“It is my gift for Marfa Vassilievna,” said Tiet Nikonich with his kind smile. “I am glad it pleases you, for you are a connoisseur. Your liking for it assures me that the dear birthday child will appreciate it as a wedding gift. She is a lovely girl, just like these roses. The Cupids will smile when they see her charming face in the mirror. Please don’t tell Tatiana Markovna of my secret.”
“This beautiful piece must have cost over two thousand roubles, and you cannot possibly have bought it here.”
“My Grandfather gave five thousand roubles for it, and it was part of my Mother’s house-furnishing and until now it stood in her bedroom, left untouched in my birth-place. I had it brought here last month, and to make sure it should not be broken, six men carried it in alternate shifts for the whole hundred and fifty versts. I had a new muslin cover made, but the lace is old; you will notice how yellow it is. Ladies like these things, although they don’t matter to us.”
“There will be a storm. I do feel rather uneasy about it, but perhaps she will forgive me. I may tell you, Boris Pavlovich, that I love both the girls, as if they were my own daughters. I held them on my knee as babies, and with Tatiana Markovna gave them their first lessons. I tell you in confidence that I have also arranged a wedding present for Vera Vassilievna which I hope she will like when the time comes.” He showed Raisky a magnificent antique silver dinner service of fine workmanship for twelve persons. “I may confess to you, as you are her cousin, that in agreement with Tatiana Markovna I have a splendid and a rich marriage in view for her, for whom nothing can be too good. The finest _partie_ in this neighbourhood,” he said in a confidential tone, “is Ivan Ivanovich Tushin, who is absolutely devoted to her, as he well may be.”
Raisky repressed a sigh and went home where he found Vikentev and his mother, who had arrived for Marfinka’s birthday, with Paulina Karpovna and other guests from the town, who stayed until nearly seven o’clock. Tatiana Markovna and Marfa Egorovna carried on an interminable conversation about Marfinka’s trousseau and house furnishing. The lovers went into the garden, and from there to the village. Vikentev carrying a parcel which he threw in the air and caught again as he walked. Marfinka entered every house, said good-bye to the women, and caressed the children. In two cases she washed the children’s faces, she distributed calico for shirts and dresses, and told two elder children to whom she presented shoes that it was time they gave up paddling in the puddles.