat holding a napkin in his hand.
“Mister, mister, are you not Prince Nekhludoff? A lady is looking for you.”
Nekhludoff quickly raised himself, rubbing his eyes, and the incidents of the morning passed before his mind’s eye—the procession of the convicts, the men who had died from the heat, the grated windows of the cars, and the women huddled behind them, one of whom was laboring in child-birth without aid, and another piteously smiling to him from behind the iron grating. But in reality he saw a table covered with bottles, vases, chandeliers, and fruit stands; nimble servants bustling around the table, and in the depth of the saloon, before the lunch-counter, loaded with viands and fruits, the backs of passengers leisurely eating their luncheon.
While Nekhludoff was raising himself and shaking off the slumber, he noticed that everybody in the saloon was curiously watching the entrance. He turned his eyes in the same direction, and saw a procession of people who bore an arm-chair in which was seated a lady, her head covered with tulle. The first bearer was a lackey who seemed familiar to Nekhludoff. The one behind was also a familiar porter, with white crown lace around his cap. Behind the arm-chair came an elegantly dressed maid-servant with curly hair, carrying a round leather box and a sunshade. Further behind came the short-necked Prince Korchagin, his shoulders thrown back; then Missy, Misha, their cousin, and a diplomat Osten, unfamiliar to Nekhludoff, with his long neck and prominent Adam’s apple and an ever cheerful appearance. He walked impressively, but evidently jestingly talking to the smiling Missy. Behind them came the doctor, angrily smoking a cigarette.
The Korchagins were moving from their estate to the Prince’s sister, whose estate was situated on the Nijhni road.
The procession passed into the ladies’ room. The old Prince, however, seating himself at the table, immediately called over a waiter and began to order something. Missy with Osten also stopped in the dining-room, and were about to sit down when they saw an acquaintance in the doorway and went to meet her. It was Natalia Ivanovna. She was escorted by Agrippina Petrovna, and as she entered the dining-room she looked around. At almost the same moment she noticed Missy and her brother. She first approached Missy, only nodding her head to Nekhludoff. But after kissing Missy she immediately turned to him.
“At last I have found you,” she said.
After greeting his sister, Nekhludoff entered into conversation with Missy, who told him that their house had burned down, necessitating their removal to her aunt’s. Osten began to relate a droll anecdote anent the fire. Nekhludoff, without listening to Osten, turned to his sister:
“How glad I am that you came!”
In the course of their conversation he told her how sorry he felt for having fallen out with her husband; that he had intended to return and confess that he was at fault, but that he knew not how her husband would take it.
“I spoke improperly to him, and it tortured me,” he said.
“I knew it. I was sure you didn’t intend it,” said his sister. “Don’t you know——”
The tears welled up in her eyes, and she touched her brother’s hand. It was spoken tenderly; he understood her, and was affected. The meaning of her words was that, besides her love for her husband, her love for her brother was dear and important to her, and that any disagreement with him caused her suffering.
“Thank you, thank you. Oh, what I have seen to-day!” he said, suddenly recalling the two dead convicts. “Two convicts have been killed.”
“How killed?”
“So, simply killed. They have been brought here in this heat, and two of them died from sunstroke.”
“Impossible! How? To-day? Just now?”
“Yes, just now. I have seen their corpses.”
“Why were they killed? Who killed them?” asked Natalia Ivanovna.
“Those who forcibly brought them here,” said Nekhludoff excitedly, feeling that she took the same view of this as her husband.
“Oh, my God!” said Agrippina Petrovna, coming nearer to them.