with her sister, her mother, or her friends, she often surprised them by the breadth of her views on religious subjects. A strange religious metempsychosis had taken place in her, and she had come out into a faith which had very little in common with ecclesiastical dogmas. But in her family, — not merely for the sake of example, but in answer to the requirements of her own soul, — she conformed strictly to all the obligations of the church, and now she was blaming herself because her children had not been to communion since the beginning of the year; and, with the full approbation and sympathy of Matriona Filimonovna, she resolved to accomplish this duty.
For several days beforehand she had been occupied in arranging what the children should wear : and now their dresses were arranged, all clean and in order; flutings and flounces were added, new buttons were put on, and ribbons were gathered in knots. Only Tania's frock, which had been intrusted to the English governess to alter, caused Dolly great vexation. The English governess, in making the changes, put the seams in the wrong place, cut the sleeves too short, and spoiled the whole garment. It fitted so badly about the shoulders that it was painful to look at her. But it occurred to Matriona Filimonovna to piece out the waist and to make a cape. The damage was repaired, but they almost had a quarrel with the English governess.
By morning all was in readiness; and about ten o'clock — the hour they had asked the father to give them for the communion — the children, in their best clothes and radiant with joy, were gathered on the steps before the calash waiting for their mother.
Thanks to Matriona Filimonovna's watchful care, the overseer's Buroï had been harnessed to the calash in place of the restive Voron, and Darya Aleksandrovna, who had taken considerable pains with her toilet, appeared in a white muslin gown, and took her seat in the vehicle.
Darya Aleksandrovna had arranged her hair and dressed herself with care and with emotion. In former
