illness that she would have surely died if he had not taken her in charge; and, before he was aware of it, he became attached to her. He would go several times a day into the nursery, and sit there, so that the wet-nurse and the bonne, though they were a little intimidated at first, gradually became accustomed to his presence. He stayed sometimes for half an hour, silently gazing at the saffron-red, wrinkled, downy face of the sleeping child, following her motions as she scowled, and puckered her lips, watching her rub her eyes with the back of her little hands, curling up her round fingers. And at these moments especially, Alekseï Aleksandrovitch felt calm and at peace with himself, seeing nothing abnormal in his situation, nothing that he felt the need of changing.
However, as time went on, he felt more and more that he would not be permitted to remain in this situation, however natural it seemed to him, and that nobody would allow it.
He felt that, besides the holy and spiritual force that guided his soul, there was another force, brutal, equally if not more powerful, which directed his life, and that this power would not give him the peace that he desired. He felt that every one was looking at him, and questioning his attitude, not understanding it, and expecting him to do something. Especially he felt the unnaturalness and constraint of his relations with his wife.
When the tenderness which she felt at the expectation of death had passed away, Alekseï Aleksandrovitch began to notice how Anna feared him, how she dreaded his presence, and did not dare to look him in the face; she seemed to be always pursued by a thought she dared not express, — and as if she had a presentiment that their present relations could not last; she, too, expected some move from her husband.
Toward the end of February, the little girl, who had been named Anna for her mother, was taken ill. In the morning Alekseï Aleksandrovitch had seen her in the nursery, and, after he had left orders about calling the doctor he went to the ministry meeting. Having
