cow colonel whom she had seen in society since childhood, and known by his uniform and his epaulets, and who now, with his little eyes, and his bare neck and flowery cravats, seemed to Kitty supremely ridiculous, and the more unendurable because she could not get rid of him. When they were all established, it became very tiresome to Kitty, the more as her father had gone to Carlsbad, and she and her mother were left alone. She could not interest herself in her old acquaintances, because she knew that she should not find anything novel in them; and so her principal amusement was in studying the people whom she had never seen before. It was in accordance with Kitty's nature to see the best side of people, especially of strangers; and now, in making her surmises about the persons whom she saw, — who they were and what they were like and what relationship they bore to one another, — she amused herself in imagining the most wonderful and beautiful characters, and found justification for her observations.
Of all these people, there was one in whom she took a most lively interest : this was a young Russian girl who had come to the baths with a sick Russian lady named Madame Stahl. Madame Stahl belonged to the high nobility; but she was so ill that she could not walk, and only occasionally, on very fine days, appeared at the baths in a wheeled-chair. But it was rather from pride than illness, as the princess judged, that she failed to make any acquaintances among the Russians. The girl was her nurse; and, as Kitty remarked, she frequently went to those who were seriously ill, — and there were many at the baths, — and with the most natural, unaffected zeal, took care of them.
This young Russian girl, Kitty discovered to her surprise, was no relation to Madame Stahl, nor even a hired companion. Madame Stahl called her simply Varenka, but her friends called her "Mademoiselle Varenka." Kitty not only found it extremely interesting to study the relations between this young girl and Madame Stahl, and other persons whom she did not know, but, as often happens, she also felt an unaccountable sym-
