ence of his good spirits. They knew his generosity; and before half an hour was over a sick Hamburg doctor, who had rooms on the upper floor, was looking down with envy on the happy group of hearty Russians sitting under the chestnut trees.
Under the flickering shade of the sun-flecked leaves sat the princess, in a bonnet trimmed with lilac ribbons, presiding over the table spread with a white cloth, whereon were placed the coffee-service, the bread, butter, cheese, and cold game; she was distributing cups and tarts. At the other end of the table sat the prince, eating with good appetite, and talking with great animation. He had spread out in front of him his purchases, — carved boxes, jackstraws, paper-cutters of all kinds, which he had brought back from all the places where he had been; and he was distributing them around to all, including Lieschen the maid, and the landlord, with whom he joked in his comically bad German, assuring him that it was not the waters that had cured Kitty, but his excellent cuisine, and particularly his prune soup.
The princess laughed at her husband for his Russian peculiarities; but never, since she had been at the Spa, had she been so gay and lively. The colonel, as always, was amused at the prince's jests ; but he agreed with the princess on the European question, which he imagined that he understood thoroughly. The good Marya Yevgenyevna laughed at every good thing that the prince said; and even Varenka, to Kitty's great astonishment, laughed till she was tired, with undemonstrative but infectious hilarity awakened by the prince's jests. This was something Kitty had never known to happen before.
All this delighted Kitty, but she could not free herself from mental agitation; she could not resolve the problem which her father had unintentionally given her by his jesting, humorous attitude toward her friends and the life which offered her so many attractions. Moreover, she could not help puzzling herself with the reasons for the change in her relations with the Petrofs, which had struck her that day so plainly and dis-
